Confirmation blast {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back today with a confirmation card I made on commission. I was told that the recipient does kickboxing, likes car races, swimming (lake or beach doesn’t matter as long as it’s water) and is a bit of a prankster. Lots of interests that I tried to incorporate into my card. They’re all very different interests, so I had a tough time figuring out what to do, but the card was a huge hit with the recipient, and that’s never a bad thing.

I looked for a kickboixng image I could color up, as I wanted that to be the main focus on the card – it was his main hobby. I didn’t have one, nor could I find one, but I found this greyscale sketched image with boxing gloves that was perfect.

The gloves cover the entire front of the card. I still needed something to color, because a black and white image isn’t very interesting on its own. I settled on Blast from Mo Manning, which was the perfect image for a prankster who loves water. I colored it up in very vibrant colors, making sure to include some red, which I thought would work great with the boxing theme AND the car racing theme. I fussy cut him and placed him on top of one of the gloves. He blended in with the background a little too much, so I decided to print the gloves again, this time with a very low opacity. I fussy cut the glove, scored it on one side and made it into a flap that opens. Put the colored image on top of this one, and now it didn’t get lost in the background. I also added a bit of Glossy Accents to the goggles for a bit of shine.

I mounted the colored image on pieces of foam tape, making sure to add a magnet in a strategic spot to keep the flap from opening on its own. I put another magnet behind the image of the gloves to keep both magnets hidden. They’re still plenty strong enough to work through a couple of layers of cardstock.

Once you open the glove fully, there’s a sentiment from an old confirmation stamp set from Stempelglede, stamped in Wild Cherry ink from My Favorite Things. I used one of the dies in the Essential Stitched Sentiment Strips die set from My Favorite Things to create a flag end to pull the glove open when the card is closed. The magnets are so strong, it won’t open on its own, and by adding the little flag end, it gives the recipient a little clue to look behind the glove.

Back to the front of the card when it’s closed. I stamped an white heat embossed the word KONFIRMANT from the A05 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a piece of Red Hot cardstock from My Favorite Things, and then die cut it using a banner die from MFT – they have lots! I popped it up and made sure the end crossed into the image, to tie the two together. I did the same thing with my letters, die cut using the In Stitches Alphabet die set from My Favorite Things, also from Red Hot cardstock. I stacked a few layers for dimension and stability, the L and the U are only barely attached to the glove and the back of his left leg, so they needed a little bit of strength.

I finished off the front with a few red enamel dots from Papirdesign.

On the inside, I printed and cut out a checkerboard pattern, which I thought worked well with the car racing theme. There’s still plenty of room to write a personal message. I also used the Wax Seals die set from Waffle Flower to create a rosette badge with a Norsk Stempelblad AS confirmation sentiment heat embossed in the center. I used the Itty Bitty Strips dies from My Favorite Things to create the ribbon ends hanging down from the actual rosette.

On the back of the card, I used more of that checkerboard pattern, stamped another confirmation sentiment (it’s actually an Emerson quote) and used the Splash die set from Papirdesign to create some water splashes from Summer Splash cardstock from My Favorite Things. I thought they tied in well with the super soakers in the colored image on the front of the card.

A simple color palette to finish off. This card was a hard nut to crack, but once I got going I had a blast (no pun intended) creating it.

Hug {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! Sometimes you need a big hug, and this Hugs image featuring Elliot & Marcel from Purple Onion Designs is the perfect one to use.

I actually decided to watercolor this one with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. I prefer using a paintbrush with water with these, but there’s also a blender that you can use. Marcel is small, but I still used three different browns and a pink for him (064 Oatmeal, 607 Milk Tea, 068 Deep Brown and 200 S. Almond Pink). For Elliot and the die cut letters I used 312 Overcast Sky only. I did use a little pink for the bow on his tail, but for the actual elephant, it was just the one blue. I love the movement you get with watercolor, it’s something you can’t really achieve with Copics.

I fussy cut my image, leaving a thin white border. Using the Impact Alphabet die set from My Favorite Things, I die cut the letters to spell out STOR (big) four times from white cardstock and once from Black cardstock from Concord & 9th. I used the Parker lowercase alphabet die set from Memory Box to die cut the letters for klem (hug), again four layers of white, this time topped by a layer of the watercolor paper.

I stacked my layers, and sandwiched the image between the white and black letters for the large word. I created a black mat on the card front, covered that with a piece of green patterned paper from the Watercolor Wash 6×6″ paper pad from My Favorite Things and mounted the letters and image in the center. I adhered the klem letters directly on top of the larger letters and added a sub sentiment sticker strip from Kort & Godt below it. I popped it up a bit to level it with the black letters, before finishing off with a few dew drops from the Spring Leaves embellishment mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Screaming tigers

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a simple birthday card today that I created for the Kort & Godt gallery blog. I focused on one product: a pack of stickers that include tigers, a bunch of sentiment strips and some larger sentiments. These stickers are 200 gsm, making them nice and sturdy.

I started by running a panel of white cardstock through my die cut machine with an embossing folder. I chose the Crystal Distortion embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp, which leaves some fun texture in the background without being too distracting.

I added the tigers to the panel with some foam squares. The texture on the dry embossed panel makes it uneven, and the foam squares help – I also love the dimension it adds. I cut off the parts of the tigers hanging off the edge, trimmed the panel down and mounted it on foam tape to a card base I created from Canyon Clay cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

The large sentiment is from the same sheet of stickers as the tigers, which means the colors fit perfectly. I added some foam squares to the back and adhered it above the bottom tiger.

I added some black bling in a couple of different sizes to finish the card. This is actually the third card I’ve shared in a row without any stamping. I’m sure I’ll use some stamping soon, but it’s fun to use other products and techniques.

Products used:

ST1006 (tiger and sentiment)

BE107 (small bling)

ST208 (large bling)

Hallo – du er kuuuuuuul {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends. I’ve been looking forward to creating this card for quite some time. Sometimes you get a product you really want to play with, but there just isn’t time. That’s been the case with me and this Pattern Play die set from Concord & 9th. It’s been sitting on my desk waiting to be used for over a month, but I’ve had other design work and a few orders for confirmation and wedding cards that needed to take priority, but yesterday, I got to play!

Play really is the right word to use, because this is the Pattern Play die set from Concord & 9th. It’s one of those die sets where you have a large die that creates a road map and several smaller dies that cut out the shapes to go on top of the map. It’s like a puzzle, and I love playing with tiny pieces of paper, so this is right up my alley.

I die cut the smaller pieces from Pebble, Sprout, Sunflower, Sorbet and Harbor cardstocks, all C9 colors. I stacked the Sprout four layers thick for dimension, the Harbor three layers and the Sorbet two, while gluing the Sunflower and Pebble directly to the map. This creates more movement and interest to the background, and it makes the card very tactile. I cut off 1/4″ from each side, popped the panel onto foam tape and adhered it in the center of my top fold A2 card base.

With such a colorful background, I knew I needed a bold black sentiment. I chose this hallo (hello) die from Kort & Godt, which I die cut four times from black cardstock and layered for dimension. I also added a tiny sentiment sticker strip (you are cooooooool) on top of the die cut word.

To finish off the card I added enamel dots in colors that match the cardstock. Since they’re the same color as the cardstock behind them, they don’t distract from the sentiment or the background, but they do still add interest to the card.

Just because {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends! Today’s card is one that I shared a while back on the Kort & Godt gallery blog. It’s pretty simple, but then again, that’s kind of my thing.

The bunny is from an image sheet (MA1011) from Kort & Godt. I did some fussy cutting on the left side and then used partial die cutting to turn it into a tag.

I used the Twist pattern press plate from Pinkfresh Studio with Nectar ink from Concord & 9th on a piece of Nectar cardstock from Concord & 9th to create a subtle background. I adhered the panel to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I mounted the tag in the center using foam tape and added a bow with white cotton thread from Kort & Godt. I adhered a couple of sentiment sticker strips with foam tape.

To finish off the card I adhered a few faceted pearls. This card is so simple, and the soft colors really are perfect for spring.

Kort & Godt products used:

MA1011 (image)

Die-211

TR-104 (white cotton thread)

ST1013 (sentiment sticker strips)

ST178 (faceted pearls)

Season’s Greetings {Amanda Jayne Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I promise I will move on from holiday cards, but can you really resist penguins? I know I can’t, and I turned these cuties from Amanda Jayne Designs into a slimline card.

I colored the penguins with my Copics, making sure to add blue for their hats and scarves. Nothing beats blue for Christmas, right? I left plenty of space between the penguins for a greeting, which is from the Christmas Sentiments set, also from Amanda Jayne Designs.

I used a die in the Slim card basics die set from Mama Elephant to die cut the frame with openings from Harbor cardstock from Concord & 9th. I also cut two from white to add behind it for dimension. I stamped the Paint Splatter background stamp from My Favorite Things onto the blue using VersaMark ink, then sprinkled on White Satin Pearl embossing powder from Hero Arts and heat set.

I added pearls from the Glossy Porcelain mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards here and there around the openings and also three Coral Heart Droplets, also from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Limited color palette for these two penguins.

Happy holidays {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m still in somewhat in a holiday making mode, and this time, I have Carlie & Vincent from Purple Onion Designs getting ready for Christmas.

I colored these cuties with my Copics and did the same with Home Sweet Home that I used in the background. I stamped a sentiment from the Merriest City sentiment set using Autumn Rose ink from Papertrey ink. It fits well nestled into the scene.

I used the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower to cut my panel down slightly, then adhered it to a card base I created from Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before I added a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Lots of Copics for this one. I even created a new combo for the fox which requires less markers than the one I used to use.

Gratulerer {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends! I shared this card on the Kort & Godt gallery blog yesterday, but I thought I’d share here, as well.

It’s kind of weird that I, as an avid colorist, really enjoy using images like this, where all the work is done for you and you just have to cut it apart from the other images on the same sheet. I created a 4 bar card this time, so even though the image itself isn’t THAT big, it still takes center stage on this smaller card. I added a thin strip of copper glitter cardstock above and below the image. It gives more definition and it also works really well with the orange balloons in the image.

I used the Terrazzo press plate from Altenew to create some fun texture in the background. I inked up the press plate with Caribbean Sea ink from My Favorite Things and pressed it onto Caribbean Sea cardstock, also from MFT. I mounted my image on foam tape, added a sticker sentiment that I also popped up and finished off the card with a few faceted pearls. I love these!!

Kort & Godt products used:

MA1008

God jul {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends! I know I’ve shared quite a few holiday cards recently, but here’s another one featuring the Festive Blooms die set from Concord & 9th.

I actually shared this one on the Papiria blog back in December, but I thought I’d share here, as well. I die cut the parts for the florals from Watermelon cardstock and the leaves from Juniper cardstock, both are C9 colors. I ink blended the petals with Watermelon ink and the leaves with Rainforest ink, which is a darker green than the Juniper color. I curled all the petals and leaves back before assembly, and adhered them all to a white card base. I used gold glitter cardstock from Kort & Godt for the centers of the flowers.

I used a die set from Kort & Godt to create my sentiment. I stacked three of each die cut and used liquid glue to adhere the sentiment to the florals, before finishing off the card with Satin Gold sequins from Altenew. Super simple, and I love all the white space!!

Christmas wishes {Amanda Jayne Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! It’s the third Thursday of the month, which means it’s #getcrackingonchristmas. This is an initiative from Jenn Shurkus to get us creating holiday cards all year instead of having to scramble last minute to get them done in November and December. This lets us use our holiday products, try out new things and enjoy the process! My card today features an adorable Christmas bear from a digi stamp set from Amanda Jayne Designs, as well as some other goodies.

I colored the bear with Copics and used the Snowflakes and Ornament die set from Hero Arts to turn him into a Christmas ornament. Isn’t he adorable with his head tilted to the side? I covered the card base with a piece of Cranberry cardstock from Concord & 9th. This is the perfect Christmas red, and it goes really well with the colors on his hat, as well as the color I chose for the sentiment, which is also from Amanda Jayne Designs.

I used the Snowflake Confetti Fancy Die from Hero Arts to create a white background of snowflakes. I cut the panel down and adhered it to a piece of gold glitter cardstock from Kort & Godt Hobby, giving shine and sparkle to the snowflake openings. I mounted my gold cardstock to the center of the card using foam tape and added my colored bear ornament with more foam tape – there’s a lot of dimension going on here. I used the Gift bows dies from Kristina Werner to add a gold glitter bow to the top of the ornament. I also used a little bit of the gold glitter cardstock to mat the sentiment, which I adhered directly to the ornament to finish the card.

For such a simple image, I sure used a lot of Copics.