Hi, crafty friends. I have a simple birthday card to share today, featuring Animal Number: 5 Monkeys from Rachelle Anne Miller. I love her number stamps, they’re so fun and playful.
I did a lot of coloring the day I colored these monkeys. As you can probably tell by their fur, my markers needed to be reinked at this point. I could have chosen a different brown combo. I could have taken the time to refill my markers, but I had colored so much the day I colored this that I just wanted to keep coloring. I probably should have stopped and taken the time to refill or chosen a different combo that didn’t need reinking. This is a good reminder to reink your markers. You can be an amazing colorist, but if you don’t take care of your markers, your coloring will look uneven. I went with it anyway. The 5 year old getting this card is not going to notice that my coloring’s not perfect, and it doesn’t always have to be. I’m trying to let go of my perfectionist tendencies, and this was a good exercise. I will refill these markers before I use them again, though, don’t you worry.
The card itself is very simple. I stamped a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS below the image, using Cornflower ink from My Favorite Things. I then used the second largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with a fun edge, before I added dimension behind it and adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Cornflower cardstock from My Favorite Things. I finished off the card with some enamel dots from Papirdesign.
Simple color palette. And I really do need to refill those browns. Even E23 was giving me trouble.
I started with an A2 top fold white card base. I stamped and white heat embossed two stamps repeatedly across the background, before ink blending on top with Distress Oxide inks. From bottom to top, I used Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron and Fossilized Amber. I die cut klem four times from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink and stamped and heat embossed coordinating sentiments. I figured they’d be too tall if I cut them down to regular sentiment strips, so I fussy cut around them. So far, so good, right? Yeah, that’s when I hopped on the struggle bus. I figured the sentiment on its own was a bit meh against the background, and it wasn’t exactly revolutionary. Also, the first part of the sentiment was floating on its own, which I also didn’t like too much.
I used a leaf die to cut some leaves from vellum (Heavyweight Translucent Vellum from My Favorite Things), hoping that would work. It helped, but the first part of the sentiment was still floating. I needed an anchor point. I tried adding some thread on the side. Better already. I decided to cut a half circle notch from the bottom and top of the card for the thread to be looped around. Two strands each of three colors that matched the card. I was quite happy with that and decided to add the die cut word, and also adhered the stamped pieces of the sentiment on top of the die cut. Instant anchor points, and the first part of the sentiment was no longer floating on its own. I finished off with diamonds that framed the sentiment, and felt like it all ended up as a cohesive design in the end, even if it took me a while to get there.
I colored my image with (a lot of) Copics, before using the second largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to cut it out. Onto a top fold white card base, I adhered a piece of patterned paper from the Rainbow Love paper pad from My Favorite Things. I added some dimension behind my colored panel and adhered it in the center of the card.
Using a die from Kort & Godt, I die cut three layers of the word HURRA; twice from white cardstock, and once from silver glitter cardstock from Kort & Godt. I stacked the three and adhered my layered die cut near the top of the card. I added a sentiment sticker strip, which I also popped up, before finishing off the card with sequins from the Seaglass mix from Simon Says Stamp.
I used way more colors than normal for this card, and probably a few more than I technically needed. I probably could have skipped a couple of colors on the orange balloon, as well as on the teal balloon.
I used the Big Balloons stencil from My Favorite Things and did a rainbow of balloons going across the card. Each balloon is a gradient color, from dark at the bottom right, to a lot lighter at the top left. I used sooooo many ink colors to achieve this look.
I die cut the word bursdag from Gold Shine cardstock from My Favorite Things. This is a very dainty die cut, so I chose to put double sided adhesive (I used a sheet from Altenew) on the back of the cardstock before die cutting, which made everything easy once it came to assembly. I die cut the shadow layer from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink and used black foam tape to pop it up in the center of my card. I used some sticker strips to fill out my sentiment, and added those using foam tape as well, before finishing off with a little gold bling.
I colored the image with Copics, and after a couple of cards recently with very muted, vintage colors, I went super bright with this one. I love penguins done with BGs instead of grays, it’s like they’re happier, somehow.
I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from Huldra Designstudio directly onto my card base, which I made from Oceanside cardstock from Concord and 9th.
Above and below the colored panel, I added strips of patterned paper from the Party Patterns paper pad from My Favorite Things, before mounting it all on foam tape for dimension. I finished off the card with enamel dots. The bright green ones are from Papirdesign, the teal and yellow ones from the Cool Summer Nights and Pocketful of Sunshine packs from Altenew. The Papirdesign ones have more dimension to them than the ones from Altenew, which creates a little more variety.
By using an untraditional color palette and a non holiday sentiment (winter hug), this image can be used for more than just Christmas. I’m thinking this would make a great wintery birthday card.
Fun colors used for this one!
I knew one of the elves at the bottom would get his head cut off (the one wearing blue), so I created a copy with just his head, rotated it and put it in the top right corner to include another kid peeking in.
I colored in the scene with Copics, choosing very bright colors. I then took my white Gelly Roll 05 to create patterns on most of the kids’ clothes. I used the largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create a fun edge to my panel, before using the Connected alphabet die set, also from MFT, to spell out the name of the recipient. At first, I thought of cutting them straight, but realized that a wonky look would work well with the card and also be less time consuming.
I wanted to include her age too, but didn’t have any number dies that matched the letters. There was just enough room on her apron for me to sketch in a couple of stick figures holding signs. I used my 0.03 Copic multiliner, and I think it’s running out of ink, which only enhanced the sketchy look I was going for. I die cut six more of each of the letters from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink, stacked them and added the colored pieces on top for a stacked inlay look. I mounted the panel on foam tape and adhered it to a card base I created from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I decided not to add any embellishments, I figured this card is colorful and really doesn’t need it.
For the inside, I stamped a fun sentiment (You’re not thaaaat old – you were just born too soon) from the Til mannen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Summer Splash ink from My Favorite Things.
I stamped a sentiment from the Go’klem stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a Summer Splash envelope from My Favorite Things using Summer Splash ink. I thought the envelope and ink matched the dress nicely.
Here you can see those popped up letters a bit better.
I used a lot of Copics for this one. Skin tones (and hair) make up that entire top row. I wanted different skin tones for the kids, and even though they don’t look that different in my photos, the difference is more pronounced in real life.
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!
I started with an A2 side fold card base, used the Watercolor Wash Free Form stencil from My Favorite Things and ink blended softly with Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade and Squeezed Lemonade distress inks. I then layered the Basket weave stencil (also from MFT) on top and ink blended again using the same three colors, this time going in with a heavier hand.
I die cut the Ingen er som du die six times from white cardstock, once from black glitter cardstock and the shadow die once from 40 lb vellum from Bazzill. I usually use a heavyweight vellum, but for this, I wanted some of the ink blending to show through, so a thinner version was the better choice for this particular card.
I stacked three of the die cut words, then added the layer of vellum, then the last three white die cuts and finally the black glitter cardstock. It’s a very fine glitter and doesn’t really show up in my photos, sadly.
To finish off the card I added a sticker sentiment strip on top of the die cut and finished off with some black jewels.
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 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.
Papirmølla 