January 2026 round up

Hello everyone!!

At the start of January, I explained that between Christmas and the New Year, I started to tidy/reorganise my craft room and was a little taken aback by the amount of new/little used products I unearthed! I promised myself that I would use them this year…. Somehow along the way that morphed into a little challenge to use new/unused products on all cards I made during January!

The result? 28 cards made and approximately 45 new/unused products/suites used!

I’m a little embarrassed about that second number. How could I have possibly acquired so much stuff and not used it? In my defence, a fair proportion was from Black Friday/recent sales and December is always crazy.. but a lot was older than that. When I was younger I bought a lot of clothes and didn’t always wear them so I guess this is the equivalent for my older self! But that doesn’t make it acceptable. I’m pleased to say that I’ve already used most of the products that landed on my doormat during January – I just have to keep embracing that going forward.

This afternoon, I tidied away a lot of the January craftermath. The box I use to corral my new/unused products is now rather empty and I even entered many of my newer/now USED products in the Color My Life app! I also reflected on what I learnt during my mini challenge:

  • I love my new-to-me storage system for Pinkfresh products – I keep suites in one large plastic envelope and slip stamped/die cut images into a smaller envelope to keep with the suites. This works well when I want to make a quick card – like I did on Thursday.
  • I love colouring images with stencils! Love it! I learnt a new technique when I coloured this card and I can’t wait to try it again! I’m keen to find blending specialists who focus on explaining their more advanced techniques as I don’t mind spending a bit longer on my stencilling.
  • Using colour palette books really helped my step away from my pastel/muted comfort zone. I made great use of the ink swatches I made with the Waffle Flower stencils and I’d like to create more swatches in February.
  • I have a LOT of embossing folders. I wouldn’t say too many…. but I need to be more mindful about picking up those bargains because I often can’t think of a way to use them… I’m a bit lazy when it comes to using embossing folders and tend to avoid the inkier techniques.
  • It IS possible to make time for crafting most days.
  • And it IS possible to use new stuff as soon as it arrives in the house!

I’ve totally enjoyed this month’s personal challenge and I’m looking forward to a crafty February!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

 

Enchanting Hello

Hi there!

It’s finally the last day of January! It seems fitting that I made another card with new-to-me, but hitherto unused, Pinkfresh Studio products today. This gorgeous suite is called Enchanting Flora – isn’t the washi tape stunning? All those soft colours! All those different greens together! Fabulous!

I used the main image plus a few of the smaller images today and then added a Spellbinders sentiment. I was pleased to find the perfect dusky pink glitter card and actually cut a few dots from the same card to scatter across the images.

I also have images that I stamped and stencilled which I’m really looking forward to turning into a card so watch this space!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

 

A Gold Hello

Hi everyone!!

I wasn’t going to craft today but then inspiration struck late in the evening! This card didn’t take me too long but photographing it took forever – I think the different golds were throwing off the colour and light balance a bit.

Once again I pulled items from my new box – a Sizzix embossing folder, a Spellbinders sentiment die and the newest item of all, a fabulous branch die by Simply Graphic.

This isn’t going to be mailed so I could go wild (sort of) with my lovely gold pearls!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

CAS – The Framed Mini Bouquet

Hi everyone!!

It’s been a super busy day but this card is proof to me that I don’t actually need hours to put together a CAS card!

I’ve coveted the Irregular Square Frames die set by Simply Graphic for a long time and was very happy to pick it up in their recent sale. It only arrived this morning, but I really wanted to use it so decided to put together a very quick, mailable CAS card.

When I created this card using the Pinkfresh Studio Garden Bouquet product suite, I coloured all the smaller images in colours that were much more in my comfort zone! I was really happy to have them to hand this evening!

I added a tiny sentiment from a Clearly Besotted set and some of my new favourite Twinkle Stickles for some sparkle!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

CAS – The Botanicals Frame

 

Hello everyone!!

Today I pulled out a Pinkfresh product suite that I’ve had for quite for a while – in fact I stamped, coloured and even die cut the leafy image from the Lantern Botanicals product suite some time ago but I never got round to turning it into a card… until today.

I’ve mentioned before that I find creating CAS cards with Pinkfresh products rather challenging as I always want to use all the images I create from their product suites! As I just had a single branch to work with today, I found creating a CAS card quite easy! I paired it with the Ornate Oval Frame cut from pearlescent card and added a sentiment from a Create & Connect event set. As this card has been created with a recipient in mind, I know I will be posting it. The downside is that the Royal Mail’s systems seem to hate any form of bling nowadays so I added a few die cut accents instead to complete my card.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Lovely frame

Hello everyone!!

Well it’s been 24 hours and my new computer hasn’t collapsed again…. not sure I’m ever going to feel compfortable about it but it was nice to not spend most of the day troubleshooting.

Here’s the card I made today – originally planned for Friday before the computer problems zapped my spirit!

This Pinkfresh Studio Making Things Happen product suite was very much a last minute impulse addition to an order but I have lots of ideas for it! Today I kept it simple and paired it with a stem from one of my oldest Pinkfresh products – the Dainty Blooms die set from 2018. How is that EIGHT years ago?

The sentiment is from the Blissful Butterflies stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.