Christilyn's Creations

Creative papercrafting with occasional side trips

Blog

It’s celebration season

Spring brings a round of celebrations, it seems. From garden parties to baby showers, graduation to weddings, it seems to be a time people gather together. And for a more formal party, place cards and table numbers set the tone.

I envisioned this as a bridal shower set, using Lawn Fawn’s Platform Pop-Up and Henry’s ABCs and 123s. A circle from the Large Stitched Circle Stackables and the heart from 4 Square Backdrop-Landscape provide a resting place for for the table number, and a square from Large Stitched Square Stackables folded in half makes a great place card. Lavender and Vanilla Malt cardstocks were chosen for their dainty feel, and the trim is from my stash.

April 14, 2026
Birthday constellations

Constellations are patterns of stars that people have imagined into shapes for thousands of years, often telling stories about gods, heroes, and creatures. Ancient civilizations used them as maps in the sky. Even today, constellations help astronomers organize the night sky, connecting us to both science and human imagination.

This belated birthday card was made by coloring a standard A2 card panel with Distress Oxide inks in Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, and Villainous Potion and spattering it with Brutus Monroe Aqua Pigment in Gilded. It was then embossed with the constellation pattern using a Darice embossing folder. The Lawn Fawn Year 11 planet and sentiment were perfect fits for this card. The planet was colored with Copic markers and metallic gel pens, and the sentiment was stamped using Tsukineko ink on a panel ink blended to match the background.

April 11, 2026
Cats & Books

Cats are wonderfully independent yet affectionate companions, bringing quiet comfort with their soft purrs and curious personalities. Books open entire worlds, offering knowledge, escape, and imagination with every page turned. Together, cats and books create the perfect peaceful moment-curling up with a good story while a content cat rests nearby is a simple kind of magic.

This card is an entry into the Newton’s Nook Inky Paws Challenge. It was a color challenge this time, with the requirement being to use magenta, yellow, purple, and turquoise. I used the Card Layout 3 and papers from the Springtime, Happy Easter, and A Cat’s Life paper pads for the background. The image and sentiment are from Newton’s Book Club, colored with Copic markers and accented with gold gel pen. A few gold baubles round out the card.

April 8, 2026
He is Risen!

Happy Easter! This card is made with The Stamps of Life He is Risen die, Lawn Fawn Woodgrain cardstock in Lt. Brown, and Simon Says Stamp Matte Gold cardstock. The die cut panel was then mounted on a base panel colored with Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass.

April 5, 2026
Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to Lawn Fawn and me! Lawn Fawn is turning sixteen, and well, let’s just say I’m considerably older. This card uses the Giant Birthday Messages stamp & die set, as well as the birthday incentives from 2022-2025, Party Pig, Party Deer, Party Beaver, and Party Cat(Party Fox arrived too late to join in this year.) The images were colored with a mix of Copic markers and Pigma Micron pens, as well as a Pentel Sunburst Metallic Gel for the gold. The center message was mounted on gold cardstock on thin foam squares, and the animals on standard foam squares. Happy birthday to everyone who celebrated in March!

April 2, 2026
Fantasical Fun

This card is in honor of my nephew, who loves fantasy. I used the Waffle Flower Open Book die, Dragon Castle coloring stencil, and Open Book Sentiments stamp set. I used Gina K. inks in Blue Denim, Red Hot, and Sweet Corn for the dragon and book. The gold accents are done with Simon Hurley’s Lunar Paste in Slippery When Wet and the background is Hero Arts Bold Script. All the black ink is Tsukineko VersaFine Onyx Black.

April 2, 2026
Birthday wishes

This card is for my sister-in-law, whose birthday was at the end of March. She likes gold, but I couldn’t make gold flowers, so I settled for yellow, with a gold heat embossed sentiment and gold embellishments. The stencil and stamp combination are called Buds and Blossoms by Taylored Expressions, and the Sentiment Staples stamp set is also by Taylored Expressions. The inks are Simon Hurley’s Later Gator and Slippery When Wet, Ranger Archival Ink in Sunflower, and Gina K. Sweet Mango. I used Ranger’s Super Fine Detail Embossing Powder in Gold, and Gorgeous Gold Baubles from Trinity Stamps.

April 2, 2026
Thank you in pink

I was playing with embossing folders and came up with this card. The folder used is Circle Rings by Simon Says Stamp, and the inks used were Gina K. Bubblegum Pink, Altenew Puffy Heart, and Lawn Fawn Plastic Flamingo. The circle was cut with Taylored Expressions Stitched Circle Stacklets and the sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp’s CZ Designs Basic Trio.

April 2, 2026
Happy Easter!

I did some tone on tone stenciling using the Pretty Pink Posh Layered Eggs stencil and Bubblegum Pink, Peach Bellini, Lemon Drop, Applemint, Sea Glass, and Lovely Lavender inks from Gina K. I topped it with the Giant Happy Easter die from Lawn Fawn. I stacked several die cuts to give it dimension. I then trimmed it with the Large Rectangle Stackables from Lawn Fawn and attached to a mint panel from my stash with foam tape.

April 2, 2026
Lovely Lilacs

This card was created using Simon Says Stamp’s Lilac Clusters embossing folder and a die from the Scripty Quartet sentiment set by Gina K. Gina K. inks in Wild Lilac and Applemint were used to color the embossed image, and the shadow and mounting panel are Recollections cardstock.

April 2, 2026