Sometimes we’re all a little nutty! {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends! There’s a new stamp out from Streamside Studios. It’s a fun palm tree with some crazy looking coconuts. There’s also a few puns included, which makes creating funny cards sooo easy.

The stamp is called Coco Loco, the name’s even funny. And also very fitting. I printed it near the bottom left of my panel of X-Press It blending card and printed my sentiment near the top right corner.

I did some very simple Copic coloring of the palm tree, the beach and also colored a pale blue halo around it to give the illusion of some sort of sky around it. I prefer the look of this light blue on the outside of the actual image instead of the bright white of the paper, I think it looks more finished this way.

I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things to trim down my panel slightly and add faux stitching around the edge, before I adhered it to a card base I created from New Leaf cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I added some brown enamel dots from Papirdesign near the sentiment and also a couple near the image itself to embellish a tiny bit. I love enamel dots!

To enhance the nuttiness of this image, I colored the cheeks pink and added Glossy Accents to what was already crazy looking eyes for a bit of extra fun.

Simple image equals simple color palette.

Slim happy birthday {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for another Mo Manning creation. This time I made a simple slimline card, featuring Carry the Cake, which is a cute image of a little girl holding a BIG cake with lots of candles above her head.

I colored the image with Copics and used the largest die in the Slimline Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to cut it down to the perfect size panel to go onto a slimline card. I adhered it directly onto a card base I created from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

From Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I die cut the Happy Birthday Brush Script die from Simon Says Stamp three times and stacked the diecuts for a dimensional look, before adhering them below the image on my card. I added a layer of Frosted Lace Stickles to the star on top of the cake and scattered a few chosen sequins from the Seaglass mix of sequins from Simon Says Stamp to finish the card.

Lots of Copics for this one.

Hello friend {Lee Holland Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a clean and simple, yet dimensional card to share today, featuring the Peony Dragon 1 digi stamp from Lee Holland. This was one of the first of Lee’s images I colored up a couple of years ago, and this tiny dragon hugging these peonies is just sooo adorable.

I printed the image onto X-Press It blending card and colored it with my Copics, before trimming it down. I mounted it on foam tape to a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I felt the need to add a design element that would break the rigidity of the rectangular panels, and decided to add some twine going across. I wrapped Green Apple Divine Twine around the card front three times and tied a knot. The green goes well with the green in the image.

Onto a piece of Eiffel Tower cardstock from My Favorite Things, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Mini messages stamp set from Mama Elephant, before using a 1″ circle punch from EK Success to create a quick circle from it. I added strategically placed pieces of foam tape on the back of it and adhered it directly onto the knot I had tied on the front of the card.

To finish off the card, I added sequins and gems from the Urban Chic mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. They’re kind of scattered in a trail going from the bottom left to the top right of the image.

The card is simple, but has lots of dimension, and that dragon hugging his peonies will always steal the show.

Mostly analogous color palette, with a little bit of pink and yellow (!) for the peonies.

Believe {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi. Christmas is less than six months away, so what’s more natural when we’re approaching the end of June than a Christmas card, to kind of kick off Christmas in July?

I decided to create a full card shaker this time. They’re fun to make, and a lot easier than you’d think. Even easier (and way faster) than regular shaker cards! At least they are to me.

This is the Snowman Family stamp from Rachelle Anne Miller. She creates the cutest snowmen. I printed the image so it covered most of my panel and colored it with Copics.

This cool, deep pink is so much fun to use for Christmas cards, it’s unexpected and fun, and matches the Autumn Rose color cardstock from Papertrey Ink sooo well.

I created my shaker pocket from half a stamp storage pocket from Avery Elle. I created score lines and folded so my panel would fit inside, used score tape on the back of the bottom and sides of the pocket and filled it before folding over the top flap and sealing it shut.

I used the Icicle Sequin mix from Hero Arts to fill my pocket. This mix has clear sequins, matte white sequins and iridescent star confetti, just enough to create interest, while not being too distracting. It’s a perfect mix for wintery shaker cards.

For the die cut word, I used the Believe die set from Simon Says Stamp. I die cut the shadow from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and the word itself from Autumn Rose cardstock, also from Papertrey Ink. I adhered the two together and then directly onto the shaker pocket. If you’ve never created a full card shaker before, I urge you to try, it’s so much fun!

I tend to go overboard when I color snow. No exception this time 🙂

Party time {Lili of the Valley}

Hi! I have a super simple card to share today, featuring the Party Frame image from the latest release from Lili of the Valley, which came out earlier this week.

This was a BIG image. It came into Photoshop as a full A4, and it’s kind of perfect for the front of a party invitation (which is what it’s actually intended for), but I wanted to create a regular size card from it. The tag tied to the a in Party actually says RSVP, but I erased that digitally before printing my image.

I was worried this would take a long time to color, but it wasn’t that bad, actually. I used a fairly limited color palette, I think that helped.

I colored the entire panel using my Copics, before using my scissors to cut around the edge. I usually use a trimmer or a steel ruler and a craft knife for this, but the frame has a fun, uneven line, and I wanted my cutting to be uneven too, so scissors were the way to go.

I adhered my panel onto a card base I created from Sorbet cardstock from Concord & 9th, stamped and white heat embossed part of a sentiment from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things onto a strip of Sorbet cardstock and glued a few additional cardstock strips behind it for dimension before adhering it to the card.

To finish off I added a layer of Glossy Accents to the letters. I didn’t want to add any embellishments to this card, it had enough going on already with the busy scene, but a little bit of shine is never a bad idea.

See? Not that many Copics considering how busy this scene is.

Have a bright sunshiny day {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I have what’s basically a one layer card to share with you today, featuring a couple of stamps from the newest release from Purple Onion Designs, as well as a couple of older ones.

I stamped Delilah and the butterflies from the Flora & Fauna set using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, before creating masks to put on top and stamping the older Birch Tree Background in Fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a soft, no line look in the background.

I colored the entire panel with Copics, deciding to add a few clouds in the sky as well as some visible blades of grass near the trees.

I adhered my colored panel onto a top fold landscape A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I stamped a sentiment from the Sunshiny Sentiment Set using Sour Apple ink from My Favorite Things for a subtle tone on tone effect, I wanted the main focus to be on the squirrel and the butterflies.

To finish off the card I added a few pearls from Kort & Godt in three different sizes (2 mm, 2.5 mm, 3 mm). Adding the pearls was actually my niece’s idea. I tend to go for sequins myself, but I love pearls too and hadn’t used these in a while, so it was good to break them out.

The lack of dimension makes this a very thin, lightweight card compared to my normal cards, which means this won’t have any problems going through the mail.

Not a lot of colors given that the entire card front is colored.

Waving hello {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends! If you’ve been here before, it won’t come as a surprise that I love coloring dragons. Today I have a cute dragon card to share, featuring the Flying Dragon from a digi stamp set from Streamside Studios released last month.

I colored the dragon with my Copics and fussy cut him right up against the black lines of the image. I put him aside while I worked on the rest of the card.

Onto a top fold white A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I ink blended Azurite, Ultramarine and Eastern Sky inks (all from Altenew) towards the top of the card, fading to white near the bottom. I splashed some water droplets on top for a cool effect. Dye inks are water based and react with water, so this works with most inks you probably have. The darker the color, the bigger the impact.

From Cement Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things, I die cut two layers of the skyscraper skyline in the Slim Film City die set from Mama Elephant and adhered them at the bottom of my card. Using the cloud die in the Slim Basics die set, also from Mama Elephant, I die cut the cloud shape three times from Stamper’s Select White cardstock, stacked them and adhered them to the top of the card.

Onto the card base, I stamped a sentiment from the Journey Sentiment Set from Purple Onion Designs using more of the Azurite ink from Altenew that I used for the ink blending. I thought the blue on blue would be a better fit for the card than a black sentiment.

I adhered the dragon partially on top of the clouds, using foam squares behind the parts hanging off the clouds for even dimension, and sprinkled a few gems and sequins from the Seashore mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards around the dragon and sentiment to finish the card.

Suuuuper simple color palette for this dragon.

Merry & Bright {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends! There’s a brand new release out from Rachelle Anne Miller, and it’s all about our new bunny and guinea pig friends – they’re getting ready for the holidays. July is right around the corner, and we all love Christmas in July, right?

The image is called Bunny & Guinea: Snowman, and you’ll find it over in Rachelle’s shop here. I decided to go for a winter sunset look with my sky for this card and used fairly soft colors throughout.

I used the Mega Snowflakes Cover die from Mama Elephant to die cut my frame. I stacked three for dimension and adhered it to my colored image, then adhered the whole thing to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

Using the Merry Script die from Mama Elephant, I die cut three from Hawaiian Shores cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and another three from the same white cardstock that I used elsewhere on the card. I stacked the colored die cuts and the white ones separately so that I could put the white ones behind the parts of the colored ones that aren’t on top of the white stacked die cut frame at the bottom.

Onto a strip of Hawaiian Shores cardstock, I white heat embossed part of a sentiment from Purple Onion Designs and cut it down to fit my card, adding two more strips behind it so that the stamped part of the sentiment would be flush with the die cut part.

I added a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish the card.

Simple color palette.

Thinking of you {Crafty Meraki}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a (for me) super clean and simple card to share today, featuring products from Crafty Meraki’s anniversary release. No coloring today, which is rare on my cards.

I thought the Natalia Meraki Flora dies were really beautiful and wanted them to be the focal point on my card. Using all three flower dies in the set, I die cut from Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th as well as from New Leaf and Cocoa Bean cardstock, both from Papertrey Ink.

I wanted to add a little bit of interest to my flowers and did some simple ink blending. I used Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks for the yellow, Fresh Leaf ink from Altenew for the green and Vintage Timber from My Favorite Things for the brown. I also added additional diecuts to build dimension and interest to these flowers.

Onto a white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped a sentiment from the Paper Hugs stamp set, which comes with a beautiful image of an envelope full of flowers and is another new one from the anniversary release. I really want to color up the envelope with flowers too, so stay tuned for that. I used VersaFine Onyx Black ink and placed the sentiment in a sweet spot between my sunflowers.

This is a very simple card, and in hindsight I kind of wish I’d used a different color for my card base, or even ink blended a gradient blue with on the card base, but the white makes the yellow pop and is very clean, which is usually my preference on simple cards.

Here you can see a little bit of the dimension on the card. I used white diecuts behind the the yellow ones (I don’t have a lot of that Buttercup cardstock and wanted to use as little of it as possible), which worked out great. The white almost disappears against the white of the background, making it look like the flowers are floating on the card, it’s such a cool effect!

Cheers! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! I have another card to share featuring stamps from the newly released A Special Day collection illustrated by Stacey Yacula for Purple Onion Designs.

This time I’m keeping the focus on Cecil, a cute tortoise with a party balloon in his hand an a party hat on his head. I stamped him in Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, created a mask for him and stamped the older The Perfect Spot background stamp using Fadeout ink from Inkon3. I also stamped a tree stump from the Woodland Floor Set, which is also another new one with the A Special Day release.

I used a lot of green for this card. Not too many markers, but I feel like most of the card is green. I actually had to refill all the greens I used for the fields and trees halfway through. They hadn’t been refilled in a couple of years, so it was about time, I use these greens a lot.

I needed a pop of color to counteract all the green and decided on a corally pink color combination that I used for the party hat and balloon. I dug through my colored cardstock looking for a match, and wound up with Fire Coral cardstock from My Favorite Things. I created a top fold A2 card base from it and adhered my colored panel onto it to the left side, it wasn’t wide enough to cover the entire card front.

In the fall of 2020 I was running seriously low on X-Press It blending card, which is the only cardstock I use for my Copic coloring. It was hard to get hold of back then, but I lucked out and got a pack from Amazon UK. It was A4, which kind of blew my mind a little bit. Up until that point, I didn’t even know A4 X-Press It existed, I’ve always bought letter size. A4 is less wide and taller than letter size, which means I only get two panels that cover an A2 card front from one sheet. I used one of the narrower pieces on this card, which left me with about 1/4″ extra width on the card base. I debated cutting it off, but I feel like the pink strip on the right provides a little bit of balance, the card would be very green without it.

Onto a separate piece of Fire Coral cardstock, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Til mannen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS, before die cutting it using a speech bubble die from Altenew. I popped it up on 1/16″ foam squares from Gina K for a tiny bit of dimension.

You’d think that with a close to full panel of coloring that I’d use a lot more colors than this, but the four greens near the left end of this graphic were all I used for the grass and the trees, which covers most of the card.