Hi, crafty friends. I have a very clean and simple birthday card to share with you today featuring the Cupcake Critters – Bear digi stamp set from Streamside Studios. This is a cute set with a few different bears, some flowers, a couple of bees and a big cupcake. I chose to focus on one of the bears.
I colored the bear with Copics and fussy cut right up against the black stamped lines, I added shine and dimension to his eyes with a black Glaze pen, followed by a white dot using a Gelly Roll 05. I put the bear aside while I worked on the rest of my card. I printed a sentiment from the stamp set on a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink that I’d cut down to fit the front of my card with a little bit of a border. I then took the single line die from the Hexagon Pops die set from My Favorite Things to cut a row of hexagons below the sentiment, before lining up the die a second time for a second row of hexagons.
I added foam tape to the back of my die cut piece and adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Summer Sunrise cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I popped the bear on foam tape and added some sequins from the Meadow mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish. Super simple, right?
Simple color palette, too!
This card features a snowman from the Snowfolk stamp set. It’s no secret that I love snowmen, and I colored this guy with my Copics before fussy cutting him, leaving a white border around him to keep the little perpendicular lines that are instantly recognizable as a Lili of the Valley signature.
Onto a top fold white card base, I stamped a snow flurry stamp repeatedly using Spring Rain ink from Papertrey Ink. The snow stamp is from the Flurry of Love stamp set from My Favorite Things. I then created a notch on each side of the card front using a small circle die.
I stamped a sentiment from the Scripty Xmas stamp set from Mama Elephant on top of my blue snowflakes using Autumn Rose ink from Papertrey Ink, wrapped Aqua divine twine from Whisker Graphics around the card and tied it in a bow on the front. The half circle notches help to anchor it, so it won’t slide down the front.
I mounted my snowman on foam tape and adhered him to my card. He fits perfectly on the right hand side, and the outline nestles in so well with the stamped sentiment. The foam tape also helps hold down the twine.
To finish the card I added a few blue pearls from the Ocean Breeze mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. They add a little shine and also create another blue element to tie everything together.
As always, I’ve used lots of colors for the snow, I just can’t help myself.
This is for the 
Using the Precious Polaroids die set, I die cut four polaroid frames and stacked them for a bit of dimension, stamping a sentiment on the top layer using Winter Lake ink from Altenew. I added the stacked frame to the card at an angle, adhered my penguin and finished off the card with a few Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. To me, this is about as CAS as it gets. Whether it’s genius remains to be seen 🙂
Typical penguin color palette for me, this one.
I admit, I don’t make many Halloween cards. Halloween’s not really my thing. I think it might be the costumes that freak me out. I was scared of Santa as a kid (to be honest, Santa still creeps me out) and I never liked dressing up for carnival in kindergarten either. I don’t know what it is, I’m just not a fan. I am, however, a fan of these ghosts, they’re so adorable. In the stamp, the ghosts are holding a banner, but I wanted the ghosts alone, so I removed the banner, did a little bit of stamp surgery in Photoshop to complete their arms (since they’re holding the banner, you don’t see the entire arm on either of these ghosts). I created mirror images of each of the ghosts so I had four different ghosts to work with, and made a few copies of each.
I did very simple coloring of the ghosts, I just wanted a hint of color and actually only used four markers. I cut down my panel, added foam tape to the back and adhered it to a white card base I’d covered with Caribbean Sea cardstock from My Favorite Things.
I die cut the letters to spell happy using an alphabet die set from Papirdesign. I die cut each of the letters three times from white cardstock and once from Gravel Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things that I adhered on top of the three white ones for a stacked, dimensional look.
I white heat embossed a sub sentiment from the Itty Bitty Boos stamp set from My Favorite Things onto a scrap piece of Caribbean Sea cardstock that I cut down to a small strip. I adhered a couple of additional layers of cardstock behind it before I adhered it to my die cut letters. I added a few pink sequins from the Heaven Sent mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and my card was complete.
As I mentioned, I only used four markers for the coloring of these ghosts.
It’s confirmation season, and my nephew’s confirmation was September 10th. I made several cards for him, and this is one of them. I thought this image was the perfect one to use, nothing says fifteen year old boy like a guy with his phone in his hand, school books hidden away and a bowl of snacks on the armrest. The controller tucked away is a nice touch too. We don’t wear shoes indoors in Norway, but the rest is pretty spot on.
I created a background for my colored image using a variety of stamps, inks and even a stencil. I started with the Abstract Triangle Background stamp from My Favorite Things that I stamped in Orange Peel ink from Simon Says Stamp. I didn’t want the stamp to cover the entire background and made sure to stamp it in the lower left corner and have it fade as it went up and to the right. I then took a confirmation stamp from the A05 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS and repeatedly stamped it on top of the stamping I’d already done using VersaMark ink, before sprinkling on super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger and melting the powder with my heat gun. I then used the Watercolor Wash Free Form stencil from My Favorite Things and ink blended using Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed distress inks.
I fussy cut my image leaving a white trim and mounted it on foam tape on top of the stamping and ink blending I’d done. I die cut the Hullmønster die from Papirdesign twice; once from Cornflower cardstock and once from Sour Apple cardstock, both from My Favorite Things. I tore them both up, tucking a couple of pieces behind the image for a little bit of added interest.
I used the Konfirmant 2 die from Papirdesign to die cut five times from cardstock for a stacked look, placing a layer die cut from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink on top of the stack. I adhered it to the card using liquid glue, placing the beginning of the word on top of Noah’s pant leg to make it all fit.
I added some sentiment stickers from Kort & Godt to fill the space at the bottom of the card a little. They’re originally a bit bigger than this and white with black letters, but I used a Copic marker to color them blue to make them stand out against the white background a little and also cut them down slightly. The banners with the stars are also Kort & Godt stickers.
In the top right corner, I created a little cluster with die cut pieces and those stickers, before finishing off the card with a few Papirdesign enamel dots. Onto a Limelight envelope from My Favorite Things, I adhered white die cut letters (dies from Papirdesign) to spell his name and stamped Konfirmant from the Konf. 02 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Limelight ink from My Favorite Things.
On the inside, I stamped a sentiment from the Konf. 02 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Orange Peel ink from Simon Says Stamp. I also adhered number stickers from Papirdesign to get the date on there. The right hand side has plenty of space for a personal message.
Fun, bright color palette for this one.
I colored the strawberries and fussy cut them right up against the black lines. I put them aside while I worked on the rest of my card. I created a top fold landscape A2 card from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, used the Number Jumble background stamp from My Favorite Things to stamp on the front with VersaMark ink, then heat embossed using Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder from Judikins. I ink blended on top of the embossing in the center using Grass Field and Limeade inks from Altenew, as well as Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink from Ranger.
Into a separate panel of white cardstock, I die cut the letters SWEET using the Impact Alphabet dies from My Favorite Things. I stamped a sentiment from the Scripty Bday stamp set from Mama Elephant below using Wild Cherry ink from My Favorite Things. I cut the panel down slightly, added two more layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and adhered it to the card front. I adhered one of the strawberries using liquid glue, popping the other one up using foam tape for dimension, before finishing off the card with a few bubbles from the Festivities mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
You wouldn’t think I’d use this many colors on images this small, but that’s kind of what I do.
I knew I wanted lots of green on this card, and as soon I was done coloring skin, hair and the ground, I grabbed a few green combos and colored in all the elves. I hit a bit of a snag when I got to Mrs. Claus’ dress, because I felt like there were no good color options. Grey would have been boring, brown would have been sad, red wouldn’t work with the amount of green I had and I felt a little lost, to be honest. Color buddy Liz to the rescue. She suggested the RV90s, and they worked beautifully. I’ve combined RV90s with green plenty of times in the past, but usually for florals, and I have to admit it’s been a while, so it was fun to use an old classic again.
Once the coloring was complete, I used the largest die in the A2 Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create a nice detailed edge around my panel and adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I used most of a mini doily from Doodlebug in the top right corner of the card for a little bit of soft texture, and added a small scrap of the same doily in the lower left corner for a little bit of balance. I used a tag die from the Everyday Gift Box die set from My Favorite Things to create my tag, and stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Mini messages stamp set from Mama Elephant in the center of it. I tied some Green Apple Divine twine into a bow and mounted the tag using a couple of foam squares before finishing off the card with a few gems from Crafty Meraki. These are the Green Illusion Sparkle and they change color when you tilt them in the light. They appear green and somehow shift to a pink/purple tone, they’re really cool, and the colors worked perfectly for this card.
Lots of green for this one. I used four different green combos to color in the elves so they wouldn’t all look the same. I also used RV97, a color I’ve created myself, for the dress on Mrs. Claus.
I colored the trick or treat mouse with Copics, and adhered my panel of X-Press It blending card to a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I used the Boo! stamp from the Itty Bitty Boos stamp set from My Favorite Things to stamp here and there around the scene, with Limelight ink from My Favorite Things, using second generation stamping for a couple of them for a softer look.
I added a couple of pieces of orange dotted patterned paper from Waffle Flower above and below the image. I put foam tape on the back for dimension.
I printed the ghosts on Heavyweight Translucent vellum from My Favorite Things and colored softly with Copics on the back of each of them. Colors don’t really blend on vellum, so you don’t need to be precise. You also need darker colors than you want to end up with, because the colors don’t show through all that well. I fussy cut the ghosts leaving a border around the edge and adhered two of the ghosts directly onto the orange patterned paper, using a little bit of liquid glue, before strategically placing enamel dots from Papirdesign on top, so the glue wouldn’t show through.
I used the Happy die from the Hand-Lettered Happy Birthday dies from My Favorite Things to create my sentiment. I stacked four white die cuts, adhered the last ghost to the y and added a fifth die cut on top. The top layer sparkles in the right light. I used a sheer shimmer craft spray from Imagine, but it doesn’t really show up in photos. It’s subtle in real life too. To finish off my sentiment I white heat embossed another sentiment from the Itty Bitty Boos stamp set from My Favorite Things, this time onto Gravel Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things. I cut it down to a strip, added a few layers behind it for strength and dimension and adhered it to the die cut word, and my card was finished.
I used quite a few Copics for this card.
I knew I wanted to do something fun with the poinsettia die set from Kort & Godt. The die set comes with three dies in three different sizes. If you die cut two of each, you get a poinsettia. There’s also a leaf die in the set. I die cut three leaves and created four of each size of the petals for a very full poinsettia. I used a patterned paper from the Ink Drops – Vivid paper pad from Craft Consortium for everything paper on this card except for the white cardstock. Before assembling my poinsettia, I curled all the leaves back a little so they wouldn’t appear flat. I just used a paint brush handle, anything that you can use to create that curve will work. I put foam squares on the back of the petals at the very back, but adhered the center of the poinsettia directly to the white die cut panel. I also put foam squares on the back of the leaves.
I die cut the word gledelig four times; once from the patterned paper, three times from white cardstock. I stacked them for dimension, adhering the patterned paper one on top of the others. I stamped and white heat embossed jul to complete the sentiment (the die set with gledelig also has the word jul in it, but it was too big for my card). I used a glue gun to add berries to the center of the flower and embellished with a few white pearls.
The curved leaves and the berries add a lot of dimension to this card. I love that the dies impress the veins of the leaves and petals into the die cuts.
I colored the mouse with Copics and fussy cut her, leaving a thin white border. I used a black Glaze pen to create some shine in her eyes, and once the black was dry I added a dot of white using a Gelly Roll 05.
Onto a white cardstock panel, I ink blended Amarena Cherry and Wild Cherry inks from My Favorite Things for an ombre effect. I then used a die cut as a stencil to add some snowflakes to the background with modeling paste from The Crafter’s Workshop. The die I used to die cut the makeshift stencil is the Snowflake Confetti fancy die from Hero Arts, which is one of my all time favorite Christmas/winter dies.
I cut the ink blended panel down a little and adhered it to a panel of Amarena Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things that covers the front of a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
From white cardstock, I die cut the Polaroid Shaker Frame die from My Favorite Things five times for a stacked look, stamping a sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley to the top layer using Amarena Cherry ink from My Favorite Things. I added the cute little mouse on top of the frame, and my card was complete.
If you look closely, you can see the shine in the eyes in this photo.
Very Christmas-y color palette for this one.
Papirmølla 