Hi, crafty friends. There’s a new release from Lili of the Valley coming in just a couple of days. It’s just one stamp set, but it’s the most adorable set ever. Four elephant images that work for a variety of occasions, and I’ve got a sweet hello card to share today with my favorite of the four images.
Isn’t this the cutest elephant image you ever did see? Saying hello to his little ladybug, I just couldn’t resist. I colored in the image with my Copics and used a stitched border die from Lawn Fawn to create a little interest to the top and bottom of my panel.
I put foam tape on the back and was initially planning on a big die cut word, but it didn’t really work for the card, so I stamped a small sentiment in the grass instead, using Sour Apple ink from My Favorite Things. The sentiment itself is from InkyWings.
Onto a quarter piece of white cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped the Scattered Triangles Background stamp from My Favorite Things using Sour Apple ink near the bottom and Blue Yonder ink, also from My Favorite Things, near the top. I adhered my stamped background onto a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and mounted my colored panel on top.
This cute elephant might be even cuter because I colored him blue. There’s a reason blue’s my favorite color, everything just looks better when it’s blue.
I decided not to add any embellishments to the card, I really wanted the elephant to be the star.
Simple color palette for this one. I also used B90 for the elephant, which is a color I’ve created myself.
My last holiday card was blue, so I needed a new color. Green to the rescue, with a little bit of “gold” and a touch of pink. Somehow, I think it works.
I printed the image twice: once onto X-Press It blending card, which is what I use for all my Copic coloring, and once onto Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I wanted to fussy cut my colored image right up against the lines, but Rachelle’s images come with these great squiggly lines that I didn’t want to lose, they add such a unique look. By printing twice, I could mount my colored piece onto the other one and maintain the wonderful linework.
For the background, I ran my printed white cardstock through my die cutting machine using the Magic Snow Cover die from Mama Elephant, which adds a nice faux stitch snow flurry look. I used an embossing mat to make the details stand out even more, then adhered my white panel to a white cardbase and mounted the colored image using 1 mm foam squares – I wanted a little bit of lift, but not too much dimension.
I then used the sentiment from the Let It Snow die set from Mama Elephant to die cut 5 times from Meadow cardstock from Hero Arts. Before die cutting, I colored one of the pieces with my G46 Copic marker to better match my coloring, stacked the five layers together with the colored one on top and added the stacked die cut sentiment to the card.
I finished off the card with a few sequins. These are a mix of Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and select sequins from the Sea Glass mix from Simon Says Stamp.
I used my favorite green combo AND my favorite “holiday pink” combo for this card. I hope they inspire you.
I colored the image in a very pastel color palette, before trimming the panel down to 3 7/8 x 5 1/2″, added foam tape on the back and mounted it on an A6 (4 5/8 x 6 1/4″) top fold white card base that I covered with a piece of Aqua Sky cardstock from Concord & 9th.
This card was a bit of an evolution. I originally wanted to use a bigger kite and a different sentiment, but the larger kite was too big for my image (AND for my card) and the sentiment I initially wanted to use was too big for this smaller kite, so I had to improvise. I used a die from the kite builder die set from Concord & 9th, and stamped a sentiment from the Kite Strings stamp set, also from Concord & 9th, using VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I then die cut the word hello twice from white cardstock using the Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew, stacked the two together and added the word above the stamped sentiment and popped the kite on some 1 mm foam squares for a tiny bit of dimension.
My card felt kind of empty at this point, I had even more white space than I wanted, and I needed a fix. My color buddy and general crafty assistant Liz suggested adding clouds. Using the Cloud 1 & 2 die set from Papertrey Ink, I die cut three clouds from vellum. I tucked one behind the kite and added tiny slivers of 1 mm foam squares behind the other two for a little bit of dimension, before strategically placing sequins from the Ice Water mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to hide the foam squares and finish the card.
This card didn’t turn out the way I planned, but sometimes, that’s actually a good thing. I like the clouds, the sequins and my other revisions to my original idea. And I will never cease to be amazed at how good clouds always look die cut from vellum. It’s the best!
I didn’t use a lot of markers for this one.
I stamped and masked Birch before stamping the 
I used a gradient of purples for the sky, starting with BV17 at the top and working my way down to B60 at the very bottom. B60 is technically a blue color, but the entire B60 family has a purple tinge, making B60 the perfect choice for the lightest color in the sky. I then used the Big Happy Holidays die from Mama Elephant to die cut 6 layers from white cardstock that I stacked for a super dimensional sentiment that I placed in the sky. I decided to keep the card very clean and simple and didn’t add any embellishments at all.
Lots of cool tones for this one (the markers after the gap are the ones I used for the air brushing).
This image was so quick and easy to color up. It’s a digital stamp from Lili of the Valley, entitled 
I colored the image with Copics, trimmed a little bit off the edges of my panel and adhered it to a card base I created from Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I used the same color cardstock to die cut the words for you using a die in the Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew. I stacked two on top of each other to give a little bit of dimension, without it being too much, before finishing the card with a gems from a pack of Color Essentials gems (in opal) from Spellbinders. I also added a dot of black Glaze pen to the eye of the little bee for a little bit of shine.
Simple color palette for this one.
I used the largest die in the A2 Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to give the edges of the panel a little bit of detail. Onto a white top fold card base, I adhered a quarter panel of Blueberry cardstock from My Favorite Things. I put foam tape on the back of my colored, die cut panel, tied some Blueberry divine twine from Whisker Graphics around the panel and adhered it to the center of the blue card front, before finishing off with a few enamel dots from Papirdesign.
Simple color palette for this one.
I colored my snowman with Copics and fussy cut him leaving a thin white border. I put him aside while I worked on the rest of the tag. Onto some white cardstock (Stamper’s Select White from Papertrey Ink), I ink blended distress inks in the colors Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade and Scattered Straw for a soft background. I then used a die set from Hero Arts (Snowflake and Ornament) to die cut the ornament from my background and the snowflake circle twice from white cardstock. I adhered the two white die cuts together for a smidge of dimension, before adhering them to the base.
I mounted the snowman on foam tape and white heat embossed a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a strip of Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink, mounted that on foam tape and added diamonds from Kort & Godt to the centers of the snowflakes, before finishing off the tag with a piece of ribbon, some thread and a couple of bells from UiT Hobby.
Super simple color palette for this one.
This set offers so many possibilities for customizing your card to suit your needs. I colored the letters to spell happy and fussy cut them, leaving a thin white border and put them aside while I worked on the rest of the card.
Onto a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I ink blended Sno Cone ink from My Favorite Things using the Geometric Landscape stencil from Altenew. It’s a 6×6″ stencil, but it was easy to create a longer section with a little bit of masking and moving the stencil. I then diecut the panel using the Slimline Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it to a card base made from Cotton Candy cardstock, also from My Favorite Things.
I popped my colored, fussy cut letters on foam tape in the center of the card, heat embossed a sub sentiment from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things and finished off the card with drops and sequins from the Ice Water mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I did fairly simple Copic coloring for this, die cut my panel and added it to a white card base I’d covered with a quarter sheet of Winter Wisteria cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
This image with its sentiment deserved to steal the show on its own, so I embellished very sparingly with a few sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
This image is super fast and easy to color. It’s just a head, a hat and a couple of mittens. I wanted a green and gold card, so I colored her hat and mittens green and fussy cut her.
Onto a white top fold card base, I adhered a panel of brushed gold cardstock. Actually I cheated a bit and only added a frame. I die cut the center out of it, so I can use that for something else. No one will ever know I cut a chunk out of it to save for later.
Using the Stitched Snowflake Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn, I created a snowflake background from white cardstock. Once I’d die cut, I ran the panel through my Gemini Jr a second time with an embossing mat to add extra depth to the texture the die made. It really makes a huge difference, as opposed to just running it through once with the die.
I used the Merry Christmas die from My Favorite Things to die cut from the same gold cardstock I used on the base. I die cut six additional layers from white cardstock, adding three of those behind the gold and three behind the shadow I cut from heavyweight translucent vellum from My Favorite Things. All these layers add a ton of dimension to an otherwise simple card.
I added my image to the card using foam tape. Her hands hover just above the merry, it’s like she’s peeking in from behind the sentiment.
Papirmølla 