Happy Halloween {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. There’s a brand new Halloween release out today from Rachelle Anne Miller. Four different images in Rachelle’s adorable signature style. I wanted to create a card with the Trick or Treat Mouse, but I managed to sneak in one of the ghosts from Ghost Greetings too. I really wanted to add something extra to my scene, and vellum ghosts seemed like the natural choice.

I colored the trick or treat mouse with Copics, and adhered my panel of X-Press It blending card to a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I used the Boo! stamp from the Itty Bitty Boos stamp set from My Favorite Things to stamp here and there around the scene, with Limelight ink from My Favorite Things, using second generation stamping for a couple of them for a softer look.

I added a couple of pieces of orange dotted patterned paper from Waffle Flower above and below the image. I put foam tape on the back for dimension.

I printed the ghosts on Heavyweight Translucent vellum from My Favorite Things and colored softly with Copics on the back of each of them. Colors don’t really blend on vellum, so you don’t need to be precise. You also need darker colors than you want to end up with, because the colors don’t show through all that well. I fussy cut the ghosts leaving a border around the edge and adhered two of the ghosts directly onto the orange patterned paper, using a little bit of liquid glue, before strategically placing enamel dots from Papirdesign on top, so the glue wouldn’t show through.

I used the Happy die from the Hand-Lettered Happy Birthday dies from My Favorite Things to create my sentiment. I stacked four white die cuts, adhered the last ghost to the y and added a fifth die cut on top. The top layer sparkles in the right light. I used a sheer shimmer craft spray from Imagine, but it doesn’t really show up in photos. It’s subtle in real life too. To finish off my sentiment I white heat embossed another sentiment from the Itty Bitty Boos stamp set from My Favorite Things, this time onto Gravel Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things. I cut it down to a strip, added a few layers behind it for strength and dimension and adhered it to the die cut word, and my card was finished.

I used quite a few Copics for this card.

Gledelig jul {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a Christmas card I made for the Kort & Godt gallery blog to share today. No coloring on this, but I’ve made up for it with lots of die cutting, don’t worry.

I knew I wanted to do something fun with the poinsettia die set from Kort & Godt. The die set comes with three dies in three different sizes. If you die cut two of each, you get a poinsettia. There’s also a leaf die in the set. I die cut three leaves and created four of each size of the petals for a very full poinsettia. I used a patterned paper from the Ink Drops – Vivid paper pad from Craft Consortium for everything paper on this card except for the white cardstock. Before assembling my poinsettia, I curled all the leaves back a little so they wouldn’t appear flat. I just used a paint brush handle, anything that you can use to create that curve will work. I put foam squares on the back of the petals at the very back, but adhered the center of the poinsettia directly to the white die cut panel. I also put foam squares on the back of the leaves.

I die cut the word gledelig four times; once from the patterned paper, three times from white cardstock. I stacked them for dimension, adhering the patterned paper one on top of the others. I stamped and white heat embossed jul to complete the sentiment (the die set with gledelig also has the word jul in it, but it was too big for my card). I used a glue gun to add berries to the center of the flower and embellished with a few white pearls.

The curved leaves and the berries add a lot of dimension to this card. I love that the dies impress the veins of the leaves and petals into the die cuts.

Kort & Godt products used31

DIE 182 – Rektangel med søm

DIE 302 – Julestjerne

DIE 226 – Gledelig jul

M-442

PB201

2 mm, 3mm and 4 mm white pearls

’twas the night before Christmas {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with another Christmas card, this time featuring this adorable mouse from the Festive Mice and Bears stamp set from Lili of the Valley.

I colored the mouse with Copics and fussy cut her, leaving a thin white border. I used a black Glaze pen to create some shine in her eyes, and once the black was dry I added a dot of white using a Gelly Roll 05.

Onto a white cardstock panel, I ink blended Amarena Cherry and Wild Cherry inks from My Favorite Things for an ombre effect. I then used a die cut as a stencil to add some snowflakes to the background with modeling paste from The Crafter’s Workshop. The die I used to die cut the makeshift stencil is the Snowflake Confetti fancy die from Hero Arts, which is one of my all time favorite Christmas/winter dies.

I cut the ink blended panel down a little and adhered it to a panel of Amarena Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things that covers the front of a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

From white cardstock, I die cut the Polaroid Shaker Frame die from My Favorite Things five times for a stacked look, stamping a sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley to the top layer using Amarena Cherry ink from My Favorite Things. I added the cute little mouse on top of the frame, and my card was complete.

If you look closely, you can see the shine in the eyes in this photo.

Very Christmas-y color palette for this one.

Sending smiles {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another card featuring one of the adorable animal greetings in the August release from Rachelle Anne Miller. This time I chose the monkey.

I changed the color of the words monkey see in Photoshop before printing the image. I then colored the image and letters with Copics and used the largest die in the Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create some interest to the edges, as I was planning on leaving lots of white space.

I adhered the panel to a top fold A2 card base I created from Ocean Tides cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love this cardstock color, it’s great for every kind of card.

I used the Fab Foliage die set from My Favorite Things to die cut different leaves in different colors of cardstock. I used Ocean Tides (it really works for everything), Green Parakeet and Spring Moss, all from Papertrey Ink. I even threw in some that I die cut from Heavyweight Translucent vellum from My Favorite Things.

I cut some of the leaves down to fit my card and used a tiny bit of liquid glue at the base of each stem. This way the leaves have a bit of lift off the card, which also adds a little bit of interest.

I finished off with crystals, sequins and pearls from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

A fairly soft color palette for this one. In addition to BG18 and 72 for the letters, I also used BG71, which is a color I’ve created myself.

You’re the coolest! {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. There’s an IG hop today to celebrate the launch of the Streamside Studios website. Shawne’s been selling her photopolymer and digi stamps on Etsy for a while now, but now she has her own website (she has embellishments, just sayin’), and we’re celebrating with an instagram hop.

I’ve made a cool card (pun intended) with the Ice Cream Critters stamp set. I chose three of the popsicles in the stamp set and colored them with my Copics before fussy cutting them, leaving a thin white border.

Using the Watercolor Wash Free Form stencil from My Favorite Things along with Icy Water and Frayed Leaf inks from Altenew, I did some very soft ink blending to create a little bit of interest to my background. I then ran the panel through my printer to add the sentiment, chopped off a little on each side of the panel and mounted it onto a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I put foam tape on the back of each of my popsicles and adhered them above the sentiment.

I finished off the card with pearls, crystals and dew drops from the Fresh Mint mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Soft color palette for this one.

Happy holidays {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I have another card to share with you today using the Snowmen stamp set from Lili of the Valley. I love this set so much and I’m sure this won’t be my last time using it.

The design of these snowmen peeking out from behind something offers so many possibilities for fun card designs. For my previous card using one of these, I created a tri fold card with the snowman peeking out behind one of the flaps. This time, I have a snowman sticking out above the top of the card.

I colored my snowman with Copics, cut away everything below the line in the image and adhered him to the top of a quarter sheet of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before cutting around him.

I adhered my panel to a top fold white note card I created from Stamper’s Select White and cut off the bottom of the card, so that it’s 5 1/2″ tall including the snowman.

I glued on white snowflakes all across the front. I used the Snowflake Confetti Fancy die from Hero Arts and die CR1335 from Marianne Design to create the snowflakes. I like the white on white look. This adds a tiny bit of dimension and interest to the background.

I then used the Big Happy Holidays die from Mama Elephant to die cut five times from Blue Yonder cardstock from My Favorite Things, before stacking them and adhering my chunky die cut in the center of the card.

I stamped and white heat embossed Let’s be jolly! onto a strip of Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley. I added a couple of extra cardstock strips behind it for dimension and adhered it on top of the big die cut, before finishing off with some pearls from the Snowdrop mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Small image, but as usual, I went overboard when coloring the snow, so there are quite a few Copics used anyway.

Through the snow we go {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a couple of gift tags to share today, featuring two adorably quirky characters designed by Shari Bresciani for Purple Onion Designs.

Meet Kale and Flo. Aren’t they the funniest? There’s something about the way Shari’s able to create these goofy expressions on their faces that cracks me up.

I paired them with sentiments from the Holiday Blurbs II set, and stamped the green one using Jalapeño Popper and Sour Apple inks, both from My Favorite Things. I used Poppin’ Pink, also from MFT, for the pink one.

There are some differences between these. Kale is stamped and colored on the tag, while Flo is fussy cut and popped up. I used similar techniques for the background, but kept a lot of the same elements across both tags.

For Kale, I masked him off and ink blended around him using Coral Bliss and Pink Pearl inks from Altenew, as well as Scattered Straw Distress ink. I used the largest die in the Stitched Traditional Tag STAX set from My Favorite Things to turn him into a tag and then used the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp with Light & Fluffy Modeling Paste from The Crafter’s Workshop to create snow coming down. I used Snowfall Grit-Paste from Ranger at the bottom of the tag and sprinkled on Rock Candy distress glitter before the paste dried. I then added a snowflake charm and some ribbon at the top of the tag and tied it together with Cotton Candy twine from Whisker Graphics.

On the back of the tag I did soft ink blending using the same colors and stamped a to/from stamp from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Coral Bliss ink from Altenew.

Not a lot of colors used for this adorable bunny.

I used the same tag die, stencil, paste and inks for blending on this tag, but decided to add a little extra. I die cut the Silhouette Snow Trees from Mama Elephant from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and on the trees I added Grit-Paste and Rock Candy Distress Glitter.

I let the trees dry, used liquid glue to adhere them to the tag and added Flo on top using foam tape.

I also used foam tape on the back of the speech bubble and used ribbon, a snowflake charm and some twine at the top for this one too.

Another stamp from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS on the back of this one.

I used very bright colors for Flo.

Wishing you a cool birthday {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’ve got a fun, festive full shaker card to share with you today, and this ice cream from the Ice Cream Critters digi stamp set from Streamside Studios.

Everyone loves ice cream, right? I colored up this one using my Copics, and fussy cut around it leaving a thin white border. The border makes it stand out against the colorful ink blended background.

Speaking of backgrounds – I ink blended Distress Oxide Inks (Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron, Fossilized Amber, Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean) across a quarter sheet of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I heat set the panel to make sure it was dry, before running it through my printer to add the sentiment.

The large stamp storage pockets from Avery Elle are 5 1/2″ wide, making them perfect for full A2 size shaker cards. I cut slivers off the panel to make it go in a little easier, then turned it on its side and put it at the bottom of the storage pocket. I cut the pocket down to about 5″, scored at the 4 1/4″ mark and folded it over. I actually cut the back of the storage pocket at the 4 1/4″ point to make it easier to fold. I cut the corners of the remaining flap, filled the pocket with sequins and confetti and glued the pocket shut on the back, before adhering it to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I added the ice cream on top of the shaker pocket using foam tape, and that finishes the card. The sequins and confetti I used are a mix of different brands. The opaque ones are from Studio Calico, and I’ve probably had them for almost 10 years, the same with the iridescent cream colored sequins. Those are from UiT Hobby, and the little star confetti is from Søstrene Grene, they’ve also been in my stash for many years.

Simple color palette for this one.

Merry Christmas {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I have another Christmas card to share, this time featuring Little Elf Kippa from Mo Manning. I love her elf images.

I was planning on coloring this in green with a soft pink. I knew which greens I wanted use, but referred to my Copic color chart for the pink. My color chart is old and Copics fade with time, so the soft pink on my color chart wasn’t as soft in real life once I started coloring. I should color in a new chart, but I LOVE the hot pink with the green, so it all worked out.

This stamp is what you see on the right. The tip of her hat goes a little further to the right, but I wanted a more dynamic design with her coming in from the edge, so I chopped it off. I copied one of the baubles in her hands and put it on the left of the panel before printing, I thought it added a little bit of extra interest.

Isn’t she cute carrying those baubles? I love that they’re so big she has to use her forehead to balance them, because her arms just aren’t long enough to carry them on their own.

I knew I wanted to use this Scripty merry die from Mama Elephant. I tried a pink one and a green one and the green just worked better. I didn’t have any green cardstock that matched my coloring, so I used the colors I’d used on the image to create a piece of green cardstock I could die cut from, which I adhered on top of four white ones that I also die cut. I used the same technique for the base and created an ombré effect going from dark at the base to lighter at the top.

Using the Scripty Xmas stamp set from Mama Elephant, I stamped the word Christmas. The sentiment actually says merry Christmas, but I wanted to use the die cut merry, so I masked off the stamp version and stamped using Picked Raspberry Distress Ink, then stamped again using Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. I didn’t have a pink in that matched my coloring, but these two created the perfect blend.

I mounted my panel onto the card front using foam tape, adhered the stacked merry die cut to nestle in perfectly with the stamped part of the sentiment and finished off with sequins and confetti from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I love the dimension from the popped up panel and the stacked merry, as well as the ombre effect on the base and the die cut. The addition of the pink bauble on the ground gives the card a little bit of balance, not everything is happening on the right hand side of the card.

Simple, but fun color palette for this one.

Oh so merry {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with another Christmas card. I can’t seem to stop, and the Snowmen stamp set from Lili of the Valley too cute to resist.

My original plan was to color in their accessories in a peachy pink color and a dark green combo that I love for my Christmas cards. There’s usually a lot of detail to the Lili of the Valley accessories (stripes and dots), making it easy for images to look messy if you choose too many colors. I tend to opt for a lighter and darker version of the same color, which makes it better for the eyes. Once I’d done the peachy pink, I went in with the lighter of the greens, because I didn’t know how dark I wanted it. When the light green was in place, I realized I really liked the light color with the pink, so I decided not to add too much of the darker greens.

Once the coloring was complete, I used the largest die in the Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with a fun faux stitch edge. I then used Winter Lake, Icy Water and Polar Bear inks from Altenew to ink blend a soft sky from the top, before sprinkling on Chunky White embossing enamel from Stampendous and melting the granules from the back of the paper with my heat gun.

I adhered the panel to a top fold card base I created from Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. From Grapefruit cardstock from Condord & 9th, I die cut the oh so merry from The Penguin’s Waddle die set from Mama Elephant. I cut three and ink blended on the bottom using Berry Sorbet ink from Papertrey Ink, before stacking them together for a dimensional look and adhering them to the card. I finished the card with a few Coral Heart droplets from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I realize now that the green mitten probably belongs to the snowman on the far left, which means I should have colored it pink. Oh well, next time. The faux stitching, the snow and the ink blend on the letters add a bit of texture and detail to the card without adding bulk. Of course, I love my dimension, so I layered up the die cuts and added the heart droplets, but this card is still fairly mail friendly, I’d say.

The cardstock from Concord & 9th, which is what I used for my stacked sentiment, is not a very thick cardstock, so it’s great to use if you don’t want too much dimension on your cards. I just really wanted that color, which is why I chose it, but it also die cuts really well.

Last, but not least, my color palette. I still go overboard when I color snow, I have a feeling that won’t ever change.