Let’s Pretend… {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

June 30, 2021June 27, 2021 Elin2 Comments

… it’s still your birthday! I don’t know about you, but I’m notorious about not getting those cards in the mail. I know the birthday’s coming way in advance, and I make the card and everything’s ready to go… and then everything stops. The card doesn’t leave the premises when it should. If any of this is familiar to you, this card may be your jam. I had to color up this Belated Birthday Sloth from Mo Manning as soon as I saw it, it was just too funny and on the nose not to.

It’s a very simple image, and I decided to color it up using one of my favorite color combinations. I kept my two main colors going on the rest of the card as well.

I stamped the Thick and Thin background stamp from My Favorite Things onto a 3 3/4 x 5″ piece of Sour Apple card stock using Sour Apple ink. The cardstock and ink are also from MFT. The ink is the new MFT formulation of their dye inks. The pad itself is squishy, which I don’t associate with dye inks at all, but they stamp very very well and super crisp! I used a rectangle die to die cut a window from the panel and used the remaining frame for my card. The sides of the frame were just wide enough for my foam tape to fit behind, without me having to trim it down.

Onto a piece of Summer Splash card stock, also from My Favorite Things, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment I thought went perfect with my belated birthday sloth. The sentiment is from the Balloon Bouquet stamp set from My Favorite Things. I used partial die cutting to turn my sentiment into a banner with flag ends using the Fishtail Flag Frames die set, also from MFT. I love my MFT products! I added that to my card using more foam tape and some foam squares.

The card was super simple, and I felt like adding a little bit more to it, so I dug out the pack of Cool Summer Nights enamel dots from Altenew and added a few in a visual triangle on my card. Just an extra pop of that teal color against all that green.

This card came together so easily, but I like all the dimension and particularly the colors. And the sloth, let’s not forget him, he’s the star of the show!!

Not a lot of colors for this one. A simple image and simple color palette will do that. 🙂

Let’s get floral {Streamside Studios}

June 29, 2021June 27, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! Sometimes, I like to change up the use of a stamp or two in a stamp set. Small stamps in stamp sets, for example, are great for making backgrounds (though time consuming). This time, I’ve turned a floral image from the Fairy Happy Couple stamp set from Streamside Studios into a card that isn’t wedding related at all. It could be, though, I chose a sentiment that can be used for a birthday card, a wedding card and many other occasions.

This wedding bouquet is so gorgeous, and I printed it onto X-Press It blending card before fussy cutting it, leaving a white border around the edge. For some reason, I’ve been riding a pink, peachy, yellow wave whenever I’ve colored flowers lately, and this one is no exception.

I cut down a piece of Lemon Tart card stock from Papertrey Ink to 3 1/4 x 5 1/2″ and ran it through my die cutting machine with an impression plate to create some texture to my yellow background. I mounted it with foam tape onto a side fold A2 card I created using Stamper’s Select White card stock from Papertrey Ink. It’s my favorite white card stock, it’s thick, bright white and doesn’t crack.

Onto the yellow, I added my colored flowers using 1 mm foam squares. On the part that hangs off the yellow edge, I used foam tape in addition to the 1 mm foam squares to prevent sagging and make everything level. Using a die set from Papirdesign, I created a stacked sentiment. For the shadow, I used some 40 lb vellum, and on top of that I have four white die cuts stacked on top of each other for dimension. The trick here is that I also put two layers of white die cuts behind the vellum, giving it a little lift. In fact, the part of the word that overhangs to the right of the flowers has an additional three white die cuts behind it to compensate for the height of the 1 mm foam squares behind the flowers. Dimension is life?

I stamped and white heat embossed part of a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto Melon Berry card stock from Papertrey Ink and added a few more strips of the same card stock behind it for dimension. I embellished the card very simply using sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink staggered around the flowers. Some are tucked behind, others hanging off the edge, I really like the effect it brings.

Lots of layers, and lots of dimension.

Quite a few colors despite a fairly simple palette. I didn’t want the center flower to be the same color as the other ones, so I went in with dark colors and plenty of layers before I was happy.

Bear hugs {Lili of the Valley}

June 28, 2021June 27, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I have a simple card to share today, featuring Jenny floral border, which is an image from Lili of the Valley. I printed the image with a low opacity setting to get the no line look and colored in my image with Copics, drawing the facial features back in with a black pen.

I don’t often color fur like this. It’s very relaxing to do and a very forgiving technique, but it’s a time consuming one, layering up all those fine lines isn’t done in five minutes, or fifteen, for that matter, so I don’t usually take the time to do it, but this cute little bear was begging for it.

Using the watercolor stripes stencil from Altenew, I dry embossed a piece of Soft Stone card stock from Papertrey Ink. I’ve had a love affair with the Papertrey Ink card stock for close to a decade now; it’s my favorite, and this particular grey color is so soft and perfect! I mounted it onto a top fold white card base (made out of Stamper’s Select White card stock, another one from PTI) using lots of foam tape, leaving a 1/4″ border around the edge. Using even more foam tape, I mounted my fussy cut colored piece in the center of the grey card stock for even more dimension.

I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a scrap piece of Berry Sorbet card stock from Papertrey Ink and turned it into a small banner with one of the dies in the Itty Bitty Strips die set from My Favorite Things. This particular pink card stock is another favorite of mine, and I only have tiny scraps left, I need to stock up! I mounted the banner onto my colored piece using 1 mm foam squares.

I added sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh to finish off my card. Three groupings forming a visual embellishment triangle. I usually only place my embellishments near the sentiment to draw the eye to the sentiment, but for this one I staggered them elsewhere too. I love that these sequins come in a bag with four different sizes. I have other sequins I love too (the mixes from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards are awesome), but I still believe these are my favorites. If I could only buy one type of sequins for the rest of forever, these are the ones I’d choose.

I’m sending sparkling, dimensional, flowery bear hugs your way!

Missing you {hÄnglar & Wings}

June 26, 2021June 18, 2021 Elin1 Comment

Hi there! A few months ago I was asked to guest design for hÄnglar & Wings. I have a hard time saying no to guest design gigs no matter how busy I am, and today I’m sharing the first of two cards I made with the stamp set I chose. Part of me wanted to choose a Christmas set (I loooove creating Christmas cards), but I went completely opposite in the end and chose a stamp set with a couple of very summery girls called Bästa Vänner.

For this first card I decided to create a card that is very typical for me. Colored image, die cut panel with faux stitch edge and an embellishment cluster with a sentiment.

I colored the girl from the Bästa Vänner stamp set with my Copics, and used a die from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with the aforementioned faux stitch edge that I love so much. I adhered it to a card base I made out of Wild Wisteria card stock (sadly, a discontinued color) from My Favorite Things.

I love creating these embellishment clusters with die cut patterned paper scraps. I have a tub of these die cut scraps on my desk, sorted by color so I don’t have to go through the whole tub for each card. I typically choose two or three colors that go with the colors in my image and play with sizes and directions of my scraps until I come up with a design I’m happy with. It’s my favorite way to use up my patterned paper scraps. Back in the day I used a ton of patterned paper, and I still have lots left as I don’t use much of it anymore, but this method makes my scrap pile shrink ever so slightly with each cluster.

For this cluster I used paper from P13, Imaginisce, Scenic Route and Karen Foster. I put a mini paper doily from Doodlebug Design at the bottom and built up my cluster with a little bit of foam tape here and there for dimension. The sentiment comes from the Bästa Vänner stamp set, embossed in white on a die cut piece of the same color card stock that I used for my cardbase. To finish off the card, I added a few enamel dots from Altenew.

Not a whole heap of colors used for this one.

You are simply wonderful {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

June 23, 2021June 23, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! Today, I have a simple card to share. Nothing out of the ordinary, really, my cards are usually pretty simple.

August from Mo Manning is such a cute image, and I colored it up with my Copics in the beginning of the month, and I’ve turned my colored piece into a very simple card.

I die cut my colored piece with the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX dies from My Favorite Things and adhered it to a top fold card base I made from Lavender Fields card stock, also from MFT. I also die cut a white piece to put on the inside of the card for a space to write a personal message.

I die cut a patterned paper piece from My Favorite Things using the same die, and cut it down to a 1 1/4″ strip with my paper trimmer. I mounted it on foam tape above my image. I love that the faux stitch edge is continuous across the colored panel and this patterned paper strip.

I stamped and white heat embossed a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment onto a separate piece of Lavender Fields card stock, and die cut it into a banner using the smallest die in the Fishtail Flag Frames die set from My Favorite Things and mounted it on 1 mm foam squares to the patterned paper.

I finished off with a few sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh near my sentiment.

I used lots of colors for her skin, but other than that, I didn’t use a whole lot of Copics for this one.

Hello {Purple Onion Designs}

June 22, 2021June 21, 2021 Elin1 Comment

Hi, there! I’m sharing a card that’s a little different for me today. I created a little landscape scene using three stamps from Purple Onion Designs: Chloe, Birch Tree Background and Bloom no. 2 Daisy. I did some masking and stamped my images using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things onto X-Press It blending card, which is what I pretty much always use for my Copic coloring. I love my X-Press It! I wanted a golden brown bunny and actually chose to color the shirt yellow. I don’t use yellow a lot in my cards, but thought it was the perfect summery color for this one. Summer solstice was yesterday, which means that even though we’re only three weeks into summer, the days are about to get shorter. I don’t want shorter days, I love it when the sun barely has time to set before rising again the next day.

I don’t make many landscape cards, and this one turned out to be a side fold card, which is even more rare for me. I love my top fold cards, but I’d already cut and scored this card base and figured I might as well use it and create a side fold card for once.

To reinforce the yellow shirt and the yellow on the flowers, I decided to add a yellow frame. I die cut the largest of the Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frames dies from My Favorite Things out of Bright Buttercup card stock from Papertrey Ink and added three additional white die cut frames behind it for dimension.

In the space between the trees I had room for a fairly large hello, die cut using the Say Hello die from My Favorite Things. It’s really a speech bubble die, but I’d used everything but the word for a different card and had the stacked hello die cut in a bowl on my desk, ready to go. There’s a ton of dimension in this die cut, it’s six layers thick.

Some bright, sunshiny Copics to finish off.

Showering you with birthday wishes {Purple Onion Designs}

June 20, 2021June 20, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I have a simple, yet colorful birthday card to share today, featuring the Confetti Celebration stamp set from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Julian Charlton.

I love Elliot & Marcel, they’re such a cute pair, and so full of character!! These two don’t have a ton of detail to them, making them quick and easy to color. If detailed coloring isn’t your thing, these stamps are a great option. I colored my elephant and monkey (and umbrella and confetti) using my Copics, and I didn’t even ground these. I did, however die cut them into a panel using the largest of my A2 stitched rectangles dies from My Favorite Things.

I adhered my colored panel onto a top fold card base I made from Lush Lagoon card stock from My Favorite Things, and added a second white panel with faux stitching to the inside of the card, giving me plenty of space to write a personal message to the recipient.

I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Confetti Celebration stamp set onto a separate piece of Lush Lagoon card stock and decided to cut it up, leaving out the word birthday entirely and using a die from My Favorite Things to create die cut letters instead. I used the Big Birthday Wishes die, and die cut it three times from white card stock and once from a silver glitter card stock.

I stacked my letters for a dimensional look, glued them to my card and added the rest of the sentiment above and below my die cut word. The wonky angles I used for the sentiment goes well with the playful look of the image and adds a little bit of visual interest.

To finish off the card I added a few enamel dots from Papirdesign that match the colors I used for the confetti and the umbrella.

Very simple use of Copics for this one. With such a fun, simple image, you really don’t need much.

Teeing off! {Lili of the Valley}

June 18, 2021June 16, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I have a 50th birthday card to share today, featuring the Teeing Off image from Lili of the Valley that was released a few weeks ago.

The card was made on order for a golf-playing tinsmith whose favorite football team (European football) is Liverpool. I wanted to include as many of the elements as possible, and made a slimline card with patterned paper from Papirdesign, P13 and 7 Dots Studio.

I used lots of foam tape for dimension, and varying widths of the patterned paper layered and criss-crossed across the card. I used the Slimline Starter die set from My Favorite Things and also the Stitched Trad. Tag STAX dies to create the tags. The reinforcers are made with the Tag Builder Blueprints 6 die set, also from MFT.

Through one of the reinforced holes, I pulled a piece of Cherry twine from Whisker Graphics and dug through my stash to find a ball charm, perfect for a football fan. I wanted to include a little bit of metal because of his profession, and started by stapling the twine to the tag. I also fussy cut a few footballs from patterned paper from Papirdesign that I scattered across the front.

I fussy cut my golfer and added him to the front of the card using foam tape.

I created a circle with the recipient’s age and covered it with a thick layer of Glossy Accents. Glossy Accents takes a long time to dry, so I made this little piece before starting on the rest of the card and put it somewhere safe to dry for a few hours. Once it was time to put the card together, I’d completely forgotten about this little 1″ circle, and only found it after I’d handed the card over to the woman who ordered it. Thankfully, I was able to meet up with her the following day to add it to the card, but of course, all my photos were already taken, so I snapped this super quickly with my phone just to show what the card should have looked like all along.

I was asked to try to put the Liverpool team song somewhere on the card, and I figured that one of the insides had just enough space. The other inside has plenty of room for a personal message to the recipient.

On the back of the card I used more patterned paper, more fussy cut footballs and also a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS stamped in Memento Ladybug ink.

I also added my personal stamp to the back of the card, on a white football with splatters. Back in February, Create a Smile had a two week collaboration with Sommerabend where you could order personal stamps. I got this one and an address stamp. I’ve been creating cards for over 10 years, but never had a personal stamp until now, and I’m so happy with how they both turned out.

I felt like I hadn’t hit the brief in terms of the tinsmith part, so I decided to die cut the letters of his name in foil sheet and add to the front of the envelope. I put a couple of layers of plain card stock die cuts behind each foiled letter for dimension, and used an old hammer from Tim Holtz to add a little texture to the letters. A few footballs on either side of his name to complete the look.

Not a whole lot of Copics required for an image that mostly reads as red and white.

Happy birthday

June 16, 2021June 16, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi again! My second post for today, if you’re looking for some Mo Manning inspiration, you’ll find this morning’s post here. This one is a fairly clean and simple birthday card, featuring a cat from the Pawty Time stamp set from My Favorite Things.

I colored up this cute cat with my Copics back in September last year, so it’s definitely taken me a while to turn my colored piece into a card. I’d stamped the cat in My Favorite Things Extreme Black ink in the center of a 1/4 sheet of X-Press It blending card and colored it with Copics. I may have had plans for fussy cutting, but I took out one of my faux stitch rectangle dies from My Favorite Things and turned it into a rectangular panel instead.

I cut down a 6×6″ sheet of patterned paper from the Dots & Stripes Pastels paper pack from Sunny Studio and adhered it onto a top fold card base I made out of Summer Splash card stock from My Favorite Things. The colors match very nicely, and the polka dot paper goes really well with the dots on the balloon.

I adhered my colored panel in the center of the card using foam tape for a little bit of lift and dimension.

In the top left corner of my colored panel, I decided to put my remaining elements. I like putting things close together instead of spreading them out, I think the cards look cleaner and less cluttered this way. I adhered a mini paper doily from Doodlebug in the corner, and used that as a base for my other elements.

I’ve had this happy wood veneer from Studio Calico for years, and decided that it was time to use it. Using liquid glue (Gina K. connect, which is the only liquid glue I like), I added it directly onto the paper doily, with just a little bit of the h hanging off the edge for added visual interest. I stamped and white heat embossed the word birthday from the Birthday Wishes stamp set from Mama Elephant onto piece of Gravel Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things and used one of the Itty Bitty Strips dies from MFT to die cut it. I added a few more layers of gray cardstock behind it for dimension, so the strip sits flush with the veneer. To finish off the card I added three enamel dots from the Sea Shore pack from Altenew.

Very limited color palette for this one.

A little hello {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

June 16, 2021June 15, 2021 Elin1 Comment

Hi there! I love lily of the valley, and as soon as I saw Lily Fairy from Mo Manning, I knew it was an image I needed. They’re at their peak right now, and they smell so divine. I’ve picket two bouquets, I just wish they lasted longer than a couple of days in a vase. Hopefully, my card will last longer than the actual flowers.

I colored up my image with Copics. I chose a very light, bright combo for the green. The leaves on a lily of the valley are much darker than this, but I really like this combo, and with the fairy hanging out between the leaves, I didn’t really care too much about realism anyway. I chose to color her dress pink for a pop of a different color, and you can actually get real lilies of the valley that are pink, so I thought it was the perfect fit.

After using a die from My Favorite Things to add the faux stitch lines around the edge of my colored panel, I added Frosted Lace Stickles from Ranger to her wings for a little bit of sparkle. I adhered my panel onto a top fold card base I made from Sour Apple card stock from My Favorite Things.

Embellishment clusters have become a signature of mine, and I have five things that I pretty much always use to create them:

White mini paper doily from Doodlebug Design.
The Fishtail Flag Frames die set from My Favorite Things.
The Happy Days Ticket Stubs die from XCut.
Scraps of patterned paper.
Enamel dots or sequins.

I keep a tub on my desk with die cut patterned paper scraps where I’ve used the two die sets I mentioned. The other day I even took the time to sort through them and divide them by color, which will make it easier to pull the ones I need for future cards. For this one I used two additional dies: a hole pattern die from Papirdesign and a die from the Itty Bitty Strips die set from My Favorite Things for the sentiment.

The sentiment is from a stamp set from InkyWings, heat embossed in white onto Sour Apple cardstock from My Favorite Things. I’ve added 1 mm foam squares between some of the layers in my cluster for a little bit of dimension, and I even put a mini cluster in the opposite corner, using scraps from the bigger cluster. I really like using as much of my cardstock and patterned paper as I possibly can, and by doing it this way, very little goes to waste. The patterned paper I used for these clusters is a mix of 3ndypapir, P13 and Sunny Studio, and I found the perfect color of enamel dots from Papirdesign as a finishing touch.