Hi, crafty friends! I’m constantly cold, so I look forward to spring and summer all year because it means that I get to feel less cold. The warmer seasons also bring out happy colors in my cards, and today’s card is an example of that.
I started by running a panel of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink through my die cutting machine with the Kaleidoscope embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp for a subtle, textured background. I love white space on my cards, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be flat.
Next, I did some stripping. Cardstock stripping, that is. I cut a few colors of cardstock into different width strips. The colors I used are (top to bottom – all Concord & 9th cardstock): Ballet Slipper, Carnation, Sweet Pea, Buttercup and Clementine. I added the strips to a scrap of cardstock to keep them all together and mounted them at an angle using foam tape.
I die cut the word klem (hug) three times from white cardstock and stacked them for dimension. I usually stack four, but I was using a scrap to die cut from and there was only room for three with the piece I used. Three layers work too!
I love how this word die creates a space for a sub sentiment strip. You can put pretty much anything on the bottom of the last part of the die cut and still see the whole word. For this one I used a sentiment sticker strip and adhered a couple of layers of cardstock strips behind it for even more dimension, so it pops off the die cut a little. To finish off the card, I added a few gold heart, I thought they matched the sub sentiment (you have a heart of gold) nicely.
Kort & Godt products used:
Die 244 Klem
ST1013 (sentiment sticker strip)
ST149 (hearts)
In addition to Polly and the stone wall, I also used 
Once my coloring was complete I stamped a sentiment from the Journey sentiment set from Purple Onion Designs using Altenew Obsidian ink.
I stacked cardstock scraps behind each of the postage stamps for dimension and adhered everything to a card base I created from Rustic Cream cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love this cardstock, I need to break it out more!!
To finish off the card I embellished with iridescent flowers from the Spring Leaves mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Lots of Copics for this one.
I used a couple of the brand new cardstock colors from Concord & 9th (Brickyard and Pimento), along with a bunch of older ones (Sorbet, Grapefruit, Nectar, Eucalyptus, Rainforest) for the rest of the florals. I also used a little bit of vellum and some gold shine cardstock for the flower centers.
Once you’ve die cut the florals and greenery, you can use the embossing folder that coordinates to create texture on the petals and large leaves. They come out looking like crepe paper, and I love the look. There are many ways to assemble these flowers, and I created a bunch more that I wasn’t able to fit on this card. For the circular centers, I stacked some white die cuts behind the gold ones for dimension, and I curled all the petals and “crepe paper” leaves before assembly.
On the Powder panel that covers the card base, I wanted a little bit of texture. I used the Leafy Lattice press plate from Pinkfresh Studio with Polar Bear ink from Altenew for a subtle background – it’s so subtle it barely shows in the photos, it’s definitely more noticeable in real life. I probably could have gone a little bit darker with the ink, or ink up the press plate a second time and run it through again if I wanted it darker.
I adhered all my flowers and leaves with liquid glue, stacking the pieces in the background for strength and dimension. They’re only attached at the base of the sprigs, so they have som lift at the tips. I die cut a sentiment die from Kort & Godt four times from Harbor cardstock, stacked them, added a vellum shadow layer behind and glued my sentiment on top of the larger flower, before finishing off with a few champagne glitter drops from Pinkfresh Studio.
For this card, I really tried. I chose a color combo of Pebble, Ballet Slipper, Brickyard, Cranberry, Cobblestone and Tidepool from C9. I wanted to focus on Ballet Slipper, Cranberry and Tidepool for the Gummiapan diecut houses, but Tidepool and Ballet Slipper created mud when they mixed, while ink smooshed Cranberry looked like an episode of Dexter. I switched gears and ink smooshed Ballet Slipper on its own on watercolor paper. When it dried it looked like Grapefruit. So much for not using peach tones. I watercolored a background using Tidepool reinker and did the same with Pebble reinker on a separate piece of watercolor paper. Once dry, I die cut the Pebble piece with a curved landscape die from the Slim Card Basics die set from Mama Elephant, then layered the two pieces together and die cut them using the largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things.
I sprinkled on Chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous onto the background, heat set it so the granules melted to look like snow, adhered the slope with 1 mm foam squares and mounted the entire panel onto a card base that I covered with a piece of Nectar cardstock from Concord & 9th. I tried Grapefruit first, but felt it was too dark against the background. I mounted the houses using foam tape, die cut and stacked four layers of Happy Holidays from the Jolly Holidays Greetings die set from Concord & 9th and adhered the greeting at an angle above the houses, before finishing off with Snowdrift Sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I started with two panels of X-Press It blending card and stamped the flying dragon and little boy on one of the panels, and the little girl in the corner of the other. I stamped in Copic friendly ink, colored up the images, then stamped on top with Altenew Obsidian ink, which gives really crisp black lines.
Once the coloring was complete, I put masks on top of my images and ink blended around them. For the piece with the little boy and the dragon, I used Icy Water fresh dye ink from Altenew, and for the panel with the little girl, I used Evening Gray ink, also fresh dye ink from Altenew. I also used Moon Rock at the very bottom to ground the little girl. In the sky, I also added clouds with Fresh Snow hybrid ink from Papertrey Ink through the Tiny Clouds stencil from My Favorite Things. This barely showed on my very pale blue sky, so I added Perfect Pearls powder on top, which makes the clouds stand out a little more, and it gives great shine when you tilt it in the light.
Using the Slim Film City die set from Mama Elephant, I die cut the city skyline from the panel with the little girl, and I also added a second skyline silhouette behind her that I die cut from the remainder of the panel, which I’d inked with Moon Rock ink.
I stamped a sentiment from the Bitty Thanks & Gratitude stamp set from My Favorite Things using Altenew Obsidian ink, die cut the whole thing using a die from the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things, added an additional three layers behind it for dimension and adhered it to a white card base. I decided not to add any embellishments to this, those clouds really do add quite a bit of shine in real life, and I didn’t think the card needed any more.
I used a very basic color palette for this one.
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of anything and everything Concord & 9th comes up with. This Blended petals set is an older one, a quick google search revealed a July 2022 release, but I hadn’t seen it before and picked it up just a few weeks ago. There’s a stamp set, a die set and a stencil set that all coordinate. I didn’t use the stencils today, but I definitely will in the future!
I started by stamping the big floral image on a panel of white cardstock using Altenew Obsidian ink. This ink is very dark black and very crisp, and it’s perfect for outlines like this. I then “stripped it up” (thank you, Laura Bassen, for this term) with cardstock colors from C9. I cut 3/16″ strips from Juniper, Sea Glass, Clementine, Honeysuckle and Pink Lemonade cardstock. I butted the strips together and glued them to Post-it tape, which I then adhered temporarily to the white panel, so I could stamp in the exact same spot on my stripped piece.
Once I’d completed my stamping, I adhered the Post-it tape with my strips properly with liquid glue and trimmed the panel down slightly, before adhering it to a black panel that covers the front of an A2 white card base. I stamped and heat embossed the large sentiment in the stamp set and cut it out with the die from the coordinating die set. I stacked another four black die cuts behind it for dimension, and adhered it to the top of my cardstock strips.
To finish off the card, I rummaged through my enamel dots in search of colors to match. I have all the colors of the C9 enamel dots on their way to me. They would match perfectly, but the last time I tracked the shipment, they were in the UK. I used the Sea Shore enamel dots from Altenew for the ones that matched Juniper and Sea Glass, the Tea Party set from Altenew to sort of match the pinks and the orange one is from the Boy Crazy pack from My Mind’s Eye from 2013. I’ve loved enamel dots for a loooong time!
When I printed my image, I printed 
Once my coloring was complete, I used the Notebook Edge die from My Favorite Things to cut from the edge of the panel for a little bit of interest. I mounted my little scene using foam tape onto a card base I created from Cornflower cardstock from My Favorite Things.
I stamped a sentiment from the Birthday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using VersaMark ink onto a scrap of Cornflower cardstock, added super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger and heat embossed. I always heat emboss from the back of the back of the cardstock only, it gives a much better result than heat embossing from the front.
I cut my sentiment down to a strip, added a couple of layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and adhered it near the top left of the card, before finishing off with a few gems and confetti stars from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. The stars made me think of “When you wish upon a star”, which goes perfectly with the sentiment and the “Once upon a time” theme for the Coloring Club Challenge.
I used a fairly limited color palette for this one, I feel.
I used grays for my coloring of this 
I used the Watercolor Wash Free Form die and the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to cut a window opening and create the faux stitching on the edges of a piece of Dove cardstock from Concord & 9th. I used the Watercolor die to cut a few more layers from white cardstock to glue behind the grey for dimension.
I scribbled a bit of N5 Copic marker on a scrap of Dove cardstock to make it a little darker, let it dry, then stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the A Beautiful Day Sentiment Set from Purple Onion Designs (unfortunately, I think the set’s discontinued, I couldn’t find it when searching the POD store). I then used one of the dies in the Essential Stitched Sentiment Strips die set from MFT to carry on the faux stitching look that I already had going. I added a few strips of cardstock behind it for even more dimension and adhered it in the bottom left of the card.
To finish off the card. I adhered a few Dew Drops from Concord & 9th. With greyscale coloring, grey cardstock, white heat embossing and clear dew drops, it looks like I took black and white photos of this card, but I promise I didn’t.
I don’t think I’ve ever colored an image with less markers.
To start, I die cut this focal image with a tag die. I die cut another in white to put on the back for a little strength and put my tag aside while I worked on my card base.
I used the Wimpelkette stencil set from Create a smile to create the pennants in the background. The set consists of 3 stencils that layer and create an easy pennant background. I used Peachy Glow and Amber Blaze inks from Altenew with two of the stencils, and through the third one, I added a layer of Solar Paste in the Golden Hour color. It creates a little bit of shine and some texture.
I mounted the tag with foam tape in the center of the card, used 1/16″ foam squares on the back of the Gratulerer word sticker to make it stand out a little, then trimmed down the sentiment strips slightly and adhered them to the tag.
To finish off the card I added a few black gems and tied a bow using black cotton thread from Kort & Godt.
I started by fussy cutting this floral image, leaving a white border around it. I then used the Crystal Distortion embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp on my card base to create some interest to it.
I added a piece of Lemon Tart cardstock from Papertrey Ink at a bit of an angle at the bottom of my card front, and glued a small strip of Gold Shine cardstock from My Favorite Things at the top for a defined edge between the white and yellow. I put foam squares on the back of my flowers and adhered the image on the left hand side of the front, chopping off the overhanging bit and adhering it to the inside so it didn’t go to waste.
Using Die360 from Kort & Godt, I die cut klem four times from Nautical cardstock from Hero Arts and stacked them for a dimensional look. I die cut the shadow from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink (the same cardstock that I used for the card base) and adhered the stacked word to it, before putting foam squares on the back of the right half, adhering it directly to the image on the left.
I used one of the sentiment sticker strips from Kort & Godt to finish my sentiment. I trimmed it down slightly to make it more narrow and ink blended it with Winter Lake fresh dye ink from Altenew to make it match the blue in the flowers. I adhered the strip on top of the die cut and finished off the card with a few faceted pearls.
Papirmølla 