Ho Ho Ho {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, everyone!

I’ve got a super simple Christmas card to share with you today, featuring the Penguins Ho Ho Ho digital stamp from Lili of the Valley. This is such a fun stamp, and the size and orientation make it perfect for a portrait A2 sized card.

I colored my image using Copics. I don’t often use red on my Christmas cards, and I never pair it with green, but I love the look of red and gray or red and teal. For this one I went with both gray and teal, and I did my best to make the leaves in the image as “un-green” as I could by choosing the BG90s to color those in. A great little trick to coloring with red is to color in all the other colors first. That way you don’t run the risk of transferring red ink onto the other sections of your image if you accidentally color over the line into the red.

I diecut my colored panel using the largest of the faux stitch dies I have from My Favorite Things (I’ve used the Stitched Rectangles STAX Set 2) and glued it onto a cardbase of Tropical Teal cardstock, also from My Favorite Things. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Sweet Holiday Penguins stamp set from My Favorite Things, diecut that using the Fishtail Flag Frames die set from MFT and mounted it onto my card with 1 mm foam squares for a tiny bit of dimension.

Here are all the Copics I used. The Es are all used to create my red color. I find that the actual reds (the Rs) in the Copic range are either too orange or too pink for my liking when it comes to Christmas reds, so I always use the Es for my base before going in with a couple of Rs at the end to make the color pop.

Merry Christmas

Hi, everyone! I know you’re thinking it’s too soon, Christmas is still four months away, but I like getting my Christmas cards started early, so I’m not swamped when November comes around and there’s enough to get done as it is.

Today, I’ve got snowmen for you. I colored up these snowmen from Mama Elephant for Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day coloring challenge… in June last year. I wasn’t able to do all 30 days of that round of the challenge because of a shoulder fracture, but I got a few days in before I had to throw in the towel. Blue Christmas cards are my weakness, so I colored in all the accessories for the snowmen in the stamp set using blues and browns.

I fussy cut my snowmen and made myself a little sketch, to make the actual cardmaking process easier. I find sketches help make me more productive. I used the Tag Builder Blueprint 5 die set from My Favorite Things to create my frames, and layered 3 diecuts together on each of the four frames to make them more dimensional. I kept the interior pieces to use with the remaining snowmen for an additional two cards. I dry embossed my cardbase using the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp. It’s not easy for the camera to pick up in photos, but there’s a subtle bit of texture to the background.

I glued a panel of Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink straight onto the card front using doublesided tape, and stamped my sentiment repeatedly next to it using Enchanted Evening ink, also from Papertrey Ink. The stamp itself is from Norsk Stempelblad AS. I glued my frames down onto the blue background in a wonky, whimsical arrangement, mounted my little snowmen inside each frame using 1 mm foam squares and embellished very simply with snowflake sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Julehilsen {Mo’s Dream Team}

Hi, everyone!

I colored up Winter Present for day 22 of Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day challenge on Instagram and made a simple Christmas card with it.

I used the largest of the faux stitch rectangle dies from My Favorite Things to create a nice edge for my panel. I mounted it to a cardbase I made from Soft Stone cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I dug through my scrap stash of Christmas themed patterned paper and got really lucky with part of a diecut ticket and some pine branches.

I made a little cluster starting with half a Doodlebug mini paper doily, then the partial ticket stub and the pine branches. I found a fitting sentiment on the bottom of a piece of patterned paper from Papirdesign, so I cut that bit out and added foam tape behind it. I finished the card with a few snowflake sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Season’s Greetings {Mo’s Dream Team}

Hi, everyone!

It might seem a little early for those holiday cards, but I never make multiples, and this is only my tenth this year, so I need to get cracking!

I try very hard not to have favorites, but I can’t help it. Giggling Snowman from Mo Manning gets me every time. I colored him up in nolines for day 1 of the current 30 day coloring challenge from Kathy Racoosin, and I turned him into a deceptively simple shaker card. I messed up big time when making this card. Several times. But I didn’t give up, I’m too stubborn. Way too stubborn. In the end it turned out almost the way I wanted it to, at it shakes like crazy, which I really wanted. I spent a considerable chunk of time turning every sequin, jewel and diamond the right way, but the shaker itself is so deep that the two largest sizes of sequins are the only ones that stayed that way. Live and learn, right? My biggest struggle with making shaker cards is usually that I either fill up the shaker too much or not enough. This time I was able to get the perfect amount. I’m celebrating the small victories!

I used the largest of the Stitched Rectangles STAX dies from My Favorite Things to create the front of the shaker, then the oval dies from the Card Front Designs die set from Neat & Tangled to create the actual window and the frame around it. I doubled up on my foam tape, and used acetate from Hot off the Press to create my window. I used the Urban Chic mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards for my filling.

This really shakes, those sequins have a lot of room to move freely. I stamped an InkyWings sentiment using Ocean Tides ink from Papertrey Ink (which matches the Ocean Tides cardstock SO well) on a scrap piece of X-Press It (I wanted the white to match the white in the image) and mounted it on 1mm foam squares onto the front of my card, and it was finished.

Christmas in July {Mo’s Dream Team}

Another Wednesday, which means it’s Mo Manning time, and it also happens to be July already. What happened to June? It really flew by faster than ever. I actually have a Christmas card to share today, nothing is as natural as Christmas in July, right?

I’ve featured Gingerbread Man! on this card. It happens to be a free digital image, and I’ve flipped it, repeated it and rotated it all across a background before using four different brown Copics (E27, 25, 23 and 21) in addition to T2 to color all of them. Some are more burnt than others, I didn’t want a uniform look.

Once my panel of gingerbread men was finished, I glued it straight to a cardbase made from Dark Chocolate cardstock from Papertrey Ink before adding a diecut sentiment heart with foam tape. I used Pure Poppy cardstock (also Papertrey Ink) and a Papirdesign die.

I scattered a few Papirdesign enamel dots for my finishing touch.

God jul {Mo’s Dream Team}

Is it Christmas yet? No? Really? Are you sure? Let’s just pretend for a quick minute, because I have a Christmas card to share today, featuring Katie and Bear from Mo’s Digital Pencil.

I had to use my favorite color combination for Christmas on this one. Blue, grey and brown. I made my greys very light, so they look more white than grey, and I have to admit I kind of love the look! I printed the image with 15 % opacity and did no line coloring. I love no line coloring!

This card is very “me”. The cardbase is made from Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening cardstock, I used a die from My Favorite Things to add the faux stitching detail on the main panel, and I added a little cluster of diecut patterned paper scraps. I stamped and heat embossed a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment on one of the patterned paper pieces and added three snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Card as my finishing touch.

Clean and simple with cluster, these cards come together so easily once the image is colored.

I used quite a few colors for this simple image. Lots of different earth tones for different parts of the image, and two grey families.

Christmas hug {Mo’s Dream Team}

Hi, everyone!

I know it’s Easter, and normally I’d be at our family cabin in the mountains this time of year, soaking up sun, going skiing, drinking warm beverages and eating oranges and chocolate. This year is one for the ages, everything’s turned on its head. We’re not allowed to go to our cabin in the mountains, and I’m stuck in the city with no Easter spirit whatsoever. Hence, a Christmas card in April. The most natural thing in the world, right?

I colored up Fruitcake from Mo Manning during the last 30 day coloring challenge hosted by Kathy Racoosin, and I turned it into a very simple card using very few supplies. I diecut my panel using the largest of the stitched rectangle dies from My Favorite Things (the STAX 2 set) and glued it onto a top folding card base I made from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I used a Docrafts die to create those tickets from scraps of patterned paper from Maja Design, popping them up on foam squares from Gina K designs to give them a little bit of dimension. I white heat embossed a sentiment from Ladybug & Friends on one of the tickets and tucked a diecut pine branch behind it. I finished by adding a few red enamel dots from Papirdesign, tying in the red details from the colored image.

As usual, I finish with the Copic colors I used to color my image.

Juleklem {Mo’s Dream Team}

Another Wednesday means another Mo Manning project. I thought it was time for another Christmas card, this is my 6th this year, and it feels pretty good!

I colored up Hanging the Stockings for Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day coloring challenge earlier this month, and turned it into a very simple card by diecutting my panel, adding a heat embossed sentiment and some heart shaped raindrops.

I’ve had this image for so long, and it really felt good to finally color it up. I used the largest of the dies in the Stitched Rectangles STAX (2) set from My Favorite Things, before heat embossing a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment in white using super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger.

I love the look of those heart shaped raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. They’re part of the crystal collection and add the perfect little touch to such a simple card.

Christmas in March?? {Mo’s Dream Team}

Hi, everyone! I’m still keeping up with making those Christmas cards, and I must admit, it feels pretty good. This is Going North, colored for day 5 of this run of the 30 day coloring challenge by Kathy Racoosin.

I turned my image into a card last night by stamping a sentiment, diecutting the entire panel with a faux stitch rectangle die, adding that to my card front and embellishing very sparingly with three clear crystals from the Ice Water mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. That’s it.

The sentiment is from the B04 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS. I love the stamps Åshild has designed and am so glad I have so many different sets from them. I used Enchanted Evening ink from Papertrey Ink. It’s a beautiful dark blue color.

Cards don’t get much simpler than this. And cards like this are so fun to make, too.

Would you believe I used 10 (yes, ten) different colors for the fur?? Am I crazy?

Falalala… {Mo’s Dream Team}

la la la laaaa!

Am I in a Christmas mood? Not really, but it might seem that way. Falalalala was next up on my alphabetic list of Mo Manning images I haven’t yet used, and it needed to go on a Christmas card. Another one done for this year, which admittedly feels pretty good.

I colored my image with Copics as usual. In a split complementary version this time. I’m not a fan of red (not even for Christmas), but when I can use it as an accent color along with blue greens and yellow greens, I feel it works better. I fussy cut my image right up to the black line and glued it to the front of my card.

I diecut a panel of Spring Rain cardstock from Papertrey Ink using the Snowfall Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn and ink blended over the top. I used Chipped Sapphire Distress ink, Faded Jeans Distress ink, Stormy Sky distress ink and Spring Rain dye ink working my way from top to bottom, dark to light. I glued the piece straight onto my white cardbase.

I used the Country Landscape die from Memory Box to diecut the background hills from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I used the same die to diecut the windows using Harvest Gold cardstock, also from PTI, and inlaid them. I popped the entire panel on low foam tape for a little bit of dimension. I then diecut my panel with the sentiment already printed using a die from the Stitched Hillside Borders die set from Lawn Fawn. I’m a huge fan of faux stitch dies, but since the Memory Box die doesn’t have the faux stitching, I didn’t want it on my top panel either, so I used the die upside down and glued this snow bank on with low foam tape. To ground my image I used snow paint just below it as snow, and sprinkled rock candy distress glitter on top while the snow paint was still wet.

I changed up the sentiment a little. There’s an exclamation mark at the end, but I wanted that to be on the inside, so I added three dots instead and printed the same sentiment on the inside with the three dots in the beginning and the exclamation mark at the end.

I was a little hesitant about using my blue background at first, because I didn’t think the image stood out enough against the blue. When I created the snow banks, the whole thing transformed, and I’m glad I stuck with the blue.

Not a lot of markers for this one.