Hi, crafty friends. It’s time for a happy dance, because there’s a new stamp collection out from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula. You know how much I love Stacey’s style, and she’s been illustrating stamps for Purple Onion for 10 years, which is reason to celebrate. A Special Day is a collection of stamps focusing on celebrations and milestones. If you have an occasion that needs to be celebrated, this is the collection for you.
My first card with images from the release is this one. I love creating birthday cards, so this collection is right up my alley!! Using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, I stamped and masked Hugh (snail), Sage (mouse) and Dylan (bear) before stamping the mushrooms and the tree stump from the woodland floor set, as well as the woodland background. I colored in my scene using Copics, then stamped the sentiment from the Let’s Celebrate sentiment set using VersaFine Onyx Black ink. The stamp was perfect to nestle into the clearing between the trees.
I cut down my colored panel ever so slightly and adhered it to a top fold A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love that little 1/16″ border around the edge.
I kind of thought I’d use a whole lot more Copics for a full panel card, but I admit I love the orange color with the teal and the bright green, it’s such a classic color combo for a reason.
For a limited time, you can purchase this collection as a bundle with a 30% discount for $130.00. The “A Special Day” bundle consists of all 28 stamps/stamp sets & the coordinating “Let’s Celebrate” sentiment set.
In celebration of Stacey’s 10th year illustrating stamps for Purple Onion Designs, the entire “A Special Day” collection will be 10% off when purchased individually. The bundle will not receive the additional 10% off since it is already discounted 30%.
The special bundle price and the 10% birthday discount will run for 2 weeks and end on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.
I colored the image with Copics, die cut the word HURRA from my panel using a die from Kort & Godt and the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things for the faux stitching to frame the image. I printed a second image to put behind, so the ball of yarn is continuous throughout the word.
I adhered my panel to an A2 card base I created from Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Onto a strip of the same color cardstock, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from Huldra Designstudio, added a couple of additional layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and embellished with a couple of sequins from Pretty Pink Posh to finish the card.
Not a whole lot of colors used for this one, it’s a simple image, after all.
My first card as a Lee Holland design team member HAD to be a birthday card for the wonderful friend that sent me the link, thereby letting me know that this amazing opportunity even existed.
I first fell in love with Lee’s images because of his dragons, but all his critters are adorable, and I thought this 
She loves teal, so I knew just what color to use for the balloons. I made sure to print the image towards the bottom left corner of my quarter panel of X-Press It blending card, which is what I use for nearly all my Copic coloring. I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things to give my panel a slight trim and that faux stitch edge I love so much, before adhering it directly to a card base I created from Tropical Teal cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I die cut the letters to spell HURRA three times from the same color cardstock using the Connected alphabet die set from My Favorite Things. I stacked them for dimension and stability and adhered them to the right of the top balloon.
I also stamped a couple of sentiments from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto strips of Sea Glass cardstock from Concord & 9th using Caribbean Sea ink from My Favorite Things. I added a few additional strips behind each and glued them to the card, before finishing off the card with a few sequins from the Seashore mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I used a lot of colors for the coloring of this. I used 16 colors for the squirrel, which is kind of nuts (pun intended).
I’m focusing on ONE of the images for today’s card. I couldn’t resist the cute triceratops sitting on top of a present. I love The Land Before Time and chose to color this one similar to the character Cera from the movie. She’s orange with a cream underbelly. I kept mine all orange, but made the pads on her feet cream. Flowers are Cera’s favorite food, particularly yellow ones. There are no flowers in my scene, but opted for yellow on the present instead.
I used a couple of very pale blues for the sky in a halo around her, and used a few greens for a simple grassy hill for her to sit on. I die cut the Leafy Cover die from Mama Elephant to frame my image. I used one white die cut and two green ones made from Meadow cardstock from Hero Arts. I stacked them for stability and dimension.
I would have loved to use the prehistoric sentiment from the set of landscape elements, but I really wanted to heat emboss my sentiment, which is one of the few things you can’t do with digital stamps. I went digging through my clear stamps instead, and found this one from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things that I thought went perfect with the image. I stamped and white heat embossed it on a piece of Hawaiian Shores cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I wanted sequins that would match the sentiment strip and the teal colored parts of the image, and the Seaglass mix from Simon Says Stamp was the perfect match. I used way more sequins than I normally do and scattered them all across the card front.
There’s nothing quite like the dimension you get from layering die cuts, it adds so much interest to the card.
Lots of oranges and yellows for this. It IS an orange triceratops sitting on top of a yellow present, after all, so I guess it’s only natural.
I recently made a full shaker card with another image from Rachelle with lots of balloons. That card was all in warm tones, so I thought I’d use cool tones for this one. I did add a few orange balloons, though, I think orange is a fun color to use with teal and green. I used a die from the Stitched Mini Slimline STAX set from My Favorite Things to turn my colored piece into the perfect rectangle to fit a mini slimline card. I stamped a sentiment from the Birthday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Prickly Pear ink from My Favorite Things and put the panel aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
I ran a piece of Sour Apple cardstock from My Favorite Things through my die cutting machine with a Geometric embossing folder from WRMK, and adhered it to a mini slimline card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, leaving a white frame on the outside. I used foam tape to mount my colored and die cut piece in the center of the card.
I wanted another element and used the Cloud 1 & 2 die set from Papertrey Ink to die cut a couple of clouds from vellum. I mounted the clouds on 1 mm foam square to give them a little bit of lift, making sure to put the foam squares in strategic spots so I could cover them with enamel dots in matching colors (green and orange dots from Papirdesign, teal dots from the Cool Summer Night pack of enamel dots from Altenew).
Simple, yet fun color palette for this image.
I colored him in very simply with just a few Copics, hinted at a sky behind him and grass below him using some very soft colors, trimmed my panel down and put it aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
Using Spring Moss cardstock from Papertrey Ink and the By the Numbers impression plate, also from PTI, I created a soft, yet textured background that I adhered to my top fold A2 card base created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love their white cardstock, it’s the whitest I’ve found, and it’s thick and wonderful to work with.
I glued a strip of silver glitter cardstock above and below my little puppy, before mounting it on foam tape on the top half of the card.
I die cut Gratulerer using the Gratulerer 6 die from Papirdesign three times: two from white cardstock, once from the silver glitter cardstock I’d already used. I stacked these for a little bit of dimension. I stamped a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a piece of Pale Peony cardstock from Papertrey Ink using VersaMark ink, then heat embossing using clear embossing powder from Ranger. I added two more layers of pink cardstock behind it so it’d be flush with the die cut word above it.
To finish the card I added a few Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. These might be my favorite sequins, and I’m almost out of them, so I’m desperately searching for new ones. They seem to always be sold out.
Very soft and simple color palette used for this card.
This bunny is the Clover Bunny from the newly released 
Once my image was colored, I decided to turn this into a very simple card by adding a frame around it and not much else. Using Fire Coral cardstock from My Favorite Things along with the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 Set and the Selfie Square die, both of these also from MFT, I created my frame.
I used the Circular Lace Stencil from Simon Says Stamp with Fire Coral ink from MFT onto the Fire Coral cardstock for a little bit of subtle interest to the background.
Next to the bunny, I stamped a sentiment from the Scripty Bday stamp set from Mama Elephant using Fire Coral ink once again. I love it when everything matches on a card.
I added foam tape behind my frame and adhered it all to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I added a bit of clear Wink of Stella to my “flower”, but decided not to add any embellishments. Super simple, right?
The color palette is even super simple. I rarely use as few colors as this.
I colored the scene in using my Copics, before using Iceberg ink from Altenew with the Slimline Cloud Edges stencil from My Favorite Things to create soft clouds in the background. I then sacrificed one of my stamp storage pockets from Avery Elle, using about half of it for this card to create the pocket for the colored panel to slip into. I know there are full shaker covers on the market, but I don’t have any, and the storage pocket was easy enough to alter.
I filled my shaker pocket with sequins and gems from the Candy Corn mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. This is a great Halloween mix with clear, yellow and orange sequins, as well as some little gems and even acetate ghosts. I loooove the ghosts, but of course I removed them from the part of the mix I used for this birthday card.
I die cut the word Gratulerer twice from white cardstock and once from Pure Poppy cardstock from Papertrey Ink using the Gratulerer 8 die from Papirdesign, stacked them and used liquid glue to add the die cut to the front of the window.
I stamped a sub sentiment from the Go’klem stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a separate piece of Pure Poppy cardstock using VersaMark. I heat embossed it using super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger in white, cut the sub sentiment down to a strip and added a couple of additional cardstock layers behind it, before adhering it to the front of the shaker using score tape.
Simple, but fun color palette for this one.
I printed the dragon on a piece of X-Press It blending card and colored him with my Copics, before using the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things. I covered my card base with a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ piece of patterned paper from Kaisercraft (Charmed from the Key to my Heart collection) to match the green. I cut the panel with the dragon at funky angles at the top and left side to create a convex quadrilateral that I mounted on foam tape in the top left corner of the card.
Using a scrap of patterned paper from the Fremtidsdrømmer collection from Papirdesign, I die cut Gratulerer using the Gratulerer med dagen 3 die set, also from Papirdesign. I die cut an additional 3 layers of white cardstock to glue behind it, but decided that even that wasn’t enough dimension, so I cut tiny slivers of clear foam tape from Rabbit Hole Designs to add to the back of the letters. That did the trick, and it looks like the die cut is floating. I stamped a sub sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto another piece of the same patterned paper using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things, cut it down to a strip, added a couple of white cardstock strips behind it and more of the clear foam tape to make it float, before finishing off the card with a few enamel dots from the Pocketful of Sunshine pack from Altenew.
Fairly simple color palette, but I went through too many teal colors before I decided on the right one for the straws and the sprinkles.
Papirmølla 