Hi, crafty friends! I have a birthday card to share with you today, featuring Polly from Purple Onion Designs. I’ve used this image before, and this time, I teamed her up with the Country Flower Set. The country flowers and Polly are all from the A Happy Little Place release from 2021, illustrated by the one and only Stacey Yacula.
I stamped and colored my images, before fussy cutting them, leaving a bit of a white border around them all. I put my colored pieces aside and started working on the rest of the card. I decided to do a bit of ink blending with the Paint Strokes stencil from My Favorite Things. I thought the brush strokes would be good for a background for my colored images.
I started out with Coral Bliss and Pink Pearl inks from Altenew for the pink, but wanted a little more oomph and went over them with Picked Raspberry and Worn Lipstick distress inks, which gave it the pink I wanted. On the orange paint stroke, I only used Spiced Marmalade distress ink, and for the yellow, I chose Mustard Seed and Squeezed Lemonade distress inks. I then stamped a sentiment from the Around the Town sentiment set using Obsidian ink from Altenew, before I adhered my images near the bottom of the card. I put Polly herself on foam tape, just to make her stand out a little bit against the background, and I finished off with a few gems from the Crystal Collection – Glass from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
For such small images, I used a lot of colors for this card.
I colored the elephant with Copics, stamped a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment inside the balloon using Altenew Obsidian ink, then used a die from the A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with that nice faux stitch line that I use a lot on my cards. In my stash I had a white card base with a stamped background (the Scattered Triangles Background stamp from My Favorite Things, stamped with Sour Apple and Blue Yonder inks, also from My Favorite Things) on the front that I decided to also make use of. The colors match my elephant nicely. I was actually planning on using this card base for my 
On top of my scattered triangle background, I adhered a strip of a patterned paper from the Party Patterns paper pad from My Favorite Things, mounted my colored panel using foam tape and embellished near the sentiment using the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Simple card means simple color palette.
I decided to cut off about half of the bench. Since I’m only using one of the kids, I didn’t need the whole thing. If you want, there’s also a 
I adhered my panel directly to a card base I created from Green Parakeet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I stamped a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a strip of the same color cardstock using Green Apple ink from Simon Says Stamp and put the sentiment aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
I die cut the word hipp 8 times from Tropical Teal cardstock from Papertrey Ink using a die from Kort og Godt, and created two stacks of four each for a dimensional look. I adhered my stacked die cuts to the card and put the green cardstock strip on top of the bottom hipp.
To finish off the card I added a few enamel dots from Papirdesign. I decided to go for orange ones to pick up the color from the little boy’s ice cream.
It’s a fairly simple card, but the clouds add a little something to the white space, and the die cuts and dots add dimension.
For such a small image, I used a lot of colors.
This set offers so many possibilities for customizing your card to suit your needs. I colored the letters to spell happy and fussy cut them, leaving a thin white border and put them aside while I worked on the rest of the card.
Onto a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I ink blended Sno Cone ink from My Favorite Things using the Geometric Landscape stencil from Altenew. It’s a 6×6″ stencil, but it was easy to create a longer section with a little bit of masking and moving the stencil. I then diecut the panel using the Slimline Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it to a card base made from Cotton Candy cardstock, also from My Favorite Things.
I popped my colored, fussy cut letters on foam tape in the center of the card, heat embossed a sub sentiment from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things and finished off the card with drops and sequins from the Ice Water mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I colored my monsters with Copics and fussy cut them leaving a thin white border. I covered my A7 card base with a band of solid colored cardstock strips. From top to bottom they are Concord & 9th Clover, Concord & 9th Parsley, Papertrey Ink Green Parakeet, Papertrey Ink Limeade Ice, Concord & 9th Sprout, My Favorite Things Summer Splash, Papertrey Ink Hawaiian Shores, Concord & 9th Oceanside and My Favorite Things Tropical Teal.
I die cut the word gratulerer three times from white cardstock using the Flasketag, gratulerer die set from Papirdesign. The cardstock I used is Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, which is the same cardstock I used for my card base. I want my whites to match, and this is the perfect white cardstock, I love it.
I added my stacked white die cut to the center of the striped background, mounted the monsters on foam tape and white heat embossed a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto Smokey Shadow cardstock from Papertrey Ink and adhered it to the stacked die cut word to finish the card. I decided against adding embellishments, I wanted the monsters to really steal the show.
Very limited Copic selection for this one.
When I first saw the 
I just knew this bunny had to be digging for treasure somewhere and decided to pair it with the carrot cupcake. I colored my image with Copics, stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Scripty Bday stamp set from Mama Elephant, before adding a fluffy tail from part of a ribbon from Papirdesign. I felt the soft pink worked with the rest of the image. I fussy cut around my colored piece leaving a thin white border and put it aside while I worked on the rest of the card.
Onto the card base, I stamped and white heat embossed the Happy Birthday background stamp from My Favorite Things, before ink blending in the center with a blender brush and Summer Splash ink, also from My Favorite Things.
Using a die from the Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frames die set from My Favorite Things, I die cut 5 frames from white cardstock and stacked them for dimension. I covered a sheet of white cardstock with a double sided adhesive sheet from Altenew, before using the same frame die to die cut one more from that. I added it on top of my stacked frames, removed the release paper from the top and covered it with rock candy distress glitter from Ranger for a bit of sparkle.
I centered the frame on my card base and added my colored image in the center using foam tape. This card is fairly simple, and that tail totally steals the show.
Simple color palette for this one.
There’s something about the 
I printed my image on a quarter of an A4 sheet of X-Press It blending card. A4 is narrower and taller than lettersize, so my quarter panel doesn’t quite cover an A2 card front. By letting a strip of the card base showing as a result, it adds a design element to the card.
Once my coloring was complete, I ink blended Berry Sorbet and Melon Berry inks into one of the openings in the Say Anything stencil from My Favorite Things, before stamping a sentiment from the Anything-but-Basic Birthday Wishes stamp set (also from MFT) using VersaFine Onyx Black ink.
I adhered the panel directly to the card base (Melon Berry cardstock from Papertrey Ink) and added a few confetti stars from the Rosy Glow mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
The stars are matte gold, but they still shine in the light. And because they’re flat, and everything else on this card is also flat, this card is very mail friendly, which is a rarity for me.
Quick, simple color palette.
I colored the ice cream with my Copics, fussy cut it leaving a thin white border and put it aside while I worked on the rest of the card. Using the Watercolor Stripes stencil from Altenew, I ink blended stripes using Melon Berry ink from Papertrey Ink, going heavy handed at the bottom with a soft gradient toward the top of my A2 card base.
I used the Hand-Lettered Happy Birthday die from My Favorite Things to die cut the word happy from white cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I then did a little stamp surgery, by combining two sentiments in the Anything-but-Basic Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things to stamp a sub sentiment to the lower part of the die cut word. I then stamped the same sentiment directly on my card base, still using Melon Berry Ink. I die cut two more of the happy to glue behind the stamped one, stacked all three together and adhered it to the card front, lining up the stamping on the die cut with the stamping on the card base. I then mounted the ice cream on foam squares, added a bit of Glossy Accents to the heart and some enamel dots from the Cool Summer Night pack from Altenew for a little bit of added interest and color.
Very limited color palette.
I love these animal number images from Rachelle, and these ducks are sooo cute. Perfect for a birthday card, I think. I colored the image with my Copics, before temporarily adhering the Watercolor Wash Free Form stencil from My Favorite Things and ink blending with Harvest Gold ink from Papertrey Ink. I then stamped a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Shadow Creek ink from Altenew.
I used the largest of the Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX dies from My Favorite Things to create a quirky faux stitch interest around the edge and adhered my panel to a top fold card base I created from Meadow cardstock from Hero Arts.
To finish off the card I added a few raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, I thought they fit well with the water theme in the image.
Simple, yet bright color palette for this one 🙂
For this card, I chose 
I didn’t want a dark night sky for this card. I also didn’t want it to have a basic blue sky, because I wanted to add lots of snow, and it doesn’t really snow from clear skies. I opted for a soft blue violet combo that wasn’t too dark and that fit the snowy scene look I was after.
When everything was colored, I stamped a sentiment from 
I sprinkled on a generous amount of chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, making sure no granules covered up the critters’ eyes or the sentiment, before melting the granules from the back of the panel. I then adhered it directly to a top fold white card base, and my card was complete.
Lots of Copics for this one.
Papirmølla 