Category Stamping

2026: April update

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I took a day off work and managed to make a few cards. I’m easily distracted so it did take the majority of the day. I also recorded myself making them, so be sure to check out my Instagram for that. The base paper I used is from a wallpaper piece featuring sunflowers. The initial card was a commission for a 70th Scrabble card.

To work through my stash more efficiently I am trying to use a sheet to its fullest before moving on. I have the rest of this sheet plus a couple others I’m trying to finish up to use up as much of the pages as possible. It is a challenge, but I am hoping to get through some scraps and be able to start fresh soon.

The big 5 update

If you would like to read the origin stories, you can find that here. Follow my Instagram to see official progress photos when they are released.

Cats Library, Heaven and Earth Designs.

+598

Disintegration, Heaven and Earth Designs

+635

Universal Monsters, Witchy Stitcher’s SAL from 2019

+677 and a room finish!

McGonagall, Cross Stitch Studio

+411

Super Mario World Map, Box Cat Shop (Etsy)

+510

Monopoly update

I landed on an unowned property and the WIP number corresponded to Dolphin Family. That means only one pattern isn’t started yet. It got off to a bumpy start. This pattern has several nuances to it with floss amounts. Hopefully as I work on it, I’ll get more comfortable with it.

+558

How did April go?

I only longer-term track my stitch counts on the ‘Big 5‘. I added more math to my tracker to attempt at an estimated completion date based on my current rate of work. McGonagall came in at being finished sometime in 2100…

Here’s how I did in April for chipping away at these: 2,831 stitches across the five.

The Big 5 have a combined stitch count of 1,295,620. I’m 4.24% complete with all five, which isn’t bad considering I have limited time to work on them.

Need to make it an FFO

There is one project, Red Panda, that has been sitting fully stitched since October. I entered it as an auction item in the St. Jude fundraiser MocoMade hosts. It’s an application process, and I don’t have this finished yet to show them what it will be. But the board is cut so I can get started now.

Happy crafting!

See finished projects on Instagram @craftyk.3

and watch live on Twitch CraftyK3

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2026: March update

CraftyK Leave a comment

One of my cousins had a milestone birthday in March, so one card was made! I was really struggling that day. The card was supposed to be horizontal, but ended up vertical because I stamped happy upside down. Whoops. Cursive font threw me off. Here it is:

I do like the purple paper as a cutout versus a background as I have been using it. I set out the last (I hope) of the purple paper for another card, but working multiple jobs has left me with little time for card making or stitching.

The big 5 update

If you would like to read the origin stories, you can find that here. So far the progress on these has not resulted in an official update photo, but there should be progress photos coming in April. Follow my Instagram to see them when they are released.

Cats Library, Heaven and Earth Designs.

+587

Disintegration, Heaven and Earth Designs

+339

Universal Monsters, Witchy Stitcher’s SAL from 2019

+626

McGonagall, Cross Stitch Studio

+1,013

Super Mario World Map, Box Cat Shop (Etsy)

+968

Monopoly update

So far only Safari has come up for Monopoly and was a new start. McGonagall is also coming up and getting more stitches completed on that one as well.

Turtle Tower from DailyCrossStitch.com, Dolphin Family, and Nativity remain unchanged.

How did March go?

I only longer-term track my stitch counts on the ‘Big 5‘. All five are now in progress. I put in a total of 3,533 stitches on those in the month of March. Which is more than February with a total of 1,515.

The Big 5 have a combined stitch count of 1,295,620. I’m 4.03% complete with all five, which isn’t bad considering I have limited time to work on them.

Need to make it an FFO

There is one project, Red Panda, that has been sitting fully stitched since October. I’ve decided to turn it into an ornament, but that’s as far as it’s gotten. Once that gets finished up, there will be a blog post for it. (Yay bonus post!) < This is the same update from February, no progress has been made.

Happy crafting!

See finished projects on Instagram @craftyk.3

and watch live on Twitch CraftyK3

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Shine like the stars

2026: January Cards

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As I mentioned in my 2025 annual post, I am moving this to monthly. I know I can manage to complete one card a month and this is a way to post with more frequency. I have less interest in posting about individual cards and more about sharing the finished pieces as inspiration for your own creations.

Most of my supplies are second-hand, so I’m not always able to point to where you can buy more. I hope you can find inspiration in the shapes and layouts for your own paper crafting journey. I am available to chat live a couple days a week on Twitch about paper crafting. I do cross stitch on stream, but happy to chat paper. I usually have my finished cards nearby as well.

January 2nd was an intense day of card making. I had thank yous to make for Christmas gifts and had other paper/stamps set out to make some other cards. My sheet of silver paper with shiny dots is now all used up. A few cards did make it to the Ko-Fi shop.

The sympathy cards with cats were inspired by people I know who have lost their cats recently. I haven’t lost my first cat yet, but she is quite old now and I’m sure I’ll be a mess when it happens. Maybe someone will send me a sympathy card when the time comes.

Shine like the stars

See finished projects on Instagram @craftyk.3

and watch live on Twitch CraftyK3

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2025 Cards

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My annual card gallery is here! Check out every card created in 2025 by month of creation. The end of 2024 brought on just shy of two dozen new cards. Each year I strive to improve, learn and try new techniques and create some beautiful cards. 2025 saw twice as many with 49 new cards created. I started up my Ko-Fi shop at the end of 2024 where you may find some of the cards below listed for sale.

I set out the year to grow in the card making space. This meant posting about it and at the very least making at least one card per month.

For 2026 I plan to release a post each month with the cards made the previous month. There may be a little more info about how they were made, but I still strive to keep my musings short. I feel that you shouldn’t have to wait all year before seeing all the cards created.

Use these as inspiration for your own cards!

Most of my supplies are second-hand, so I’m not always able to point to where you can buy more.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

See finished projects on Instagram @craftyk.3

and watch live on Twitch CraftyK3

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3 mini Christmas cards

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Christmas bird

The first pattern of three. After stitching this and working through the backstitching, I recommend finding 28 count fabric if you can and working it over 2 holes, effectively still stitching 14 count. I used what the kit came with, which included a lot of making new holes for quarter stitches and backstitching details.

Stitching

Started: June 10, 2025

Finished: June 15, 2025

Stitching time: 3.25 hours

Christmas tree

The second pattern of three. At this point I’m determined to get these done and get back to my full coverage pieces. This one wasn’t the most fun to finish, and the backstitching was a pain. But it’s done now and ready to be placed on the card.

Stitching

Started: June 15, 2025

Finished: June 16, 2025

Stitching time: 5 hours

Holly

The third pattern of three. This one was easier overall. Except I missed a lot of half stitches and had to go back and fill those in. The backstitching went much smoother with most stitches starting and ending in a hold that already existed.

Stitching

Started: June 16, 2025

Finished: June 21, 2025

Stitching time: 4.25 hours

These patterns did come as a kit with square cards and envelopes. Originally I was going to assemble these as intended, but since I intend to list them on my shop, the branding on the back wouldn’t work so well. I changed course, found a stamp with the same sentiment, got out all the Christmas paper I have and set to work making three new Christmas cards. I think they turned out well!

See finished projects on Instagram @craftyk.3
Updates on Snapchat

and watch live on Twitch craftyK3

or buy stuff

2024 Cards

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If you don’t want to read the nuances about the cards I created in 2024, this is where you can see them all by month of creation. After the surge of cards made in December 2023, I hope these cards don’t disappoint. I’m also hoping you see an increase in quality and creativity.

Use these as inspiration for your own cards!

February

May

June

September

October

November

December

Follow current projects on Instagram @craftyk.3
Also on Snapchat

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Nightmare before Christmas, well sort of…

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A family member who loves Nightmare Before Christmas unexpectedly came to town for Christmas. I was told two days in advance. The day before Christmas I decided to make her a keychain. I had patterns from a little Disney kit for Nightmare and a couple of them are small enough, if stitched on 25 count. My full coverage projects are coming in handy. Without those, I wouldn’t have 25 count fabric on hand.

Sound familiar? I did the same stitch count for my Secret Snowflake Pokรฉmon keychain. It’s actually not that bad stitching so small. I do like the one strand of thread instead of two as well.

In addition to the two cross stitches I also made one of my first Christmas cards now that I have more stamps. Normally I don’t keep Christmas themed stamps when I get them, but I did save a few and they came in handy this year.

I used Winstitch to plot out the patterns from the itty bitty book. There was no way I could keep count from the original patterns. By doing that I was also able to put the stitching part into Pattern Keeper and I printed a huge copy for the backstitching. I think they turned out really nice.

I found a way to use my ho ho ho paper. It didn’t work so well with the cross stitch mouse, but for this card it worked out well. I’m pretty sure the Santa stamp is part of a retired Stampin’ Up collection. It was part of a large set of stamps donated to me in CD cases. I used my dotted embossing folder for the red paper on the right. I also added some glitter to Santa’s beard after I took the photo. This card is also larger than my usual at 5×7.

Stitching

Started: December 24, 2024

Finished: December 25, 2024

Stitching time: 2 hours Jack and Sally, 1 hour Zero

Follow along on Snapchat
for current projects!

Also now on Instagram @craftyk.3

2023 Cards

CraftyK Leave a comment

If you don’t want to read the nuances about the cards I created in 2023, this is where you can see them all by month of creation. Regardless of life circumstances I was determined to get some cards made.

Hope this provides some inspiration for your own cards!

March

cards_0323_003

May

June

July

August

September

December

2022 Cards

CraftyK Leave a comment

If you don’t want to read the nuances about the cards I created in 2022, this is where you can see them all by month of creation. Regardless of life circumstances I was determined to get some cards made.

Hope this provides some inspiration for your own cards!

February

May

mothers-day-2022

June

July

September

October

December

20221227_195602-01

For real-time updates
follow along on Snapchat!

wp-1517196741806..jpg

Also on Instagram @craftyk.3

70 is 13 in Scrabble

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In a panic I realized my mother in laws birthday was a little under 2 weeks away. I had all these ideas for gifts months ago and decided it was too early to start. Now it’s a bit too late.

What sparked my memory was a box of sandpaper and little wooden squares my mom had me make for her friends who were turning 70 and 80 years old. She found a card idea on Pinterest and asked if I could make the letters with my Cricut and if my husband could cut out the squares.

I still had leftover squares from the flurry of birthdays and got them out to start my own card. Since my mom didn’t take a photo of her cards, she told me to head over to Pinterest to see what these cards looked like. I took it from there and made my own version of the card.

Follow along on Snapchat
for current projects!

wp-1517196741806..jpg

Also now on Instagram @craftyk.3