Berry New - All About Challenges #1

Happy New Year! 

I'm thrilled to be starting off 2026 on the design team for a brand new challenge called All About Papercraft Challenges and the theme for our very first challenge is, appropriately...

For my project I chose the new-to-me technique of a folio journal using new products combined with some old favourites. 

This journal measures around 6" x 4 1/2". I kept it fairly simple as it was my first attempt, using papers, rub-on transfers and die-cut embellishments with a nature and strawberries theme.  

Here are the front and back covers

It opens up to this

The left flap opens up to reveal a pocket for tags. I made sure to leave blank spaces for journalling on the backs of tags, cards etc, as well as some of the pages. 

In the middle section I used a file folder as a flap, which holds three decorated cards.

The right side has a fold over portion and holds an envelope. Inside that is another decorated card with space on the back for journalling. 

I made the base folio journal following measurements and instructions from Julie at Camelia Crafts Designs (with a tweak or two). Follow this link to her YouTube tutorial if you're interested. 

Materials used:

• papers, rub-on transfers and die-cut embellishments - Nature's Haven collection (49 and Market)
• Tim Holtz dies - Collector, Postale, Specimen
• other - tag dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals, sponge dauber, brushed corduroy distress oxide ink, rub-on tool, bamboo cord, 

Click on the challenge icon to visit the All About papercraft challenges blog and check out what 'new' projects my fellow design team members created to inspire you. We do hope you'll join us and play along!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Top Nine 2025

Can you believe it's the last day of 2025 already? It is absolutely true that the older you get, the faster the days, weeks and months seem to fly by.

Over on my Instagram feed, these are the Top Nine most liked projects I posted. Personally, I'd pick 4 of these for sure, maybe 5. How many of your own favs are in the list?

Cheers

Kerry

So Mush Love

I do enjoy using my papercrafting skills to make gifts for others and this particular project has been on the go for a while now, with me doing some compartmental making here and there to fit in around other activities.

It's my first time making altered embroidery hoops and I do hope the recipients like them. They're intended to hold a very special photo ... more on that at a later date.

My process began with applying gesso to the wooden hoops, then paint once that was dry and lastly some grit paste highlighted with crayon. The backgrounds were done with sprays of both distress and oxides, as were the leaves. I ink blended the 'shrooms and of course did some splatters with both water and paint. The parts that are overhanging the "photo" portion are free of adhesive so a photo can be printed to size and slotted easily in. Lastly I adhered some sisal threads and Spanish moss.

They can be hung on the wall or sit on a plate stand. These particular ones are 20cm hoops but they come in a variety of sizes and I recommend them as a great fun alternative to the usual photo frames. 

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and restful holiday season, however you celebrate, and thank you for your visits and support throughout the year.

Cheers

Kerry

Warm Wishes - Just Add Ink Challenge #776

It's time once again to Choose Two or More items to create with for the new Just Add Ink challenge.

I actually managed to incorporate all six options on my wintery Christmas card!

It occurred to me that snowmen would not want to hang their stockings by a fire (for obvious reasons, lol), so I figured they'd put them on the tree instead. Here are Chilly and Freezy doing just that. 

All the snow aspects - the ground, snowmen and snow on the tree - were given a  liberal spray with shimmer mist and I also used sparkle texture paste for the falling snow. Here's a better look at that shimmer:

Materials used:

• dies - stitched circle, Chilly and Freezy (Tim Holtz), Snowcapped tree (Waffle Flower), Fireside (Tim Holtz)
• other - blending brushes, shimmer mist, MISTI, foam squares, sparkle texture paste (Tim Holtz), Copic markers, distress inks, black rhinestones, speckles stencil (Tim Holtz), Big Shot, thick white bakers twine, Subsentiments Snow diecut (Waffle Flower)

I hope you'll pick two or more things from the list to create with and join our challenge. Check out the Just Add Ink blog to see which options my team mates chose.

Entering this card in the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge of Anything Christmas/Holidays
• Christmas Kickstart challenge of Anything Christmassy
• Double D challenges of Santa and/or Snowman
• The Four Seasons challenge of Anything Goes Winter

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Exciting news!

I'm proud to announce that I have joined the design team of a brand new challenge blog. It's called All About Papercraft Challenges and will be a monthly challenge for papercrafters of all kinds, with a variety of themes. 

Challenges will be on the first Friday of each month, so the first one will be 2nd January 2026 - which is only a matter of a couple of weeks away! 

I do hope you'll join me then and spread the word to all the crafters you know.

Cheers

Kerry

Christmas Celebration - Just Add Ink Challenge #775

Welcome back to another Just Add Ink challenge! This time around we're challenged to...

Can I interest anyone in an Elf Cocktail or Clausmopolitan?

Looks like a great way to celebrate! I don't think I can even remember the last time I had a cocktail of any kind, though I did have a mocktail when seeing Wicked: For Good recently, which was delicious. The green elf cocktail is witchy enough to pass for Elphaba, don't you think? (It is made from a Halloween set, after all, lol)

I did some white-on-white heat embossing on my background for added interest, coloured all the bits with distress inks and just layered everything up. Tons of fun!

Materials used:

• stamps - Christmas background (My Favorite Things), Overlapping Merry Additions (Waffle Flower)
• dies -  Olive Martinis, Christmas Cocktails, Boos Cocktails (all Spellbinders)
• distress inks - lumberjack plaid, aged mahogany, mowed lawn, rustic wilderness
• other - Dimensionals, MISTI, white embossing powder, heat tool, blending brushes, clear acrylic dots, craft foam

With so many kinds of celebration, we hope you'll have the chance to create and join our challenge. There's plenty more samples to see from my team mates over on the Just Add Ink blog.

Entering in the Christmas Kickstart challenge #105 and the Paper Players challenge #766 (left vertical row of white, Christmas and die cuts).

  

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Peaceful Poinsettia - Just Add Ink Challenge #774

It's time for a new challenge with Just Add Ink and this time anything goes as long as we ...

I made a simple Christmas card focused on dies.

This was very straightforward to create, the main work was in the colouring. I cut all the floral pieces from heavy watercolour card and used distress inks. Once I was happy with an arrangement, I began by adhering the poinsettia then tucked everything else behind or around it. The sentiment has multiple layers.

Materials used:

• dies - Festive Blooms (Concord & 9th), CZ Design Peace wafer die (Simon Says Stamp) 
• distress inks - worn lipstick, abandoned coral, scattered straw, antique linen, brushed corduroy, walnut stain, shabby shutters, peeled paint, twisted citron, mowed lawn, rustic wilderness
• other - Big Shot, blending brushes, Dimensionals, craft foam, sticky mat, glue gun

I hope you'll have a chance to sit and create with dies and/or stencils over the next two weeks and join our challenge. Do be sure to check out more samples over on the Just Add Ink blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Miss You - Just Add Ink Challenge #773

Welcome/welcome back! We have a sketch challenge for you this week at Just Add Ink and we're looking forward to seeing how you interpret and create with it.

I've gone shabby/vintage for my card.

I cut three envelopes from white card and inked them up. The 'postage stamps' were stamped and die cut and the cancellation lines added once adhered. I joined them with some seam binding ribbon, added some dried flowers and secured them with the bow. The background was stamped and clear embossed then I blended ink over it and spritzed with water until it I had a soft, watercolour effect. That piece got some ink blending on the edges too. The sentiment has multiple layers, the top one swiped a few times with an ink pad to get just the right depth of colour I wanted, then attached to a vellum shadow. Once everything was assembled I added groups of pearls.

Materials used:

• stamps - Vintage Flora, Postmarked (Honey Bee)
• dies - envelope, stitched rectangle
• Altenew inks - sand dunes, rocky shore, mocha
• Catherine Pooler inks - serenade 
• other - Big Shot, blending brushes, clear embossing powder, heat tool, MISTI, seam binding, dried flowers, adhesive pearls

Check out more samples from the design team to inspire you over on the Just Add Ink blog and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Letting Things Go

I recently had my first attempt at a collage layout in my art journal, though it's probably more of a 'clean and simple collage' than a true collage, lol. It incorporates an autumn theme and colours and while it didn't end up looking exactly how I'd imagined, I let that ideal go and have come to love it. 

I began with covering the double spread using paints in yellows and oranges then stamped and clear embossed large leaves. Once dry I sponged over the background with blue and did some stamping of text with brown ink. Unfortunately I forgot to use permanent ink and used dye ink instead, so when it came time to glue the fussy-cut images and give the whole thing a coating of collage medium, the dye ink smudged, turned the blue to a murky green/brown and ended up darker than I'd intended. Lesson learned, sigh! I shadowed the collaged images with marker, added a sentiment and splatter, and darkened around the edges to draw the eye in. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Sketchy Leaves (Tim Holtz), script (stash)
• collage images - Autumn Stories (Maremi's Small Art)
• other - distress paints, clear embossing powder, heat tool, collage medium, Big Brush Pens 

I'm entering this in the Four Seasons Challenge for this month, which is autumn/fall.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Carpe Diem

I was really drawn to the graphic for the Colorful Options challenge this month.

So dramatic! I really wanted to create but didn't want to fall back on Halloween or autumn as a theme. As I love the suited image in the collage, I decided to try something along those lines. Here's how it turned out:

I made my background with distress spray stain and oxide spray on watercolour card, then stamped over it with archival ink. The gentleman is three layers and for fun I added the orange tie as a sort of reverse of the image in the collage. As the background stamping is about living life to the fullest, I thought the Carpe Diem sentiment die was a perfect fit.

Materials used:

• stamps - Do What You Love (Pinkfresh Studios)
• dies - Gentlemen, Tailored (both Tim Holtz), stitched rectangle, Carpe Diem (stash)
• other - crackling campfire distress spray stain and oxide spray, water spritzer, Big Shot, MISTI, hickory smoke archival ink

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Here for the Candy - Just Add Ink Challenge #772

Welcome to a new Just Add Ink challenge. This time around you can take the colours or the image or both as inspiration for your creation. If you choose only the colours, you must use at least three of those given.

The witches' hats and jack o'lanterns were the main inspirations for my Halloween card.

I started by creating the background, cutting from white and inking before stamping a number of iconic Halloween images. Next I constructed the cat using dense black card and a touch of sparkle for the witch hat. Cutting the postage collage die came next, then adhering the background segments and this was attached to my card base before I added the cat, jack o'lantern treat bag and sentiment. The confections were cut down through the middle with a craft knife to make them less bulky.

Materials used:

• stamps - Postage Collage Spider Web and Postage Collage Spooktacular (Waffle Flower), Tree Branch, Slender Mushrooms Mini and Mini Meadow Mushrooms (Lavinia), Tiny Frights (Tim Holtz)
• dies - Bewitched and Woof-or-Treat (Spellbinders), A6 Postage Collage and Blocks dies (Waffle Flower), Postale (Tim Holtz)
• other - distress inks, Big Shot, blending brushes, Dimensionals, craft foam, white gel pen, MISTI, white embossing powder, heat tool, Confections Halloween ITim Holtz), Deco Sheets Halloween (Tim Holtz), craft knife

I hope the mood board inspires you to create - it certainly doesn't have to be Halloween themed, the colours allow pretty much anything! Just be sure to mention what your inspiration was. Whatever you choose, have fun making and do share with us using the Just Add Ink linky. There are lots more samples to inspire you on the blog too.

Entering into the Double D challenge of Halloween colours.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

From Our Patch to Yours

I had one of those moments that fellow crafters will recognise - I was going through my stash of dies looking for something, when I came across a set I picked up ages ago at a craft sale and have never used. It's autumn/fall themed and very cute - and you know how much I love autumn. As I was about to bypass it, sad that it's the wrong time of year for it, I reminded myself that it is autumn on the other side of the globe and surely there'd be an appropriate challenge around. I was right! (click on the icons to go to the challenge)

     

So I happily sat down and began to play...

For the background I used patchwork patterned paper dry-brushed with gesso to mute the tones a little and also enhance the rustic feel. Most of my die-cut pieces were cut from coloured card and inked for dimension, then raised on the card surface. I don't have a stamp with this sentiment so I printed it on the computer.

It doesn't feel like spring here today, it's very gloomy and raining and now I'm wishing I had some pumpkin to make soup! Lol. (Sorry about the photo - as I said, gloomy day.)

Materials used:

• dies - Pumpkin House (Papertrey Ink)
• other - Autumn patchwork paper (Etsy), craft foam, Dimensionals, distress inks, blending brushes, Big Shot, computer & printer, white gel pen, white gesso, paint brush

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Leaves For You

Today's card is me stepping waaaaaaay outside my comfort zone! Lol. It began as I was browsing the new challenge themes out there and saw a graphic which I initially dismissed as 'not my thing' but which continued to niggle at the back of my mind. A second look had me thinking of a particular die set, then two more challenges dovetailed in to solidify the design taking form in my head. Eventually I asked myself, 'What have you got to lose? It's only card, after all.' So here it is, a step outside the box for sure but I'm happy with it.

Subtle piercing in the background enhances the quatrefoil shaping.

Entering into the following challenges:

   

For Inspired by... I was inspired by the graphic vibe, leaf shapes and colours, and from the Tic Tac Toe grid I chose the middle horizontal row of any shape die, free and fall colours.

Materials used:

• stamp/die combo - Overlapping Hugs Additions (Waffle Flower)
• dies - Foliage Shaker (Pinkfresh Studios), Quatrefoil Panel, Quatrefoil Texture (both Waffle Flower)
• other - Big Shot, Dimensionals, MISTI, white embossing powder, heat tool

I hope you have some crafting in your day. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Wrapped in Fun

I think this is probably my last Halloween themed card for the year - my mind seems to be latching on to Christmas pretty firmly, lol, but I couldn't resist one more play with some spooky cuties for the Inkspirational seasonal challenge.

Colouring and cutting delightful mummies was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Materials used:

• stamps - Mummified (Mama Elephant), Unraveled (Tim Holtz)
• other - MISTI, blending brushes, grass edge dies, branch die, essential arches dies, Copic markers, craft foam, distress inks, moon mask

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kerry

My Favourite Boo

I'm rushing in with a last-hour entry for the Inspired by... challenge! 

I was inspired by the use of soft colours for a Halloween card and the Boo, which fits my sentiment stamp so perfectly.

A very simple card; some stencilled clouds, stamped images which were fussy cut and raised on the background. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Boo Crazy (Tim Holtz), Boo Sentiments (Waffle Flower)
• other - cloud stencil (My Favorite Things), blending brushes, Dimensionals, craft foam, MISTI

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry