Believe in the magic of Christmas {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends! I have another Christmas card to share today, featuring Merry Little Christmas from Mo Manning. As you may know, I love creating Christmas cards all year, and this particular image is one that I’ve used a few times previously.

I colored my image with Copics, before using one of the stitched rectangle dies from My Favorite Things to create a nice faux stitching detail along the edges of the panel. I then sprinkled on a generous amount of chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous and melted the granules from the back of the panel.

I created a card base from Vintage Timber cardstock from My Favorite Things and mounted my colored panel in the center using foam tape. Using the Believe die from Simon Says stamp, I die cut four white believe that I glued together for a stacked look and added one more on top that I colored with blue Copics (B91 and B0000) before die cutting. It gives the word a little bit of added interest. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Holiday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant onto Wild Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things and cut the sentiment down to strips, adding a few extra layers of cardstock behind for dimension and strength.

I have a coloring/card making buddy in Liz Vefall and sometimes ask her for suggestions when I’m stuck and/or can’t make up my mind. I always run with her ideas and the cards usually end up looking great, but I seem to have lost the ability to turn her suggestions into a final product that I’m happy with. The black pants and the brown card base were both suggestions from her, and I’m not comfortable with the end result, somehow. Diecutting the white word with a little bit of blue at the bottom was also her suggestion, and I wound up loving that, so I ended on a positive, at least

Fairly standard Christmas color palette, with a couple of odd ones thrown in there for good measure.

You’re always on my nice list {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. Winter solstice was yesterday, which means that the days in the Northern hemisphere will gradually get longer from now on. I’m all for longer days, less than 6 hours of daylight each day is depressing, and I long for summer days that seem to have no end. The snow does help make it brighter, but the last couple of days have been foggy and rainy, and the snow has turned to deadly ice as a result. Santa’s little helpers don’t seem to care about that, and with only two days left until Christmas, it’s time to decide who’s naughty or nice.

Cue Chippey and Ralphie from the latest Stacey Yacula release from Purple Onion Designs (A Little Christmas Magic!). They’re making their list, and checking it twice in the Toy Workshop. I made sure to use second generation stamping for the Toy Workshop to make the critters in the foreground stand out. I also used a couple of images from the Holiday Toy Set and turned the North Pole Sign into a poster on the wall, stamping it in Fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a no line look.

I’ve always been a fan of creating blue Christmas cards, but in the past couple of years, green has grown on me, and I think I made more green Christmas cards this year than blue ones. It helps that I’ve found a green Copic combo that I really like.

When all the coloring was done, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Santa Sentiment Set, also from this year’s holiday release. I used super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger for my embossing, it always embosses well.

Lots of Copics for this one.

Oh deer, it’s that time of year!

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back with another card featuring the A Little Christmas Magic! collection from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula.

This time I’ve teamed up Prancer and Bluster in front of the Holiday Arch and the North Pole sign. I’ve done my best with the cards I’ve made using this release to change up the sky between cards. This time I went for an overcast look, and it’s all a very soft blue green color.

I used a white Gelly Roll 05 pen to create the white dots on the deer, and a die from the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things to create the faux stitching on the edges of the panel. By not stamping the entire deer, it creates a dynamic effect of having it walk in from the edge of the card.

I stamped a sentiment from the Santa Sentiment set using Autumn Rose ink from Papertrey Ink and adhered the panel to a card base I created using cardstock in the same color.

I created a sparkly snowy effect here and there by using my Quickie glue pen from Sakura and sprinkling on Rock Candy Distress Glitter from Ranger.

The pink and blue green color combination is definitely not traditional for Christmas, but I kind of like it. What do you think, does it work?

Quite a few Copics for such a simple card.

I’ve got some good news, the Purple Onion Designs holiday sale has been extended and doesn’t end until midnight tomorrow. Extra time to get stamps at 25% off, just sayin’ 😉

Cosy Christmas wishes {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. Can you believe it’s November already? I long for summer, but I’m still creating Christmas card. It’s weird, I know, but that’s just how it is. Today I have a Christmas card to share with a real cutie on the front.

This image is Winter Delivery from Mo’s Digital Pencil. I’ve used him once before (here), and was really planning on creating a blue card this time (the last one was green), but somehow the green won out.

I have a tall pine tree outside my craft room window. In it, there’s a huge nest that magpies built a few years back. One morning last week, I heard the magpies making more sound than usual. When I looked outside, there was a squirrel that had taken over the nest. It was adding one twig after another to the nest, I guess it had evicted the magpies. After quite some time, one of the magpies tried to get back in, but was chased away by the squirrel. I must admit I was delighted, I’d much rather have a squirrel outside my window than magpies. The squirrel is much cuter, and it’s a lot quieter too.

Back to the card. Once I finished the coloring, I stamped the word Christmas from the Christmas Greeting stamp set that Lili of the Valley released earlier this year using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things.

I then die cut the panel using the second larges die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it directly to a card base I created from Jalapeño Popper cardstock, also from My Favorite Things. On a scrap piece of cardstock the same color, I stamped and white heat embossed the words cosy and wishes to complete my sentiment. I put a couple of additional layers of green cardstock behind each word for a little bit of added dimension.

I added a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off this very simple card. A little bit of shine is never a bad idea on a simple card.

You’d think an image this simple would have less Copics used, but I tend to go overboard on snow. This time I also went overboard on the fur, even though it might not look like it.

A Little Christmas Magic! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! I have something very exciting to share today. It’s a card with the brand new release from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula. This new collection is titled A Little Christmas Magic!, and it’s all about the hustle and bustle on the North Pole, with various adorable critters in Stacey’s signature style.

For this card, I chose Comet (elf bunny with pocket watch) and Zippity (elf bird carrying gift) to be the focus of the card. Zippity’s rushing last minute, and Comet is making sure everything gets done in time. In the background I stamped Santa’s Workshop, which is another great stamp in this release.

I didn’t want a dark night sky for this card. I also didn’t want it to have a basic blue sky, because I wanted to add lots of snow, and it doesn’t really snow from clear skies. I opted for a soft blue violet combo that wasn’t too dark and that fit the snowy scene look I was after.

When everything was colored, I stamped a sentiment from Santa Sentiments using Blue Yonder ink from My Favorite Things. This sentiment set is also new, and there are some really good ones in the set, I love the mix of the clean font with the handwritten style, and the blue ink isn’t very distracting from the scene, but still visible enough.

I sprinkled on a generous amount of chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, making sure no granules covered up the critters’ eyes or the sentiment, before melting the granules from the back of the panel. I then adhered it directly to a top fold white card base, and my card was complete.

Lots of Copics for this one.

I hope you like the present you told me to buy for you {Alex Syberia Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. Today is the final Instagram hop for the Alex Syberia Designs Kickstarter campaign. We’re all sharing cards with the products in the kickstarter release and there are plenty of prizes up for grabs, so head over to Instagram once you finish reading this blog post 😉

For my final card I’m focusing on the Birthday Wonderland stamp set, and I used both trees, the raccoon and the bear for my card, in addition to one of the sentiments.

I decided to go for a no line look in the background with the trees and used black lines for the two cute critters.

Once my image was stamped and colored I cut it down significantly and mounted it on foam tape to a top fold landscape card base I created from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

There’s something about this bear that reminds me of Yogi. That might actually be the reason I colored his hat green. These two have such character, but the bear’s my favorite, just don’t tell the raccoon.

I used a white Sharpie with an extra fine tip for the dots of snow (is it snow?) on the trees.

Simple, subdued color palette for this card.

Alex Syberia Designs Kickstarter Campaign | Blog Hop 2 & Giveaway

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with the card I made for the second blog hop for the Alex Syberia Kickstarter Campaign. We had our first blog hop mid September, which you can find here, and our first IG hop about a week later. My blog post for that is here. For the first two cards I featured a sentiment set and one of the beautiful floral stamp sets. This time, I’m focusing on critters – penguins, more specifically. ONE penguin, to be perfectly accurate.

I thought this guy from the Smile and Wave stamp set was too cool not to use, so I colored him with my Copics and did some fussy cutting, leaving a white border around the edge. I wanted him to stand out and to make a super simple card.

I created a mask with some 2″ post-It tape by cutting a sloping hill with a craft knife. This is easy to do free hand, but you can use a curved die if you’d like.

I wanted this guy to really stand out against the background and decided to ink blend using distress inks. I used Abandoned Coral, Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed and Scattered Straw for the sky. The yellow and orange tones pick up the colors from his belly, beak and feet and really stand out against the blue of his hat. For the ground I used a little bit of Tumbled Glass Distress Ink near the horizon, fading into white near the bottom.

I sprinkled on Chunky White embossing enamel to the background, making sure no granules covered my stamped sentiment before melting the granules from the back. I mounted the panel onto the white top fold card base using foam tape for dimension.

I mounted the penguin onto foam tape and used some clear iridescent crystals from the Crystal Collection (Glass) from Little Thing from Lucy’s Cards to finish off this very simple card.

Simple color palette.

Did you know that Kickstarter is all or nothing? That means that Alex Syberia Designs need to reach their funding goal to be able to go ahead and manufacture this beautiful collection, so please, help them! You can back them on their Kickstarter Campaign and you can help them spread the word about it!

Remember that you have some fantastic discounts, which are only available through their Kickstarter Campaign.

GIVEAWAY PRIZES | OVER £1000/$1200 IN TOTAL

Alex Syberia Designs is giving away some fantastic prizes; their full September Release and two of their gorgeous Floral Bundle or Critter Bundle to choose from. There are also amazing companies and crafty friends who are celebrating with us. Here’s the complete list of awesome prizes:

Check the Kickstarter Campaign for more info

That’s a total of 15 prizes for 15 lucky winners! To be in with a chance to win one of these amazing prizes all you have to do is play along with each of the four hops! Alex Syberia Designs will draw winners from those entrants that have played along the hops by 16th October 2022. 

To enter, leave a comment on this blog post as well as those of all other amazing designers. You can see the full list, with links to each blog, below.

Winners will be announced on the Alex Syberia Designs blog on the 23rd October 2022.

BLOG HOP 2 | DESIGNERS LIST

Sending smiles across the miles {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing an untraditional Christmas card today, using untraditional colors for our friends down under. This Christmas Kangaroos image is brand new from Rachelle Anne Miller, and it’s so cute with the little joey holding a candy cane.

I love teal for Christmas cards. I actually love teal for anything, but it’s the perfect color to pair with the dreaded traditional red. I’m not a fan of complementary colors, so red and green don’t really work for me, but red and teal totally do. As does red and light blue, or red and grey, but that’s pretty much my entire list for what goes with red at Christmas. I’m weird, I know.

I decided to pair my teal with a bright pink and used the RV Copic family for the candy cane and all the flowers.

Once my coloring was done I used the Notebook Edge die from My Favorite Things to die cut from the left hand side of the panel. Below the image, I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Hawaiian Shores Ink from Papertrey Ink.

I mounted the panel onto a top fold cardbase I created from Hawaiian Shores cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love it when my colors are a match, and the teal of the cardstock goes well with the teal combo I used for the image.

I thought about adding some sort of embellishment to the card, but in the end, I decided to keep it simple.

Not a whole heap of Copics used for this one.

Ghosts and goblins {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another Halloween card. Another cute one, and this came together so quickly.

I thought the ghost stamps in the Little Halloween 1 digi stamp set from Streamside Studios were sooo adorable, and couldn’t resist using a few of them. There are mummies, pumpkins and some candy in the set as well, in addition to a few sentiments. I used one of the sentiments too, and also used the silhouette from the Spooky House stamp set in the background.

I colored the ghosts with Copics, and used a yellow and a grey marker to color the windows. Most of the rooms have the lights on, but by coloring two windows grey, it gives the illusion that the lights aren’t on in those particular rooms. I also used the grey to add a silhouette of a person in one of the lit rooms, upping the creep factor a tiny bit.

I masked off the ghosts and the house before I ink blended the nighttime sky. I used Eiffel Tower ink from My Favorite Things as well as Distress Inks in the colors Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans and Stormy Sky. Evidently, I’d used the paper I laid down to do my ink blending on to catch overspray from another project I added shimmer to, so the sky has a subtle shimmer to it when you tilt the card in the light. Completely unintentional, but not the worst thing in the world. My ink pads are now a little shimmery too, but it’s not too bad.

I decided to also add an acetate ghost outside the top window of the haunted house. The ghost is from the Candy Corn mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I added my panel to a piece of white cardstock, and then adhered everything to a card base I created from Orange Zest cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

Very simple color palette for this one.

Hello {Alex Syberia Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! Today I’m part of a major Instagram hop for the Alex Syberia Kickstarter campaign. If you want to hop along for the chance to win prizes, head over to Instagram – I would appreciate you reading this blog post before you do, though, I have a fun card to share.

I used the large flower from the Lovely hello stamp set for this card. This image is huge, and it covers most of an A2 card front. I colored the image with Copics and then fussy cut the whole thing. This image isn’t very detailed on the edges, so it was easy enough to fussy cut.

I mounted my fussy cut image to a card base I created from Rustic Cream cardstock from Papertrey Ink using the Double Thick Crystal Clear Foam Tape from the Rabbit Hole Designs. This tape is super thick and super sticky, and it adds a ton of dimension.

I used part of a sentiment from the same stamp set. It actually says Hello lovely, but I wanted the hello. I also fussy cut this, leaving a thin border around the black letters. There’s a coordinating die to go with this sentiment, but I don’t have it and don’t actually mind fussy cutting.

I popped up the sentiment with foam tape and added sequins here and there using the Rosy Glow mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish the card.

This card has it all – dimension, shine and a gorgeous flower. What more could you possibly want?

I used very few Copics for this image, actually.