Good as gold {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. Today’s card is the result of me channeling my inner Laura Bassen. “Have a leaf? Make a wreath!” Her catchphrases get me every time, and for this card, I took one leaf die that I die cut a bijillion times from solid colors of cardstock.

Kort & Godt Die 335 is a die set with two leaves. One is an open outline, the other closed, and I actually used both for this card. I die cut the open one a few times from Heavyweight Translucent vellum from My Favorite Things, and nestled them in between the solid colored ones, which are (in order from the top going clockwise) Papertrey Ink (PTI) Simply Chartreuse, PTI Aqua Mist, PTI Hawaiian Shores, Simon Says Stamp Island Blue, PTI Amethyst Allure, PTI Raspberry Fizz, PTI Hibiscus Burst, Concord & 9th Poppy, PTI Orange Zest, PTI Summer Sunrise, PTI Harvest Gold, PTI Limeade Ice.

I lightly traced a circle die onto a white cardstock panel that I needed to adhere my wreath to. I only glued down the end of the stem for each of the leaf die cuts and did my best to arrange them evenly around the circle, with the vellum pieces after every third colored leaf.

Using foam tape, I adhered the white panel with my wreath onto a card base I created from Soft Stone cardstock from Papertrey Ink for a neutral on neutral look.

Using Kort & Godt DIE 244, I die cut the word klem (translation: hug) from gold cardstock (Gold Shine cardstock from My Favorite Things), as well as four additional ones from white cardstock to stack behind the gold for added strength and dimension.

I added a sentiment strip sticker (Kort & Godt ST1002; translation: you are good as gold) on top of the die cut and finished off the card with a little bit of bling (Kort & Godt BE106).

Treat yourself {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends! I haven’t shared one of my “signature cluster” cards in a while, so I thought it was about time. I thought the Cupcake Thief image from Mo’s Digital Pencil would be perfect for the occasion, and by opting for a black dress, I could pair the image with a recently acquired black and white patterned paper pad that I’ve wanted to use for a while.

This is Cupcake Thief. I’ve used the image once before. This time, I flipped it so she’s facing right, it’s one of the many advantages of using digital stamps. I colored her with Copics and cut my panel down to a width of 3 1/2″. I put it aside, covered a white card base with the black and white plaid patterned paper from My Favorite Things, then mounted the colored panel on foam tape, leaving a little bit of the patterned paper showing on one side, and more showing on the other.

On my desk, I keep storage pockets of die cut patterned paper scraps that I use on my cards. I keep them organized by color family, and pulled out the pink, orange and yellow ones for this, as well as a grey/white/neutral one. The great thing about this system is that everything’s already die cut (using the Happy Days Ticket Stubs die from XCut [which cuts 9 different tickets with one die] and the Fishtail Flag Frames die set from My Favorite Things), so I just play with sizes, colors and composition of the different pieces until I’m happy with the result. For this particular card I used a combo of patterned papers from Sunny Studio, P13 and Bo Bunny. Onto one of the die cut banners I stamped a sentiment from the Little Birthday Notes stamp set from My Favorite Things using Obsidian ink from Altenew. I finished off the card with a few sequins from the Sweet Shop mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards and some Stardust Stickles to the dress.

Quite a few Copics for this one. I also used B90, which is a color I’ve made myself, for a subtle hint of a sky.

It’s your birthday! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a fun birthday card today, featuring a few images from Purple Onion Designs. Dotty is as adorable as all of Stacey Yacula’s other critters, I just love her illustration style so much. This particular mouse has her arms out, making her the perfect choice if you want her holding something. I chose the balloons from the Balloon Trio & Streamer set, making sure the knot holding all the balloons together is in her hands. I stamped both the balloons and the cute little mouse using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, and stamped The Perfect Spot behind them using Fadeout ink from Inkon3.

I colored the scene with Copics, then used The Perfect Spot again to stamp on white cardstock (Stamper’s Select White from Papertrey Ink, my favorite white cardstock), this time using Memento Espresso Truffle ink. I wanted this to be more visible than the background without being stark black, and this color is perfect. I then die cut the white panel using two dies: a rectangle die from Waffle Flower to make it smaller and the Watercolor Wash Free Form die from My Favorite Things to create a window.

I added foam tape on the back of my white panel for dimension and lined up the stamped lines on the two panels as best as I could, before adding my double panel to a card base I created from Soft Stone cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I then stamped a sentiment from the Everyday Blurbs stamp set using Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide ink, fussy cut around it leaving a thin white border and mounted it on foam tape. To finish off the card I used a Gelly Roll 05 to create white dots on the pink balloon.

Fairly simple color palette for this one. I also used B90, which is a color I’ve made myself.

Hello – you’re the best {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another one of the elephants from the Cute Elephants stamp set from Lili of the Valley. Unfortunately, the photopolymer stamps have sold out, but there’s also good news: these guys are also available as digital stamps. There’s even a bundle with 6 different elephant stamps, and the photopolymer set only had 4, so you can actually get an additional 2 cuties in your stash if you choose digital.

Once I colored the first of these elephant stamps blue, I just couldn’t stop, so here’s another blue one for you. I chose a very similar color palette to what I’ve used for my other cards with this set, but this time, I opted for a yellow card, creating a top fold card base from Bright Buttercup cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I colored the image with Copics, and created a large polaroid frame using a rectangle die from Waffle Flower, as well as a square die from Lifestyle Crafts. I taped the two dies together and die cut several layers of white cardstock that I stacked for a dimensional look. I love dimension on my cards. I used the Sweet hello die from My Favorite Things to die cut three layers of Periwinkle cardstock from Hero Arts, which I also stacked. I added the die cut at an angle and paired it with a sub sentiment from the Itty Bitty Basics stamp set from My Favorite Things, stamped in Blue Yonder ink, also from My Favorite Things. I finished off the card with a visual triangle of sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Like I said initially: similar color palette to the ones I’ve used for the previous elephant cards. I also used B90, which is a color I’ve created myself.

Warm greetings {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. It’s the third Thursday of the month, which means it’s time for Get Cracking on Christmas, which is a series Jenn Shurkus started years ago, with the aim of making holiday cards year round, so you’re not swamped come November. I’m a huge fan of the concept, and today I’ve combined it with my fondness for penguins.

This Penguin Hug image from Rachelle Anne Miller is one that she created years before she started designing stamps. I was a fan of Rachelle’s style even back then, and when she asked the design team what we wanted to see as stamps, I asked if it was possible for her to turn this particular image into a stamp. She did just that, and I think this might be my favorite of all her stamps, and she’s got loads of great ones to choose from, so that’s saying a lot.

I colored my image with Copics, stamped a sentiment from Mathia Design using Ocean Tides ink from Papertrey Ink, before die cutting a bunch of white snowflakes from the same cardstock (X-Press It blending card) that I use to color on, so my whites would match. I used the Snowflake Confetti fancy die from Hero Arts, along with the CR1335 die from Marianne Design to die cut all my snowflakes. Both these dies cut lots of snowflakes at once, and the snowflakes are fairly small, making them ideal for a background like this. I adhered lots of snowflakes above the penguin’s head, then used a rectangle die from Waffle Flower to die cut my panel. I mounted it on foam tape onto a card base I created from Ocean Tides cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and my card was complete. Another Christmas card done for 2023.

Fairly minimalist color palette. I also used B90 and BG71, which are colors I’ve created myself.

Sweet birthday wishes {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another Mo Manning cutie, and this time I’ve chosen the kid eating the corn from the 3 on a bench set. The set includes three kids (one eating a popsicle, one eating a watermelon, and this one eating corn). There’s also a merged version of this image with all 3 kids sitting next to each other on the bench, but I tend to opt for the separated versions, like I did here.

I printed the image near the bottom left of my panel and colored it up with my Copics, before trimming off a little bit on one side. I used the Slimline Cloud Edges stencil from My Favorite Things, along with Eastern Sky ink from Altenew, to softly ink blend the clouds in the background.

I stamped a couple of sentiments from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things using Obsidian ink from Altenew. I adhered my panel directly to an A2 card base I created from Periwinkle cardstock from Hero Arts. I then used a scripty die from Mama Elephant to die cut the word wishes four times from Amarena Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things. I stacked them together and added the word to the card, nestled in between the stamped sentiments, before finishing off the card with a few sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Some vivid colors for this one.

The biggest cake {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I thought I’d share a simple birthday card today, featuring The Biggest Cake from Lili of the Valley.

Lili of the Valley critters are among the cutest in the stamping world, and I just couldn’t resist these bunnies carrying a big cake. I colored the image with Copics, before die cutting it using the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things. I adhered the panel to a card base I created from Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I used my Quickie Glue pen on the flames and sprinkled on Rock Candy distress glitter for added sparkle. Using foam tape, I popped up a sticker sentiment from Kort & Godt before finishing off the card with sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Very soft color palette for this one.

Hipp hurra {Kort & Godt}

Hi, everyone! Two weeks ago, I received an invitation to join the Kort & Godt design team. If you’re Norwegian, you’ve no doubt heard of this company, they’ve been around forever and make stamps, dies and embellishments that add just the perfect touch to any card. They also make buttons, stitch markers and other knitting/sewing accessories, which is perfect for me! I couldn’t say no, as I love their products. And as if that weren’t enough, I’ve been on a previous design team with several of the ladies on this particular design team. They’re just good people, and that really sealed the deal for me!

My first Kort & Godt card is a fairly typical card for me (except for the fact I haven’t done any coloring). It’s one of those clean and time consuming ones that I often make.

I started by creating a colorful background. Using one of the stamps in the M479 stamp set, I stamped repeatedly across the background using Distress Oxide inks in the colors Salty Ocean and Twisted Citron, as well as regular Distress ink in Spiced Marmalade. I cut the panel down to be 3 1/2 x 4 7/8″ and mounted it to a white top fold card base using foam tape.

Using the DIE294 die set, I die cut 8 layers of the words from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink and one shadow layer using heavyweight translucent vellum from My Favorite Things. I stacked three of the black layers, added the vellum layer on top and then the last five black layers. I even added a coat of Nuvo Crystal Drops in the Ebony Black color to the top layer for extra dimension and shine. On a piece of Limeade Ice cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped a sentiment from the M458 stamp set using Obsidian ink from Altenew, before adhering both the stacked die cut and my stamped sentiment strip at an angle, before finishing off the card with a couple of crystals (BE107). And that’s a wrap for my first DT card for Kort & Godt – I can’t wait to play more, and hope this inspired you.

Let’s pretend… {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I’ve got a super simple card coming your way today, featuring the Belated Birthday Sloth image from Mo’s Digital Pencil. This actually comes as a set. You get two sloths, one with birthday gear and one without. I used the one without the birthday gear for this one, but used the party hat from the one WITH the gear to add a bit more color to my card.

I colored and fussy cut the sloth, colored in the party hat and fussy cut that, before putting both pieces aside while I worked on the rest of my card. I created a card base from Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things and created a wall for the sloth to hang onto using Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. To create a bit of texture to the wall, I stamped the Touch of Texture background stamp from My Favorite Things using Soft Stone ink from Papertrey Ink. It’s subtle, but still adds a little bit of interest.

I stamped a sentiment from the Anything-but-Basic Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things using Obsidian ink from Altenew, before adding the wall to the card base with 1 mm foam squares. I added the sloth using foam tape and finished off the card with a few Starry Sky Ombré Glitter Drops from Pinkfresh Studio. I also added a dot of Black Glaze pen to his eyes for a bit of shine and dimension, which is easy to see in real life, but tricky to photograph.

This was initially a very muted, very simple color palette. Let’s just say things changed when I decided to add the party hat 🙂

Paint the town! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! I have a birthday card to share with you today, featuring Polly from Purple Onion Designs. I’ve used this image before, and this time, I teamed her up with the Country Flower Set. The country flowers and Polly are all from the A Happy Little Place release from 2021, illustrated by the one and only Stacey Yacula.

I stamped and colored my images, before fussy cutting them, leaving a bit of a white border around them all. I put my colored pieces aside and started working on the rest of the card. I decided to do a bit of ink blending with the Paint Strokes stencil from My Favorite Things. I thought the brush strokes would be good for a background for my colored images.

I started out with Coral Bliss and Pink Pearl inks from Altenew for the pink, but wanted a little more oomph and went over them with Picked Raspberry and Worn Lipstick distress inks, which gave it the pink I wanted. On the orange paint stroke, I only used Spiced Marmalade distress ink, and for the yellow, I chose Mustard Seed and Squeezed Lemonade distress inks. I then stamped a sentiment from the Around the Town sentiment set using Obsidian ink from Altenew, before I adhered my images near the bottom of the card. I put Polly herself on foam tape, just to make her stand out a little bit against the background, and I finished off with a few gems from the Crystal Collection – Glass from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

For such small images, I used a lot of colors for this card.