Hi, crafty friends. I have a blue Christmas card with a penguin to share today. Normally, I’d say that’s pretty common for me, but there’s something about the layout of this card and the remaining colors that are not typical things I do with my cards.
This penguin is from the Christmas Cupcake Toppers stamp set from Streamside Studios. I colored his beanie blue, which is my go to Christmas color, but the piping bag he’s holding in his hand makes him a bit different, so I decided to also color up the gingerbread house from the Sweet Family set, which I fussy cut and added to a piece of Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things, before adding a layer of 40 lb vellum on top to soften it a little.
I adhered the light blue panel to a top fold card base I created from Cornflower cardstock from My Favorite Things, and die cut a scallop border using the Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frames die set from My Favorite Things. I cut the frame apart and added one strip to the top and one to the bottom of my light blue panel. I used the Merry Script die from Mama Elephant to die cut three layers from white cardstock and one layer from X-Press It blending card that I colored pink with Copics. I stamped the word everything from the Holiday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant onto white cardstock using Cornflower ink from My Favorite Things, added a few layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and embellished with a few pink sequins from the She’s So Lovely mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. The penguin was easy to add with a little bit of foam tape.
I didn’t use too many colors for the penguin itself, but the gingerbread house required quite a few markers.
I die cut a tree nine times from three different shades of green patterned paper. The two lighter ones are both from Maja Design, while the dark one’s from Kaisercraft. This die is pretty small and perfect for scraps. There’s also a die in the sets that cuts the trunk, but I decided not to use that for this card.
I sprinkled on Chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous to each of the trees and melted the granules from the back to make snowy trees. I then used three different thicknesses of foam tape behind the trees for varying dimension.
I stamped and white heat embossed the sentiment onto a black cardstock strip (True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink), added a couple of more layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and glued it on top of two of my trees.
I have a deep, undying love for penguins and snowmen. These two have been joined by a sweet bunny and the cutest little squirrel you ever did see! I did some fairly simple Copic coloring of the image before I used a die in the Blueprints 27 die set from My Favorite Things to create a faux stitch line and a scallop border.
I stamped the word Christmas from the Sentiments from a Yeti stamp set from Mama Elephant using Melon Berry ink from Papertrey Ink. Onto a strip of Sprout cardstock from Concord & 9th, I stamped a coordinating sentiment from the Holiday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Eiffel Tower ink from My Favorite Things. I stacked a few extra cardstock strips behind my stamped one for dimension, and adhered it above the word Christmas.
I added three layers of scrap cardstock behind my colored panel for dimension before adhering it to a top fold card base I created from Melon Berry cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love this pink!
I used pearls from the Glossy Porcelain mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to embellish just a little.
Lots of Copics on this one, in spite of fairly simple and even quick coloring.
I dry embossed the Snowflake Confetti fancy die from Hero Arts on a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I cut the panel down and added strips of green cardstock near the bottom. The colors are (bottom to top) Pinefeather (Papertrey Ink), Evergreen (Concord & 9th), Jalapeño Popper (My Favorite Things), Clover (C9), Parsley (C9), Vintage Jadeite (PTI) and Mint Julep (PTI). I white heat embossed a sentiment from the Sentiments from a Yeti stamp set from Mama Elephant and mounted my strips of green with a little bit of dimension behind them.
I mounted my white dry embossed piece with the green strips onto a top fold white card base using foam tape. Using Shadow Creek Ink from Altenew, I stamped the Peace banner from the Sentiments from a Yeti stamp set from Mama Elephant and die cut it using the Yeti banner die from Mama Elephant, which coordinates. I added foam to the back and adhered it over the white heat embossing to complete my sentiment.
I used foam tape on the back of the snowman too, so this card has a lot of dimension. The dry embossed panel is on fairly thick foam tape, the green strips on a bit thinner foam tape, and the banner and snowman on thicker foam tape. I finished the card with a few gems from the Festivities mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
This snowman looks so content, I love it!
Peace, love + happiness. With a little bit of hope. Sounds like the perfect Christmas to me.
I’m trying to limit the amount of Copics I use for my cards, but I’m failing miserably. I really don’t mind.
I started by ink blending trees in pink onto white cardstock. I used the Wintry Forest stencil set from Pinkfresh Studio along with Rose Quartz, Puffy Heart and Purple Wine inks from Altenew. I then stamped a sentiment in the M-428 stamp set from Kort & Godt and heat embossed in white. The heat embossing doesn’t really show up too well in my photos where the trees in the background are pale, but it’s more visible in real life. And if you want more contrast, you could start the blending with a darker color.
I used a die in the Die 178 set to create the faux stitching on the sides of my ink blended piece. The dies in this set are banner dies, but I did partial die cutting and only used the top half of the die. I added a couple of layers of white cardstock behind it for a little bit of dimension and adhered it to a top fold landscape card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, which is the cardstock I’ve used throughout.
I die cut a sled (Die 321 from Kort & Godt) five times from white cardstock. I stacked them for strength and dimension and adhered my sled to the bottom of my panel, tucking a felt snowflake (ST105) behind it. I added another felt snowflake (ST103) in the top right.
The pink is very unexpected – at least for me. I never thought I’d ink blend pink winter trees, but this was fun! You could easily create this card in lots of other colors too, I wonder what it would look like in blue…
Shari Bresciani’s cast of characters is so fun and quirky. Michele at Purple Onion Designs is very good at finding illustrators with a distinct style. The left tag features 
For both of my tags, I used the Wintry Forest stencil set from Pinkfresh Studio to create my background of blue trees. I used Polar Bear, Icy Water and Winter Lake inks from Altenew to create my trees, die cut my panel into tags using the Stitched Trad. Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things, then sprinkled on Chunky White embossing enamel from Stampendous which I melted from the back for a snowy look.
I love the expression on Scruffy’s face! This tree originally has a star on top, but I wanted Starla to add the star to the tree, so I cut off the star from the top and colored the cone shaped part of the star in green, so it looks like it’s the actual tree, even though the even curved line is a telltale sign that it’s not. I don’t think many people will notice, and even less will care.
I stamped the sentiment using two ink colors from My Favorite Things: Jalapeño Popper and Sour Apple. I would have preferred a green tone with more blue in it, but I don’t have that in the ink formulation that’s best for this kind of mostly solid stamping. I find that the squishy ink pads that have become popular in recent years do better with this kind of stamping than the old firm felt pad type ink pads.
Close to the sentiment, I added pearls from the Party Girl mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I was tempted to add lots of pearls in different colors to the tree too, to act as baubles, but opted not to.
I threaded some satin ribbon through the tag hole and tied it with a piece of Natural twine from May Arts. I also added a couple of gold bells from my stash, I love tags that make that jingle sound.
Lots of colors for this, even though I felt like I didn’t use too many.
It’s Carrie’s turn. She goes so well with this snowman, you could almost think they’re one stamp and not two. I don’t mind when things hang off the edge of my cards or, in this case, tags. Will the ears and the branch get bent once this tag is on a present under the tree? Possibly. But I don’t mind, because I feel it adds to the design. If I had cut off the ears and branch to make everything fit inside the dimensions of the tag, this tag wouldn’t be as fun.
For this one, I stamped the sentiment in Amarena Cherry ink from My Favorite Things. It matches her scarf nicely.
I managed to get something sticky in the middle of Carrie. There was no way to remove it, so I was very strategic about the placement of the clay snowflakes I added. They’re Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and I love them.
I threaded ribbon through the hole at the top of the tag, tied a bow around it using more of that Natural Twine from May Arts and added a couple of gold bells to the top. Different kind of bell than on the green tag, but they still make that wonderful sound.
Lots of Copics for this one too. I just can’t help myself.
For the back of the tags, I stamped To/From from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Obsidian ink from Altenew. The remaining stamps are stamped in Classic Kraft and Dark Chocolate inks from Papertrey Ink. For some of it, I used second generation stamping. The circle stamp with 24.12 in the center and the tree stamp are both from Inkido. The little snowflakes are from North Star Design, the smaller circle stamp with God jul in the center is from Ladybug & Friends. Unless I’m mistaken, none of these companies are still in business. It’s kind of sad, but I’m very glad I have these stamps!
I colored my emu and koala with Copics, and fussy cut the image leaving a white trim. Cutting around that string of lights was tricky, but worth it.
Onto a piece of white cardstock, I stamped the Christmas Lights Bold Prints stamp from Hero Arts using VersaMark ink, and poured on Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder from Judikins, which I then heat embossed. It adds a sparkly, but subtle shine to the background and I love that the lights are just like the colored lights on the emu.
I cut off a strip of the panel on each side and die cut a star in the top center using the Stars Five die set from Spellbinders. I mounted the panel on foam tape and added it to a card base I’d covered with the 
I mounted the emu in the star opening, making sure to adhere the delicate lights directly to the white panel, while the emu itself is backed with foam tape. I stamped an white heat embossed a sentiment from the Christmas Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things onto a scrap piece of my gum leaves paper, before using the coordinating die to cut it out. I backed it with four white die cuts and adhered it underneath the emu’s feet and dangling lights, before finishing off with sequins and star confetti from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
You can see a little more of the sparkle in this photo.
The emu and the koala are very muted, so I chose bright colors for the lights.
I had a plan for this one even before I started coloring. Things changed as I was creating, but I still love the end result. I colored the little girl and fussy cut her, leaving a thin white trim around the hat and no trim at all around her mittens. I used The Stitched Snowflake Frame die from Lawn Fawn to create my large snowflake frame. I die cut four from white cardstock that I stacked for dimension and one from Soft Stone cardstock from Papertrey Ink that I adhered behind the white ones, you can see the gray peeking out from the points on the snowflake. The die also cuts a circle inside the frame. It has the same faux stitching as the snowflake, but I wanted a plain circle for this and used a circle die to cut a circle that was slightly larger than the frame opening. Inside the circle, I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous and melted the granules from the back for a snowy look. I put foam tape on the back of the girl and added her to the opening in the frame.
Using the Stitched Snowflake Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn, I created some texture to a plain white panel. The die actually cuts a panel that covers an A2 card, but I wanted a bit of a border on mine and pulled out the A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX 2 die set from My Favorite Things to get it a little bit smaller. I adhered it to a panel of Cornflower cardstock from My Favorite Things, which I then adhered to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I adhered the snowflake frame at the top center of the card and created a stacked die cut merry using the Merry Script die from Mama Elephant. There are four white layers topped with one in Soft Stone. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Holiday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant onto a scrap of the blue card I used previously. I cut it down to a strip and added four small cardstock strips behind it for dimension, before I nestled it in with the die cut and finished off with a couple of pearls from the Glossy Porcelain mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
There’s quite a bit of dimension on this card. I love dimension!!
I tried to limit the amount of marker colors for this one. Did I succeed? Up to you 🙂
Today’s card is a super simple one. I colored up this bunny from the 
I used a die from the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower to cut a rectangle from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. You can easily cut this with a trimmer, but I had the die set basically at my fingertips and decided to use that. I then ink blended very softly from the top of the panel using Sno Cone ink from My Favorite Things. I wanted a super light background and this was perfect. I matted it on a piece of Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink and mounted it to a top fold landscape A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock, once again. It’s my favorite white cardstock, it’s whiter than anything else I’ve tried. I die cut the Silhouette Snow Trees from Mama Elephant from the same white cardstock, layering them up for dimension. I adhered the trees to my ink blended piece, then used foam tape to add the bunny on the side, before finishing off the card with sequins and confetti stars from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Very simple color palette for this one.
Today’s the last day of Designer Week at Lili of the Valley! This means you can save 20% on any item on 
I chose four of the snowmen in the set and scaled them to fit inside the windows on this Globies Grid Cover die from Mama Elephant. I colored them with Copics and fussy cut them leaving a thin white border.
I die cut the cover die from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, added acetate to the back and adhered my snowmen to the back of the acetate in a few of the windows. Onto a panel of Sno Cone cardstock from My Favorite Things, I did some very subtle ink blending at the bottom of each row of snowglobes, using Sno Cone ink, also from My Favorite Things. The ink blending adds a little gradient to each of the snowglobes. I stamped a sentiment from the Julehilsen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Caribbean Sea ink from My Favorite Things.
I flipped the front over, added foam tape to the back of my windows and sealed the globe with the sentiment shut so no shaker bits would be in that particular window. I added a sprinkling of Distress Mica Flakes to each of the remaining 11 windows and carefully placed my ink stamped and ink blended panel onto the exposed adhesive to close my shaker wells.
I adhered my front to a top fold card base I created from Sno Cone cardstock from My Favorite Things. To finish the card, I die cut the bases for the snow globes from white cardstock and added a little bit of subtle shading on the edges with a T0 Copic marker, as well as the colorless blender.
These snowmen are super tiny, it’s a miracle I used so many colors. I may have gotten carried away with the red in particular. Five colors for these tiny areas is probably way too many, but there you go.
Papirmølla 