Hi, crafty friends. We’ve reached the end of the month, and I’m rounding out Christmas in July with a circle card. July’s been so cold, we might as well have had Christmas this month. I know they say there’s been a heat wave in the Northern hemisphere this month, but that heat wave certainly didn’t reach Northern Europe. It’s been cold and wet.
The cold weather’s been perfect for Christmas in July, though, and this cutie from the latest Lili of the Valley release is definitely ready for even colder weather (even if I’m not. I’m never ready).
I colored both the penguin and the letters with Copics and fussy cut them. I left a white border around the penguin, but cut the letters up to the black lines.
I created a circular card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and added a circle on top that I created from Sno Cone cardstock from My Favorite Things. I dry embossed the Magic Snow Cover die from Mama Elephant onto the colored cardstock for a little bit of added interest in the background, before mounting the penguin in the center of the card and adding the letters around him.
To finish off the card I added a few Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to the letters. I tried using pearls first, but these worked better with the card. She’s stopped selling these clay sprinkles, so I kind of hoard the ones I have.
Super simple color combo for this guy.
I used a banner die with faux stitching to create a shaped card. This banner die is about 4″ wide, making it the perfect size for a decent size card. I used partial die cutting to create the card base, but die cut a separate piece that I used for my ink blending, which I then adhered to the card base once finished.
I used the Big Balloon stencil set from My Favorite Things to create my balloons, and used Distress Inks for my ink blending. Faded Jeans, Mermaid Lagoon and Salty Ocean for the blue balloon, Picked Raspberry for the pink balloon and Mustard Seed and Squeezed Lemonade for the yellow balloon. Where they overlap, they create new colors, which is half the fun of ink blending, right? With the balloon stencil still in place, I added the Falling Stars stencil from Simon Says Stamp on top and ink blended white stars onto the balloons using Fresh Snow hybrid ink from Papertrey Ink.
I stamped a sentiment onto the front using Obsidian ink from Altenew and added a stacked die cut HURRA above it. I layered six black die cuts, before adding this glitter one on top and finished off the card with a few black pearls.
The card was made on order for a superintendent turning 60. I was told he likes wine, good food, sunny, warm weather and enjoying life and was given free reign to do as I pleased. 
I rarely use patterned papers on my cards anymore, and certainly not pieces this big, but I love the XXL Square Frames Frilly #10 die set from GoKreate, the dies in the set are perfect for creating shaped cards. I use two 12×12″ sheets of patterned paper to make one of these cards, and this time I used the Drivers License patterned paper from the Denim & Friends collection as well as the Tough but sweet sheet from the Denim & Girls collection, both from Maja Design. I can cut two of the larger shapes and two of the smaller shapes from one sheet, so the insides of the card are reverse.
I colored the image in colors that went with the patterned paper, adding a bit of red to catch the eye and writing the words on his t shirt with a black Copic friendly pen. I thought the pun would tick the “loves wine” box.
I used foam tape to add the smaller shape to the larger one, and also to add the die cut circle to the smaller shape. I stamped postmarks from various cities in the world using Memento Rich Cocoa ink to add a little bit of interest to the circle and the panel behind it. I figure if the guy loves warm, sunny weather, he probably also loves to travel, there’s not a whole lot of warm days in Oslo over the course of a year.
I added some metal embellishments from Tim Holtz in a bit of a cluster near the bottom left “corner”, as well as his age, die cut and put on a 1″ circle with an epoxy sticker on top for a bit of added dimension.
I hid a die cut tag behind my image. I used to do this all the time, and it’s a fun way to add a sentiment without having to find space for it on the front of the card. The sentiment is from the Til mannen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS. The dies I used for the tag and reinforcer are old ones from Magnolia. I tied a bow from twill onto the tag, and some cutlery charms to the twill bow using natural twine from May Arts. I thought the cutlery was perfect for a food lover, I have so many treasures in my stash that I forget about until I go looking for something to use.
The inside of the card are pretty simple. The same patterned paper as the front, only with the reverse size. I used more of the postmark stamps from Marianne Design, as well as a sentiment from the Gratulerer stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS. There’s plenty of space for a personal message on the second circle, which only has the postmark stamps on the edges.
The back of the card is also simple. Another sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS, this time it’s the B03 stamp set. I love their stamp sets and use them more than any other of my Norwegian sentiment stamps. They’re hard to get your hands on because the company is no longer in business, but they’re the best sentiments out there.
Simple color palette.
The shape of the car actually dictated the shape of the card. I love shaped cards, and aside from the side mirrors, this one was pretty easy to fussy cut.
I colored in the car with the critters using my Copics, fussy cut right up against the black lines and added the car onto a top fold white cardbase. I then fussy cut that, making sure to temporarily glue the card shut for the cutting to be a little bit easier. Those side mirrors are fussy, but the rest was a cinch.
To create a truly one layer card would have been easier than having to fussy cut the car, adhere it to the card base and then fussy cutting again, but I didn’t think of it when I stamped my image, so I did it the hard way. Simon Says Stamp has a 120 lb cardstock that’s great for one layer cards with Copic coloring. Copics bleed through on most cardstocks, but the 120 lb from Simon doesn’t and would have been perfect for this card if I’d only thought of it before I was finished. Onto the headlights I put a thick layer of Glossy Accents for shine, and my tiny car card was finished.
Not a whole lot of colors used for this one. I’m loving the green combo I used for this, it’s giving me life. The entire collection can be purchased as a discounted bundle for a limited time, the offer is available until Friday, November 12th, and you can read all about it on the Purple Onion Designs blog 
I don’t often purchase coordinating dies for stamp sets, but boy, they make it easy to add dimension. Once I’d colored up the little girl with the balloon, I die cut her and four additional pieces from white card stock to add dimension behind her. Way more sturdy than foam tape.
I wanted to use lots of other goodies from MFT on this card, so I used the cloud stencil with a very light blue ink (Iceberg from Altenew) to create a barely there puffy cloudy sky behind her. It’s really soft, but shows up better in real life than in photos. I used a couple of elements from the Scene Builder stamp set and stamped those near the bottom using Fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a little bit of no line coloring. I die cut the largest of the Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frames four times from Peach Bellini card stock and glued them together for dimension.
I added clear Wink of Stella glitter and a thick layer of Glossy Accents on the balloon, before stamping and white heat embossing one of the sentiments in the Birthday Cutie stamp set onto Berry Sorbet card stock from Papertrey Ink. I die cut the sentiment using one of the Fishtail Flag Frames dies from MFT, and found some scraps in my stash that I’d already die cut using dies from the same set. I use that die set a lot. I added three green enamel dots from the Tropical Forest set from Altenew and my card was finished. I paired the card with a Persimmon envelope, also from MFT. I love their envelopes!
Lots of colors for this one! I was going for a peachy pink jacket and leggings, but it was too close to the pink I’d used for the rest of her, so I added some yellows on top. I also decided to go for a brighter green on the grass than her little stuffie.
Cards like this come together very easily, it’s basically a bunch of diecutting and you’re done. I use two full 12×12 sheets of patterned paper for cards like this, and the beauty is that there are no scraps left when I’m done. For this one I used two sheets from Papirdesign, one is Roseduft, and the other is stemorsblomst, blå.
I added flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, Kort & Godt and Papirdesign along the edge of two opposite quadrants on my circle, used letter stickers from Papirdesign to spell her name and some diecut numbers for her age. I finished off the front of the card using diamonds from Kort & Godt.
I kept the insides pretty simple, with plenty of room for a personal message for the birthday lady. I added some more diamonds to embellish a tiny bit.
On the back of the card I used more flowers, more diamonds and stamped a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment using Autumn Rose ink from Papertrey Ink. “Happiness is the art of creating a bouquet of the flowers within reach.”
I colored her up with my Copics, focusing on the RV90s that go so incredibly well with the patterned paper from Papirdesign that I used, it’s ridiculous!
I made a shaped card using the third largest die in the XXL Square Frames Frilly #10 set from GoKreate, and did a whole bunch of diecutting elsewhere on the card too. To break up the monotony of a diecut on top of a slightly larger diecut on top of a slightly larger diecut on top of a slightly larger diecut, I cut some Kort & Godt lace and put it across the card. The diecut heart banner, the word banner and all those Wild Orchid Crafts flowers also help. The flower berries and pearls are from Kort & Godt.
There’s a banner hidden behind that image, diecut with a Magnolia die. I tied a bow of seam binding ribbon with the help of a DIY bow easy, I can’t make nice bows for cards to save my life (true story!), so the Bow Easy helps. I stamped a Papirdesign stamp using Memento Sweet Plum ink, which also matches the patterned papers beautifully. On top of the bow I added an old button from Melissa Frances.
Is that an adorable little fairy or what? Those flower berries from Kort & Godt are really old, I think they might actually be from their first production of flower berries. They made some later on that had more of a greenish yellowy tint, but these are more creme colored and perfect for this card. I still have a few left, I only use them on very special cards.
I added another Papirdesign sentiment stamp on the back of the card, along with a few more flowers. I removed the centers of the sweetheart blossoms and added back in some purple pearls from Papirdesign that once again matched the colors of everything else.
As you can see from the above photo, this is a very dimensional card and not at all mail friendly, it’s super thick.
Not too many Copics used for this one. Probably because it’s mostly that one dominating color.
It’s Mo day (aka Wednesday). One of the last things I did in 2019 was to clear away all the jars of flowers from the desk in my craft room (I had about 50 of them). I figured I don’t really use flowers all that much on my cards anymore, so I didn’t need them to be easily accessible and take up space on my desk. I put them in a cabinet right below the ceiling, I was able to cram all of them into one single cabinet. The last card I made in 2019 had flowers on it. We’re barely two weeks into the new year, and I’ve made another one with flowers. For both cards I had to climb on a ladder and pull out a bunch of jars to get to the flowers I wanted. Maybe removing those jars wasn’t such a good idea after all?
Good idea or not, this was the card I made. I colored up Mo’s 
I partially die cut my image with some of the bubble hanging out, and glued it to my card using lots of foam tape. I haven’t used my frame dies from GoKreate in a while, so I thought I’d break them out for this one. I usually make my card from the third largest die in the set (the XXL Square Frilly Frames #10 set), but I want to see how far into 2020 I can get with using just scraps, and the third largest die in the set requires a full sheet of paper to die cut two pieces (front and back of the card). The next size down was the perfect size for this scrap of Maja Design patterned paper, and it was also a good size for the green patterned paper from Papirdesign that I used behind my image and on the insides of the card.
Speaking of insides – I diecut an eyelet circle with a Cottage Cutz die, stamped a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment using Memento Sweet Plum ink and again used lots of foam tape. I even diecut a scrap strip of another purple piece of Maja Design patterned paper to go across.
The second inside has plenty of space for a personal message, and I diecut another eyelet circle from patterned paper and added a couple of diecut numbers from Scrapmagasinet to my circle. I thought this card would be the perfect birthday card for my niece, she turns 10 in June!!
I used the same design on the back, but used a green strip instead of a purple one. Another NSB sentiment, once again stamped in Memento Sweet Plum ink, and once again glued on with lots of foam tape.
There’s quite a bit of dimension in this card, and with that great image as the focal point, I think this will be perfect for my niece!
Lots and lots of Copics used for this one, but there are 15 colors in the heart bubble alone.
Jeg har stemplet et motiv med barnesko fra North Star Design og fargelagt. Jeg syns barnesko gjør seg så bra på dåpskort. Jeg har klippet rundt motivet og limt det med lave 3D-puterer på et av mønsterarkene mine fra Maja Design. Jeg har brukt ark fra flere forskjellige kolleksjoner på dette kortet. Noe av det som er så bra med arkene til Maja Design er at de kan brukes på tvers av kolleksjoner, men likevel harmonerer de.
Selv om kortet er lag på lag er det ganske enkelt, alt er bare stanset ut og limt oppå hverandre, noe med dimensjon. Teksten fra North Star Design har jeg stemplet på et utstanset banner i en farge som matcher det brune i arkene. Jeg har pyntet meget enkelt med finérstjerner fra Studio Calico og perler fra FabScraps.
Her kommer dimensjonen bedre frem. Lave og høye 3D-puter er brukt om hverandre for å gi ulike høyder opp fra lagene under.
Innsidene har det samme oppsettet. Her har jeg brukt en die fra Papirdesign til å stanse ut en dekorativ slisse i den hvite kartongen for å lage plass til penger. Jeg har stemplet et bakgrunnsstempel fra NSD på den hvite sirkelen, og limt navnet på dåpsbarnet over med utstansede bokstaver av mønsterark. Den andre innsiden er lik, men der er den hvite kartongsirkelen beregnet til å skrive personlig hilsen på.
På baksiden av kortet har jeg stemplet en tekst på det hvite panelet og brukt den lille varianten av skoene som pynt.
Kortet er såpass tykt at det ikke får plass i en vanlig konvolutt. Jeg har derfor laget min egen. Jeg har brukt minivarianten av skoene også her, og rammet dem inn ved hjelp av en polaroidramme stanset ut med en die fra My Favorite Things.
Papirmølla 