Hi, crafty friends. A month ago, I shared a fun card featuring the Cute Creatures 1 and Cute Creatures 2 digi stamp sets from Lili of the Valley. Across the two sets, there are 186 animals, which means you have lots of options. I picked out nearly all the sea creatures to drop into a Photoshop file, shrunk them down to about 40 % size, printed and colored them all. I wanted them tiny, and even though I used 20 of my sea creatures for that card, I still had 12 left over. I didn’t want them going to waste.
For this one, I started with a panel of Lazy Day cardstock from My Favorite Things. I used one of the stencils in the Undersea Jamboree stencil set from Altenew to emboss a texture onto my panel. It was very subtle, so I put the stencil back in place and added Crystal 3D gel from Altenew over the top. This gives a fun texture, shine and a very tactile feel to the panel. Once the gel was dry, I cropped down the panel slightly, before inking up the edges with Midnight and Black ink from Concord and 9th to darken my undersea panel. The gel resists the ink I put on, making it easy to buff off the excess.
I adhered my panel to a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I arranged my animals in a circle and mounted each on foam tape. I realized after I took the photos that I’ve left a bit of white on a few of the animals, particularly on the shrimp and the lobster, but I colored and fussy cut the images a month before I put the card together and didn’t remember that I’d left the white bits to deal with later. Once they were mounted with foam tape, it was too late to do anything about it, though. Live and learn, I guess.
I was originally planning on adding a black strip with a white heat embossed sentiment in the center, but I thought it would look just as good, if not better with the heat embossed sentiment directly on the background. I could use the black strip if the white didn’t work out, right? I only had one chance at this, as the critters were already glued down. I put the panel in my Misti, used lots of antistatic powder and stamped the sentiment from the Coral Reef Wonders stamp set from Altenew using VersaMark ink, before sprinkling on super detailed white embossing powder from Ranger and heat set from the back. I always do my heat embossing from the back, it gives a much smoother result than heat embossing from the front. It turned out perfect, and I didn’t have to resort to plan B with the black sentiment strip.
I added a few dew drops from Concord & 9th near the sentiment. They work well as bubbles and they add more shine. I also added black glaze and a white dot with a 05 Gelly Roll to their eyes once the black glaze pen was dry.
I’ve been made aware that this beautiful peach is my signature color. I kind of thought it would be blue, it’s my favorite color, after all, but I don’t make as many blue cards as I used to. Anyway, peach works with just about everything. It’s great with blue, it works really well with green and it’s also dynamite with pinks and yellows. It’s just a really good color. For this card I teamed it up with blue. More specifically, Capri and Bluebell from Concord & 9th, which were both in the new color release this spring. Capri is the most amazing color!!
I cut my panel down using the largest die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower and adhered it to an A2 card base I created from Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th. I stamped one of the sentiments in the Bouquet turnabout stamp set using Nectar ink, die cut it with a circle die, then mounted it on a die cut circle from Grapefruit cardstock, which I then mounted in the center of the card.
I finished off the card with a few pearls, gems and sequins from the Melon mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Isn’t this image fun? I love that Tofu somehow fits in this wine glass. There was an image in last year’s summer collection with a similar vibe. That one had a corgi hanging on to a margarita glass. So fun!
For this card, I simply colored my image with Copics, placed a mask on top of my mage and did some ink blending with C9 inks and the Celebrate stencil set from Kristina Werner. I used purple voluntarily, can you believe it? The purple is Fig faded into Aster, the green is Clover faded into Surfside, and the blue is Capri blended into Bluebell. I can’t take credit for the color palette, though, it was one Jennifer McGuire shared in the C9 Winter Retreat back in January, when they revealed the new colors to the retreat attendees. I’ll take my color inspiration wherever I can get it, and this was a fun one to try. Capri has stolen my heart!
Back to the card. I removed the mask on the corkscrew before stamping the 
I wanted a little bit more interest in the background and decided to use paste, but before I put the paste on, I die cut my panel using the largest die in the A2 Oval Basics die set from Kristina Werner.
Once my panel was the finished size of the card, I placed the corkscrew mask back on, then used another stencil in the Celebrate stencil set from Kristina using Golden Hour Solar Paste from Simon Hurley. I made sure to cover the sentiment before adding the paste, so it wouldn’t end up where I didn’t want it. The paste adds texture and a little bit of shine in addition to breaking up all the white space in the background.
Last, but not least: the Copics I used. Fairly neutral palette for this one.
I added White puff embossing powder from Wow! for a seafoam look near the bottom of my panel and stamped a sentiment from the much older 
To finish off the card, I added a few sequins, gems and pearls from the Melon embellishment mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
This Tropic color combination from Concord & 9th was my inspiration for this card.
The floral stamp’s an old Stamptember collaboration stamp with Studio Katia called Flower Bunch. Studio Katia is no longer in business, I believe, but that doesn’t mean this image is any less gorgeous. I stamped it with Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things onto X-Press It blending card, colored it with Copics and fussy cut the whole thing.
I created a card base from Rustic White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and added some interest to the background with the Garden Lattice Base and Garden Lattice Top dies, both from Honey Bee. I cut two of each, stacked them and adhered them to my card base, gluing the fussy cut image down in the bottom left corner.
I die cut the Gratulerer 6 die (PD17240) from Papirdesign from Summer Sunrise cardstock from Papertrey Ink and backed it with a couple of additional ones die cut from Harvest Gold cardstock, also from PTI. I stamped and white heat embossed a sub sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a scrap of True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink, trimmed it down to a strip and backed it with additional strips for dimension. I’m pretty sure I used some glitter spray at the end of my coloring, because the image on this card really sparkles. It’s not in my notes, though. To finish off I scattered a few sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I even embellished my envelope. I used the By the numbers die set from Papertrey Ink for the big numbers, then white heat embossed another sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS, this time onto Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I love how you can get so many variations of pink with just five markers.
This is a super simple fun fold, you basically fold the front of a regular sidefold card at the halfway point, so it doubles up on itself, which then becomes the front. For this one I started with three panels of Pale Peony cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I inked up the Leafy Lattice press plate from Pinkfresh Studio with white pigment ink from Concord & 9th to impress and ink up a very subtle pattern on all panels. I created a card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink that measures 5 x 6 1/4″ when it’s folded. I scored and folded the front at 2 1/2″. I put one of my panels on the inside of the card, put one on the back of the card and cut the last one in two to put on the front, making sure the pattern lined up with the inside.
This is what the card looks like on display. I die cut a couple of images from a sheet from Kort & Godt (MA1001) using a die in the Stitched Circle STAX die set from My Favorite Things. This paper is kind of thin, so I backed it with a plain white cardstock circle behind. I glued one circle to the front, making sure to put glue on the left side only. I die cut the leafy circle die from Kort & Godt (die 345) from Heavyweight Translucent vellum from MFT and added that on top of my circle image, adhering it only in a few spots. I used the Kjære brudepar die set (PD18406) from Papirdesign for the word, stacking a few white ones, adding the shadow die cut from vellum, then another few white die cuts topped with a glitter one, die cut from pink glitter cardstock from Kort & Godt, before finishing off with a few champagne glitter drops from Pinkfresh Studio.
The circle image on the inside is a little bit smaller than the one on the front, and is hidden when the card is closed. . I added some wedding themed sentiment sticker strips from Kort & Godt (ST1018) and a few more glitter drops to embellish. This circle actually opens to reveal a place to write a sentiment, there’s a score line you can see on the left here.
Another circle hides behind, and there’s enough room for a personal message without it showing too well when the card is open on display.
Here you can see the card open from a different angle.
This wound up being a very soft looking card, between all the pink, white and vellum.
I love love love the added texture and crisp inking you get with a press plate. It’s the best thing ever.
The back of the card. Another die cut circle, another vellum circle with the leaves and a couple more of the sentiment sticker strips. I hope you try this fun fold if you haven’t already. It’s easy, but still something different than store bought.
As I mentioned, I created this card using two collections: 
Once I had all my sea creatures colored and fussy cut, I put them aside and worked on the rest of the card. I die cut the Stamp Border from Gummiapan five times from Powder cardstock from Concord & 9th. The die cuts five postage stamps in a border, but I cut off one, making it a strip of four. I put two layers of white scraps behind each of the individual postage to give it a floating look. I also cut down small cardstock squares two layers thick to put behind my critters, also giving them a bit of dimension, but not as much as foam tape would add.
Once I knew how I wanted my strips of sea postage arranged, I stamped a sentiment from the Småtekster stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Capri ink from Concord & 9th directly on my card base, which I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I made a side fold card this time that is 1/2″ larger in both directions than the standard A2 card. I adhered my postage stamps, added some dew drops from Concord & 9th that kind of look like bubbles and decided to make their eyes shine. I used a black glaze pen, then went over with one small dot of an extra fine white Sharpie once the black was dry. I don’t think I’ve ever used 20 images on one card before, but this was SO. MUCH. FUN!!
I stamped and colored my image with Copics on X-Press It blending card, before using a die in the A2 Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create faux stitching around the perimeter of my panel.
I masked off my image, before using Powder, Harbor and Sea Glass inks from Concord & 9th to ink blend the background through the Perfect Pool Water stencil from My Favorite Things. I flipped and rotated the stencil to create my pool water.
While I still had my mask in place, I stamped a sentiment from the 
I adhered my panel to a card base I created from Oceanside cardstock from Concord & 9th, added a layer of Glossy Accents to Tofu’s glasses and finished off with a mix of sequins and gems from the Ice Water embellishment mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Very limited color palette for this one.
I used the Bouquet turnabout stamp set from Concord & 9th to create my focal point. This turnabout set has two separate images that you turn. The greenery is one stamp, the florals another. I used Sprout, Parsley, Basil and Evergreen inks for the greenery, and Bluebell, Capri, Poppy and Cranberry for the florals, all C9 colors. I’m loving the new 2026 colors from Concord & 9th, Capri is dynamite, it’s so awesome!! I cut my bouquet out using the coordinating die set and put the piece aside while I worked on the rest of the card.
I wanted a subtle background, and opted for the Stippled Plaid press plate from Pinkfresh Studio. I love this press plate, it’s probably the one press plate I use the most. I inked it up very carefully with Bluebell ink and ran it through my system with plain white cardstock to match the white cardstock I used for my floral bouquet stamping. I then cut the panel down significantly, added a mat from Poppy cardstock and mounted it on a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, which is the white cardstock I’ve used for everything on this card.
I popped up my bouquet using more foam tape and knew I wanted a die cut sentiment. Gratulerer med dagen is what you say when greeting someone on May 17th, it literally translates to “Congratulations on the day”. It’s the exact same sentiment we use to wish someone a happy birthday. I used the Gratulerer 6 die set from Papirdesign for the main part of my sentiment. I die cut four layers from white cardstock, one layer from Gold Shine cardstock from My Favorite Things and the shadow layer from Heavyweight vellum, also from MFT. I backed the gold one with one white, adhered it to the vellum and put the three remaining white ones behind the vellum, to give it a bit of dimension.
On a piece of Capri cardstock, I stamped a sentiment (have a fantastic celebration) from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS with VersaMark ink, sprinkled on Super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger and heat set it from the back. I always do my heat embossing from the back, it gives a much smoother result than working from the front. I finished off the card with a few enamel dots from Concord & 9th in Capri, Bluebell and Poppy.
This one is sooo simple. Directly on the card base, I ink blended Blueberry Sky and Harvest Gold inks from Papertrey Ink over the Smart Mask Diagonal High Low stencil from My Favorite Things. This created the perfect spot for a sentiment, and the hurra part of the Hipp hurra die from Kort & Godt was the perfect size for the opening.
I die cut four layers from Tropical Teal cardstock from Papertrey Ink for both words, stacked them and added Frostbite Astro Paste from Simon Hurley on top for a fun, textured effect.
I mounted the panda from Kort & Godt with foam tape, adhered the hurra word in the opening and the hipp on top of both the panda and the other word.
Papirmølla 