Slim happy birthday {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for another Mo Manning creation. This time I made a simple slimline card, featuring Carry the Cake, which is a cute image of a little girl holding a BIG cake with lots of candles above her head.

I colored the image with Copics and used the largest die in the Slimline Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to cut it down to the perfect size panel to go onto a slimline card. I adhered it directly onto a card base I created from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

From Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I die cut the Happy Birthday Brush Script die from Simon Says Stamp three times and stacked the diecuts for a dimensional look, before adhering them below the image on my card. I added a layer of Frosted Lace Stickles to the star on top of the cake and scattered a few chosen sequins from the Seaglass mix of sequins from Simon Says Stamp to finish the card.

Lots of Copics for this one.

Get Cracking on Christmas – June

Hi, crafty friends. It’s the third Thursday of the month, which means it time to Get Cracking on Christmas.

I’ve made a slimline card this time, with images from a Stamptember collaboration set from Mama Elephant and Simon Says Stamp that I colored up in November 2020. These have been sitting on my desk for a while, and I always planned on creating this window design with them – Get Cracking on Christmas is the perfect opportunity to execute plans you’ve had for a while, but not had time for.

Using the Slim Card Basics die set from Mama Elephant, I die cut the rectangle with the three openings three times from white cardstock and glued them together for a little bit of dimension. I knew this card would wound up very simple, but the dimension adds a little bit of interest. Before adhering my scenes to the back of this layered die cut, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Tree Picking stamp set from Mama Elephant that came out last year, simply because I couldn’t find the Stamptember one in my stash (I found it after I finished the card). The punny tree sentiment works well with all the trees in the background here anyway, so it’s all good. Once I’d adhered the window piece to my colored little scenes, I adhered everything onto a card base I created from Dark Indigo cardstock from Papertrey Ink. It’s such a pretty, dark blue color – the Papertrey Ink cardstock colors really are the best. I added a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off the card.

No Copic graphic this time. Evidently, I didn’t write down the colors on a Post-It, and since it’s been so long, I really don’t remember what I used.

Get Cracking on Christmas – April {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. We’ve reached the third Thursday of the month, which means it’s time to Get Cracking on Christmas.

This time, I have a fun slimline card to share featuring Cooper and Fiona from Purple Onion Designs. I actually created this card back in October, but ran out of time to share it before the holidays.

I used a couple of dies from My Favorite Things to create the window openings and the faux stitch edge around the white cardstock. I stamped the Snow Much Fun background stamp twice; once in gray ink on the white cardstock, and once in VersaMark ink that I white heat embossed on the red card base for a continuous look across the entire card. I also stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Snow Much Fun sentiment set in the center of the card.

I colored both the images in greys and reds and mounted the white panel with the window openings using foam tape for dimension. This cat is like a grey version of Garfield, it’s too funny.

Fiona looks like she’s kind of done with Christmas, Shari creates so much personality in each of her critters.

I kept the card very simple, but did add a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

We swish you a merry Christmas {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I know it seems like Christmas is an eternity from now, but time really flies, it’ll be November before we can blink. These dogs from Purple Onion Designs are kind of flying too, at the very least they’re hurrying home to get their tree up.

For this slightly larger than normal slimline card, I stamped the 3 Dog Holiday stamp on one piece of X-Press It blending card, and the Snow Capped Evergreen Tree and the Duo Snow Capped Trees on another. I took a think Copic friendly marker and drew in a horizon line between my trees and colored everything with my Copics.

I cut down my background so that it would fit on my cardbase, which I created from Sprout cardstock from Concord & 9th. I stamped a sentiment from the Snow Much Fun Sentiment set using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things, fussy cut the image with the dogs carrying the tree and adhered them to my background using foam squares that are pretty thin.

It shows better in this photo that the dogs are slightly raised off the background. It adds a fun detail to an otherwise very simple card. This is the point where I’d normally share the Copics I used, but I seem to have misplaced my post-it note where I’d written it down. Things were kind of hectic before the holidays when I made this.

Live like there’s snow tomorrow {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a slimline Christmas card today, featuring Hazel and Snow-capped Christmas Tree from the new It’s Snowing Cats and Dogs collection illustrated by Shari Bresciani for Purple Onion Designs. I love this cat looking up with the fishbone in her hand, and if you pair her with this tree, it kind of looks like she wants to replace the star on top with her fishbone, which is just too funny.

I colored the cat, tree and ground with my Copics, before deciding that I really wanted a dark, intense night sky. I stamped and fussy cut masks for both images, then did some free hand cutting of a snowbank at the back, before I went in with my Copic airbrush system and some dark blue colors to quickly create the sky.

I used the largest of the dies from the Slimline Double Stitched Rectangle STAX set from My Favorite Things to cut down the panel to fit on the front of my card, and stamped a sentiment from the Snow-capped sentiment set from the Snow Much Fun collection (also new, illustrated by Shari Bresciani) using Blue Yonder ink from My Favorite Things.

I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, making sure no granules covered the sentiment or Hazel’s eye before melting the granules from the back of the panel. I adhered my snowy scene to a card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and my card was complete. I didn’t want to add anything else to it.

For such a simple scene I sure used quite a few colors. The ones that come after the jump in this graphic are the ones I used to airbrush the sky.

Christmas Hug {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m sharing a quick, very clean and simple card today featuring the Bird Tree from Mo’s Digital Pencil. I colored this image nearly three years ago right before it was released, but things have a habit of taking their sweet time making it onto finished cards. I’m trying to shrink my pile of colored images, but it’s a slow process.

This is a tall, narrow tree, so it’s perfect for a slimline card. Using the largest die in the Slimline Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things, I quickly turned it into a panel perfect for a slimline card. I adhered it to a cardbase I created from Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things.

I used a die from Papirdesign for my sentiment and die cut that in Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink before matting it with a small piece of that same blue cardstock that I used for the cardbase. I pulled out a matching slimline envelope and white heat embossed an image from the Santa Stationery stamp set from Papertrey Ink on the flap of the envelope. I love this stamp!! No graphic today for the Copics I used. I colored this three years ago, and there were no scribbled notes on the back of it, nor a post-it to tell me what colors I used.

Party Time

Hi! Seriously late night post, but I just wanted to share my last entry for the Superstar contest over at My Favorite Things. This is for the Coloring Virtuoso category. I’ve created a scene with some super cute penguins from Stacey Yacula that I no line colored using my Copics.

I drew some sheets of ice with a pencil after I’d stamped my penguins, and made an ocean scene. The stamp with the two penguins holding the party banner is too wide for a regular portrait A2 card, and I wanted to include some more penguins in my scene as well. Slimline to the rescue. I thought it’d be fun to have the penguins on two separate icebergs instead of just the one.

I started by coloring the sky, then the ocean. This was probably what took the longest, it’s a big ocean, and while it’s not difficult to color, it takes time to build up layers. Next up were the icebergs, then the penguins, then finally all their accessories. I love Stacey Yacula’s style, it lends itself to create very textured critters, so that’s what I opted for.

When the entire scene was colored in I white heat embossed a sentiment from one of the stamp sets I used onto black cardstock and put two additional pieces behind it for a little dimension. I also heat embossed the word PARTY from the same stamp set. The letters are sized and spaced perfectly to fit across that bunting. It’s perfect. I mounted my colored panel onto a black cardbase to frame my cute penguins. Very simple.

Lots and lots of Copics for this one. I used a lot for the ocean, the icebergs and the penguins, and that little rainbow of accessories make up the rest of this very colorful palette.

My Favorite Things products used:

Sweet Holiday Penguins stamp set

Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes stamp set

Penguin Party stamp set

Christmas hugs from me to you {Lili of the Valley}

Hi! I haven’t shared a Christmas card in a while, and with a brand new HUGE Christmas release from Lili of the Valley, I thought I was overdue for a new one.

This Penguin Parade is one of many different images in this release. There are penguins, badgers, people, snowmen and angels, even a polar bear or two, so there’s something for everyone, no matter what kind of card you prefer to create. As you may know, I have a soft spot for penguins, and just had to create a card with this little parade.

I colored my penguins with Copics, added glitter to parts of the ground, sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel all over the image and melted the granules from the back of the paper. I die cut a piece of Autumn Rose card stock from Papertrey Ink using a die from Mama Elephant and adhered my colored piece directly on top, and then mounted that on foam tape onto a slimline card base I made from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I stamped and white heat embossed a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment onto more of that Autumn Rose cardstock, die cut that using a die from My Favorite Things and adhered it using 1 mm foam squares. I added a few veneer snowflakes from Crafty Moly to finish off the card.

Last, but not least, the Copics I used for my image.

Hello friend! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, there! I have a fun slimline card to share today, featuring the Up and Away stamp from Purple Onion Designs. Photographing slimline cards is still something I find very tricky, but this image was begging for a slimline design, and if I don’t practice taking photos of slimline cards, I’ll never get better at it, right?

Purple Onion Designs - Elin Venge - Up and Away + Sweet SUMMER Sentiment Set

I stamped the image using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things onto X-Press It blending card and colored it with my Copics before fussy cutting right up against the black lines. I even cut off the strings of the image, but I made little marks on the back of where they were, so I could add some black sewing thread as strings instead.

Purple Onion Designs - Elin Venge - Up and Away + Sweet SUMMER Sentiment Set angled

I used the Slim Film City die set from Mama Elephant to create my background. I die cut the sky from Blue Breeze cardstock and used the Slimline Cloud Edges stencil and the Rolling Clouds stencil, both from MFT, along with some Lazy Day ink, also from MFT, to create my clouds. I even splattered a little bit of the ink on top for added interest. For the skyline I die cut three layers from Gravel Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things. I heat embossed a sentiment from the Sweet SUMMER Sentiment Set from Purple Onion onto the top layer of my skyline and added a few sparkling clear sequins around it.

Purple Onion Designs - Elin Venge - Up and Away + Sweet SUMMER Sentiment Set angled2

I used 1 mm foam squares behind my hot air balloon, and decided I wanted even more dimension and interest, so I die cut a couple of clouds from vellum, using a set of dies from Papertrey Ink. I glued the vellum clouds onto my card in very strategic spots, and used more sequins to cover up the glue. Little trick of the trade.

Purple Onion Designs Up and Away Copics

I used a lot of colors for this balloon!

It’s a mice day {Streamside Studios}

… to celebrate! I have some cute mice from Streamside Studios to share today. One of these is eating a cheese, which inspired the yellow and the circles. Sometimes it doesn’t take much.

Streamside Studios A Mice Day flatlay rett

I colored the mice with Copics and adhered them behind a panel of Lemon Drop card stock from My Favorite Things, which I die cut using a die from the Slimline Starter die set and also the Slimline Stitched Circle Trio set. I thought the plain yellow cardstock looked a little plain, and stamped some streamers from the Mice Day to Celebrate stamp set from My Favorite Things using Distress Oxide ink in the color Fossilized Amber.

Streamside Studios A Mice Day flatlay skrått

I created my sentiment by heat embossing parts of sentiments from two different stamp sets from My Favorite Things (Always Bring a Smile and Pawty Time) on Gravel Gray cardstock, and added three extra strips of cardstock behind them for dimension. I die cut the word mice using the In Stitches Lowercase alphabet set from My Favorite Things. I initially planned on doing it in yellow, so I die cut four layers of Pineapple cardstock and stacked together. The yellow word kind of got lost, so I die cut an additional layer in gray and added that on top, which makes it stand out more. I finished off the card with some pearl white crystals from Pretty Pink Posh.

Streamside Studios A Mice Day Copics

Lots of gray and hardly anything else for the coloring on this card.