Hi, crafty friends. A while back, Amanda from Amanda Jayne Designs reached out to me, asking if I would like to color up a couple of her stamps. I’m not one to turn down an offer to do some coloring, so I of course said yes, and she sent me a couple of her digital stamps. Fast forward a couple of months (things have been hectic around here), and I’ve turned her Kali Koala image into a completed card.
This koala was so quick and easy to color. If you’re new to coloring, or enjoy coloring but don’t want to spend an eternity coloring one image, I’d recommend her images. They’re not super detailed, which makes them easy and fast to color.
I decided to put my colored koala in a polaroid frame, and used the largest of the dies in the Precious Polaroids die set from My Favorite Things to die cut three times from white cardstock for a stacked look on top of the cute koala.
I created a top fold A2 card base using Green Parakeet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Onto the left bottom corner of a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped some leaves from the Leaf Clusters stamp set from Altenew, using Limelight ink from My Favorite Things. This is a much more vibrant, yellowy green than what you’ll find in eucalyptus leaves, but I wasn’t going for realism with this card and happen to like the bright green – it really pops. I made sure to stamp a large enough area that some of the leaves would be visible around the polaroid frame with my koala. I also stamped the smallest leaf cluster in the Altenew stamp set near the top right corner for a little bit of balance and die cut the white panel using the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things.
I wanted a punny koala themed sentiment on my card, and the word koalaty (quality) came to mind. I needed something to use with it, and dug through my sentiment sets for one with the word friend in it. A sentiment in a stamp set from InkyWings was perfect, it said For a sweet friend. I stamped it in VersaMark ink and white heat embossed it using Super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger. I cut the sentiment down to a strip, removed the word sweet and had the perfect start and finish to my punny sentiment. Using the Connected alphabet die set from My Favorite Things, I die cut the letters to spell koalaty three times from Green Parakeet cardstock and stacked them for a dimensional look. I die cut an additional three white ones for the letters that hang off the polaroid (ATY) and glued these behind the green ones so the letters would all be flush on the card. I also added some additional layers of cardstock behind the white heat embossed strips for that little bit of added dimension, before finishing off the card with a few enamel dots from Papirdesign.
The dimension is more visible in this photo, I love adding dimension to my cards. Dimension is life 😉 I cut the layered up white A in half, because only half the letter hangs off the edge. The letters that have the white die cuts behind them kind of look like they’re floating on the card.
Super simple color palette for this one.
I colored up 
These clusters are pretty easy to put together. On my desk I keep a bin with die cut scraps of patterned paper. I organize these scraps by color, and put each color in a stamp storage bag. Whenever I want to create a cluster, I choose the colors that go with my card, dump the contents of the storage pockets on my desk and play. This time I used three bags; the blue, the green and the gray – it’s nice to throw a neutral into the mix. The scraps I used for this card are from a few different companies. The blue ones are from Papirdesign (the grey with the blue stars is the back of that blue with the lighter dots), the green ones are from 3ndypapir and Karen Foster, with a little bit of New Leaf cardstock from Papertrey Ink thrown in for a darker green to make the dark blue a little less dominant. The top grey one is actually from Magnolia, whereas the one with the sentiment is from DCWV. The sentiment itself is from Norsk Stempelblad, stamped in Cornflower ink from My Favorite Things. To finish off the card I added a few green enamel dots from Papirdesign.
This color palette makes me happy.
I really wanted to create a birthday card with 
I colored in my scene using Copics. I started with the sky (I don’t even remember what color I used there, sorry), before coloring the trees, the ground, then the critters. I struggled with my colors on this one. I wanted the trees to be a muted green way back in the distance, but the colors I used felt too gray, so I added a couple of more vibrant greens to make them come alive a little bit more.
I managed to make the same mistake with the ground. I originally wanted a muted green, because most of the green backgrounds I’ve colored using stamps from this release have been very vibrant. As it turns out, I’m not as big a fan of the muted green look when it’s down on paper as opposed to what I envision in my head before I start. I was originally only going to use three green markers for the ground, I ended up with eight, and I’m still not entirely happy with it. It’s messier than what I’m used to, and I struggled with the blending.
I used the largest die from the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to turn my colored panel into one with a nice faux stitch edge, and adhered it to a top fold A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love the look of the faux stitch with that thin white border going around the edge. For my sentiment I die cut the Happy Birthday Brush Script die from Simon Says Stamp four times from white cardstock and glued them together for a stacked, dimensional look, and I had just the right spot to adhere it to the card.
At that point I thought the card was a little plain and decided to add some “flowers” by drawing in white dots in a few clusters on the green grass. This adds a little bit of interest, but I still didn’t think it was enough, so I pulled out my Frosted Lace Stickles and added a thick layer to the balloon, before deciding to also add it to the die cut letters. This helped a little more, but I felt like I needed another element in the sky, it was still pretty plain. Using the Cloud 1 & 2 die set from Papertrey Ink, I die cut four small clouds from vellum. I glued two and two together and adhered them to the sky, which really helped pull the entire design together. This was an evolution of a card (I also colored the bird yellow to begin with, but decided I wanted it red and colored red over the yellow), but it came together in the end.
I used quite a few Copics for this one. I have a feeling I may have used B00 for the sky, but I’m not entirely sure.
I stamped and masked all these critters. From left to right we have 
There are two sentiments that come with Petunia that you can stamp in the banner. One is the hip hip hooray!, which I white heat embossed, the other says Happy birthday! This card is a bit of an odd size. I needed it big to fit all my images, and it measures 7 1/4 x 5 1/16″. I probably could have trimmed off a little bit on the sides and on the bottom (or top) to make it an even A7 size, but this is what I wound up with. I’ll probably make my own envelope to fit anyway.
Lots of Copics used for this one. I tried to make the colors of the critters different even though I have two brown ones and two gray ones. I love the Copic range of earth tones and gray tones, it really does allow you the option to create different colors within the same color family.
I printed the image towards the bottom left of my panel of X-Press It blending card and colored it with Copics. I’ve colored this girl once before, but I decided to go for a different color scheme this time, I think the only thing that’s stayed the same since the last card is the coloring on the watermelon. The printer doesn’t print all the way to the edge, so I cut off a little strip on the left side and decided to add a strip of yellow patterned paper from Papirdesign on the right to balance out the design and fill the front of this A2 card.
And as usual, I finish with the Copics I used. Quite a few for this super simple image, I reckon.
I used one of the dragons in the 
I fussy cut around the image leaving a thin white border. There’s a set of coordinating dies to go with the stamp set, but I don’t have it, and fussy cutting this one was simple enough.
I added a thick coat of modeling paste through the 
Using 1/16″ foam squares, I added my colored dragon towards the bottom center of the card. I added a little bit of liquid glue to make sure it really adhered to my glitter balloons, I didn’t want it coming off at any point. I didn’t have the right shade of cardstock to match my tealy blue coloring, so I colored a scrap strip of X-Press It blending card using one of the markers I used for the bow, before stamping and white heat embossing a sentiment from the Flamin’ Birthday stamp set. I cut it to fit the sentiment, added a couple of strips of cardstock behind it for dimension and stability and adhered it to the present.
I finished off the card by adding a few sparkle gems. These are from the 
Last, but certainly not least – the colors I used for this cute dragon present. BG05 is the color I also used on the sentiment strip.
I printed the image in the center of a panel of X-Press It blending card and colored it in with Copics.
I used the largest die in the Wonky Stitched Rectangles STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create a little bit of interest on the edge of my panel.
I adhered the panel to a top fold A2 landscape card base I created from Bright Buttercup cardstock from Papertrey Ink. The yellow border around the edge picks up the yellow of the flowers and makes them pop.
I added a few yellow sequins from the Seashore mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards around the image and sentiment, and my card was finished.
The end result is a very mail friendly card without a lot of bulk. The sequins add a tiny bit of lift off the base of the card, but not much.
Simple color palette for this one.
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Lee’s Dragons, and this one holding sunflowers was begging for a blue/yellow combo. Once I’d colored the image with Copics, I used the second largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things to give the panel a nice finishing edge. I adhered it to a card base I created from Cornflower cardstock, also from MFT.
I die cut a heart from Bright Buttercup cardstock from Papertrey Ink and stamped a sentiment from an Inky Wings stamp set in the center using Cornflower ink from My Favorite Things. I added the heart using foam tape and then a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off this simple card.
I stamped the image using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, before creating a mask, adding that on top and stamping the 
I colored in my scene using Copics and stamped a sentiment from the older 
Last, but not least – the Copics I used. I also used B30 (which is a color I’ve created myself) for the sky in addition to B32.
I printed the image with the accompanying sentiment and made it bigger than what I normally color. I wanted the focus to really be on this stamp.
I colored the image with Copics, then used a die from the A2 Double Stitched Rectangles STAX set from My Favorite Things to create the faux stitch look around the edge that I really enjoy having on my cards.
I adhered the panel to a card base I created from Pure Poppy cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
The red cardstock matches the red balloon and really makes it pop.
To finish the card I added Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh here and there. These are my favorite sequins, and they’re near impossible to find in stock anywhere. I need to get some more soon, though, I’ve almost run out.
Last, but not least; the colors I used for this. The ones on the bottom row were all used for the balloon. I went a little overboard on the balloon.
Papirmølla 