Category Archives: Challenges

“Love You” Valentine’s Day Card Featuring Heart Motif and Flowers

Crazy Little Thing Called Love: Love You Valentine’s Day Card With Hearts and Flowers Featuring Stamps by Hero Arts

Love You Valentine Card With Hearts and Flowers Featuring Stamps by Hero Arts

Love You Valentine Card With Hearts and Flowers Featuring Stamps by Hero Arts

Last year at this time, the lovely people at Hero Arts hosted a challenge with the theme of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”. Pictured above, you can see the card I entered in the challenge. It’s a Valentine’s Day card featuring stamped images I created using a couple of different Hero Arts stamp sets. I just took a look to see if the stamps and other supplies needed for making this card are still available — and they are, except you’ll probably have to substitute washi tape designs because I’m not sure if the ones that I used are still available. But the Hero Arts stamps are still current for Valentine’s Day 2024, and I highly recommend them; they are some of my most-used stamps.

Craft Supplies You’ll Need for Making a Similar Valentine Card:

  • The “Togetherness” Stamp Set by Hero Arts — This stamp set features a gorgeous floral bouquet stamp and 7 lovely sentiment stamps.
  • The Hero Greetings Christmas Messages Stamp Set by Hero Arts — No, this isn’t a Christmas card (although you could make it a Christmas card if you want to; simply change out the pinks for greens, and voila, it’s a Christmas card). The “Hero Greetings Christmas Messages” stamp set includes mostly Christmas-themed sentiments, but it also has other sentiments like “love you,” “you warm my heart,” “stay cozy” and “let’s party”. So you can use it for many occasions besides just Christmas. I think the “love you” stamp is just perfect for using on Valentine cards, birthday cards and everyday cards.
  • Pink Cardstock
  • White Cardstock
  • Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide Ink Pad by Tim Holtz for Ranger Industries
  • Love Letter Memento Ink Pad
  • Washi Tapes: I used 3 different washi tape designs to create this card. The one on the top is a glittery, sparkly white washi tape by Graphic 45. The one in the middle is a red floral design by Recollections. The one on the bottom is a lovely design from the Papillon collection by The Happy Planner / Me & My Big Ideas.
  • A Heart Die or Heart Stencil
  • Scalloped Scissors — I used Fiskars Paper Edgers in the Mini Scallop design to cut around my “love you” sentiment.
  • Pens & Markers — You’ll want to personalize your card on the inside, and you might also want to make some touch-ups to the embellishments on your card. I used a Tombow brush marker, color #847 to color in the scalloped edge around the “Love You” stamped image. I also used a Sakura Gelly Roll pen and a Marvy Uchida highlighter to personalize the inside of my card. No need to get these pens and markers specifically; you can use other coordinating pens and markers from your stash to do your personalizing. If you don’t have any pens that will work for this, I definitely recommend the Gelly Rolls; they are affordable and super pretty. I love the results I get from using them, and I think you will, too.
  • Scoring Board or Other Scoring Tool

Thanks so much for taking a look at my Valentine Card. I really appreciate your interest.


Check Out More DIY Valentine’s Day Cards

Find More Project Ideas Featuring Stamps and Supplies by Hero Arts

Posted By: Amy Solovay

Slimline Thank You Card Making Idea Featuring Floral and Botanical Motifs

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Slimline Floral Thank You Card + Vintage Crocheted and Embroidered Linen

Slimline Floral Thank You Card + Vintage Crocheted and Embroidered Linen


I created this handmade thank-you card awhile back when the lovely people over at Pinkfresh Studio hosted a card making challenge to celebrate World Card Making Day. The card you see pictured above was my challenge entry.


At the time I originally made the card, I didn’t take a very good picture of it because I was in a hurry to beat the challenge deadline. I made a mental note to take a better picture of the card later. Then I promptly forgot all about it.


Fast forward to now. I’ve been unpacking boxes because I recently moved. A few days ago, I came across the vintage embroidered linen you see pictured in the background of the photo above, and it occurred to me that the vintage linens in my collection would make lovely photo backgrounds for all my craft projects. So I am working on updating and improving bunches of my old photos to look prettier.


What do you think? You can see the “before” photo below and the “after” photo above.

Supplies for Crafting This Slimline Thank You Card

The supplies used for making this slimline thank you card are all by Pinkfresh Studio:

Handmade Thank You Card Featuring Floral and Botanical Motifs -- This Card Is Made Using Craft Supplies by Pinkfresh Studio

Handmade Thank You Card Featuring Floral and Botanical Motifs — This Card Is Made Using Craft Supplies by Pinkfresh Studio

Thanks so much for checking out my project. I appreciate your interest.

More Card Making Ideas:


Posted By: Amy Solovay

This page was last updated on 2-9-2024.

Happy Fall Card Making Idea With Cute Bears by Lawn Fawn

Happy Fall Card With Cute Bears -- Craft Supplies by Lawn Fawn

Happy Fall Card With Cute Bears — Craft Supplies by Lawn Fawn

Last fall, the lovely people over at the Lawnfawnatics Blog hosted a challenge with the theme of “Awesome Autumn”! Pictured here, you can see one of my entries for that challenge; I made a card featuring cute bears, autumn trees and an expansive turquoise chevron-patterned sky. Hey, why not, right?


I’m reposting this project idea in case you missed seeing it the first time — because if you need a fall-themed card to send now, this one is a quick and easy one you might like to try.

Supplies You Will Need for Creating a Similar Happy Fall Card:

  • “Den Sweet Den” stamp set by Lawn Fawn
  • Lawn Fawn Simple Stitched Trees Border Die Set
  • 12″x12″ Patterned Paper From the “Into the Woods Remix” Collection by Lawn Fawn
  • Milo’s ABCs Stamp Set for stamping the “Happy Fall” sentiment
  • Several scraps of Kraft cardstock for stamping the sentiment and the bears
  • There are different ways you could cut out the “Happy Fall” sentiment to make it look like the example pictured here. You could use a scalloped circle die to do the job. Or you could use a circle template plus scalloped scissors. I opted for the circle template plus paper edgers, but you’d likely get a more even shape if you went for the die instead.
  • Walnut Stain Distress Ink for stamping the bears
  • Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide Ink for stamping the “Happy Fall” sentiment, and also for inking around the outer edges of the card
  • Distress Oxide Black Soot for stamping the bear’s knitting needles and ball of yarn
  • Light Aqua Marker for coloring the bear’s knitting needles and ball of yarn
  • Brown Marker: You might or might not need this, depending on how you use your dies. The hillside and the tree trunks can be cut in one piece; if you use bright green cardstock to do this, you’ll end up with a lovely green hillside (which you want) with vibrant, eye-catching green tree trunks (which you probably don’t want). That’s where the brown marker comes in; you can simply color over the green tree trunks to make them brown. Another option would be to use an ink blending tool and ink to color over the tree trunks.
  • Dark Green Marker or Other Coloring Tool: I used a random green brush marker to color the scalloped edge around my sentiment, but there are a lot of possibilities for this; you could use a Copic marker, a colored pencil or really, any coloring media for this.

I love how this card turned out!


Over to You:


Have you been playing along with the Lawnfawnatics challenges this fall? If so, how did your cards or projects turn out?


Did you make a card similar to this one? If so, I hope it turned out well. The floor is open for comments if you have any insights to share.

Posted By: Amy Solovay

International Scrapbooking Day Mood Board Challenge Entry

Explore Diamond Head, Oahu -- Hawaii Travel Themed Scrapbooking Layout

Explore Diamond Head, Oahu — Hawaii Travel Themed Scrapbooking Layout

I created this scrapbooking layout to enter in Art_Teacher’s International Scrapbooking Day 2023 Mood Board Challenge (now closed) over at A Cherry on Top Crafts. The challenge was to use the colors from the mood board, which are turquoise and purple, plus to choose 3 additional sources of inspiration.

I was inspired by the moon in the mood board photo #10 (used a large circle), the 5-petaled flowers in the mood board photo #1 at top left (used a 5-petaled flower), and the body of water in the mood board photo #3 (so I used a photo that also has a body of water in it).

Craft Supplies You’ll Need for Creating a Similar Scrapbooking Layout:

This is a one-photo layout, so you’ll need a photo to scrap.

  • Flower Embellishment: There are many ways to create flower embellishments you can use for this. You can buy ready-made flower embellishments from brands like Graphic 45 and Prima. You can also make your own paper flowers using stamps or dies. In this case, I ink blended some heavy cardstock using Pinkfresh Studio’s Mermaid Cove ink, and then used the inky cardstock for die-cutting my flower with the Layered Flowers die set by Waffle Flower Crafts.



  • Washi Tape — You can use any washi tape you happen to have. I used a washi tape by Jen Hadfield that is now discontinued, but there are many available washi tape designs that would give you excellent results in this project.



  • Border Designs: To make a project similar to the one pictured above, you’ll need two border designs that harmonize with each other but are not an exact match for each other. I used Pinkfresh Studio’s Lacey Edgers dies to create these, and I also used Decorative Scalloped Scissors by EK Success. There are many other possible ways to create borders that would work for this sort of project.



  • Cardstock and Patterned Papers: You’ll need a variety of patterned papers; if you are creating a Hawaii-themed or travel-themed layout, it would make sense to choose a tropical-themed or travel-themed paper collection to work with, but these are not your only choices. You can use basically any paper from any collection if you are careful to choose paper designs that harmonize with your photos. I used papers from the Simple Stories Coastal collection, which is now out of stock at every store where I usually buy scrapbooking supplies. I think Pinkfresh Studio’s Sunshine on My Mind Collection looks like an outstanding paper collection to use for scrapping summer vacation photos, but you have many choices to use for this purpose.



  • Alphabet Letter Dies: There are many different dies, stamps or letter stickers you could use for creating your page title. I used Altenew’s Simple Alphabet die set.



  • Pens or Markers: If you want to journal on your page, it would be nice to do your journaling with a pen in a color that coordinates beautifully with your layout. If you aren’t sure what kind of pen to get, I recommend using Sakura Gelly Rolls or Tombow’s Fudenokuke brush pens. I’ve used the Fudenosuke pens on this page.



  • 6″x8″ Scrapbooking Binder / Album and Page Protectors If you’re scrapping 6″x8″ pages like this one, you’ll want to have sheet protectors and an album to put them in. My layout is housed in a Sn@p! album by Simple Stories.



  • Stamps: The “Explore” stamp is by Citrus Twist Kits.

I am planning to add this page to my Hawaii travel-themed mini scrapbook album and also to our list of Hawaiian Travel and Vacation Scrapbook Ideas shortly. If travel-themed scrapbooking pages are of interest to you, I invite you to check them out.

Thanks so much for checking out my project. I appreciate your interest!

DIY Thank You Card With Sunset Silhouette Design

Guest designer Laura Jane is hosting an Inspiration Challenge over at the Altenew blog. I have been excited about the challenge since the day she posted it, because it features one of my favorite design themes — a sunset! Check this out:


Inspiration Challenge Sunset Image by Laura Jane for Altenew

Inspiration Challenge Sunset Image by Laura Jane for Altenew


That’s the Inspiration Challenge Image Laura Jane posted. She also posted a bunch of amazing purple-ish, pink-ish cards featuring dark silhouetted elements. I loved them so much!


I looked through my paper stash to see what I could find. I have a bunch of Altenew papers, but none of them are quite the right colors for this — so I ended up using papers that I colored using various dyes and inks, including some Altenew inks and others.


Years ago, I used to teach textile design classes to fashion design majors at California Design College. We did a lot of fabric dyeing in those classes. At the end of class, I’d usually have leftover dyes. Instead of just pouring the extra dyes down the drain, I used to use them to create paintings and designs on paper.


I used most of those hand-dyed papers long ago, but I still do have a few of them left in my craft supplies stash waiting for just the right projects to use them in.


Hand Dyed & Ink Blended Papers

Hand Dyed & Ink Blended Papers


This was one of those just right projects. I chose one of these striking hand-dyed papers to use for my darker silhouetted images; the paper has striated shades of deep purple and dusky pink that are reminiscent of the colors you see outdoors at twilight.


And I used another one of these papers to start me off with the background, but I added some spritzes of Altenew ink colors diluted with water — Ruby Red, Coral Berry, and Frosty Pink. I also used some of Tim Holtz’s Dusty Concord Distress Oxide ink to give my card background a more purplish appearance.

Here’s how my card turned out:


DIY Thank You Card in Sunset Colors With Craft Supplies by Altenew

DIY Thank You Card in Sunset Colors With Craft Supplies by Altenew

Craft Supplies You’ll Need for Making a Similar DIY Thank You Card

  • Papers: You could use ink blended or hand dyed papers like I did, or you could use patterned papers for this. You’ll also need some white or colored cardstock to make your card base.
  • Inks: I used Altenew’s Coral Berry, Ruby Red and Frosty Pink dye inks plus Tim Holtz’s Dusty Concord Distress Oxide ink — but you can use any inks you like.
  • Dies: “Sweet Blooms” Die Set by Altenew — This set is so pretty and so versatile; I highly recommend it.
  • Sentiment Stamps: I used the sentiments from Altenew’s “Painted Rose” stamp set, which appears to have been discontinued. I really love this one, but if you missed out on getting it, there are many other possible sentiment stamps you could use.
  • Scalloped Circle Die or Scalloped Scissors: You’ll need to cut out your stamped sentiment in some manner. If you have a scalloped circle that’s the right size, that would be ideal. I happen to have stencils and old-fashioned decorative scissors that I like using for this — so I used scalloped scissors by EK Success to fussy cut around my stamped sentiment.

So there you have it: That’s my inspiration challenge entry. I hope you enjoyed taking a look at it. Thank you so much for dropping by! I appreciate your interest in my project.


Posted by: Amy Solovay