Hi, crafty friends. Very last minute, but early this afternoon, I finally came up with an idea for this year’s Superstar contest over at My Favorite Things. It’s been in the back of my mind for weeks, but I no clue as to what kind of card I’d make or even IF an idea would come to me. I made a penguin card (no surprise there, huh?).
This is for the Clean and Simple Genius category. I wanted a colored penguin, but also to keep the rest of the card super simple. White space is our friend! I stamped the background landscape in the Polar Opposites stamp set using Icy Water ink from Altenew, and I actually stamped it twice to make it span across the card. I then stamped and colored one of the penguins from the same stamp set, before fussy cutting him. I don’t have the coordinating dies for this stamp set, but this guy was easy enough to fussy cut.
Using the Precious Polaroids die set, I die cut four polaroid frames and stacked them for a bit of dimension, stamping a sentiment on the top layer using Winter Lake ink from Altenew. I added the stacked frame to the card at an angle, adhered my penguin and finished off the card with a few Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. To me, this is about as CAS as it gets. Whether it’s genius remains to be seen 🙂
Typical penguin color palette for me, this one.
My Favorite Things products used:
Polar Opposites stamp set
Precious Polaroids die set
I admit, I don’t make many Halloween cards. Halloween’s not really my thing. I think it might be the costumes that freak me out. I was scared of Santa as a kid (to be honest, Santa still creeps me out) and I never liked dressing up for carnival in kindergarten either. I don’t know what it is, I’m just not a fan. I am, however, a fan of these ghosts, they’re so adorable. In the stamp, the ghosts are holding a banner, but I wanted the ghosts alone, so I removed the banner, did a little bit of stamp surgery in Photoshop to complete their arms (since they’re holding the banner, you don’t see the entire arm on either of these ghosts). I created mirror images of each of the ghosts so I had four different ghosts to work with, and made a few copies of each.
I did very simple coloring of the ghosts, I just wanted a hint of color and actually only used four markers. I cut down my panel, added foam tape to the back and adhered it to a white card base I’d covered with Caribbean Sea cardstock from My Favorite Things.
I die cut the letters to spell happy using an alphabet die set from Papirdesign. I die cut each of the letters three times from white cardstock and once from Gravel Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things that I adhered on top of the three white ones for a stacked, dimensional look.
I white heat embossed a sub sentiment from the Itty Bitty Boos stamp set from My Favorite Things onto a scrap piece of Caribbean Sea cardstock that I cut down to a small strip. I adhered a couple of additional layers of cardstock behind it before I adhered it to my die cut letters. I added a few pink sequins from the Heaven Sent mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and my card was complete.
As I mentioned, I only used four markers for the coloring of these ghosts.
I changed the color of the words monkey see in Photoshop before printing the image. I then colored the image and letters with Copics and used the largest die in the Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create some interest to the edges, as I was planning on leaving lots of white space.
I adhered the panel to a top fold A2 card base I created from Ocean Tides cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love this cardstock color, it’s great for every kind of card.
I used the Fab Foliage die set from My Favorite Things to die cut different leaves in different colors of cardstock. I used Ocean Tides (it really works for everything), Green Parakeet and Spring Moss, all from Papertrey Ink. I even threw in some that I die cut from Heavyweight Translucent vellum from My Favorite Things.
I cut some of the leaves down to fit my card and used a tiny bit of liquid glue at the base of each stem. This way the leaves have a bit of lift off the card, which also adds a little bit of interest.
I finished off with crystals, sequins and pearls from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
A fairly soft color palette for this one. In addition to BG18 and 72 for the letters, I also used BG71, which is a color I’ve created myself.
I’ve made a cool card (pun intended) with the 
Using the Watercolor Wash Free Form stencil from My Favorite Things along with Icy Water and Frayed Leaf inks from Altenew, I did some very soft ink blending to create a little bit of interest to my background. I then ran the panel through my printer to add the sentiment, chopped off a little on each side of the panel and mounted it onto a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I put foam tape on the back of each of my popsicles and adhered them above the sentiment.
I finished off the card with pearls, crystals and dew drops from the Fresh Mint mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Soft color palette for this one.
Everyone loves ice cream, right? I colored up this one using my Copics, and fussy cut around it leaving a thin white border. The border makes it stand out against the colorful ink blended background.
Speaking of backgrounds – I ink blended Distress Oxide Inks (Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron, Fossilized Amber, Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean) across a quarter sheet of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I heat set the panel to make sure it was dry, before running it through my printer to add the sentiment.
The large stamp storage pockets from Avery Elle are 5 1/2″ wide, making them perfect for full A2 size shaker cards. I cut slivers off the panel to make it go in a little easier, then turned it on its side and put it at the bottom of the storage pocket. I cut the pocket down to about 5″, scored at the 4 1/4″ mark and folded it over. I actually cut the back of the storage pocket at the 4 1/4″ point to make it easier to fold. I cut the corners of the remaining flap, filled the pocket with sequins and confetti and glued the pocket shut on the back, before adhering it to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I added the ice cream on top of the shaker pocket using foam tape, and that finishes the card. The sequins and confetti I used are a mix of different brands. The opaque ones are from Studio Calico, and I’ve probably had them for almost 10 years, the same with the iridescent cream colored sequins. Those are from UiT Hobby, and the little star confetti is from Søstrene Grene, they’ve also been in my stash for many years.
Simple color palette for this one.
I was planning on coloring this in green with a soft pink. I knew which greens I wanted use, but referred to my Copic color chart for the pink. My color chart is old and Copics fade with time, so the soft pink on my color chart wasn’t as soft in real life once I started coloring. I should color in a new chart, but I LOVE the hot pink with the green, so it all worked out.
This stamp is what you see on the right. The tip of her hat goes a little further to the right, but I wanted a more dynamic design with her coming in from the edge, so I chopped it off. I copied one of the baubles in her hands and put it on the left of the panel before printing, I thought it added a little bit of extra interest.
Isn’t she cute carrying those baubles? I love that they’re so big she has to use her forehead to balance them, because her arms just aren’t long enough to carry them on their own.
I knew I wanted to use this Scripty merry die from Mama Elephant. I tried a pink one and a green one and the green just worked better. I didn’t have any green cardstock that matched my coloring, so I used the colors I’d used on the image to create a piece of green cardstock I could die cut from, which I adhered on top of four white ones that I also die cut. I used the same technique for the base and created an ombré effect going from dark at the base to lighter at the top.
Using the Scripty Xmas stamp set from Mama Elephant, I stamped the word Christmas. The sentiment actually says merry Christmas, but I wanted to use the die cut merry, so I masked off the stamp version and stamped using Picked Raspberry Distress Ink, then stamped again using Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. I didn’t have a pink in that matched my coloring, but these two created the perfect blend.
I mounted my panel onto the card front using foam tape, adhered the stacked merry die cut to nestle in perfectly with the stamped part of the sentiment and finished off with sequins and confetti from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I love the dimension from the popped up panel and the stacked merry, as well as the ombre effect on the base and the die cut. The addition of the pink bauble on the ground gives the card a little bit of balance, not everything is happening on the right hand side of the card.
Simple, but fun color palette for this one.
Small images in stamp sets often get neglected, but they’re so fun to create backgrounds from, and that’s exactly what I’ve done with this candy cane image from the 
Using a die from Kort & Godt, I created my sentiment from gold glitter cardstock, with three extra layers of white die cuts behind for dimension. The sentiment kind of got lost against my busy background, though. Vellum to the rescue. I cut a strip that was the perfect height for my sentiment and added some detail using a stitched border die from Lawn Fawn. I added my die cut letters on top, popped up the vellum panel and finished off with a few gold gems from Kort & Godt.
Super simple color palette today.
I stamped Mimi using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, colored her with Copics and stamped on top using Obsidian ink from Altenew, which is a super crisp pigment ink that doesn’t play well with alcohol markers, but is perfect for stamping at the end after the coloring’s done. I fussy cut her leaving a white trim, and put her to the side while I worked on the rest of the card.
I chose one of the green papers in the Watercolor Wash 6×6″ paper pad from My Favorite Things to cover the front of a landscape oriented top fold A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I cut down a white piece of cardstock and created texture using the Crystal Distortion embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp, before mounting the panel in the center of the card front using lots of foam tape.
I then used the Stitched Happy Birthday Rectangle die from Memory Box to die cut once from the green patterned paper I’d already used and 10 or 11 times (I lost count) from white cardstock to create a shaker well. I cut the words out of the white frames, stacked them, added acetate to the back of my layered frame and adhered it in the center of the card. I then filled the shaker well with the Candy mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. This mix has pearls, little flower shapes, sequins without holes, some hearts and raindrops. I topped it with another piece of acetate, then adhered the patterned paper die cut on top.
By creating the well from so many layers of cardstock, my little embellishment mix has a lot of room to shake around. A few of the pieces in there are quite large, and I didn’t want any of them getting stuck.
I added Mimi to the side of the frame. I put three layers of foam tape behind her for dimension, so she’d be level with the frame. This card has a lot of dimension, it’s almost 1/2″ at its thickest.
Simple color palette for Mimi, she’s pretty quick to color.
This is the card closed. I created this by gluing 2 side fold A2 card bases together; the half with the snowman with the fold on the left and the other one with the fold on the right.
I used the Snowflake Confetti fancy die from Hero Arts to die cut from Gina K Masking Magic to create a stencil to ink blend through. I used Iceberg ink from Altenew to create subtle blue snowflakes in the background on the front of the card to the left of the snowman and also on the other flap.
I adhered an 1/8″ gold glitter cardstock strip from Kort & Godt for the snowman to hold on to for a defining edge and used the Stacked Merry die from My Favorite Things to die cut 6 times for a stacked look. 5 layers from white cardstock, the top layer from a piece of X-Press It blending card that I colored to match the green on the snowman. I stacked the six layers and adhered them in the center of the left front panel, stamped and white heat embossed a sub sentiment from the 
I embellished with a combination of gold pearls around the sentiment and tiny confetti stars all across the background. Both are from the Vanilla Kiss mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I also added a bit of black glaze pen to the eyes of the snowman. It adds a tiny bit of dimension and some shine. Once dry, I went over with a dot of white, using a Gelly Roll 05.
On the inside flap, behind the snowman, I stamped another sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley, this time using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things.
Simple color palette for this one. Lots of colors for the snow, though, I can’t seem to help it.
I had to go for my traditional Christmas colors for this one with blue, brown and grey, it’s such a good combo. I made all the lights the same color. I know some people prefer the differently colored lights, but as a Scandinavian minimalist, my color palette for Christmas is very toned down, including my Christmas lights, which are all white.
Once I’d colored my image, I used the largest die in the Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things to create a faux stitch border around my panel. I then took the Plaid builder stencil set from My Favorite Things and ink blended using Blue Yonder ink from My Favorite Things in the top right corner with the stencil with the wide stripes. On top of the stencil with the smaller stripes, I used Light & Fluffy Modeling Paste from The Crafter’s Workshop for a little bit of added dimension and interest to the background.
I adhered my panel to an A2 top fold card base I created from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Using the scripty wishes die from Mama Elephant, I die cut three layers of white and one blue on top for a stacked look and adhered it on top of my stenciled background. I also stamped and white heat embossed a couple of sentiments from the Holiday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant to add to the wishes to make my sentiment complete. I cut them down to strips and added a few layers of cardstock behind each of them for dimension, before finishing off the card with a few sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, as well as Glossy Accents for the lightbulbs.
I love the glow and shine from the lightbulbs.
Fairly simple color palette for this one.
Papirmølla 