Category: Christmas/jul

Sending warm wishes {Mo’s Dream Team}

Elin4 Comments

Hi, everyone! I have a Christmas card to share today, featuring Ragged Maggie from Mo’s Digital Pencil. Technically, it could be used as a general winter card, but I love making Christmas cards, so I’ll probably put it in my Christmas 2021 card pile. It’s snowed pretty much all day every day for the last week or so, and I find it fitting for Christmas card making. I’m also a week late in taking down the Christmas tree and the rest of the Christmas decorations, but I’m crossing my fingers hoping it’ll happen tonight.

Once I’d finished coloring my image, I used the largest of the dies in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set (man, that’s a mouthful) from My Favorite Things and turned it into a nice panel with a little bit of detail around the edge. I adhered it onto a card base made from Blue Yonder card stock from My Favorite Things.

I realized I hadn’t done my signature cluster in quite some time, so I found a few scraps of patterned paper from the Home for the holidays collection from Maja Design and die cut a couple of tickets from the scraps using my Happy Days Ticket Stubs die from XCut. I adhered them to the top right of the card and cut off the excess, before white heat embossing a couple of snowflakes from Crafty Moly. I white heat embossed part of a sentiment from the Oh penguin tree stamp set from Mama Elephant onto a scrap piece of blue patterned paper, before die cutting it into a banner using one of the fishtail flag frames dies from My Favorite Things. I added that to my cluster with a little bit of dimension behind it, glued a snowflake on top and finished off the card with three blue enamel dots from Papirdesign.

Kind of a muted color palette for this one. I tried to keep it to a minimum, because there’s a lot going on in that image, and I didn’t want the end result to feel cluttered.

Santa hug {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

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Hi, everyone, and Merry Christmas! I have another gift tag to share today, the last for 2020. It features the adorable Koala Christmas image from Rachelle Anne Miller and was attached to a present for one of my nieces. I thought these koalas decorating a tree of their own was such a cute one.

I stamped a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS below the image using Scarlet Jewel ink from Papertrey Ink. Using a faux stitch tag die from My Favorite Things, I die cut four tags, one from the panel with the image and three from scraps of patterned paper from the Fröjdefull Jul collection from Maja Design. I glued two and two back to back, before gluing the two double tags together, offset quite a bit.

On the back, I used another stamp from Norsk Stempelblad AS and the same color ink as I used for the front.

I punched a hole through the top of the tag, added a red eyelet for strength, pulled some twine through and also added a snowflake charm to finish.

Simple image means I didn’t use a lot of colors for this one.

Oh so merry

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Hi, everyone! I have a Christmas card to share today, and I think it’ll be the last one for 2020. Ironically, this was the first card I mailed this year. Back in October, I shared my coloring of this Penguin’s Waddle image from Mama Elephant, which prompted one of my Instagram followers to jokingly say that I needed her address. I say that to some of the card makers I follow, as well, but I also like to shake things up a bit, so I actually got her address and this card is on its way to her now, if it hasn’t already arrived.

I colored the penguins with Copics and used the coordinating die to die cut this cute little waddle for the front of my card.

The waddle of penguins actually opens up so you can write a personal message on the inside, and there’s a few more die cuts under there for dimension and a little bit of stability.

I glued my penguins to a panel made from Aqua Mist card stock from Papertrey Ink. I used the Paint Splatter background stamp from My Favorite Things with VersaMark ink, poured White Satin Pearl embossing powder from Hero Arts on top and heat embossed it. I know the stamp is supposed to be paint splatter, but I think it looks like snow, which makes the stamp even more versatile, and it’s a great way to add some subtle interest to a background. I added the Aqua Mist panel onto a slightly larger panel of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

The Penguin’s Waddle die set comes with a big word die “Oh so merry”. I die cut it several times from white cardstock, cut the “oh so” away to use just merry on my card and spritzed some sparkly sheer shimmer spray on top, which you can kind of see in this photo if you look closely. I stamped and white heat embossed the word Christmas from the Christmas Cheer stamp set from My Favorite Things onto Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, then used my Cut-align ruler from Misti to make sure I’d cut the little strip straight. In this photo you can also see the shine in the penguins’ eyes. I added a little bit of black glaze pen to the eyes, and also a little bit of clear Wink of Stella to certain elements.

I‘ve misplaced (or more likely, accidentally thrown out) the post-it with the list of Copics I used, but I do know that I used N9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 0 and the blender for the penguins, that I used Y38 (along with some other yellows) for the beaks, fish and the rest of the yellows, and that I used BG13 for one of the colors in my teal combo.

Edited to add: I found the post-it with the list of the Copics I used while tidying up in my craft room. In addition to these colors, I also used B30, which is a color I’ve made myself.

Penguin gift tag {Mo’s Dream Team}

Elin2 Comments

Hi, everyone! I’ve got a simple Christmas gift tag to share today, I still have a few I need to make.

This is a simple one. I colored a penguin chick from Mo Manning, die cut it using a tag die from My Favorite Things and added a die cut God jul sentiment below the penguin.

On the back of the tag I die cut an additional two tags from patterned paper from Maja Design and stamped a To/From stamp from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Olive Twist ink from Papertrey Ink. I used a couple of strips of patterned paper to get a candy cane in there, as well.

I added some twine through the top of the tag and even a snowflake charm, but let the rest be very simple. I’m hoping this penguin will put a smile on my sister’s face, she loves penguins, and this one is going to her and her husband.

Lots of grays for the penguin, and also quite a few greens. I love this green combo.

Wishing you snow much fun {Purple Onion Designs}

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Hi, everone! I’ve got another one layer card to share today, featuring lots of cute images from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula.

I did no line coloring of Snowballs, Wilson, Rupert, Jingle, Dash, Jolly, Snowy Fence, and Snow Day Hill, before stamping a sentiment from Warming Winter Thoughts using Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening ink.

I love the no line look, and it’s really no more difficult than coloring with lines. In a way, it’s actually easier, because no one can tell if you went outside the lines a bit! I used a white gelly roll pen to add back in some details in the various scarves.

The holiday sale at Purple Onion Designs ends today, so this is your last chance to get lots of amazing rubber stamps (including the ones I’ve used here) at a whopping 25% off!

More than a couple of Copics used for this card, and I even used B90, which is a color I’ve made myself.

Wishing you warmth, joy & happiness {Purple Onion Designs}

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Hi, everyone! I’ve got another fairly simple card to share today, featuring some wonderful stamps from Purple Onion Designs. This is basically just stamping, masking and coloring.

I love creating nighttime winter scenes for my Christmas cards, but every once in a while, daytime scenes, or early sunset scenes like this are also fun to do. By using blues for the snow, you get a frosty look.

There are 7 different images in this scene. There are too many cute images to choose from, and I couldn’t decide, so I made an A7 card with a bunch instead. I stamped most of the images using Memento Espresso Truffle ink and the background using Fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a no line look.

Here are the Holly Branch, Holly the mouse, and Maggie the mouse. The snowman and bird stamp at the bottom is called Bianca & Neve.

Here’s Nora & Butter, hanging out by the mailbox. I added Birch the bunny as well, it’s just too cute and I couldn’t resist!!

I stamped a sentiment from the Snowflake Grove sentiment set using a combination of red and gray ink. I started with Memento Lady Bug ink, but it was a little too bright red for me, so I used Soft Stone ink from Papertrey Ink on top to tone it down a bit.

Lots of Copics used for this one, and I have to admit that quite a few are used for the snow.

 

Happy holidays to you and yours {Purple Onion Designs}

Elin1 Comment

Hi, everyone! I’m back after what I’d call sick leave for a couple of days. Don’t worry, I don’t have the virus that should not be mentioned, it was a plain old migraine that knocked me out. Once again, I’ve had a blast with some cute Purple Onion Designs critters illustrated by Stacey Yacula. Purple Onion has a sale going until the end of the week, so if you want to pick up some of these cuties for yourself, they’re 25% off right now 😉

I decided to create a woodland scene for this one, and managed to fit all my images on a regular A2 card. I started by stamping Rory and Noelle (the mouse and squirrel enjoying hot beverages), then Red (the lumberjack beaver) and masked them all before stamping Old Betsy (the truck with the bear inside). I masked that, then stamped one of the trees from the Double Pine Tree stamp in the bed of the truck by only inking up the one tree before stamping (the larger of the two). I added a mask for that as well, before stamping the Pine Tree Farm using fadeout ink from Inkon3 for that noline look that I love for my background elements.

Once all my coloring was done, I used a stitched rectangle frame from My Favorite Things to die cut my scene, before adding a little bit of liquid glue and rock candy distress glitter to portions of the trees and selected areas on the ground for some frosty, snowy effect. Lastly, I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel and heated the panel from the back, creating a snowy look that I really love.

I stamped one of the sentiments from the Holiday Blurbs I stamp set using Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide ink, fussy cut my sentiment leaving a thin white border and adhered it to my scene using Gina K black foam tape. All that was left was to add everything to a top fold landscape oriented card base, which I made from Stamper’s Select White card stock from Papertrey Ink, which is my favorite white card stock for card bases.

It’s back! I took the time to redo my template for my Copic colors, and this time it’s not stored in a Dropbox folder where I can accidentally delete it using my iPhone, which is what happened to the last one. Lots of colors for this one, and I even used BV27 in the sky in addition to all the other BV20s. It’s a color I’ve made myself using an empty marker and drops of RV29 various ink as well as blending solution.

Season’s Greetings {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

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Hi, everyone! I’ve got a sweet little Christmas card to share today, featuring the Christmas Tree image from Rachelle Anne Miller.

I colored up just a portion of the image and made it into a polaroid by using a polaroid frame die from My Favorite Things that I love. I die cut the frame three times from white cardstock and glued them together for a stacked look.

I decided to stamp a sentiment onto the polaroid frame using Blueberry Sky ink from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is from a stamp set from Inky Wings.

I decided to put my polaroid frame on a blue card base. This blue cardstock is Blueberry Sky from Papertrey Ink, the same color as the stamped sentiment. I used an old snowflake frame die from Memory Box that I diecut from white cardstock.

I cut down my card base to make a 4 bar card. I like the smaller size, but don’t make too many cards this size, so I thought I’d change things up a bit. Once again, I have no graphic to show what Copics I used, but hopefully I’ll have my template remade in a few days.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas {Purple Onion Designs}

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Hi, everyone! I’ve got a new Christmas card to share today, featuring some awesome images from Purple Onion Designs.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of penguins and polar bears, and even though their habitats are on opposite sides of the globe, they’ve come together for this card. I mean look at them; that cute cub with a scarf and hat and that penguin sitting on a present with a candy cane in his hand – just too cute to pass up.

The little polar bear’s name is Icicle, and the penguin’s name is Merry, I love that these characters actually have names! I put Merry on a sled, masked everything and stamped the frozen pond horizon behind my cute critters using fadeout ink from Inkon3.

Here’s a bit of a closeup. I swear the bear has some color, even though he looks very one dimensional here. I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Blurbs II set in blue ink, fussy cut that with a thin white border and popped it up on the front of my card, making it look like the penguin is wishing you a merry Christmas.

Once I finished my coloring, I took the largest of my A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX dies from My Favorite Things to create a nice edge on my scene. I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, heating the panel from the back until the granules melted. I glued my panel straight onto a top folding card base I made out of Papertrey Ink Blueberry Sky cardstock.

I wish you could feel the texture of the embossing powder once it’s melted. It’s raised, and kind of like braille, it’s really cool. The Gina K foam tape adds a little lift to the speech bubble, but doesn’t add too much bulk, I love it.

The Purple Onion Designs holiday sale starts today and lasts till the end of next week. 25 % off rubber stamps is a really good deal, and nothing stamps better than rubber stamps, I love them so much!

I still haven’t redone my template for the Copic graphic I usually share, I’m hoping to have time to do it next week, I know there are people relying on it to choose colors!

Super simple gift tag {Hobbykunst}

ElinLeave a comment

Hi, everyone! I’ve got a super simple gift tag to share today. This was so quick to make and can easily be mass produced, if that’s something you’d be interested in doing.

I had a leftover piece from a card I made earlier this year, so the dark blue base and the texture paste snow falling down are elements that were both already there. My initial plan was to make that particular card a regular, landscape A2 sized card, but the design didn’t really work for the format, so I chopped off about 1 1/4″, which was the perfect width for this bear. All I really did for this one was stamp, color and fussy cut the bear from the Bitty Bears stamp set from My Favorite Things before, before using foam tape to pop him up a little bit from the rest. Because the base of this was once part of a card, this gift tag stands up on its own. I haven’t even punched a hole through it, I think might be enough to slip it over the ribbon on a present.