Saturday, November 7, 2026

Funky Folds Blog Hop - Holly Jolly Branches


Welcome to Funky Folds Blog Hop. We are a group of like-minded paper crafters who love to make cards with funky folds. Funky actually means "modern and stylish in an unconventional or striking way"... so we are featuring cards that are not your usual rectangle/square portrait or landscape style. Think 'easel', 'pop-up', 'gatefold', 'z-fold', 'shaped' or 3D cards etc. The list is endless. All Blog Hops have an 'anything goes' theme using any type of 'funky' card fold.

I've made a variation on an easel card featuring the Whispering Woods DSP and Holly Jolly Branches Bundle. On first glance it looks like one of my no-stamping cards, but if you look closely at the trees you can see I have added stamped texture with lines, stars and circles using stamps from the bundle.  

For the trees I added random splotches of Shaded Spruce, Azure Afternoon and Pretty Peacock to water colour paper, let it dry and then cut with the three different sized tree dies. These are mounted on Shimmering Stripes DSP which is absolutely stunning and adds some lovely subtle shimmer to the background making it feel all wintery. I was inspired by Karen Titus if you would like to check out her blog post for more detailed instructions. 

If you love to make cards with creative folds and would like to join in with our monthly Funky Folds Blog Hop, you are welcome to head on over to our community group on Facebook to be part of the fun. 

Time to head over to the next blog, just follow the links below. 

Happy Stamping
Monique

Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Card Swap Chain - Series 6 - Carolina's Card


In April 2026 we started the sixth series of the Card Swap Chain, arranged by the lovely Tracy Held. The idea behind this is that everyone in the group made a card, then sent it to one other person in the group. Each of us CASEd the card we received and posted it to the next person in the chain, there were 10 of us in total. Each time the card was CASEd it was changed slightly until the last round when the final copy of our first card was returned to us.  This is such a fun process, and it is now time to reveal each of the cards in the chain. With 10 of us in the chain there is definitely opportunity for a few variations to sneak in between the first and the last card, so join us on this blog hop journey through the CASEing process.

This chain started with this cool fun fold card from Carolina, if you haven't started the hop at her blog I would encourage you to do go there first, so you can see the progression of the chain. You can find her blog listed at the top of the participant list below.

I was 5th in the chain for this round, so about half way through the process. You can see that the fun fold has continued. Just in case it is hard to spot in the photographs, there is a window sheet panel so you can see through the card to the inside panel, on my card I stamped the reeds and sentiment on the writing panel so they show through and compliment the images on the front of the card. 

Time to keep hopping to see how this card was interpreted for the rest of the chain, and if it is still recognisable by the end of the chain. What elements do you think made it all the way down the line?

Happy Stamping
Monique

Let's Craft Together Blog Hop - Sketch Challenge

Welcome to the monthly Let's Craft Together Blog Hop, thanks for joining us. We are a group of multi-cultural Stampin' Up! Demonstrators in Australia who have developed a strong friendship through our love of stamping and our admiration of each other's style of crafting. 

The challenge this month is a sketch challenge, and what a fun sketch it is, lots of elements, lots of room for interpretation!

I thought this sketch would be the perfect opportunity to play around with my Notes of Collage stamp set and Textured Canvas DSP. Now this is an easy one to miss in the November Online Exclusives, it is part of the Painted Collage Suite and has a subtle canvas texture, much like that used on artworks. I started out with an ombre background wash running from Pretty Peacock to Lost Lagoon, which I let dry overnight and then stamped with some of the abstract images in the stamp set, above the line of the sentiment I used Pretty Peacock and below used Lost Lagoon to pair with the colours on the background. I also added some Pecan Pie circles using the same stamp set.

I used the circle stamp again to add texture to the Lost Lagoon strip, stretching the circle into more of an oval and stamping it across the DSP, to get the lines close together I stamped the first oval, then lined one side of the next oval inside the first and the other outside (I hope you know what I mean). I turned it so that the lines didn't look too evenly repetitive. 

Time to keep hopping to see what the rest of the team have created with this lovely sketch.

Happy Stamping
Monique