You’re always on my nice list {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. Winter solstice was yesterday, which means that the days in the Northern hemisphere will gradually get longer from now on. I’m all for longer days, less than 6 hours of daylight each day is depressing, and I long for summer days that seem to have no end. The snow does help make it brighter, but the last couple of days have been foggy and rainy, and the snow has turned to deadly ice as a result. Santa’s little helpers don’t seem to care about that, and with only two days left until Christmas, it’s time to decide who’s naughty or nice.

Cue Chippey and Ralphie from the latest Stacey Yacula release from Purple Onion Designs (A Little Christmas Magic!). They’re making their list, and checking it twice in the Toy Workshop. I made sure to use second generation stamping for the Toy Workshop to make the critters in the foreground stand out. I also used a couple of images from the Holiday Toy Set and turned the North Pole Sign into a poster on the wall, stamping it in Fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a no line look.

I’ve always been a fan of creating blue Christmas cards, but in the past couple of years, green has grown on me, and I think I made more green Christmas cards this year than blue ones. It helps that I’ve found a green Copic combo that I really like.

When all the coloring was done, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Santa Sentiment Set, also from this year’s holiday release. I used super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger for my embossing, it always embosses well.

Lots of Copics for this one.

A Little Christmas Magic! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! I have something very exciting to share today. It’s a card with the brand new release from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula. This new collection is titled A Little Christmas Magic!, and it’s all about the hustle and bustle on the North Pole, with various adorable critters in Stacey’s signature style.

For this card, I chose Comet (elf bunny with pocket watch) and Zippity (elf bird carrying gift) to be the focus of the card. Zippity’s rushing last minute, and Comet is making sure everything gets done in time. In the background I stamped Santa’s Workshop, which is another great stamp in this release.

I didn’t want a dark night sky for this card. I also didn’t want it to have a basic blue sky, because I wanted to add lots of snow, and it doesn’t really snow from clear skies. I opted for a soft blue violet combo that wasn’t too dark and that fit the snowy scene look I was after.

When everything was colored, I stamped a sentiment from Santa Sentiments using Blue Yonder ink from My Favorite Things. This sentiment set is also new, and there are some really good ones in the set, I love the mix of the clean font with the handwritten style, and the blue ink isn’t very distracting from the scene, but still visible enough.

I sprinkled on a generous amount of chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, making sure no granules covered up the critters’ eyes or the sentiment, before melting the granules from the back of the panel. I then adhered it directly to a top fold white card base, and my card was complete.

Lots of Copics for this one.

Have a bright sunshiny day {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I have what’s basically a one layer card to share with you today, featuring a couple of stamps from the newest release from Purple Onion Designs, as well as a couple of older ones.

I stamped Delilah and the butterflies from the Flora & Fauna set using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, before creating masks to put on top and stamping the older Birch Tree Background in Fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a soft, no line look in the background.

I colored the entire panel with Copics, deciding to add a few clouds in the sky as well as some visible blades of grass near the trees.

I adhered my colored panel onto a top fold landscape A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I stamped a sentiment from the Sunshiny Sentiment Set using Sour Apple ink from My Favorite Things for a subtle tone on tone effect, I wanted the main focus to be on the squirrel and the butterflies.

To finish off the card I added a few pearls from Kort & Godt in three different sizes (2 mm, 2.5 mm, 3 mm). Adding the pearls was actually my niece’s idea. I tend to go for sequins myself, but I love pearls too and hadn’t used these in a while, so it was good to break them out.

The lack of dimension makes this a very thin, lightweight card compared to my normal cards, which means this won’t have any problems going through the mail.

Not a lot of colors given that the entire card front is colored.

Time for a little happy dance {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. It’s time for a happy dance, because there’s a new stamp collection out from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula. You know how much I love Stacey’s style, and she’s been illustrating stamps for Purple Onion for 10 years, which is reason to celebrate. A Special Day is a collection of stamps focusing on celebrations and milestones. If you have an occasion that needs to be celebrated, this is the collection for you.

My first card with images from the release is this one. I love creating birthday cards, so this collection is right up my alley!! Using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, I stamped and masked Hugh (snail), Sage (mouse) and Dylan (bear) before stamping the mushrooms and the tree stump from the woodland floor set, as well as the woodland background. I colored in my scene using Copics, then stamped the sentiment from the Let’s Celebrate sentiment set using VersaFine Onyx Black ink. The stamp was perfect to nestle into the clearing between the trees.

I cut down my colored panel ever so slightly and adhered it to a top fold A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love that little 1/16″ border around the edge.

I kind of thought I’d use a whole lot more Copics for a full panel card, but I admit I love the orange color with the teal and the bright green, it’s such a classic color combo for a reason.

For a limited time, you can purchase this collection as a bundle with a 30% discount for $130.00.  The “A Special Day” bundle consists of all 28 stamps/stamp sets & the coordinating “Let’s Celebrate” sentiment set.

In celebration of Stacey’s 10th year illustrating stamps for Purple Onion Designs, the entire “A Special Day” collection will be 10% off when purchased individually.  The bundle will not receive the additional 10% off since it is already discounted 30%.

The special bundle price and the 10% birthday discount will run for 2 weeks and end on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.

Wishing you snow much fun {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, everone! I’ve got another one layer card to share today, featuring lots of cute images from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula.

I did no line coloring of Snowballs, Wilson, Rupert, Jingle, Dash, Jolly, Snowy Fence, and Snow Day Hill, before stamping a sentiment from Warming Winter Thoughts using Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening ink.

I love the no line look, and it’s really no more difficult than coloring with lines. In a way, it’s actually easier, because no one can tell if you went outside the lines a bit! I used a white gelly roll pen to add back in some details in the various scarves.

The holiday sale at Purple Onion Designs ends today, so this is your last chance to get lots of amazing rubber stamps (including the ones I’ve used here) at a whopping 25% off!

More than a couple of Copics used for this card, and I even used B90, which is a color I’ve made myself.

Wishing you warmth, joy & happiness {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, everyone! I’ve got another fairly simple card to share today, featuring some wonderful stamps from Purple Onion Designs. This is basically just stamping, masking and coloring.

I love creating nighttime winter scenes for my Christmas cards, but every once in a while, daytime scenes, or early sunset scenes like this are also fun to do. By using blues for the snow, you get a frosty look.

There are 7 different images in this scene. There are too many cute images to choose from, and I couldn’t decide, so I made an A7 card with a bunch instead. I stamped most of the images using Memento Espresso Truffle ink and the background using Fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a no line look.

Here are the Holly Branch, Holly the mouse, and Maggie the mouse. The snowman and bird stamp at the bottom is called Bianca & Neve.

Here’s Nora & Butter, hanging out by the mailbox. I added Birch the bunny as well, it’s just too cute and I couldn’t resist!!

I stamped a sentiment from the Snowflake Grove sentiment set using a combination of red and gray ink. I started with Memento Lady Bug ink, but it was a little too bright red for me, so I used Soft Stone ink from Papertrey Ink on top to tone it down a bit.

Lots of Copics used for this one, and I have to admit that quite a few are used for the snow.

 

Enjoy every second of you day {Mo’s Dream Team}

Hi, and welcome to another Wednesday. Yes, it’s Wednesday for those of you struggling to keep track of the week days. I’ve got a super clean and simple one layer birthday card to share today, featuring a fun image from Mo Manning.

I printed Cupcake Monster (the separated version, there’s also a merged one you can purchase here) onto Classic Kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink and pulled out my colored pencils. I rarely use my colored pencils, so they kind of scare me, but when I can color a rainbow of monsters I can’t help but smile and be happy about it.

Once I’d finished coloring, I went back in with a 0.03 black Copic multiliner to bring back the original linework that was covered in layers of pencil, before stamping a sentiment (Enjoy every second of your day) from Mathia design in VersaFine Onyx Black ink. And that finishes my card. A one layer card, even, I don’t make many of those, but I really wanted that image to shine.

Kun ett lag {Hobbykunst}

Hei og hopp!

Dagens kort er av det veldig enkle slaget.

Jeg startet med å stemple den søte reven fra Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes-settet til My Favorite Things med fadeout-blekk fra Inkon3 for å lage et no lines-motiv. Jeg maskerte ganske tett inntil sidene på reven og fargela hele stripa mellom de to maskerte stripene med Copics.

Jeg stemplet en gratulerer-tekst fra Mathia design med svart blekk fra My Favorite Things langs siden av motivet, og det er faktisk hele kortet. Ett lag med kun stempling og fargelegging, jeg ville ikke legge til noe som kunne distrahere fra motivet.

Enkelt, enklere, enklest {Ett trykk}

Til det som egentlig skulle være årets oktobernummer av Ett trykk lagde jeg tre kort med stempelsettet Robots Blueprint fra Stampers Anonymous, det første (uten fargelegging) finner du her, men dette er om mulig enda enklere, det består nemlig av kun ett lag, et såkalt OLC (one layer card) som det heter så fint i forkortelsenes verden.

Jeg stemplet robotene med Extreme Black blekk fra My Favorite Things på en kortbase av 120 lb Ultra Thick White kartong fra Simon Says Stamp. Kartongen er veldig tykk og laget på en måte som gjør at fargeleggingen ikke vises fra baksiden, som er veldig praktisk når man skal lage ettlagskort. Jeg sørget for at ca halvparten av hver robot faktisk ikke fikk plass på kortet, jeg syns det var en morsom vri.

Fargeleggingen er veldig enkel, jeg har faktisk holdt meg til åtte tusjer (selv om den ene fargen ikke vises i oversikten under her, den har jeg nemlig laget selv)! Da jeg var ferdig med begge robotene stemplet jeg en tekst fra Norsk Stempelblad AS mellom dem med VersaFine Onyx Black blekk og embosset med klart embossingpulver.

Her vises effekten man får med embossingen, teksten blir hevet og blank. På flere av boltene og øynene til robotene la jeg på Glossy Accents og Nuvo Crystal Drops i fargen Granite. LITT pynt må man jo ha, selv på et meget enkelt herrekort.

Inspirert {Ett trykk}

Hei og hopp! Til hvert nummer av Ett trykk lar vi i designteamet oss inspirere av en annen scrapper og lager to prosjekter inspirert av denne scrapperen. I augustnummeret lot jeg meg inspirere av Marika Rahtu, hun er den råeste jeg vet om når det gjelder fargelegging. Kortene hennes er stort sett enkle, så motivene kommer virkelig i fokus. Planen min var egentlig å la meg inspirere av henne for juninummeret, men en betennelse i et muskelfeste satte en stopper for planene mine i februar, så da måtte jeg endre planen min til betennelsen gikk over.

Jeg har laget et OLC denne gangen, eller one layer card, som det heter på godt norsk. Jeg stemplet først motivene mine fra Altenew med blekkfarger som ville forsvinne når fargeleggingen kom over. Jeg brukte Memento Angel Pink for blomstene, og annengenerasjonsstempling med Memento Bamboo Leaves for det grønne.

Det neste trinnet mitt var å fargelegge med Copics. Jeg brukte tre tusjer for det rosa, tre for det grønne og tre for det gule. For meg er ni tusjer på et motiv veldig lite, men det skulle bare være underlaget til blyantene jeg skulle bruke over.

Jeg brukte ikke mange fargeblyanter heller, men det tok litt tid. Jeg hadde ikke brukt fargeblyanter over Copic-tusjer før, så jeg lærte underveis. Det siste jeg gjorde var å stemple en tekst fra Gratulerer-platen til Norsk Stempelblad AS med svart blekk og lime på tre hvite halvperler fra Papirdesign, og det er hele kortet. Enkelt i utseende, men tidkrevende å fargelegge, så det er ikke masseproduksjonsvennlig akkurat, men det er vanligvis ikke kortene mine likevel, det er ikke noe mål.