God jul {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a simple, yet dimensional holiday card to share today featuring this mouse from the Merry Christmouse digi stamp set from Streamside Studios.

This little  mouse is so cute, and she might be adding her name to Santa’s nice list, who knows? I colored her with Copics and fussy cut her leaving a white border.

I covered a white card base with a panel of patterned paper from Maja Design. This is the Snowflakes pattern from the Holiday in the Alps collection. I love the design paper from Maja Design, it’s my favorite patterned paper to use! Into a panel of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I die cut a circle opening towards the top left and also used a stitched rectangle die from the A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things.

I stamped God jul from the M-442 stamp set from Kort & Godt using Blue Beyond ink from My Favorite Things. I die cut trees using the Silhouette Snow Trees die set from Mama Elephant, stacked them and added Rock Candy distress glitter from Ranger for a super snowy look. With the layering of the trees, this was pretty dimensional, so I had to double up on the foam tape when I added the panel with the circle opening.

I also added foam tape behind the mouse and this card is very thick as a result.

Pink Christmas {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a pink Christmas card to share today, made for the Kort & Godt galleri blog.

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…

Kort & Godt products used:

Die 178 – Vimpler med søm

Die 321 – Kjelke med skygge

M-428

ST103

ST105

Color burst {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

25Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with a very simple, yet colorful card, featuring Mrs. Claus from Mo Manning. I had a birthday card to make for a day care worker, and I thought this image was perfect for it. By choosing a very bright, colorful palette, this no longer looks like it was created for the holidays (if you look closely, you’ll see that the “kids” (elves) have pointy ears, but this card is so colorful I’m hoping no one will mind).

I knew one of the elves at the bottom would get his head cut off (the one wearing blue), so I created a copy with just his head, rotated it and put it in the top right corner to include another kid peeking in.

I colored in the scene with Copics, choosing very bright colors. I then took my white Gelly Roll 05 to create patterns on most of the kids’ clothes. I used the largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create a fun edge to my panel, before using the Connected alphabet die set, also from MFT, to spell out the name of the recipient. At first, I thought of cutting them straight, but realized that a wonky look would work well with the card and also be less time consuming.

I wanted to include her age too, but didn’t have any number dies that matched the letters. There was just enough room on her apron for me to sketch in a couple of stick figures holding signs. I used my 0.03 Copic multiliner, and I think it’s running out of ink, which only enhanced the sketchy look I was going for. I die cut six more of each of the letters from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink, stacked them and added the colored pieces on top for a stacked inlay look. I mounted the panel on foam tape and adhered it to a card base I created from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I decided not to add any embellishments, I figured this card is colorful and really doesn’t need it.

For the inside, I stamped a fun sentiment (You’re not thaaaat old – you were just born too soon) from the Til mannen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Summer Splash ink from My Favorite Things.

I stamped a sentiment from the Go’klem stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a Summer Splash envelope from My Favorite Things using Summer Splash ink. I thought the envelope and ink matched the dress nicely.

Here you can see those popped up letters a bit better.

I used a lot of Copics for this one. Skin tones (and hair) make up that entire top row. I wanted different skin tones for the kids, and even though they don’t look that different in my photos, the difference is more pronounced in real life.

Merry Christmas {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back today with another holiday card. I love creating holiday cards, and the recent releases from Lili of the Valley have left me with plenty of opportunities to play.

Today’s card is a super simple one. I colored up this bunny from the Christmas Friends stamps set, fussy cut around her leaving a white trim and put her aside while I worked on the rest of my card. Little tip: if you mask off the sentiment inside the balloon before stamping, you can make a wintry birthday card instead!

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 www.liliofthevalley.co.uk by using the coupon code ELINVENGE20 – so Happy Shopping!  I hope you are inspired by all my LOTV makes!

Happy holidays {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another card with an adorable image from the recent Lili of the Valley release. This time I’ve used the penguin in the Christmas Mugs stamp set. There’s also a Santa, snowman and reindeer in the stamp set, but I couldn’t not choose the penguin.

I colored my penguin mug with Copics and fussy cut the image right up against the black stamped lines. This image doesn’t have a whole lot of the whispy, perpendicular lines that are so characteristic of Lili of the Valley images, which was the reason I opted not to include a white trim around the edges. There are 3 or 4 lines at the top of his head that I had to cut off, but I was okay with that. I stamped some snowflakes onto a card base using Spring Rain ink from Papertrey Ink. The snowflakes are from an old Tim Holtz stamp set. I mounted the mug on foam tape near the bottom right of the card.

I die cut a few snowflakes using a couple of die sets from Memory Box. The one at the top, that is partially hidden behind the penguin and speech bubble is from the Stitched Let It Snow Circle Frame die set. The die set comes with a stitched snowflake circle frame and three individual snowflake dies. The snowflakes with the stitching detail are from the Twilight Snowflakes die set. I added some blue diamonds from Kort & Godt to the mug, as well as a heart from the Festivities mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I stamped a couple of sentiments from the Holiday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Lazy Days ink from My Favorite Things and die cut them into speech bubbles using the Say Anything die set from My Favorite Things. I stacked a couple of additional white die cuts behind the speech bubbles for dimension.

Simple color palette for this one, and I realize now that I forgot to jot down the blue Copics I used for this, but I believe they are B93, B91 and B90, which is a color I’ve made myself.

This week is Designer Week at Lili of the Valley! This means you can save 20% on any item on www.liliofthevalley.co.uk by using the coupon code ELINVENGE20 – so Happy Shopping! The offer lasts from October 10th until October 17th. I hope you are inspired by all my LOTV makes!

Christmas wishes {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with a simple Christmas card made with the Snow folk stamp set that just came out from Lili of the Valley.

I colored my snowman and fussy cut him leaving a white trim.

Using the Snowfall Backdrop Landscape die from Lawn Fawn, I created a snowy background for my snowman from Sno Cone cardstock from My Favorite Things. I cut the panel down significantly and adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I die cut the Wishes script die from Mama Elephant four times from white cardstock and stacked them for dimension. I love this die, it’s probably my most used word die of all time! Onto a strip of Amarena Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things, I white heat embossed the word Christmas from the Itty Bitty Holiday stamp set from My Favorite Things and paired it with the die cut word to complete my sentiment.

I mounted the snowman on foam tape for dimension, he fits perfectly next to the sentiment. To finish the card I added a few sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Even though the background is adhered directly to the card base, I love all the dimension in the other elements. And here’s a little secret: I actually like the pops of red. Just don’t tell anyone 😉

Lots of Copics used for such a small image.

This week is Designer Week at Lili of the Valley! This means you can save 20% on any item on www.liliofthevalley.co.uk by using the coupon code ELINVENGE20 – so Happy Shopping! The offer lasts from October 10th until October 17th. I hope you are inspired by all my LOTV makes!

Season’s Greetings {RAM Stamps}

Hi, crafty friends. This month’s release from Rachelle Anne Miller is a fun one. It’s a Christmas release, but not just any old Christmas release, it’s Australian themed!! I love creating cards with Aussie critters, and as usual, if there’s a koala, I tend to go with that first. Unless there’s a penguin (also very Australian, even though most people might not know it). There was no penguin, so I chose the Sweet Koala Christmas image.

The koala sitting on the pile of presents comes with a matching sweet sentiment (pun intended), but I chose not to use the sentiment for this card and decided to erase it from the image in Photoshop before printing.

I went with a fairly traditional (at least to me) color combo. Light blue is one of very few colors I feel works well with red, and I even colored the stars blue to avoid adding more colors to this than necessary in order to keep the design clean. I die cut my panel using the largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things, added foam tape to the back and adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Periwinkle cardstock from Hero Arts.

Onto a scrap piece of Periwinkle cardstock, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Christmas Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things, before using the coordinating die to cut it out. I added two more die cuts behind it for dimension and adhered it to my card, before finishing off with sequins and star confetti from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

The popped up panel, and the dimension to the sentiment add a little bit of extra interest to an otherwise fairly clean and simple card. I wanted the image to shine, which is why I kept the sentiment a fairly light color.

I feel like I restrained myself when coloring. I only used four colors for the red, as opposed to my usual six. I kind of went overboard with the green, though. Those holly leaves really didn’t need three colors, they’re tiny.

Hope your birthday is sweeter than honey! {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a very clean and simple birthday card to share with you today featuring the Cupcake Critters – Bear digi stamp set from Streamside Studios. This is a cute set with a few different bears, some flowers, a couple of bees and a big cupcake. I chose to focus on one of the bears.

I colored the bear with Copics and fussy cut right up against the black stamped lines, I added shine and dimension to his eyes with a black Glaze pen, followed by a white dot using a Gelly Roll 05. I put the bear aside while I worked on the rest of my card. I printed a sentiment from the stamp set on a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink that I’d cut down to fit the front of my card with a little bit of a border. I then took the single line die from the Hexagon Pops die set from My Favorite Things to cut a row of hexagons below the sentiment, before lining up the die a second time for a second row of hexagons.

I added foam tape to the back of my die cut piece and adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Summer Sunrise cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I popped the bear on foam tape and added some sequins from the Meadow mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish. Super simple, right?

Simple color palette, too!

Ingen er som du {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with another card created for the Kort & Godt gallery blog. This time, it’s a very simple one.

I started with an A2 side fold card base, used the Watercolor Wash Free Form stencil from My Favorite Things and ink blended softly with Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade and Squeezed Lemonade distress inks. I then layered the Basket weave stencil (also from MFT) on top and ink blended again using the same three colors, this time going in with a heavier hand.

I die cut the Ingen er som du die six times from white cardstock, once from black glitter cardstock and the shadow die once from 40 lb vellum from Bazzill. I usually use a heavyweight vellum, but for this, I wanted some of the ink blending to show through, so a thinner version was the better choice for this particular card.

I stacked three of the die cut words, then added the layer of vellum, then the last three white die cuts and finally the black glitter cardstock. It’s a very fine glitter and doesn’t really show up in my photos, sadly.

To finish off the card I added a sticker sentiment strip on top of the die cut and finished off with some black jewels.

Kort & Godt products used:

DIE 290 Ingen er som du

ST1002 (sentiment strip sticker)

BE107 (black crystals)

GP201 (black glitter cardstock)

Merry Christmas {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends! Today’s an exciting day, because it’s time for this year’s second Christmas launch from Lili of the Valley. There are 5 stamp sets and in it, there’s mice, bears, Santas, gnomes, reindeer, snowpeople – basically something for everyone. These sets will all be released tonight on Create and Craft TV at 8 pm UK time. Some simple math will let you know what time that is in your corner of the world. I’ve made quite a few cards with this release, and I’m hoping some of them will appear on my screen as I watch tonight. It’s available online, so you can watch anywhere in the world.

This card features a snowman from the Snowfolk stamp set. It’s no secret that I love snowmen, and I colored this guy with my Copics before fussy cutting him, leaving a white border around him to keep the little perpendicular lines that are instantly recognizable as a Lili of the Valley signature.

Onto a top fold white card base, I stamped a snow flurry stamp repeatedly using Spring Rain ink from Papertrey Ink. The snow stamp is from the Flurry of Love stamp set from My Favorite Things. I then created a notch on each side of the card front using a small circle die.

I stamped a sentiment from the Scripty Xmas stamp set from Mama Elephant on top of my blue snowflakes using Autumn Rose ink from Papertrey Ink, wrapped Aqua divine twine from Whisker Graphics around the card and tied it in a bow on the front. The half circle notches help to anchor it, so it won’t slide down the front.

I mounted my snowman on foam tape and adhered him to my card. He fits perfectly on the right hand side, and the outline nestles in so well with the stamped sentiment. The foam tape also helps hold down the twine.

To finish the card I added a few blue pearls from the Ocean Breeze mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. They add a little shine and also create another blue element to tie everything together.

As always, I’ve used lots of colors for the snow, I just can’t help myself.