Have a holly jolly Christmas {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. Today, I’m sharing with you a card featuring Giggling Snowman from Mo Manning. This is one of my all time favorite images from Mo, and if you look closely at the tiny little image next to the header in the tab in your browser, you’ll see it’s the same little guy.

I love coloring this image in noline versions. I usually print with his eyes and eyebrows in a dark brown and the rest of him in a super light grey. I kept the snow on the ground around him this time, and cut away the part of the panel that above my imagined horizon line. I created stars in the sky by using solar paste from Simon Hurley (in the golden hour color) through the Falling stars stencil from Simon Says Stamp onto the front of an A2 card base I created from After midnight cardstock from My Favorite Things.

Once the stars were dry, I adhered my panel with my snowman, adding die cut trees a little bit below the horizon line. I created the trees by coloring a scrap piece of X-Press It using the same green markers I used for the image, before die cutting them using the Silhouette Snow Trees die set from Mama Elephant. I finished off the trees with some liquid glue and Rock Candy distress glitter for a sparkly, snowy look. For a sentiment I die cut the words holly jolly from the Jolly Holiday greeting die set from Concord & 9th five times from white cardstock and adhered them all together for a stacked, dimensional look and completed the greetings with some small words from the Holiday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant that I stamped in Obsidian ink from Altenew onto pieces of cardstock I colored with the lightest of the green markers I used for the snowman and the trees.

Fairly simple color palette for this one, although I don’t think I’ll ever have a limited color palette for snow, I always choose a lot of colors to create snow.

Delivering a little holiday cheer! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! It’s been a week full of Purple Onion Designs on my blog, but with three new collections that launched on Monday, that’s just how it is. I shared a card with new illustrator Holly Mabutas’ collection on Monday, one with stamps from Stacey Yacula’s collection on Wednesday, and today, it’s time to feature Pei’s collection. Pei’s images are larger than the others, so you can easily create a card with one image alone, which is what I did. I had to choose Christmas Igloo for my first Pei card of the season. It’s my favorite stamp across all three collections! I’m a sucker for penguins, and these cuties coupled with the polar bear and igloo just had me.

I originally planned on creating a regular portrait oriented A2 card with this image, but I had this idea of another igloo in the distance, and it kind of evolved from there. I don’t usually create my own backgrounds for cards (I like background stamps that do all the work for me), but I had a blast with this one. Keeping the colors to a minimum certainly helped. I only used five Copics for the entire background.

Once the background and the actual stamped image were both colored in, I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Messages sentiment set below my little igloo. The sentiment set is from The Sweetest Little Town collection from 2020). I think the penguins are definitely spreading holiday cheer by decorating their igloo, so I thought it was a fitting sentiment, and decided to stamp in Powder and Harbor inks from Concord & 9th to get a good color match with my scene. I added chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous for snow and adhered the panel to a top fold A6 card base (6 1/4 x 4 5/8″) that I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

Limited color palette for such a large card.

Pei’s entire collection is available as a 30 % discounted bundle until November 15, 2024. 9 amazing stamps for only $52, that’s a good deal!!!

Eat, drink & be merry! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back today to share another card with the new release from Purple Onion Designs. Today, I’m focusing on Stacey Yacula’s Whispering Pines collection. I always love everything Stacey illustrates!!

Meet Mack and Katie. They’re both enjoying their beverages out in the snow, and I added the general store behind them to create my scene and even snuck in Santa’s Silhouette from a previous release (A Little Christmas Magic! collection from 2022) to really bring out the Christmas spirit.

Once everything was colored in, I stamped Santa’s Silhouette using Obsidian ink from Altenew. This is a pigment ink, which doesn’t really play well with Copics, so it’s best to use it once the coloring’s complete. I then stamped a sentiment from the Home for the Holidays sentiment set using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things, before I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, which I melted from the back for a textured snow look. I adhered my panel to a top fold card base and my card was complete.

I used a lot of Copics for this scene. A lot.

The entire Whispering Pines collection is available as a bundle at 30 % discount until Friday, November 15 2024, so if you want to take advantage of this offer, you still have about a week left.

’tis the Season to be Jolly {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! I have some exciting news to share today! The brand new holiday/winter release from Purple Onion Designs is available for purchase. There are three different collections to choose from. The first one is from Stacey Yacula. Her collections are always well thought out and go brilliant with older collections. The second one is from Pei, who joined the POD illustrator crew last year. I never tire of Tofu and his friends, and this time, there are some penguin pals to add to the cuteness. Last, but not least, we have the Winterwood collection, illustrated by Holly Mabutas, who’s a brand new illustrator at Purple Onion. I’m starting with a card created with images from the newcomer, but I have more up my sleeve, both from her and the others, so watch out for that.

I stamped and colored my critters (Steve & Scarlett, Benjamin, Doug and Scarlett’s Tree) onto X-Press It blending card. I added my signature peachy wintertime sky color in the background, but I actually took a couple of sunset photos as I was getting home from work this afternoon, so maybe I’ll change up my color combos soon.

I stamped a sentiment from the older Holiday Messages Sentiment set using Parsley and Avocado inks from Concord & 9th. I found it difficult to stamp in a color that matched the green in my coloring, but layering this combo worked well. I adhered the panel onto an A6 (4 5/8  6 1/4″) card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and my card was complete.

I used a lot of colors for this scene.

The entire Winterwood collection is available as a 30 % discounted bundle until Friday, November 14th 2024. There are 30 images in this collection, so there’s a lot to play with!!

Gledelig jul {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back to share another holiday card I made for the Kort & Godt gallery blog. I’ve actually made my card in traditional red, green and gold this time. The color palette may not be my cup of tea, but cards are to be gifted, and I’m sure whoever ends up receiving this will card appreciate it anyway.

I rummaged through my scraps of patterned paper and found these from Maja Design. Their patterned papers coordinate really well, even across collections years apart. In fact, I’ve used three different collections on this card. The Happy Christmas collection from 2021, the Vintage Winter collection from 2011 and the Gammaldags Jul collection, which is even older, but I’m not sure what year it’s from (it was before they started printing the year on the strips at the bottom of their patterned papers). I used Die 240 from Kort & Godt to cut the patterned paper. This ia a die set with these fish tail banners of different sizes. I then arranged them how I wanted them and die cut them all at once using a stitched rectangle die (Die 182 from Kort & Godt) to give them all that faux stitch line at the top. I used the same rectangle die to cut a piece of white cardstock which I adhered to my card base with another layer behind it for a tiny bit of dimension.

I mounted the banners in layers using foam tape, and die cut the sentiment from gold glitter cardstock. I stacked a few white ones behind it for dimension (I think I used four layers in addition to the gold glitter cardstock) and also die cut the shadow from white. I added dimension behind it and adhered it on top of the banners to finish the card.

Kort & Godt products used:

Die 182 – Rektangel med søm

Die 240 – Vimpler

Die 303 – Gledelig jul

God jul {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. We’re exactly two months away from Christmas Eve, and I have a simple holiday card to share today that I created for the Kort & Godt gallery blog.

I started by die cutting half circles into the sides of a panel of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before running it through my die cutting machine with an old Sizzix embossing folder to create some texture. I adhered my panel to my card base and started working on the rest of the card.

I fussy cut the tree from MA1030, put lots of foam tape on the back and adhered it in the center of the card, making sure that the presents sort of lined up with the notches I’d created. I then pulled a piece of cotton string through the holes of a button that says Merry Christmas, wrapped the string around the card using the notches to keep it in place and tied a knot behind the button. Super simple, right?

Kort & Godt products used:

MA1030 (image sheet with tree)

KN569 (button)

TR-110 (brown cotton string)

Have a holly jolly Christmas {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a simple holiday card to share today, featuring Sneaking a peek from Mo Manning. I’ve used this image in the past, it’s so cute and quick to color.

I colored the image with Copics and fussy cut it. It’s an easy one to fussy cut, so that helps. I die cut a frame from the Mega Snowflake Cover die set from Mama Elephant three times from white cardstock, stacked them and adhered the stack to a card base I created from Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things, before mounting the image with foam squares.

I used one of the dies in the Jolly Holiday Greetings die set from Concord & 9th to die cut a few times from white cardstock and stacked those as well. I adhered the stacked die cut to my card base. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Holiday stamp set from My Favorite Things onto Amarena Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things, cut the sentiment apart and used part of it to complete the sentiment on the card, before finishing off with a few pearls from the Glossy Porcelain mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Simple color palette.

Happy holidays {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back with what I’d call a super rare card. Super rare for me, that is, because I’ve put florals on a Christmas card. I don’t know why I don’t feel like it’s a good match, but the Festive Blooms die set from Concord & 9th was too good, I just couldn’t resist.

This die set is massive, there are 18 dies to cut out everything I’ve used on this card. Included in the die set is also a large die that leaves a faux stitch outline of this arrangement. I didn’t use that for this card, but I’ve used all the other dies in the set.

Aside from the white cardstock (Stamper’s Select White from Papertrey Ink), I’ve used Concord & 9th cardstock colors. Tidepool for the poinsettias, Harbor for the other flowers, Honeycomb for the centers, Mushroom for the holly leaves, Dove for the medium grey leaves, Pebble for the light grey leaves and Juniper for the banner. I ink blended on most of these die cuts (not the banner) using coordinating inks, but on the dark grey holly leaves I chose Midnight, which is a dark blue ink. It doesn’t show too well in the photos, but it’s definitely more noticeable in real life. On the white berries I used a little bit of Polar Bear ink from Altenew to give them a hint of blue.

I used the outline die in the die set to cut my card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I folded half a sheet (4 1/4 x 11″) and did partial die cutting, so the top of the die wouldn’t cut. I then adhered a white panel I cut with the same die and then arranged my florals on top. I glued some pieces flat down and added others with diemension behind them.

I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Festive Blooms stamp set onto Juniper cardstock, die cut it into a banner and added a couple of white die cuts behind it for strength and dimension, before popping it up on foam tape in the center of the card.

God jul {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back today with a simple Christmas card I created for the Kort & Godt gallery blog.

This card was so easy to create. I rummaged through my scraps of patterned paper and found these from the Greetings from the North Pole collection from Pion Design, which happens to be a collection from 2016. I don’t buy patterned paper anymore, but I have loads of scraps from the days when I did. The two pieces on the left were actually already torn (and the top was already heat embossed with white Fran-táge. This is an embossing powder which has a little bit of gold in it, and the gold pops off the background. I adhered the dark piece directly to a top fold card base I created from Rustic White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and I popped the other one up on foam tape.

I die cut the shadow for God and the word jul from the same dark pattern, and I die cut a few extra of the words themselves in white for dimension, using Die 347 God jul from Kort & Godt. I also used Die 231 to create the little branch of leaves from patterned paper, and I mounted it on foam tape for a little bit of dimension, before gluing the God die cut on top. I added a few pearls to finish.

Gledelig jul {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a super duper simple card today that I created for the Kort og Godt gallery blog. This is another one of those that would be easy to mass produce. You could change up the colors, the embossed background and also the die cut in the center.

I used an embossing folder to create the texture on the background (Berries & boughs embossing folder from Concord & 9th). I cut a rectangle of a decent size to fit in the center of the card and stamped a sentiment from the M-467 stamp set from Kort & Godt using Evergreen ink from Concord & 9th.

I added a few layers of cardstock behind my white rectangle for dimension and used one of the dies from DIE 323 from Kort & Godt for my tree. I cut it from a scrap of patterned paper from the Happy Christmas collection from Maja Design, added some dimension on the back of it and adhered it above the sentiment. Super simple, right?