Happy birthday! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I have another card to share with you featuring stamps from the new Charmed by the Sea release from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula.

This time, I made a birthday card. I stamped and masked Iris (running mouse), Tweet & Chirp (twin birds), the wood posts, the boardwalk and beach fences and finally stamped the beach house in the background, all using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things.

I had the scene all figured out, but struggled with the colors for this one. I’m usually confident in my color choices, but had a hard time with this card. I didn’t want to repeat the color combinations I’d used for the cards I’d already made using stamps from this release, and the combo I tried just didn’t work with the bright aqua. The door, windows and the trim of the beach house all have so many layers of different colors, and the end result is a mottled, rusty look. The rusty look, while not what I was going for, is cool, and I leaned into it by coloring one of the birds in the same color, as well as Iris’ skirt.

The end result is more of a fall vibe than a summer feel, but some people still go to the beach late in the season, and little Iris looks like she’s running away, so that part at least feels appropriate.

To finish off the card I stamped a sentiment from the coordinating Seaside sentiment set using Winter Lake ink from Altenew. Ooooh, I just had an idea (based on the Altenew color name, actually). Maybe I should make this card for different seasons, maybe a winter one, a more proper summer one and a spring one.

Fairly limited color palette, actually, considering how many colors I tried for the beach house trim.

Candles {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a simple, almost one layer card to share with you today, featuring Candles from Lili of the Valley. This image is so cute with the bear peeking out from behind the line of candles.

I printed the image fairly large and chose a summery color palette of hot pink, apple green and bright yellow. I colored the image with Copics and used the largest die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower to turn it into a nice rectangular panel. I put the panel in my MISTI, and used the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS to stamp sentiments on the plain candles. I used Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things for the green candles, Raspberry Fizz ink from Papertrey Ink for the pink candles and Spiced Marmalade distress ink from Ranger for the yellow candle, with a little bit of help from VersaMark to prevent the distress ink from beading up on the photopolymer.

Once all my stamping was done, I adhered the panel onto a black card base I created from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I also die cut a panel to go on the inside from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink for a place to write my personal greeting. I used my black Glaze pen from Sakura to create a little bit of shine to the eyes and the nose of the bear, and added sequins from the Seashore and Iced Sherbet mixes from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards for a finishing touch.

Simple color palette for this one 🙂

Let’s get this party started {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. Remember the Safari Friends theme release from Rachelle Anne Miller earlier in the month? Well, I thought the images in this release were so cute I decided to use another one. These guys are adorable, and even though I had fun shaking things up with the color of the elephant for my last card, I went back to blue for this one. It’s just the best color.

I actually decided to create a shaker card this time. I colored in the Wild & Wonderful image using a fairly soft color palette, then put it aside while I worked on the rest of the card.

I put an adhesive sheet from Altenew on the back of a piece of heavyweight translucent vellum from My Favorite Things, before using the Leafy Cover die from Mama Elephant to die cut a frame to put on my card front. I cut off a couple of leaves where I thought they covered up too much of the image and adhered the rest directly onto the bottom of a large stamp storage pocket from Avery Elle. The storage pocket was just wide enough for my colored panel to fit when I turned it 90 degrees. I trimmed off a tiny bit of my panel (1/16″) so it would be less snug in the pocket, and cut off a couple of inches from the top of the pocket. This way I could put the panel inside the pocket, and there would only be one side of the pocket that needed to be sealed once my shaker bits were in place.

I adhered my shaker pocket to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I die cut the sentiment using the Celebrate die from My Favorite Things. I used Caribbean Sea cardstock from My Favorite Things for the top layer and a few layers from white cardstock behind it for dimension. I also stamped a sentiment from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things onto white cardstock using Caribbean Sea ink, also from My Favorite Things, turned it into a strip and placed it directly underneath the die cut word. To finish the card, I adhered some sequins from the Seashore mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, as well as from the Seaglass mix from Simon Says Stamp. These two mixes work really well together, and they’re also what I used to fill my shaker.

Speaking of, here they are. Full shaker cards are fun, and I’d say they’re a lot easier to create than regular shaker cards, where you need to create dimension for the shaker bits to shake around.

The storage pocket works so well as a shaker pouch, and because of it, it gives everything a bit of a lift off the card. It looks like the vellum and the die cut sentiment both float on top, even though they’re both adhered directly to the pocket.

Super simple color palette for this one.

Enjoy your day {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back today with a clean and simple birthday card featuring some Kort & Godt goodies.

I used a banner die with faux stitching to create a shaped card. This banner die is about 4″ wide, making it the perfect size for a decent size card. I used partial die cutting to create the card base, but die cut a separate piece that I used for my ink blending, which I then adhered to the card base once finished.

I used the Big Balloon stencil set from My Favorite Things to create my balloons, and used Distress Inks for my ink blending. Faded Jeans, Mermaid Lagoon and Salty Ocean for the blue balloon, Picked Raspberry for the pink balloon and Mustard Seed and Squeezed Lemonade for the yellow balloon. Where they overlap, they create new colors, which is half the fun of ink blending, right? With the balloon stencil still in place, I added the Falling Stars stencil from Simon Says Stamp on top and ink blended white stars onto the balloons using Fresh Snow hybrid ink from Papertrey Ink.

I stamped a sentiment onto the front using Obsidian ink from Altenew and added a stacked die cut HURRA above it. I layered six black die cuts, before adding this glitter one on top and finished off the card with a few black pearls.

Hooray {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. It’s time for another release from Rachelle Anne Miller, and this month’s release has a safari theme.

Aren’t these guys cute? The image is called Wild Side, and the cute little mouse with big ears has won my heart. I colored the image with Copics, created a nice double stitched border around it using the A2 Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it to a card base I created from Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

Using the Hooray Script die from Mama Elephant, I die cut the main sentiment from the same color cardstock. I stacked four layers for a dimensional look and stamped a sub sentiment from the Itty Bitty Birthday stamp set from My Favorite Things onto Bright Buttercup cardstock from Papertrey Ink using Obsidian ink from Altenew. To finish off the card I added a few sequins from the Seaglass mix from Simon Says Stamp, as well as a dot of black glaze pen to their eyes.

A bit of a different color palette for me. Years and years ago, I used the RV90 family a lot, I rarely do anymore. It’s a nice one, though, so I don’t know why I stopped using it. Maybe I should use it more often again.

It’s your birthday! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a fun birthday card today, featuring a few images from Purple Onion Designs. Dotty is as adorable as all of Stacey Yacula’s other critters, I just love her illustration style so much. This particular mouse has her arms out, making her the perfect choice if you want her holding something. I chose the balloons from the Balloon Trio & Streamer set, making sure the knot holding all the balloons together is in her hands. I stamped both the balloons and the cute little mouse using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, and stamped The Perfect Spot behind them using Fadeout ink from Inkon3.

I colored the scene with Copics, then used The Perfect Spot again to stamp on white cardstock (Stamper’s Select White from Papertrey Ink, my favorite white cardstock), this time using Memento Espresso Truffle ink. I wanted this to be more visible than the background without being stark black, and this color is perfect. I then die cut the white panel using two dies: a rectangle die from Waffle Flower to make it smaller and the Watercolor Wash Free Form die from My Favorite Things to create a window.

I added foam tape on the back of my white panel for dimension and lined up the stamped lines on the two panels as best as I could, before adding my double panel to a card base I created from Soft Stone cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I then stamped a sentiment from the Everyday Blurbs stamp set using Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide ink, fussy cut around it leaving a thin white border and mounted it on foam tape. To finish off the card I used a Gelly Roll 05 to create white dots on the pink balloon.

Fairly simple color palette for this one. I also used B90, which is a color I’ve made myself.

Sweet birthday wishes {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another Mo Manning cutie, and this time I’ve chosen the kid eating the corn from the 3 on a bench set. The set includes three kids (one eating a popsicle, one eating a watermelon, and this one eating corn). There’s also a merged version of this image with all 3 kids sitting next to each other on the bench, but I tend to opt for the separated versions, like I did here.

I printed the image near the bottom left of my panel and colored it up with my Copics, before trimming off a little bit on one side. I used the Slimline Cloud Edges stencil from My Favorite Things, along with Eastern Sky ink from Altenew, to softly ink blend the clouds in the background.

I stamped a couple of sentiments from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things using Obsidian ink from Altenew. I adhered my panel directly to an A2 card base I created from Periwinkle cardstock from Hero Arts. I then used a scripty die from Mama Elephant to die cut the word wishes four times from Amarena Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things. I stacked them together and added the word to the card, nestled in between the stamped sentiments, before finishing off the card with a few sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Some vivid colors for this one.

The biggest cake {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I thought I’d share a simple birthday card today, featuring The Biggest Cake from Lili of the Valley.

Lili of the Valley critters are among the cutest in the stamping world, and I just couldn’t resist these bunnies carrying a big cake. I colored the image with Copics, before die cutting it using the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things. I adhered the panel to a card base I created from Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I used my Quickie Glue pen on the flames and sprinkled on Rock Candy distress glitter for added sparkle. Using foam tape, I popped up a sticker sentiment from Kort & Godt before finishing off the card with sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Very soft color palette for this one.

Hipp hurra {Kort & Godt}

Hi, everyone! Two weeks ago, I received an invitation to join the Kort & Godt design team. If you’re Norwegian, you’ve no doubt heard of this company, they’ve been around forever and make stamps, dies and embellishments that add just the perfect touch to any card. They also make buttons, stitch markers and other knitting/sewing accessories, which is perfect for me! I couldn’t say no, as I love their products. And as if that weren’t enough, I’ve been on a previous design team with several of the ladies on this particular design team. They’re just good people, and that really sealed the deal for me!

My first Kort & Godt card is a fairly typical card for me (except for the fact I haven’t done any coloring). It’s one of those clean and time consuming ones that I often make.

I started by creating a colorful background. Using one of the stamps in the M479 stamp set, I stamped repeatedly across the background using Distress Oxide inks in the colors Salty Ocean and Twisted Citron, as well as regular Distress ink in Spiced Marmalade. I cut the panel down to be 3 1/2 x 4 7/8″ and mounted it to a white top fold card base using foam tape.

Using the DIE294 die set, I die cut 8 layers of the words from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink and one shadow layer using heavyweight translucent vellum from My Favorite Things. I stacked three of the black layers, added the vellum layer on top and then the last five black layers. I even added a coat of Nuvo Crystal Drops in the Ebony Black color to the top layer for extra dimension and shine. On a piece of Limeade Ice cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped a sentiment from the M458 stamp set using Obsidian ink from Altenew, before adhering both the stacked die cut and my stamped sentiment strip at an angle, before finishing off the card with a couple of crystals (BE107). And that’s a wrap for my first DT card for Kort & Godt – I can’t wait to play more, and hope this inspired you.

Let’s pretend… {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I’ve got a super simple card coming your way today, featuring the Belated Birthday Sloth image from Mo’s Digital Pencil. This actually comes as a set. You get two sloths, one with birthday gear and one without. I used the one without the birthday gear for this one, but used the party hat from the one WITH the gear to add a bit more color to my card.

I colored and fussy cut the sloth, colored in the party hat and fussy cut that, before putting both pieces aside while I worked on the rest of my card. I created a card base from Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things and created a wall for the sloth to hang onto using Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. To create a bit of texture to the wall, I stamped the Touch of Texture background stamp from My Favorite Things using Soft Stone ink from Papertrey Ink. It’s subtle, but still adds a little bit of interest.

I stamped a sentiment from the Anything-but-Basic Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things using Obsidian ink from Altenew, before adding the wall to the card base with 1 mm foam squares. I added the sloth using foam tape and finished off the card with a few Starry Sky Ombré Glitter Drops from Pinkfresh Studio. I also added a dot of Black Glaze pen to his eyes for a bit of shine and dimension, which is easy to see in real life, but tricky to photograph.

This was initially a very muted, very simple color palette. Let’s just say things changed when I decided to add the party hat 🙂