Make a wish {Purple Onion Designs}

August 23, 2021August 22, 2021 Elin2 Comments

Hi! I’m sharing a card today that is near and dear to my heart. I shared the coloring of this Wishing mouse from Stacey Yacula and Purple Onion Designs back in July last year. It was the first Purple Onion Designs image that I ever colored. A little over a year later, and I’m lucky enough to be on the Purple Onion design team, all because of this one image.

I colored the image using a very soft color palette with my Copics. I didn’t write the colors down, so unfortunately, I have no fancy graphic to show you at the end of this post. I wish I did, though, because I really like the colors I used for this.

I used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 dies to turn my colored piece into a nice panel with the faux stitch edge I love so much. I decided to adhere it directly to my top fold card base, that I made from Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. The color matches the darkest parts of her dress very well.

Onto a separate piece of Berry Sorbet, I stamped and white heat embossed part of a sentiment in the A Beautiful Day Sentiment Set from Purple Onion Designs, before cutting it down to a super small sentiment strip using a steel ruler and a craft knife. To me, it’s the best way to create sentiment strips, die cutting is more risky to me, this way, I know it’s straight.

I die cut part the word wish using a die from Mama Elephant. The die actually die cuts the word wishes, but I cut off the tail end of the word so I was left with just wish. I die cut four more from Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th, and added them behind the top die cut for dimension. This makes the word lighter (and it makes it match the lighter parts of the dress) from the sides. I did the same with the sentiment strips above, making the strip and the stacked die cut flush.

I finished off the card by adding a few sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. I used my scissors to cut the largest sequin in half to tuck it behind the sentiment strip.

Sending hugs {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

August 22, 2021August 22, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I have a super simple card to share today, featuring this adorable Sisters image from Rachelle Anne Miller.

I printed the image onto X-Press It blending card, which is my go to paper for Copic coloring. It’s bright white and can handle a lot of layers without bleeding.

Once my image was colored, I used a die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a finished panel of 2 7/8 x 4 1/8″. I’d printed the image a little too big for my die, so I did some fussy cutting on the side of the big sister’s head before die cutting.

I created a card base from Summer Splash Prestige cardstock from My Favorite Things and used an impression plate from Papertrey Ink to create some subtle texture in the background. I mounted my colored, die cut panel to the center of the card front using lots of foam tape.

Onto a piece of Cotton Candy Heavyweight cardstock from My Favorite Things, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Monster Hugs stamp set from Simon Says Stamp and Concord & 9th, which is a collaboration set from 2018. It has a cute monster image and lots of great sentiments. I die cut my sentiment using the smallest of the dies in the Fishtail Flag Frames set from My Favorite Things and added it to the card using foam tape and 1 mm foam squares, to make it pop up slightly from the image.

I finished off the card by adding three pink enamel dots from Papirdesign.

Fairly simple color palette. I even experimented a little with a new teal/green combo on the little sister, and I kind of like the color combination, so I might use it again one day soon!

It’s your day {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

August 11, 2021August 19, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! Today’s the day for a brand new release over at Rachelle Anne Miller. In the new release, there’s this Garden friends Scene Creator, a set with lots of different images you can put together to create your own little scene. My card took a bit of a turn, and I only have the hedgehog and the sun from the stamp set to share today, but there’s a lot more.

I’d initially printed the sun in the top left corner of a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ piece of X-Press It blending card, but there was something that didn’t quite work design wise. There was no natural place to put a greeting and I was pretty much out of ideas, so I decided to do a very aggressive crop.

I cut the panel in half, basically, and put the hedgehog on the front of the card and the sun on the inside. This gave me a better place for a greeting too. I printed a sentiment from the stamp set onto my colored piece after I’d colored it. Kind of held my breath while doing it, but it worked out great.

I adhered strips of Amarena Cherry cardstock above and below my image, giving it somewhat of a frame and a way to draw the eye to the image.

On a separate piece of X-Press It, I stamped the Happy Birthday background stamp from My Favorite Things in Amarena Cherry ink from MFT, adhered it to a top fold card base and mounted my colored piece with foam tape.

The end result is a very clean looking card. And I used red! I hardly ever use red, so this is a big deal for me.

I didn’t want the sun going to waste, so I adhered it to the inside of the card. Before doing that, I printed a sentiment next to it and added strips of Lemon Drop cardstock from My Favorite Things above and below. There’s still plenty of room at the bottom to write a personal message.

Last, but definitely not least, the colors I used for my image(s).

Have a great day {Purple Onion Designs}

August 8, 2021July 23, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! Today, I’m sharing another simple card. As usual, it does involve something fiddly and somewhat time consuming, even though you can’t really tell from the end result.

For this card, I’m using the Together stamp set from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula. The stamp set comes with this cute image and five sentiments you can pair with it, and $10 from each set sold is donated to raise money for Covid-10 relief across the world.

I stamped the critters in Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things onto X-Press It blending card and colored in the image with my Copics. I kept the background white, but stamped and fussy cut a mask and ink blended clouds in the background using three stencils from My Favorite Things (Cloud, Rolling Clouds and Slimline Cloud Edges) and Lazy Day ink, also from MFT.

I die cut the largest of the dies in the Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frames die set from My Favorite Things 4 times from Cement Gray cardstock from MFT, stacked them for dimension and adhered my frame to my colored piece, and then adhered all of it to an A2 landscape top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I tried several different things for my sentiment. First I die cut a banner with a fishtail shape at the end, but it kind of didn’t fit the card. I cut that down using a smaller fish frame die from MFT, but I wasn’t happy with how that looked either. In the end I used my craft knife to cut it down to a strip, which worked heaps better. I added a couple more layers of cardstock behind it for stability and dimension.

I finished off the card very simply by adding three sequins from the Sparkling Clear sequins mix from Pretty Pink Posh. My baggie of these particular sequins is getting towards the end, they’re my most used sequins, they go with everything.

Last, but not least, the Copics I used for the cute little critters.

Just for you {Lili of the Valley}

August 4, 2021July 22, 2021 Elin1 Comment

Hi! I feel like it’s been ages since my last blue card, and it’s time to remedy that. James from Lili of the Valley gets to help me with that, and this particular image is called James looking up. There’s another sentiment in the banner, but I really wanted to stamp a sentiment in a colored ink, so I erased the original sentiment before I printed the image.

I colored my image with Copics and turned it into a panel with faux stitch edges using the second largest of the dies in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things. I put lots of foam tape on the back and mounted it to a top fold card base I made from Lazy day cardstock from My Favorite Things.

The aforementioned banner was just the right size for one of the sentiments in the Itty Bitty Basics stamp set from My Favorite Things, and I stamped that using Lazy Day ink.

I didn’t want to embellish too much, but at the same time I didn’t want the card not to have any embellishments at all. I put a few diamonds from Kort & Godt around the floral bouquet and added microbeads to the center of each of the flowers.

A little bit of dimension, a little bit of interest, and a really cute bear – just for you.

You’d think I hardly used any colors at all for this, but that wasn’t the case.

Just for you {Streamside Studios}

August 1, 2021July 22, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I’m sharing a super sparkly card today, featuring an adorable Uni-rex from Streamside Studios.

I colored up the uni-rex in a very vibrant green combo, paired with a fairy dull pink. I wasn’t sure what to do with him (or her), but I opted for some fussy cutting.

Onto a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock, I ink blended some Poppin’ Pink ink using the Rectangle Extraordinaire stencil from My Favorite Things. While the stencil was still in place, I added the Wavy Lines stencil on top and used it with some Pearly glitter paint from Aladine, which is super sparkly.

I added the uni-rex to the center of the card using 1 mm foam squares and decided to put the sparkly glitter paint on the lollipop he (or she) is holding.

I needed a sentiment, and the Itty Bitty Basics stamp set from My Favorite Things is quickly becoming my new favorite, I use it a ton. I heat embossed one of the sentiments in the stamp set onto True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink and die cut it using the Itty Bitty Strips die set. I added a couple of extra layers of cardstock for a little bit of dimension, and glued the sentiment strip onto the uni-rex.

Lots of glitter and dimension, and it’s still a fairly clean card. I love when I can make that happen.

I essentially only colored pink and green for this uni-rex, so it goes without saying that the color palette is limited.

Happy Wedding {Purple Onion Designs}

July 29, 2021July 22, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I have a card to share today with an image from Stacey Yacula and Purple Onion Designs that is a little bit different from the critters we’re used to seeing from Stacey.

I thought this Large Floral Wreath was so beautiful, and I wanted the focus to be on that. I decided to make my card super simple. Scratch that, I decided to make my card *look* super simple. Fussy cutting and putting tiny slivers of clear foam tape behind each of those leaves took a while.

I created a top fold white card base from Stampers Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and added a smaller gray panel made from Soft Stone cardstock, also from Papertrey Ink. I popped the gray panel up using lots of foam tape.

I wanted an elegant sentiment, and most of the sentiments I have from Purple Onion Designs didn’t really fit, so I wound up using a sentiment from the Vintage Roses stamp set from Altenew, and stamped that using Gravel Gray ink from My Favorite Things.

I added lots of sequins from Pretty Pink Posh around the entire wreath on this one. It adds a little bit of interest to what is a very simple looking card.

Super simple use of Copics for this card.

Hipp hipp hurra {Lili of the Valley}

July 24, 2021July 22, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I’m sharing a card with a super cute bunny on a cupcake today, an image from the latest release from Lili of the Valley, which consists of 6 different cupcake images with various critters. You can find the Cupcake Bunny here, and the entire cupcake bundle here.

I printed the image onto X-Press It blending card, which is my favorite for Copic coloring. Once I finished my coloring, I die cut the image down to a panel with faux stitching using the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX dies from My Favorite Things. I think this might be my most used die.

I adhered my panel onto a top fold card base I created from Ripe Raspberry cardstock from My Favorite Things. I love the cardstock from MFT, it’s nice and sturdy and they have some great colors!

Using a die from Kort & Godt, I stacked the word “hipp” twice from four layers of the same pink cardstock. I colored the top layers with R85 and R83 for a little bit of a gradient color and for the top layer to match my coloring a little bit better than the actual cardstock color.

On a strip of the same pink cardstock that I’d colored with R85, I heat embossed the word “HURRA” from the Gratulerer stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using VersaMark ink and white detail embossing powder from Ranger. I added a few more layers of pink cardstock behind it and added my stacked sentiment strip to complete my sentiment.

I added a few sequins from the Rosy Glow mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and decided to also cover the green sprinkles with Nuvo Jewel Drops in the color Key Lime. They add even more shine and dimension to the card.

Simple color palette. I love pink, yellow and green together!

Your friendship is the cherry on top {Streamside Studios}

July 23, 2021July 21, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I’m sharing a fun card today, featuring the Cherry-ific mouse from Streamside Studios. I colored up this image last year, but sometimes, images simply take their sweet time making it onto cards.

I rarely use my red Copics (and most of the Rs aren’t really red, they lean either pink or orange, making red super tricky with Copics), but with these cherries I really didn’t have much of an alternative. Maybe I should have even made them darker, if you look at the cherries I used for props, they’re darker than the ones I colored.

I used an impression plate from Papertrey Ink to create some texture on a piece of Stampers Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I adhered it directly onto my cardbase, which is made from the same white cardstock.

Using a die from the Scallop Frames die set from Pretty Pink Posh, I die cut four frames from Amarena Cherry cardstock from Papertrey Ink and stacked them for a dimensional look. I adhered the stacked frame to my colored piece and then centered that on my card front.

I stamped a sentiment from the Mice Day to Celebrate stamp set from My Favorite Things using Amarena Cherry ink, and die cut that using the largest of the dies in the Fishtail Flag Frames die set, also from My Favorite Things. It’s adhered directly to the red frame, and popped up using foam tape on both sides for even dimension.

Simple color palette.

Wishing you a happy day {Lili of the Valley}

July 19, 2021July 18, 2021 Elin2 Comments

Hi, there! I have a very simple card to share today, featuring the Camper Van image from Lili of the Valley. How cute are these bears having a picnic?

I printed the image onto X-Press It blending card and colored the whole thing in with my Copics. I trimmed it down a little and adhered it directly to a top fold card base I made from Cornflower Blue cardstock from My Favorite Things. It’s the blue cardstock I have that most closely resembles the darkest of the blue Copics I used on the image.

I wanted to keep the card pretty simple and not cover up too much of the image, so I decided to white heat emboss a sentiment from the Statement Flowers stamp set from Altenew onto a scrap piece of that same blue color cardstock. I added a few layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and put in in the bottom right corner of the card, with just enough space around it to add a few sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

The size of the card wound up being an odd one, it measures 5 1/4 x 3 5/8″. I probably could have cut down my colored piece in a way that would fit an A2 sized card better, but I don’t mind the odd size. As long as I can create an envelope that will fit, I’m good.

I feel that simplicity is the key when using full colored panels on my cards. By not adding a whole lot to it, there’s nothing to distract and the image gets most of the attention.

Here you can see the tiny bit of dimension behind the sentiment. Three additional layers of cardstock strips gives the sentiment a little bit of lift, and it also makes tucking sequins in behind the sentiment a little bit easier.