You’re cool {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a simple shaker card today, featuring this adorable penguin from the Conversation Cuties digi stamp set from Streamside Studios. There’s also a clear stamp version (here).

I colored the penguin on the heart with Copics. You know me, I can’t resist a penguin stamp. I fussy cut around him, leaving a white trim around the edge and put him to the side while I worked on the rest of the card. I used the Crystal Distortion embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp to create some interest and texture to my card base, which I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I cut strips of Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th and added them towards the bottom of my card.

I die cut a frame from the Classic Rectangle Frames die set from My Favorite Things several times from white cardstock (I think I have six or seven layers) and stacked them to create my shaker well, adding one of the centers back in to create a smooth back for my shaker well. I added a mix of the Unicorn Dreams and Just Like Heaven embellishment mixes from Streamside Studios, put a piece of acetate over and covered it with another die cut frame, this time die cut from Aqua Sky cardstock from Concord & 9th. This card really shakes, and those two mixes are GORGEOUS! I added my colored penguin on top, and my card was complete.

This yellow and wonderful aqua combo makes me think of summer. I wish it would get here already, but it’s currently snowing. Again. Sigh.

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.

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.

Hug from the heart {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. Today’s card is another one of those happy ones. We’ve been buried in snow in Oslo so far this winter, there’s more coming, and there’s nothing like the dead of winter to make me want to make happy, cheerful cards using spring and summer colors. Rachelle Anne Miller to the rescue. This month’s release was definitely geared toward Valentine’s day, and I fell for Butterfly Kisses, which is a stamp of two butterflies with flower wings.

I colored the butterflies (and the three hearts that are part of the image) with Copics and fussy cut them, leaving a thin white trim around the edge. Onto a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I ink blended the center of the card, using the Watercolor Rectangle stencil from My Favorite Things and various inks (Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Distress Ink Worn Lipstick, Altenew Pink Pearl, Distress Ink Scattered Straw). I went with pink on the edge and yellow in the center to mimic the colors in the hearts.

I die cut the word klem (hug) four times from white cardstock and once from Gold Shine cardstock from My Favorite Things, and stacked them for a layered look. I added foam tape to the back of my butterflies, adhered them top center on the card and put the stacked klem below them. I also added a sub sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS that I white heat embossed on a piece of Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I put a few layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and added it to the card, partly on top of the die cut, before embellishing with the colored hearts to finish.

Bright and happy color palette for this one.

Hugs from the heart {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. Purple Onion Designs has a brand new release out. Tofu and his friends, first featured in the holidiay collection in 2023, are back with a Valentine and St. Patrick’s Day theme. Obviously, these images can be used for other occasions, as well, and they’re just so darn cute!

I colored up Love, Brownie Bear for my first card, I just couldn’t resist the wings and bee costume on this cute bear. I added some grass under his feet, die cut the panel using the second largest die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower and adhered it to a card base I created from Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th.

I stamped a sentiment from InkyWings using Pink Pearl ink from Altenew. The stamp actually has the word hugs in it too, but I opted for a die cut hugs, using the Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew. I die cut four from Grapefruit cardstock and stacked them together for a dimensional look.

I finished off with a couple of heart droplets from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Fairly simple color palette for this one.

Sending smiles {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another card featuring one of the adorable animal greetings in the August release from Rachelle Anne Miller. This time I chose the monkey.

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.

You’re the coolest! {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. There’s an IG hop today to celebrate the launch of the Streamside Studios website. Shawne’s been selling her photopolymer and digi stamps on Etsy for a while now, but now she has her own website (she has embellishments, just sayin’), and we’re celebrating with an instagram hop.

I’ve made a cool card (pun intended) with the Ice Cream Critters stamp set. I chose three of the popsicles in the stamp set and colored them with my Copics before fussy cutting them, leaving a thin white border.

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.

Your friendship means so much {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. There’s a surprise release out from Rachelle Anne Miller RIGHT NOW, and it’s this adorable Forest Adventure image.

I colored the image and fussy cut it right up against the black lines. When you do, you lose the cute little extra lines on the outside that is part of Rachelle’s signature, which is a bit of a shame, but for the card design I had planned, it was a necessary sacrifice. I could have kept a little white trim (and thus, the wispy lines) around the image, but I feel that would have made the image less of an integrated piece of the overall design, so I went with the close cut.

Onto the card base, I ink blended Icy Water and Winter Lake inks from Altenew to create a soft blue sky. I die cut the Winter Forest cover die from Mama Elephant from Heavyweight vellum from My Favorite Things and adhered it on top. Using the same die, I also die cut the background from a couple of colors of gray cardstock. I used Mushroom from Concord & 9th and Soft Stone from Papertrey Ink and adhered the little gray notches into the openings of my vellum trees. On parts of the lighter ones, I ink blended with Charcoal ink from Hero Arts for a little variation in my grays.

I adhered my little scene on top of the vellum trees. I glued it flat down on the edges and used 2 mm foam squares near the top of the image for some dimension. I used a black glaze pen to add some shine to their eyes, and added a white dot on top once the black was dry using a Gelly Roll 05.

I die cut the Winter Forest cover die one final time, this time from white cardstock. I cut away the trees, but kept the frame and slope near the bottom and stamped a sentiment from the Together stamp set from Purple Onion Designs using Gravel Gray ink from My Favorite Things.

This image is so sweet and can be used for a variety of occasions. Rachelle’s images always have such a cosy vibe, and this one fits perfectly with all the other images she’s illustrated.

I see I’ve forgotten to add the greens I used in my Copic graphic. They were YG17, YG03, YG01 and G40.

Waving hello {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. It seems I’m alternating between summer vibes and holiday cards these days, and I’m perfectly happy with that arrangement. Today’s card belongs in the former category, even though it doesn’t really feel like summer today. It’s 15 degrees, and even though the sun is trying its best, I think the cloud cover might end up winning. No reason to worry, though, because there’s not a single cloud in sight in my card today.

Meet Kalei. She’s from the Charmed by the Sea summer release from Purple Onion Designs, and I paired her with the Rip Curl wave from the same collection.

I colored the scene with Copics, cropped down the panel and white heat embossed a sentiment from the coordinating sentiment set using VersaMark ink and Super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger. I added a few white dots to the wave using a Sharpie and put the panel to the side while I worked on the rest of the card.

I thought the Stitched Ripple Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn would work perfectly for a subtle wave pattern in the background. It’s a landscape oriented die and I wanted a portrait oriented card, so I die cut it twice from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before adding colored strips along the seam for a little bit of added interest. I colored the strips with a few of the Copics I used for my scene and used a die from the Blueprints 27 die set from My Favorite Things to turn them into strips of the same width.

I mounted my scene to the center of the card using foam tape, before embellishing with sequins and raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. The sequins are from her Ice Water mix.

The finished card is a simple looking one. I love adding dimension, the sequins and raindrops work perfectly with the colors and Kalei’s making the most of her summer. I hope you are too 🙂 And if you’re in the Southern hemisphere in the middle of winter right now, I feel your pain.

I tend to go overboard whenever I color skies or water.

Hug {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with a card I created for the Kort & Godt design team. This time I actually broke out my watercolors.

I love hydrangeas, and this image was is one I just HAD to color. Even though I’m more confident with my Copics because I use them so much, I love the soft look and those edges lines you get with watercolor. I stamped the image on a piece of Fabriano Artistico Extra White watercolor paper using Obsidian ink from Altenew. This is a pigment ink, which makes it perfect for embossing. I sprinkled on clear embossing powder from Ranger and melted the powder.

I grabbed a couple of paint brushes and my Mijello Mission Gold watercolor set and mixed pinks and purples for my flowers, and a bunch of different greens for the stems and leaves. I’m no expert watercolorist (if you want to watch an expert watercolor, head over to Debby Hughes’ blog, she’s amazing, her work is sooo impressive), but I’m learning and having fun each time I pull out my watercolors anyway.

This stamp set actually comes with a couple of additional leaves and petals and dies to cut them out, but there’s no die for this large image. Fussy cutting it was easy enough, though. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the stamp set onto a piece of True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I dry embossed a piece of patterned paper from the Watercolor Wishes 6×6 inch paper pack from Lawn Fawn using the Geometric Landscape stencil from Altenew. I wanted a little bit of texture to create interest in the background without distracting from the main image, and this did the trick.

I added a few more layers of cardstock behind my black strip for dimension, popped the flower up on foam tape and finished off the card with a few faceted pearls. Or are they gems? No matter what they are, they’re gorgeous, and I have a feeling I’ll use up the entire pack of these in no time, I love them so much.

Kort & Godt products used:

Sett #12

ST178