Hello, my sweet friend {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a crafty card today. The recent release from Rachelle Anne Miller featured critters engaged in various crafty activities, and I love this Painting with Raccoon image that I used for today’s card.

I colored my raccoon with Copics, deciding to go with a triadic color combo of primary colors for his paints and accessories. I obviously used green for the grass, but the rest of this is all red, blue and yellow. I used the second largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to give it a playful, loose look on the edges, then used the Say Anything stencil, also from My Favorite Things, to ink blend a speech bubble using Harvest Gold ink from Papertrey Ink.

In the speech bubble, I stamped a couple of sentiments from the Mini Messages & More stamp set from My Favorite Things, using Obsidian ink from Altenew. I took the various ink splatter stamps in the same stamp set and stamped in various colors across my panel, to amp up the crafty feel of the card. I used Watermelon, Harbor and Dove inks from Concord & 9th, as well as more of the Papertrey Ink Harvest Gold color that I used for the ink blending. Onto a card base I created from Cement Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things, I added some strips of cardstock to break the lines in my design. I used Watermelon cardstock from Concord & 9th, Blue Breeze from My Favorite Things and Harvest Gold from Papertrey Ink. I added my panel in the center using foam tape, and finished off with a few sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I actually also used a black glaze pen to create shine and a tiny bit of dimension to the eyes. On the raccoon, I also used a dot of white Gelly Roll 05 to each of the eyes once the black was dry.

I used a fairly small amount of Copics for this one.

Klem {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with a card made for the Kort & Godt galleri blog. They’ve just released some new image sheets, and these butterflies stole my heart, I love them! And they’re blue (there’s one with a more green vibe too)!!!

I started by ink smooshing Harbor ink from Concord & 9th onto a panel of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. This ink color is very interesting when you get it wet, it shatters into a sky blue and a very purply blue, making it look like I used more than just the one color of ink. The butterflies look painted, so I thought the ink smooshed background was  a natural choice.

I fussy cut the butterflies and bent the wings backwards. I glued the bodies directly to the card front and put foam squares on the back of the wings to give them a little lift (since taking these photos, I’ve adhered the body of the big butterfly directly to the card front, but it’s kind of floating here). I used a hug die (die 244 Klem) to die cut twice from white cardstock and once from Wheat cardstock from Concord & 9th. I stacked them together, but I felt like there wasn’t enough dimension, so I added foam squares to the back of the layered die cut and adhered it to the card. This gives it more lift and a floating effect that you can’t achieve by stacking die cuts alone. I finished off the card with a visual triangle of pearls that match the butterflies and the inked background.

Kort & Godt products used:

MA1013 (butterflies)

Die 244 (klem – hug)

ST203 (pearls)

Hello friend {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’ve got a sweet, simple card to share today featuring Forest Sounds from Rachelle Anne Miller. My printer’s been acting up lately, but after a few tries, I was able to print this one to color up with my Copics.

I printed my image on a quarter sheet of X-Press It blending card and colored it in. I stamped the word friend from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Obsidian ink from Altenew. The sentiment actually says hello friend across two lines, but I masked off the top row so I’d have friend isolated. I adhered my panel to a top fold card base and used a black glaze pen to add some shine and a tiny bit of dimension to the eyes of the bunnies, the girl and the cute little bird.

Onto a scrap piece of X-Press It, I scribbled RV34 across a section large enough to die cut from. The Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew is such a great one, I love that these dies create small words that don’t take up too much real estate on a card. I backed my colored die cut with two white ones for a little bit of dimension and added it at somewhat of an angle right above the stamped part of the sentiment. This also served to cover up a booboo. Somehow, I was able to spill a tiny little drop of juice from a peach (note to self – don’t eat in the craft room), and the sentiment covers it nicely. I finished off the card with a triangle formation of sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Simple, subtle color palette for this one.

You are loved {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. There’s a new image out from Rachelle Anne Miller, and this is Summer Rain, a real cute one. She’s got several large images like this, they usually have a bunch of flowers and some fairies. This one has the little fairy hugging a duck as they’re both sheltering from the rain under a flower, and it’s just so sweet.

The RAM Stamps digital images always come in sets of two, where one has black lines and the other has grey lines to make it easier to print images for no line coloring. I wanted to change things up for this card and decided to pair the two versions. I layered them in Photoshop (the black lined one on top) and erased the background in the black lined version, only keeping the lines for the duck, the fairy and the large flower. I kept the no line version intact and printed my image. This way, I had dark lines for the focal point and soft grey for the remaining scene. I love the look of this.

I colored the part of the image that had the black lines using Copics, keeping the rest uncolored. I stamped a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Gifting stamp set from My Favorite Things directly on the panel using Obsidian ink from Altenew, then added a hugs word above, created using the Sweet Sentiments die set, also from Altenew. I die cut a few from white and one from a piece I’d colored with one of the Copics I used for the image. I still had the sentiment stamp mounted in my Misti, so I could stamp on top of the die cut for a continuous sentiment. I cut my panel down slightly and adhered it to a panel of Wildberry cardstock from Concord and 9th, adhered it all to a white card base and finished off the card with a few sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

The image is simple, but I still went overboard with the coloring for this. It happens.

Du er helt fantastisk {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m over on the Kort & Godt galleri blog today with this simple hug card.

The weather’s finally improving, and things grow greener and greener with every passing day, so I thought a floral background would be perfect for this card. I die cut masking paper using the Lenten Rose mini slimline die from Crafty Meraki. I had to do quite a bit of puzzle piecing of the masking paper to ink up the different sections in different colors, but I think the end result is worth it. The colors I used are all from Concord & 9th, they are Wildberry, Sweet Pea, Sunflower and Harbor.

Using the matching color cardstock to the blue in the background (Harbor from Concord & 9th), I die cut klem three times for a stacked, dimensional look and adhered it to my background, adding a sentiment sticker on top. To finish off the card, I added a few faceted pearls near the sentiment.

Kort & Godt products used:

Die 244 – Klem

ST1001 (sentiment sticker)

ST178 (faceted pearls)

I hope you have a great day {Amanda Jayne Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a sweet, simple card to share today featuring this bear in pot of lilies image from Amanda Jayne Designs.

I colored the image and fussy cut, leaving a bit of a white trim around the edge, before putting it aside while I worked on the rest of my card. Onto a top fold white card base, I ink blended Scattered Straw Distress ink in a gradient from the bottom, fading into white. I wanted a little more oomph and went in just at the bottom with Mustard Seed, which is a little bit darker. I used the Sweet hello die from My Favorite Things to die cut hello four times from white cardstock, which I stacked for dimension.

Onto a piece of Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Pristine Peonies stamp set from Altenew. I cut it down to a strip, added a few additional strips behind it and started assembling my card. I put foam tape on the back of the image and adhered it so a little bit of it hangs off the edge, adhered my stacked hello die cut partly on top of the pot, partly directly on the card base, and then the sentiment strip on top of the die cut. I like when it’s all connected like this, it makes for a more cohesive design than if I were to add the sentiment strip below the hello. To finish off, I added a few sequins here and there from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Simple color palette for this one.

I adore you. The end. {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends. I’ve played with colors and texture on today’s card. It’s fun to play.

This time, I landed on Honeysuckle, Sprout and Tidepool, which are all colors from Concord & 9th. I started by die cutting hexagons from my three colors using the Simply Hexagons die from Pinkfresh Studio.

Onto the Sprout hexagons, I stamped leaves from the Leaf Clusters stamp set from Altenew using Sprout ink. On the Tidepool hexagons, I ink blended for a gradient look using Tidepool ink before dry embossing with an old stencil from Memory Box (Texture Dot Grid) for some added texture. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment onto one of the pink hexagons and left the other one plain. I glued additional hexagons behind each and even added foam tape behind the sentiment one for even more dimension. Dimension is life, after all.

After adhering everything to my card base, I cropped the card down slightly. It matched my design better, so this card is 4 x 5 3/8″. I added opal gem stones from Spellbinders near the sentiment to draw the eye in.

The dimension makes it look like these hexagons are floating on the front of the card, and the pink one with the sentiment is floating a bit more than the rest.

Bunny Hugs {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a sweet card to share with you today, featuring this cute Two Little Bunnies image from Lili of the Valley. This is a digital stamp, but there’s also a clear stamp version in the recently released Spring Sweeties stamp set.

I separated the image into two, so I could create staggered postage stamps on my final card. I colored the images with Copics, and used the Postage Collage die from Waffle Flower to turn them into postage stamps. I also die cut a third postage stamp and stamped the sentiment in the center of it using Obsidian ink from Altenew. The sentiment itself is from the Easter Bunnies stamp set from Simon Hurley. Once I knew the sentiment was dry, I masked off the edges of the postage stamp and ink blended the center rectangle using Grapefruit ink from Concord & 9th.

I cut down a sheet of Powder cardstock from Concord & 9th to fit the front of an A2 card, and used the Linen & Canvas impression plate from Papertrey Ink to add some subtle texture to the background. I adhered it to a white top fold card base and arranged my postage stamps, adding various thicknesses of dimension behind each for some interest, before finishing off with a few pearls from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I realize now that I’m missing a few colors in this graphic. I used RV42, R11 and YR000 for the peachy pink.

Bee happy {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a sweet bee card to share today, featuring the bees in the Spring Squishies digi stamp set from Streamside Studios.

I colored the bees with my Copics, fussy cut them and put them aside while I worked on the rest of the card. Using the Simply hexagons cover die from Pinkfresh Studio, I die cut hexagons from a subtle dotted patterned paper from Waffle Flower, and I added two white die cuts behind each for dimension, before adhering them to the card.

I die cut the letters to spell bee from Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey. ink using the Parker alphabet die set from Memory Box. I stacked four of each letter for dimension and added them to the card in a wonky fashion to introduce a little playfulness to the card. I stamped and white heat embossed HAPPY on a strip of Mushroom cardstock from Concord & 9th, added a few extra strips behind it for dimension. I added the bees using foam squares for a little bit of lift and finished off the card with a few gems and a heart from the Strawberry Champagne mix from Streamside Studios.

Very simple color palette for this one.

Hug to you from me {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a super simple, yet a little artsy card to share today, featuring a couple of stamps and some string from Kort & Godt.

I started by stamping and heat embossing the sentiment directly on the card base, which I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I stamped in Obsidian ink from Altenew and used clear embossing powder from Ranger. This is my preferred way to get a black embossing, as black embossing powder is tricky to work with. Once the sentiment was in place, I used the Watercolor Stripes stencil from Altenew and masked off the stripe that showed the sentiment through the opening. I ink blended using Avocado, Cobblestone, Briar Rose and Carnation inks from Concord & 9th, as well as Pink Crystal Fresh dye ink from Altenew.

I wanted some black splatters on my card and used a size 4 paint brush with My Favorite Things Extreme Black reinker to get those black spots. I may have gone a little overboard, but I still like it. I stamped and heat embossed onto vellum a leaf image from the same stamp set as the sentiment, fussy cut it and colored the leaves from the back using my YG25 Copic marker. The vellum is heavyweight translucent vellum from My Favorite Things. I adhered the vellum piece to my card and finished off with a pink bow.

Kort & Godt products used:

M475 (stamp set)

TR-108 (pink string)