Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another card featuring the new Merriest Little City release from Purple Onion Designs. This time, I’ve focused on the ice skaters.
I always say that you can’t go wrong with a penguin, and with so many images to choose from in this release, I knew I could color another penguin and the rest of the card would fall into place. Tuxedo looks like a very happy penguin, too, and I decided to use Cleo & Archie, as well as Willow on the same card. I masked off Cleo & Archie and stamped a couple of the trees from the Mini Evergreen Set in the background, masked those off and decided to use the Frozen Pond image from an older release so they’d have lots of room to skate. I then added one more mask and used the City Skyline in the background.
I colored the ice first, and added a hint of reflection underneath their feet. I probably could have used a darker marker, but it’s more noticeable in real life than in the photos. Initially, I’d planned on keeping the buildings and sky uncolored, but once I’d colored the snow and the trees, it kind of all looked white, so I decided to add color to the background anyway. I colored the buildings in various shades of cool greys, before masking off the buildings and airbrushing a blue sky behind them.
I colored my critters (here you can see the reflection in the ice a bit better) before finishing up with a sentiment from the Merriest City Sentiment Set stamped in Caribbean Sea ink from My Favorite Things. I cut down my panel and adhered it to a top fold A7 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I normally don’t make cards this big, but whenever there’s a new release from Purple Onion, I tend to not care about card sizes and instead focus on getting my scenes to work, no matter what size the card ends up being.
There’s an ice rink stamp in this release, I just really loved the large area I was able to create with this older horizon stamp.
Lots of Copics used for this card. B000 was only for airbrushing the sky.
There’s still a chance to get this entire release in a bundle at a 30% discount. It includes all the images in the Merriest Little City release, as well as the coordinating Merriest Little City sentiment set. The offer expires on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.
Isn’t he cute holding his little lantern? I went very untraditional with my aqua/purple combo, but I think it works. Onto a top fold landscape A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped the Hand-Lettered Holiday background stamp from Simon Says Stamp using VersaMark ink. I then brushed Perfect Pearls powder on top for a shiny, but subtle effect. I stamped the snowflakes from the Wreath & Mulled Wine stamp set from Ciao Bella on top using Sno Cone ink from My Favorite Things.
I die cut a white tag using a die from the Stitched Trad. Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things and stamped the word Hugs from the
As usual, I use way more colors than I anticipate going in.
This penguin is from the 
I adhered the light blue panel to a top fold card base I created from Cornflower cardstock from My Favorite Things, and die cut a scallop border using the Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frames die set from My Favorite Things. I cut the frame apart and added one strip to the top and one to the bottom of my light blue panel. I used the Merry Script die from Mama Elephant to die cut three layers from white cardstock and one layer from X-Press It blending card that I colored pink with Copics. I stamped the word everything from the Holiday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant onto white cardstock using Cornflower ink from My Favorite Things, added a few layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and embellished with a few pink sequins from the She’s So Lovely mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. The penguin was easy to add with a little bit of foam tape.
I didn’t use too many colors for the penguin itself, but the gingerbread house required quite a few markers.
I die cut a tree nine times from three different shades of green patterned paper. The two lighter ones are both from Maja Design, while the dark one’s from Kaisercraft. This die is pretty small and perfect for scraps. There’s also a die in the sets that cuts the trunk, but I decided not to use that for this card.
I sprinkled on Chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous to each of the trees and melted the granules from the back to make snowy trees. I then used three different thicknesses of foam tape behind the trees for varying dimension.
I stamped and white heat embossed the sentiment onto a black cardstock strip (True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink), added a couple of more layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and glued it on top of two of my trees.
I stamped my critters using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, added a mask and stamped the trees in the background using Stormy Sky ink from Papertrey Ink. It’s a nice grayish green that goes really well with the colors I used for the coloring of the trees. I created my signature winter sunset behind it all, and did my best to create depth in the background by varying the intensity of the coloring of the trees. Once everything was colored, I stamped the critters again, this time using Obsidian ink from Altenew for a crisp, black outline.
At the bottom, I stamped a sentiment from the 
I used lots of Copics for this one. Lots!!
Meet 
I have a deep, undying love for penguins and snowmen. These two have been joined by a sweet bunny and the cutest little squirrel you ever did see! I did some fairly simple Copic coloring of the image before I used a die in the Blueprints 27 die set from My Favorite Things to create a faux stitch line and a scallop border.
I stamped the word Christmas from the Sentiments from a Yeti stamp set from Mama Elephant using Melon Berry ink from Papertrey Ink. Onto a strip of Sprout cardstock from Concord & 9th, I stamped a coordinating sentiment from the Holiday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Eiffel Tower ink from My Favorite Things. I stacked a few extra cardstock strips behind my stamped one for dimension, and adhered it above the word Christmas.
I added three layers of scrap cardstock behind my colored panel for dimension before adhering it to a top fold card base I created from Melon Berry cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love this pink!
I used pearls from the Glossy Porcelain mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to embellish just a little.
Lots of Copics on this one, in spite of fairly simple and even quick coloring.
Papirmølla 