Hug {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a very blue card today, that I shared on the Kort & Godt gallery blog earlier in the week. It’s no secret that blue’s my favorite color, and the forgetmenots in this basket were screaming at me to use them.

I die cut the image into a circle and put lots of foam tape on the back. I created a card base from Periwinkle cardstock from Hero Arts, and used the Angled Mosaic 3D embossing folder from Altenew to create some fun texture.

I added the circle to the top center, die cut the word klem (hug) three times from Something Blue cardstock from My Favorite Things, stacked the three for dimension and adhered the top of the letters to the bottom of the circle. This creates a shadow on the bottom half of the letters that I wouldn’t get if I had created additional layers and adhered the die cut directly on the card base. Because the die cut is three layers thick, it won’t get squished in the mail even though it’s floating. I added a sentiment sticker strip on top of the die cut and finished off with a couple of faceted pearls.

Kort & Godt products used:

Die-244 Klem

ST1013 – sentiment sticker strip

MA1011 – image

ST178 – pearls

Happy Easter

Hi, crafty friends. I started March by hopping on a flight to Trondheim for a crafty weekend away, and on Sunday, I even taught a class. I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing, as my mojo went missing around New Year’s. As it turns out, it had run away to Trondheim, and I was lucky enough to bring it back home with me. I taught a very simple Easter card, complete with Copic coloring. Some people did use Zig clean color brush markers, as that was the coloring medium taught in an earlier class, and the participants all received a few Zigs in their class kits for the weekend.

The Easter Bunnies stamp set from Simon Hurley was the perfect one to teach with. It’s a stamp set with lots of images to choose from. They’re all small, easy to color and very beginner friendly, as there aren’t any big areas to fill in. Once colored, we fussy cut the bunnies. There’s a coordinating die set for this stamp set, but these are pretty easy to fussy cut.

I did some simple ink blending on the background. I used the Watercolor Rectangle stencil from My Favorite Things and ink blended from the bottom to the top using Worn Lipstick distress ink, Pink Pearl ink from Altenew and Scattered Straw distress ink. These colors went well with the Copics I used for the bunnies, and it creates a little bit of interest to the background. I used the Giant Happy Easter die from Lawn Fawn and die cut that four times from white cardstock, before gluing them all together for a stacked look. I adhered the sentiment in the top center of the card, mounted the bunnies on foam tape and added a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I also used a black Glaze pen for the eyes, which the attendees really enjoyed, as it creates a little bit of dimension and shine very quickly and easily.

Very soft color palette for this one.

I’m lucky to have you in my life {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. Today, I’m sharing a fun card featuring Flappy’s Lucky Day, illustrated by Pei for Purple Onion Designs. I love her collection of critters! My mojo’s been missing since we entered the new year. I’ve done some shopping, cleaned and refilled all of my Copics (which took forever, btw) and done a few other things in hopes that my mojo would return. Nothing worked, and for the last two months, my cards have been very basic and also somewhat similar as a result. Last weekend, that changed. I flew to Trondheim for a crafty weekend away, and even taught a class (I’ll share more about that tomorrow). The weekend away did a world of good, and I *think* my mojo’s back. At the very least I had no issues creating this card, it all flowed very nicely, and I’m hoping my mojo will stay for a good long while this time.

I didn’t want to use Flappy and his little friends on their own, so I decided to create a mask and stamp The Perfect Spot behind them. This is an older stamp from Stacey Yacula, it’s from the A Beautiful Day collection, which released in 2014. I still wanted to keep the focus on this new image, so I decided to leave the background un-colored. This way, Flappy and his friends really get to shine, and the card isn’t all green, which could have easily been the case had I colored the background also.

Once my coloring was complete, I stamped a sentiment from the coordinating Lucky sentiment set using Sprout ink from Concord & 9th. This color goes really well with the vibrant green I used for the ground. I trimmed the panel down to 3 1/2 x 4 7/8″ and adhered it to a 4 bar card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before finishing off with a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I used a mixture of brown and gray for Flappy’s fur, and an obscene amount of colors for the green.

Happy Easter {Amanda Jayne Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a super simple Easter card to share today, featuring Chick Hug from Amanda Jayne Designs. This is one of the images Amanda asked me to color a few weeks back, and by keeping the card simple, I’m letting the image really shine.

I colored the image with my Copics and used the largest die in the Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create a little bit of interest to the edge. I adhered my panel onto a top fold card base I created from Harvest Gold cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

The sentiment is from the Sweet Easter stamp set from Sweet November Stamps. It’s actually a single line stamp, but I wanted a staggered look and cut the two words apart. You could also mask if you don’t want to cut your stamps, but I promise they don’t cry, and it’s easy to put the two halves back together as originally intended. I used Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide ink, stamping Easter first, then nestling in Happy above it, before finishing the card off with a couple of enamel dots from the Pocketful of Sunshine pack from Altenew.

I used quite a few Copics for this, even though the card is very simple.

Hipp hipp hurra til dagens mann {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a simple birthday card today for the Kort & Godt gallery blog. I’ve used a new image sheet and kept the rest of the card simple.

I started by ink blending directly on the card base using the Bokeh Elements stencil Duo from Waffle Flower and inks from Altenew (Cloudy Sky) and Simon Says Stamp (Orange Peel and Sunshine). I die cut a circle from white cardstock, used the same colors to ink blend on that, and then adhered the image on top, which I die cut with a slightly smaller circle die.

I mounted my circles on foam tape, cut off the excess, then added a couple of pre cut stickers to finish off the card. I love these stickers!

Kort & Godt products used:

MA1008 image sheet

ST1006 (hipp, hipp hurra)

ST1002 (black sticker strip)

Hello, sweet friend {Amanda Jayne Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. A few weeks ago, Amanda over at Amanda Jayne Designs asked me if I wanted to color up a few of her new images. I usually jump at the chance to color, and her images are often pretty small and really cute. I shared the coloring of this Little Friend image on Instagram, but I now have the finished card to share.

I used the second largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to turn my colored piece into a panel with a fun edge. I added some layers of cardstock behind it and adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I used the Sweet Hello die from My Favorite Things to create my sentiment. I die cut four from white cardstock and one from Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th and adhered them all together for a stacked, dimensional look. I stamped and white heat embossed a sub sentiment from the IWCL2017005 English stamp set from InkyWings on a strip of Berry Sorbet cardstock and added it to my die cut sentiment, making sure to put a few layers of cardstock behind it on the part that overhangs. I added a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and put a dot of black Glaze pen from Sakura on the squirrel’s eye for a little bit of shine and dimension to finish off the card.

I used a lot of colors for this simple image.

Love you {Amanda Jayne Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. A couple of weeks ago. Amanda from Amanda Jayne Designs asked me if I would color up a few of her new images. I rarely pass up an opportunity to color, and she sent me these adorable squirrels. This is the Heart Balloon Squirrels, and I really let the image shine in this card and did very little to the card itself.

I colored the image with my Copics and stamped love you from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Berry Sorbet ink from Papertrey Ink, before using the panel die in the Blueprints 27 die set from My Favorite Things to cut it out and give it a nice scalloped edge with a faux stitch line on the inside.

Onto a top fold white card base, I adhered a piece of blue patterned paper from the Watercolor Brights 6×6″ paper pad from My Favorite Things. I added a few layers of cardstock behind my large panel for a little bit of lift and adhered it to the card front, before finishing off simply with a few pearls from the Glossy Porcelain Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. Oh, and I also used a black glaze pen from Sakura to add a black dot to each of the eyes. This makes the eyes pop, and it adds shine and a little bit of dimension in real life, which you can’t really tell from the photo.

Very simple coloring for this one.

Birthday time {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a simple birthday card to share today, featuring Animal Number: 5 Monkeys from Rachelle Anne Miller. I love her number stamps, they’re so fun and playful.

I did a lot of coloring the day I colored these monkeys. As you can probably tell by their fur, my markers needed to be reinked at this point. I could have chosen a different brown combo. I could have taken the time to refill my markers, but I had colored so much the day I colored this that I just wanted to keep coloring. I probably should have stopped and taken the time to refill or chosen a different combo that didn’t need reinking. This is a good reminder to reink your markers. You can be an amazing colorist, but if you don’t take care of your markers, your coloring will look uneven. I went with it anyway. The 5 year old getting this card is not going to notice that my coloring’s not perfect, and it doesn’t always have to be. I’m trying to let go of my perfectionist tendencies, and this was a good exercise. I will refill these markers before I use them again, though, don’t you worry.

The card itself is very simple. I stamped a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS below the image, using Cornflower ink from My Favorite Things. I then used the second largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with a fun edge, before I added dimension behind it and adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Cornflower cardstock from My Favorite Things. I finished off the card with some enamel dots from Papirdesign.

Simple color palette. And I really do need to refill those browns. Even E23 was giving me trouble.

Life happens – chocolate helps! {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. Chocolate fixes everything, right? I love this Chocolate Smile image from Mo Manning, and I’ve used it a few times over the years. I like adding chocolate stains on her clothes and around her mouth, as well as a scraped knee. My OCD could never handle eating the chocolate like this, though, I’d break it up into pieces and eat it the “correct” way.

I colored the image with Copics, fussy cut leaving a white border and created a very simple card for her to sit on. I pulled out a piece of patterned paper from the Coffee in the Arbour 6×6″ paper stack from Maja Design and cut it down to fill about 2/3 of the front of an A2 card.

I stamped a sentiment from the Coffee and Chocolate stamp set from hÄnglar & Wings onto the bottom of the pattern using Dark Chocolate ink from Papertrey Ink. I added a few layers of cardstock behind the patterned paper for a bit of dimension, and did the same with the little girl, making sure to add a couple of extra layers behind her legs so they wouldn’t sag. I adhered her so she’s sitting right on the edge of the patterned paper and finished off the card with a couple of enamel dots from My Mind’s Eye. The yellow one is from the “Oxford Lane” pack, the peach from the “Sky’s the Limit” pack.

I used a very summery palette for this one. I really want summer, and we’re currently in “Ice, Ice, Baby” mode. I long for the days when I can walk outside without having to worry about an unpleasant meeting with the ice.

It’s time to party {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a fun birthday card to share today, featuring an adorable cow from Streamside Studios. This is from the recent Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cows set. I’ve used the digi stamp, but there’s also a clear stamp version here.  I have another card coming using this set, it was so cute I couldn’t stop at one.

I colored the cow with Copics, before fussing cutting it, leaving a white trim around the edge. Onto a top fold fold card base, I ink blended blue inks from Altenew (Winter Lake, Icy Water and Polar Bear) through the Geometric Landscape stencil, also from Altenew, before stamping a Happy Birthday background stamp from My Favorite Things on top, using the darker two of the inks I used for the blending. I also used the stencil in the top right corner and used what was left on my ink blender brush for a soft look.

I added Light & Fluffy modeling paste from The Crafters Workshop through the Tiny Clouds stencil from My Favorite Things. I wanted dimension to my clouds and put down a very thick layer of the paste. While that dried I worked on the rest of the card. I die cut four polaroid framed using the Precious Polaroids die set from My Favorite Things and stacked them for dimension. Onto Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th, I stamped and white heat embossed three sentiments from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things and cut them all down to strips, adding a few extra layers of cardstock behind each for dimension. I adhered the polaroid frame to my card base at an angle, glued the cow on top, added my sentiment strips and finished off with sequins and gems from the Christmas in your heart mix from Streamside Studios.

Super simple and very neutral color palette for this one.