Tag Stamping

Shine like the stars

2026: January Cards

CraftyK Leave a comment

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

CraftyK Leave a comment

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

$ Buy stuff $

2024 Cards

CraftyK Leave a comment

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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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

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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

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June

July

September

October

December

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For real-time updates
follow along on Snapchat!

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Also on Instagram @craftyk.3

Mailbox Stamp and Color

CraftyK Leave a comment

This card is involves a few of firsts for me. A sort of first to start things off, I thought I was going to make 2 of these. Instead of my usual one-of-a-kind. I had a piece of paper to stamp on big enough to stamp twice. I tried, but I underestimated how much ink was left and had a really faded version 2.

It all turned out ok, I used that second try to test out colors.

  • First stamp that needs to be colored
  • First time using alcohol ink markers. (didn’t even know they were a thing until about a month ago)
  • First time adding a stamped message to the inside

I learned that maybe spending a bunch of money on markers that have an extra fine tip might be worth it in the future. Most of the areas are so tiny I couldn’t color in the lines very well. I bought a fairly cheap set on Amazon. The review compared them to the name brand kind that have tri-tips, these only have chisel and brush.

Here’s the inside. It came in the box with the stamp on the front. Based on the packaging I’m pretty sure they are Stampin’ Up. I’m sure others have used this set and made much fancier cards.

I also took a photo from the bottom to show the depth with the foam tape. The wallpaper and cardstock paper are taped down and the cardstock with the stamping and coloring is mounted with foam tape.

I think this card looks awesome and it’s part of my personal collection. Someday the right person will come along that I just have to send it to them.

Follow along on Snapchat
for current projects!

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Also now on Instagram @craftyk.3

2021 Cards

CraftyK Leave a comment

If you don’t want to read the nuances about the cards I created in 2021, this is where you can see them all by month of creation. Due to continued life circumstances there are very few cards created. You can also use this to get some inspiration for your own cards!

May

July

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August

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October

Craftyk

For real-time updates
follow along on Snapchat!

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With Heartfelt Sympathy (2)

CraftyK Leave a comment

This is the first time I’ve “repeated” a card. I try so hard to make each card unique and they still are as minor things are different. I felt that a white/cream card and my flower and butterfly embossing folder with sympathy stamp work so well together.

I’m still new to stamping and am trying to get used to the fact that some cards are going to look similar since the stamps don’t change. For the last couple of years I’ve had access to my Cricut and printers so I was able to use different fonts and create new things all the time. Now it’s a bit different with access to a limited number of supplies.

With this card I did do something very different and found a second stamp with text that fits with the theme of the card.

As you can see I used the same ink color inside. I did not emboss it (clear embossing powder on the ink) like I did with the outside. This card is also different because I used the embossing folder directly on the card creating texture inside.

Whew so much use of the word embossing this time!

To finish off the card I took a larger stamp I have to the back of the envelope. Usually I use lots of stickers, this time I decided to add something that won’t get ripped off in the mail. I have noticed with the clear rubbery stamps you can affect the way the ink appears. This time I dragged the ink pad across and it created the lines. Normally I would dab it which creates a more printed “dotted” look. Just something to keep in mind as you get started with stamps.

I’m still learning with stamps so you can see where I had a little hiccup I guess? My hand jumped a bit when I was pulling it up and it left a little shadowing. I may also be pushing the stamp down too hard. I’m guessing it doesn’t need near the pressure I put on it which may have also caused the extra ink deposits.

Follow along on Snapchat
for current projects!

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2020 Cards

CraftyK Leave a comment

If you don’t want to read the nuances about the cards I created in 2020, this is where you can see them all by month of creation. Due to life circumstances there are very few cards created. You can also use this to get some inspiration for your own cards!

May

July

August

For real-time updates
follow along on Snapchat!

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Grandma turns 90!

CraftyK Leave a comment

It’s not everyday you know someone who has been around for nine decades. My husband’s grandma now has. We’re having lunch with her to celebrate along with other members of the small family.

Her husband also reached 90, however he didn’t live much longer after that. We didn’t know his birthday would be the last we saw him well. Such is life, some people get more of it than others.

The card I had made for my husband’s grandpa can be found here. I came up with the idea easily since he was a former farmer and was always asking about how the farming community has been doing in Iowa and Nebraska. The card was a hit, so I had some pressure with getting this second card right.

I went through a few different ideas. If you want to see some of the inspiration cards I found on Pinterest you can see my Birthday Card board here. The first idea I had involved wallpaper. The second idea had me trying to print a border from a design pattern pack I downloaded recently. This was my third attempt.

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I found cardstock that had flower like the printed pattern I wanted to use. (That did not go well at all!) I knew I wanted to use my scripty stamps for happy and birthday, which left the 90th. I wanted a big bold font and found that Impact does the job nicely. I used gold adhesive foil for the letters.

To make sure I spaced out my glitter glue dots evenly I created a dotted line box in Illustrator. In a way I designed the elements in there, then used some of it in the Cricut Design space for the cutting. Like the cutout behind the 90 I drew around the 90th typed in AI. I made the layers different colors so it would pull 2 mats for the Cricut to cut on (the paper and foil). I printed just the dotted line box and made sure it fit inside of the frame, since I wanted the dots inside.

Double sided tape and foam tape were used to put it all together. The stamping is directly on the cardstock base. The foil has weird patterning on it from the press n’ seal I used, it wasn’t holding and the sticky stuff really sticks when you push it on too hard. Does give it an interesting texture though.

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Follow along on Snapchat
for current projects!

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