Hi, crafty friends! I’m back with another card featuring the A Little Christmas Magic! collection from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula.
This time I’ve teamed up Prancer and Bluster in front of the Holiday Arch and the North Pole sign. I’ve done my best with the cards I’ve made using this release to change up the sky between cards. This time I went for an overcast look, and it’s all a very soft blue green color.
I used a white Gelly Roll 05 pen to create the white dots on the deer, and a die from the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things to create the faux stitching on the edges of the panel. By not stamping the entire deer, it creates a dynamic effect of having it walk in from the edge of the card.
I stamped a sentiment from the Santa Sentiment set using Autumn Rose ink from Papertrey Ink and adhered the panel to a card base I created using cardstock in the same color.
I created a sparkly snowy effect here and there by using my Quickie glue pen from Sakura and sprinkling on Rock Candy Distress Glitter from Ranger.
The pink and blue green color combination is definitely not traditional for Christmas, but I kind of like it. What do you think, does it work?
Quite a few Copics for such a simple card.
I’ve got some good news, the Purple Onion Designs holiday sale has been extended and doesn’t end until midnight tomorrow. Extra time to get stamps at 25% off, just sayin’ 😉
I wanted to make a peaceful scene for this card. I stamped and masked 
I masked off the background too, before going in with my Copic airbrush system to create a soft winter sunset. I then peeled off the masks, colored the background, then everything else.
I left the red details till the end. I don’t want to run the risk of other colors picking up the red, so by leaving it to the end, I avoid that.
Looks like these reindeer are very patiently waiting for Santa. I wonder where he is? Actually, yesterday on my way to work, I saw a passenger on the bus with a long red Santa hat.
I didn’t want to mess up the sky with a sentiment, and the bottom part of the card is too full for one. I might put one inside, but to finish the card, I merely adhered my scene onto a top fold card base I created from Stormy Sea cardstock from Papertrey Ink. The finished card measures 6 x 5 3/8″, which is a bit of an odd size, but I prefer making my card size fit the scene and not the other way around when I create these full scene cards with Purple Onion images.
Not a whole lot of Copics for this one, actually.
I love creating these scenes with Stacey’s images. It’s a time consuming process, as I create masks for each critter and fussy cut them, but the end result is always worth it.
I stamped Winter and Balsam using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things before covering both of them with masks. I then did second generation stamping of Santa’s workshop using Memento Rich Cocoa ink, using first generation for the signage only. I like the softer look of the brown lettering in the background. I stamped the silhouette of Santa’s sleigh using VersaFine Onyx Black ink AFTER I’d colored in the entire scene. This is an ink that stamps very black and very crisp, but it’s a pigment ink and doesn’t play well with Copics, so it’s best to leave it to the end. I stamped the sentiment using Blueberry Sky ink from Papertrey Ink.
I also went back over the “cast iron” of the OPEN sign using a 0.3 cool gray multiliner from Copic and added white dots on the penguin’s hat and scarf using my white Gelly Roll 05.
I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, melted the granules from the back of the paper and adhered my finished scene onto a 5 3/4 x 4 1/2″ white card base, making this card slightly larger than the regular A2 size card.
Lots of Copics used for this one.
There are some awesome stamps in the 
This image is 
I have a tall pine tree outside my craft room window. In it, there’s a huge nest that magpies built a few years back. One morning last week, I heard the magpies making more sound than usual. When I looked outside, there was a squirrel that had taken over the nest. It was adding one twig after another to the nest, I guess it had evicted the magpies. After quite some time, one of the magpies tried to get back in, but was chased away by the squirrel. I must admit I was delighted, I’d much rather have a squirrel outside my window than magpies. The squirrel is much cuter, and it’s a lot quieter too.
Back to the card. Once I finished the coloring, I stamped the word Christmas from the Christmas Greeting stamp set that Lili of the Valley released earlier this year using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things.
I then die cut the panel using the second larges die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it directly to a card base I created from Jalapeño Popper cardstock, also from My Favorite Things. On a scrap piece of cardstock the same color, I stamped and white heat embossed the words cosy and wishes to complete my sentiment. I put a couple of additional layers of green cardstock behind each word for a little bit of added dimension.
I added a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off this very simple card. A little bit of shine is never a bad idea on a simple card.
You’d think an image this simple would have less Copics used, but I tend to go overboard on snow. This time I also went overboard on the fur, even though it might not look like it.
Whenever the design team members get a glimpse of the new collection, I start my planning process. I sketch out very rough card ideas using the stamps I’d like to work with, send my stamp wish list off to Michele, the owner of Purple Onion Designs, and then wait patiently for the stamps to arrive.
Whenever there’s a new collection I like to create scenes to show off as many of the cute images as possible (without overcrowding the card), and for this card I stamped 
I always start by coloring the sky, and for this collection, I wanted each of my cards to have a different sky. I tend to go for all blues, but winter sunsets are explosions of color, so I was very conscious of that when I created my card. Once the sky was done, I colored the snow, followed by the trees and that cute fence, before starting with the rest of the scene.
I colored the critters, then the arch and finally all the red. I always leave the red details to the very end. It eliminates the chance of smearing and getting red ink where you don’t want it when you go in with another color right next to it. I wrote Happy Holidays with a black 0.35 Copic pen before coloring, but once the red was colored, you could hardly see the lettering, so I went back over with a white 05 Gelly Roll pen, and the text is much more visible now. My Ps are a little further apart than I’d like, and they’re also leaning a tiny bit to the right, but it’s a homemade card, it’s not supposed to be perfect, right?
Whenever I create these scene cards with Purple Onion images, I always let the stamping and the scene itself dictate the size of the finished card. This one wound up at 5 1/4 x 5 1/4″, which seemed pretty perfect. I haven’t made a square card in a while, so this was fun.
I used an obscene amount of Copics for this card.
I love teal for Christmas cards. I actually love teal for anything, but it’s the perfect color to pair with the dreaded traditional red. I’m not a fan of complementary colors, so red and green don’t really work for me, but red and teal totally do. As does red and light blue, or red and grey, but that’s pretty much my entire list for what goes with red at Christmas. I’m weird, I know.
Once my coloring was done I used the Notebook Edge die from My Favorite Things to die cut from the left hand side of the panel. Below the image, I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Hawaiian Shores Ink from Papertrey Ink.
I thought about adding some sort of embellishment to the card, but in the end, I decided to keep it simple.
Not a whole heap of Copics used for this one.
I colored the penguins with Copics and fussy cut them all, leaving a white border around the edge. I used the Fold-Up Tags from My Favorite Things to die cut four tags from the Hvite juleblomster patterned paper from the Gledelig Jul collection from Papirdesign before I adhered each penguin to each of the tags using 1 mm foam squares.
I stamped and white heat embossed several sentiments from the Jul stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto Classic Kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I also die cut reinforcements for the tags from the same cardstock, and some tiny snowflakes from white cardstock (also from PTI) using the Snowflake Confetti Fancy die from Hero Arts. I mounted the sentiment strips on foam squares, adhered the snowflakes using liquid glue and added a 2 mm white pearl from Kort & Godt to the center of each of the snowflakes. I used natural twine from May Arts through the reinforcements and threaded two gold bells to each piece of twine before securing the twine to the tags.
On the back of the tags I stamped to/from labels from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Dark Chocolate Ink from Papertrey Ink. I stamped the labels before adding the reinforcements. In hindsight, I wish I’d kept the stamps in my MISTI and restamped after the reinforcements were glued on, so the label would be continuous on the back, but I didn’t think of it as I was creating. I’ll try to remember for my next batch of tags.
Simple color palette for these simple tags.
Three same, but different gift tags using all the gingerbread people in the stamp set. I created the tags themselves using dies (two of them are actual tag dies, I used the topper from the ornament die set to create a topper for the heart to create a tag from that too). I used the Itty Bitty Gifting stamps and the Itty Bitty Strips dies, both from My Favorite Things, for all my to/from strips.
I used Classic Kraft and Stamper’s Select White cardstock for most of my die cutting, both from Papertrey Ink. For the ornament I also used a piece of silver cardstock from Rayher. I did all my Copic coloring on 120 lb white cardstock from Simon Says Stamp. This isn’t the cardstock I normally use with my Copics, but it’s great for one layer cards and elements that you can see the back of, because the markers don’t bleed through. Getting smooth color blends with Copics is trickier on this cardstock than my beloved X-Press It blending card, but the thickness saves me from having to fussy cut each of those gingerbread twice to cover up any bleed through. It’s worth the trade off, I think.
For the yellow one, I used the Snøfnugg, stor die from Papirdesign to create the snowflake tag. I added Nuvo Jewel Drops in the Key Lime color to the green buttons on the belly, and used a couple of pearls from the Igloo mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards for a little bit of embellishment. I put a piece of Divine Twine in the Lemon color through the hole at the top, making it easy to add to a gift.
For the pink one I used the Hjerte 3 die from Papirdesign to create the tag (and the Julekule die to create the hole at the top). The sequins are from the same Igloo mix that I used for the yellow, and I also added Jewel Drops in the color Key Lime to the buttons on her belly. The twine is Divine Twine in the Cotton Candy color.
And finally the green one. I used the Julekule die set from Papirdesign to create the actual tag, Nuvo Jewel Drops in the Limoncello color for the star on his sweater, and green dots from Papirdesign to embellish. The twine is Divine Twine in the color Green Apple.
Very simple color palette for these.
I created a very simple scene for this card, stamping the snowman in Fadeout ink from Inkon3 before adding a mask, then stamping the 
Every once in a while, I break out my airbrush system. I actually keep it out on my desk, but I have a big desk and don’t usually sit close to it. I love the airbrush system, it’s such an awesome way to get a layer of color quickly. Coloring an entire nighttime sky with Copics takes a while, airbrushing it is faster. Use colors that are darker than what you think you want, and make sure there’s enough ink in the marker before starting. I used B99 and B97 for this sky, and it’s wonderfully dark and the perfect backdrop for the lighter colors of the snowy scene in front.
Once I finished the airbrushing, I carefully removed the masks and did no line coloring of the rest of the scene. At this point, I’ve colored snow so often, I can do it in my sleep. This snowman is pretty easy to color too, most of the areas are pretty big surfaces, so it’s a very forgiving image.
After I finished my coloring, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment in the sky. The sentiment is actually from the Scripty Xmas stamp set from Mama Elephant, I kind of forgot for a second that I was creating a Purple Onion card, I was a little lost in a creative zone. After heat embossing the sentiment, I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous to create my super snowy scene, making sure to remove any granules that landed on top of the embossed letters before melting the granules from the back.
I trimmed 1/8″ off each side of my scene and adhered it to a white card base I created from white cardstock from Papertrey Ink, deciding not to add any embellishments. I figured there was enough going on already with all the snow.
As usual – lots of colors used for the snow. The two blues at the very bottom after the break are the colors I used for the airbrushed sky.
I love Mo’s elves, and this is 
Once the image was colored, I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to create a faux stitch border. I then white heat embossed a sentiment from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant in the center of the darkest bauble, before adhering the panel onto a top fold card base I created from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I added a few diamonds from the Urban Chic mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off the card.
Simple color palette for this one. It was super fast to color too, which isn’t usually the case with no line coloring.
Papirmølla 