Hip hip hooray! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another card featuring stamps from the newly released A Special Day collection, illustrated by Stacey Yacula for Purple Onion Designs. This time it’s one with lots of the cute critters in the collection.

I stamped and masked all these critters. From left to right we have Bonnie, Bernard, Petunia, Gillian and Faye. The tree stump is from the woodland floor set, also new in this collection, and once I’d colored all my images, I even masked off the tree stump so I could airbrush a blue sky behind them all.

There are two sentiments that come with Petunia that you can stamp in the banner. One is the hip hip hooray!, which I white heat embossed, the other says Happy birthday! This card is a bit of an odd size. I needed it big to fit all my images, and it measures 7 1/4 x 5 1/16″. I probably could have trimmed off a little bit on the sides and on the bottom (or top) to make it an even A7 size, but this is what I wound up with. I’ll probably make my own envelope to fit anyway.

Lots of Copics used for this one. I tried to make the colors of the critters different even though I have two brown ones and two gray ones. I love the Copic range of earth tones and gray tones, it really does allow you the option to create different colors within the same color family.

It’s your day {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends and welcome to Summer. Can you believe it’s June already? Where has the time gone? In the spirit of this first summer month, I’ve made a summery card with a summery image. 3 on a bench from Mo’s Digital Pencil is one of those stamps that you can get as a merged image or as the separate components that make up the scene. This particular one consists of three kids sitting on a bench, each enjoying their own snack. I’ve used the separated version for my card, and I’ve used the bench and the girl with the big wedge of watermelon. There’s also a boy with a popsicle and a girl eating corn in the same stamp, but I opted for the watermelon alone today.

I printed the image towards the bottom left of my panel of X-Press It blending card and colored it with Copics. I’ve colored this girl once before, but I decided to go for a different color scheme this time, I think the only thing that’s stayed the same since the last card is the coloring on the watermelon. The printer doesn’t print all the way to the edge, so I cut off a little strip on the left side and decided to add a strip of yellow patterned paper from Papirdesign on the right to balance out the design and fill the front of this A2 card.

I also added a tiny piece on the left side to add a tiny bit of added interest. I adhered my panel onto a top fold card base I created from Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th. I used a die from Papirdesign (Hipp hurra, oval) to die cut the letters from the same color of cardstock and adhered them towards the top right corner of the card front. Onto a strip of Red Hot cardstock from My Favorite Things, I stamped a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using VersaMark ink and white heat embossed it using super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger, before adding two additional layers of cardstock behind it for a bit of dimension and adhering it to the card. I added a few enamel dots from the Pocketful of Sunshine pack of enamel dots from Altenew, and my super simple card was finished.

And as usual, I finish with the Copics I used. Quite a few for this super simple image, I reckon.

It’s your Birthday {Crafty Meraki}

Hi, crafty friends. Crafty Meraki is turning 2!! They asked me to guest design and I have a fun birthday card to share today featuring a couple of products from their anniversary release.

I used one of the dragons in the Flamin’ Birthday stamp set for the focal point of my card. I stamped it in Copic friendly ink, colored it with Copics, then stamped on top using VersaFine Onyx Black ink to get crisp, black lines. Copics and VersaFine don’t play nice together, so you need to do the stamping after you’ve finished coloring. I use my Misti to make sure I stamp in the exact same spot as the first stamping.

I fussy cut around the image leaving a thin white border. There’s a set of coordinating dies to go with the stamp set, but I don’t have it, and fussy cutting this one was simple enough.

I added a thick coat of modeling paste through the Birthday Balloons stencil on a piece of Sno Cone cardstock from My Favorite Things that I’d cut down to 3 1/2 x 4 3/4″. Once I’d slathered on the modeling paste and before it had a chance to dry, I quickly sprinkled distress glitter Rock Candy over the top for a glittery balloon effect. Once dry, I lightly sanded the rough edges and mounted the panel to the center of a top fold A2 card base using foam tape. Lots of foam tape, I’m not shy with my foam tape.

Using 1/16″ foam squares, I added my colored dragon towards the bottom center of the card. I added a little bit of liquid glue to make sure it really adhered to my glitter balloons, I didn’t want it coming off at any point. I didn’t have the right shade of cardstock to match my tealy blue coloring, so I colored a scrap strip of X-Press It blending card using one of the markers I used for the bow, before stamping and white heat embossing a sentiment from the Flamin’ Birthday stamp set. I cut it to fit the sentiment, added a couple of strips of cardstock behind it for dimension and stability and adhered it to the present.

I finished off the card by adding a few sparkle gems. These are from the Green Illusion mix, and they’re really fun because they change color depending on how you tip them in the light. I love that there are many sizes in the mix, and the smallest ones really are tiny at 1.5 mm.

Last, but certainly not least – the colors I used for this cute dragon present. BG05 is the color I also used on the sentiment strip.

Let’s Celebrate {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, there. I have another card to share today featuring the newly released “A Special Day” collection illustrated by Stacey Yacula for Purple Onion Designs. This time I’ve focused on The Prickles, which was the first image I noticed and really wanted to use from this collection.

I stamped the image using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, before creating a mask, adding that on top and stamping the woodland background using Fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a no line look in the background.

I colored in my scene using Copics and stamped a sentiment from the older Everyday Blurbs stamp set using Poppin’ Pink ink from My Favorite Things. I then fussy cut around the speech bubble stamp, leaving a thin white border and popped it up on some foam squares for dimension to finish the card.

Last, but not least – the Copics I used. I also used B30 (which is a color I’ve created myself) for the sky in addition to B32.

Time for a little happy dance {Purple Onion Designs}

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.

It’s your day! {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, there! It’s been a while. I’ve been busy for the last few weeks replacing old windows, but we installed the last window today. Finally!! There’s still lots of work to be done, but I’m happy that the windows are all in and things can somewhat return to normal. Enough blabbing, you’re not here to read about windows, I’m sure. I have a clean and simple birthday card to share today, featuring this Baby Fairy Purl image from Mo Manning.

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.

Hipp-hipp hurra {Lee Holland}

Hi, crafty friends! I have some super exciting news to share. A few weeks ago, Lee Holland had a design team call. It wasn’t widely advertised (only four spots were up for grabs), but I have the best crafty friend in the world (Liz Vefall), and she sent me a link. I dropped Lee a quick line saying I was interested in joining his team and he responded right away and said yes. I was over the moon, I love his images. And even though I may be on enough design teams as it is, I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

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 woodland squirrel was perfect for this birthday card. Liz and I often go for walks in the woods (when there’s no ice or snow), and we’ve spotted a few squirrels on our little outings.

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).

Put on your party hat {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. There’s a new release out from Streamside Studios, and it’s all about dinosaurs. There are lots of images in the set and also some background elements to create a prehistoric scene in another new set, making the possibilities with these endless.

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.

King for the Day {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a different kind of card to share today, featuring this King for the Day image from Mo Manning.

It’s a circle card!!! I received an order for a birthday card for a huuuge Liverpool fan. I don’t have a lot of red patterned paper, but came up with the idea to create a circle card to mimic the shape of a football.

I colored the image to somewhat match the Liverpool team colors. Their uniforms are solid red, but I felt like I needed something besides just red, so I gave the guy a white T shirt with a couple of logos on it in proper team colors. I fussy cut the image and rummaged through my patterned paper looking for red and/or football themed papers. I found some football themed scraps and some neutral papers from Papirdesign, as well as some red scraps from P13. I used a stitched circle die set from My Favorite Things to create my card base and also to give the patterned paper scraps the rounded shape on the edge with that nice faux stitch border. I glued some pieces directly to the card base, adding layers of cardstock on the back of others for dimension and interest.

I used the In Stitches Alpha uppercase die set from My Favorite Things to die cut the recipient’s name a few times from white cardstock, adding a layer of red patterned paper from Waffle Flower on top to include more red on the card. I was told the birthday “boy” likes beer, so I added a couple of bottle caps, flipping one of them upside down so I could add his age inside. I used the Alfabet 3 die set from Scrapmagasinet to die cut the numbers, added them to a 1” circle and covered it with Glossy Accents for some shine.

On the inside I printed the lyrics for You’ll Never Walk Alone in red ink and added a couple of circular elements, including a football I fussy cut from patterned paper from Papirdesign. The right side has plenty of space to write a personal message.

On the back of the card I added a few more strips of patterned paper and stamped a sentiment from the Til mannen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Wild Cherry ink from My Favorite Things.

I didn’t have an envelope to fit this very dimensional 5 1/2” circle card, so I created one from patterned paper from Papirdesign. The paper is covered with footballs on one side with a few specks of red here and there (how perfect is that?), and football pitches on the back.

Fairly simple color combination for this one.

 

May you be forever young {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends! I have another mini slimline card to share today. These are fun to make! This time it’s a birthday card, featuring this cute Birthday Turtle image from Rachelle Anne Miller. I didn’t notice it until I printed the image, but the big turtle (which really looks more like a tortoise than a turtle, I think) has a smaller one on its back! Sooo cute, right?

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.