Phamtastic Design

January 17, 2026

Spellbinders - Born to Dink

Hello there. I’m popping in with a couple of “dill”ightful cards featuring the Born to Dink stamp/die set from the This is Life collection released this month by Spellbinders (SBj. A very good friend plays pickleball, so I had to create this early birthday card for her.

Scraps of solid cardstock (white, pinks, yellows, grays and black) were used to die cut out all the pieces (paddle, ball, net, hat) The hat is from Birthday Wreath Add-On. A strip was trimmed from white and shaded with gray dye ink for the top of the net.

The sentiment was heat embossed with white embossing powder. Bristol paper was spritz with water and dry embossed with the Plaster 3D embossing folder for ann icing/frosting background. Arranged and assembled the card onto a white card base, then added a Peach Blush gems to the hat pom-pom to finish.

My friend also met her boyfriend through pickleball, so I made this next card for her to give to him.. maybe for Valentine’s Day(?). 🤷🏻‍♀️

This was super easy. The paddles were die cut from scraps of pattern paper in my stash. The ball was die cut from lime cardstock and to give it dimension, Twisted Citron distress ink was ink blended on the back layer.

Arranged and assembled the card onto a textured panel in my stash to finish.

SB products used on my cards are linked below (simply click on the images’. Please note, affiliate links have been used throughout this post and blog; therefore, if you click on any of these links and make a purchase, I will receive a small compensation at no extra cost to you. I appreciate your support. Thank you for stopping by.

Challenges:

Card 2

Allsorts - #841 For Boys/Men + optional AG

Card 1

Double D - Birthday (happy 10 years!… wishing you many more)

Can You Handle the Pressure - AG EF + optional Friendship (for friend)

Freshly Made Sketches - #719 A Sketch by Judy

January 09, 2026

Guest Designer for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown January 2026 Colour Challenge - Kraft, Green, Gold

Hello everyone and happy new year! It’s my first post this year and I’m excited to be a guest designer (GD) at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown (52CCT) for their Colour Challenge this month.

I was going in a different direction when I remembered my new Snowbell Bouquet dies, purchased in my latest order from Simon Says Stamp (SSS), would be perfect for these colours. Plus, I LOVE snowdrops!

The snowbell stems and blossoms were die cut from green and white cardstock, respectively. Ink blended Rustic Wilderness distress ink (DI) on the stems to give them dimension. Trimmed watercolor paper to a 3.5” square and ink smooshed diluted Rustic Wilderness DI. To complete the snowy background, splattered with diluted white gouache paint. Adhered this piece onto white then matted it onto kraft. Arranged and glued the snowbells on then added more white splatters. Adhered the gold foil die cut Joyeux Noel sentiment to finish.

A big thank you to the 52CCT team for giving me this GD opportunity. Ready to join in the fun? For more inspirations and to link up your entry head to the challenge post HERE. BHope to see you in the falkery!

For easy reference, SSS products used to make my card are linked below. Please note that affiliated links have been used in this post at no extra cost to you. I appreciate your support. Thank you for stopping by.

Challenges:

Peace on Earth - AG Christmas

Die Cut Divas - AG Dies with Something New (new Snowbell Bouquet dies)

Beautiful Blossoms - AG Floral - optional Mood Board #36

The Sisterhood of Crafters - AG Christmas

Triple B - AG Blooms

SSS Monday Challenge - Something New (new Snowbell Bouquet dies)

SSS Wednesday Challenge - Something New (new Snowbell Bouquet dies)

Vesela Hiska - #74 Ringing Bells (thanks Majda for the suggestion!)

December 27, 2025

Whimsy Stamps - Ho Ho Ho

Hello everyone! For those who celebrated, hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Have not been feeling great, so I’m a wee bit late posting today’s cards. Warning: this is a lengthy post. 🫣

This year Whimsy Stamps (WS) released some new stamps with Santa images and I wanted to ink them up before they start collecting dust. 😉 First up is a CAS (clean and simple) card.

This Santa image was created with the new Ho Ho Ho Deer stamp set. It was fussy cut out and saved from a card that didn’t work out. Santa was stamped onto an X-Press It A2 panel with Memento Tuxedo Black ink then onto NoFuss Mask Sheets to fussy cut out a mask. Masked Santa then

stamped the toy sack before colouring it with Copic Sketch markers.

Copic markers used:

face - E00/01/13

mouth - E04

beard - W1/3

suit - R14/27/46/39

belt/buckle - C8, Y35

shoes - C3/6/8

trims/pom-pom- C00/1/3/4

sack - E43/44/47

gifts - G05, R27, 0

Stamped Christmas from Happy Sayings on a Bristol panel with VersaMark ink then heat embossed with Silver Pearl embossing power. Merry Large word was then die cut twice from Bristol paper and stacked for dimension and give a faux dry embossed look. Assembled the card onto a white card base, then stamped HO, HO, HO from Simple Sentiment Strips Holidays (SSSH) with Versafine Onyx Black ink. Grounded the image by adding shading beneath with T0/1/3/5 Copic Sketch markers to finish.

My second card is another CAS card. The SSSH stamp set and Peace, Love, Joy die were stretched to create a custom greeting.

Masked off areas on Joy to the World and Believe from the SSSH set to stamp “to be” in black on a Bristol panel. The die cut letters were coloured with the same red Copic Sketch markers listed above.

The Santa face from Christmas Portraits was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto a scrap of X-Press It paper, coloured with the same Copic Sketch markers listed above, then fussy cut out. Assembled the card onto a white card base and for some sparkle, added clear shimmer to all the reds to finish.

My final card is a postcard design. Started by stamping the Brushed Stripes Background in red onto a white A2 sized Bristol panel.

X-Press It paper was then trimmed to 4x5.25-inches. Stamped the Santa with puppy image from Jolly Puppy Kisses with Memory Tuxedo Black ink and coloured with the same Copic Sketch markers listed above plus E30/31/23/25 for the puppy.

Stamped and stenciled all the elements and markings in black using the following:

🔹Mail Mates Celebrate stamp

🔹Postage Window Shadow stencil

🔹Santa at the Door stamp

🔹Furbabies stencil

For a vintage-y postcard look, ink blended Memento Toffee Crunch ink around the panel edges and within the stamped postage stamp image. For the punny sentence, W-O-O-F was die cut from a red foil paper scrap using the Mix and Mingle Alphabet and Numbers dies. Layered the panel onto the striped background then mounted it into a white card base to finish.

For easy reference, WS prod used for my cards are linked below. Please note affiliate have been used throughout this post; therefore, if you click on any of them and make a purchase, I will receive a small compensation at no extra cost to you! Your support is greatly appreciated. Thank you for dropping by.