Thursday, 25 September 2025

Ink & Inspiration Blog Hop - a sketch challenge

Hello and welcome to my blog. Today I am delighted to be taking part in the Ink and Inspiration blog hop for September 2025.

This month we are creating projects inspired by a sketch. Sketches are such a useful starting point when you are designing a card and can be interpreted in many ways. I have chosen to feaure the Traditions of Christmas papers for my card.

The Traditions of Christmas Designer Series Paper is includes both rich and subtle colours together with luxurious gold foiling. For my centrepiece I cropped out one of the large flower arrangements using the Christmas Greenery dies. A couple of the sheets of DSP have images that can be cut out with the dies. Cards come together quite quickly when you have a pile of images ready cut! And, when the papers have run out, or you fancy some colouring, stamped images can be used instead. I also tucked in some complementary flowers fussy cut from a different sheet of DSP curling the petals and foliage to add texture.

The centerpiece sits on layers of DSP/Real Red card cut using the Branching Out dies - these are my new favourite! They nest with a lovely narrow gap, have neat inverted corners and they have stitched edges. There is tone on tone stamping on the Secret Sea layer which gives texture and depth without the use on an embossing folder. I wrapped White Baker's Twine around this layer before adding it to a Secret Sea card base. (I debated whether I should use the retired twisted gold thread instead, but although it is definitely an option, I decided to use current product!)

To finish, I added the gold heat embossed JOY to the middle and a few Charming Shimmer gems (which are actually Night of Navy, but coordinate well). I love the simplicity of the word JOY and the gold heat embossing echoes the gold foiling on the DSP.

I hope that you are inspired by my card today and that you will continue along the hop to see what the others have created with the sketch too - click on the names below to enjoy their projects. We would love to hear from you and so if you have been inspired, please leave a comment.

Do you need any of the products used on today's cards? If you live in the UK please take a look in my online Stampin' Up! shop. You can follow the link or click on the pictures below of the products I have used today.

Stay safe and as always, happy crafting,

If you would like to order any supplies, and you live in the UK, I would love to be your demonstrator. To place an order please visit my online shop HERE. The products I have used on today's project are linked from the images shown below.