Time for balloons and soda {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a super simple birthday card to share today, featuring the Animal numbers 4 digi stamp from Rachelle Anne Miller.

I love these animal number images from Rachelle, and these ducks are sooo cute. Perfect for a birthday card, I think. I colored the image with my Copics, before temporarily adhering the Watercolor Wash Free Form stencil from My Favorite Things and ink blending with Harvest Gold ink from Papertrey Ink. I then stamped a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Shadow Creek ink from Altenew.

I used the largest of the Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX dies from My Favorite Things to create a quirky faux stitch interest around the edge and adhered my panel to a top fold card base I created from Meadow cardstock from Hero Arts.

To finish off the card I added a few raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, I thought they fit well with the water theme in the image.

Simple, yet bright color palette for this one 🙂

You’re so sweet {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends! There’s a brand new release out from Streamside Studios. Sloth-some Sloths is a set that has several cute sloths, but also a few other images. I’ve focused on the donut from the set today.

I colored the donut with my Copics and fussy cut it, leaving a thin white border around the edge. I printed a panel of several donuts in light gray for a bit of added interest in the background, popped up my panel onto a card base I created from Rustic Cream cardstock from Papertrey Ink, while I worked on the rest of the card.

Using the Parker alphabet die set from Memory Box, I die cut the letters to spell sweet from Grapesicle cardstock from My Favorite Things. I stacked six of each for a dimensional look.

I stamped and white heat embossed partial sentiments from the Itty Bitty Basics and Itty Bitty Gifting stamp sets from My Favorite Things to complete my sentiment, adhered it all to the card and finished with a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things From Lucy’s Cards.

Soft pastels were all I used for this one. It’s a little different for me.

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.

Oh deer, it’s that time of year!

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back with another card featuring the A Little Christmas Magic! collection from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula.

This time I’ve teamed up Prancer and Bluster in front of the Holiday Arch and the North Pole sign. I’ve done my best with the cards I’ve made using this release to change up the sky between cards. This time I went for an overcast look, and it’s all a very soft blue green color.

I used a white Gelly Roll 05 pen to create the white dots on the deer, and a die from the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things to create the faux stitching on the edges of the panel. By not stamping the entire deer, it creates a dynamic effect of having it walk in from the edge of the card.

I stamped a sentiment from the Santa Sentiment set using Autumn Rose ink from Papertrey Ink and adhered the panel to a card base I created using cardstock in the same color.

I created a sparkly snowy effect here and there by using my Quickie glue pen from Sakura and sprinkling on Rock Candy Distress Glitter from Ranger.

The pink and blue green color combination is definitely not traditional for Christmas, but I kind of like it. What do you think, does it work?

Quite a few Copics for such a simple card.

I’ve got some good news, the Purple Onion Designs holiday sale has been extended and doesn’t end until midnight tomorrow. Extra time to get stamps at 25% off, just sayin’ 😉

Waiting for Santa {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back with another card featuring images from the latest A Little Christmas Magic! release from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula.

I wanted to make a peaceful scene for this card. I stamped and masked Dasher and Dancer, as well as Santa’s Sack, Santa’s Sleigh and the Destination Sign, before using second generation stamping with Memento Espresso Truffle ink for the Nordic road background.

I masked off the background too, before going in with my Copic airbrush system to create a soft winter sunset. I then peeled off the masks, colored the background, then everything else.

I left the red details till the end. I don’t want to run the risk of other colors picking up the red, so by leaving it to the end, I avoid that.

Looks like these reindeer are very patiently waiting for Santa. I wonder where he is? Actually, yesterday on my way to work, I saw a passenger on the bus with a long red Santa hat.

I didn’t want to mess up the sky with a sentiment, and the bottom part of the card is too full for one. I might put one inside, but to finish the card, I merely adhered my scene onto a top fold card base I created from Stormy Sea cardstock from Papertrey Ink. The finished card measures 6 x 5 3/8″, which is a bit of an odd size, but I prefer making my card size fit the scene and not the other way around when I create these full scene cards with Purple Onion images.

Not a whole lot of Copics for this one, actually.

I’d The annual Purple Onion Designs holiday sale ends tomorrow at midnight EST. That means there’s less than 48 hours to grab rubber stamps at 25% off (some exclusions apply).

Have a very merry Christmas! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. It’s been a while since my last post. Things have been crazy busy this past month, and I’ve had zero time in my craft room, and not even time to write blog posts for cards that were finished before things went bananas. The annual holiday sale from Purple Onion Designs is a great way to come out of hibernation, though.

Winter and Balsam from the latest Christmas release from Stacey Yacula are exchanging gifts. They both look pretty happy to be out in the snow in front of Santa’s workshop. I snuck in the Santa silhouette in the sky and stamped a sentiment from the Santa Sentiments set in the snow.

I love creating these scenes with Stacey’s images. It’s a time consuming process, as I create masks for each critter and fussy cut them, but the end result is always worth it.

I stamped Winter and Balsam using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things before covering both of them with masks. I then did second generation stamping of Santa’s workshop using Memento Rich Cocoa ink, using first generation for the signage only. I like the softer look of the brown lettering in the background. I stamped the silhouette of Santa’s sleigh using VersaFine Onyx Black ink AFTER I’d colored in the entire scene. This is an ink that stamps very black and very crisp, but it’s a pigment ink and doesn’t play well with Copics, so it’s best to leave it to the end. I stamped the sentiment using Blueberry Sky ink from Papertrey Ink.

I also went back over the “cast iron” of the OPEN sign using a 0.3 cool gray multiliner from Copic and added white dots on the penguin’s hat and scarf using my white Gelly Roll 05.

I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, melted the granules from the back of the paper and adhered my finished scene onto a 5 3/4 x 4 1/2″ white card base, making this card slightly larger than the regular A2 size card.

Lots of Copics used for this one.

There are some awesome stamps in the Black Friday – Cyber Monday deals category over at the Purple Onion Designs store, a few of my very favorites even. Take advantage of this massive sale while you can.

Cosy Christmas wishes {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. Can you believe it’s November already? I long for summer, but I’m still creating Christmas card. It’s weird, I know, but that’s just how it is. Today I have a Christmas card to share with a real cutie on the front.

This image is Winter Delivery from Mo’s Digital Pencil. I’ve used him once before (here), and was really planning on creating a blue card this time (the last one was green), but somehow the green won out.

I have a tall pine tree outside my craft room window. In it, there’s a huge nest that magpies built a few years back. One morning last week, I heard the magpies making more sound than usual. When I looked outside, there was a squirrel that had taken over the nest. It was adding one twig after another to the nest, I guess it had evicted the magpies. After quite some time, one of the magpies tried to get back in, but was chased away by the squirrel. I must admit I was delighted, I’d much rather have a squirrel outside my window than magpies. The squirrel is much cuter, and it’s a lot quieter too.

Back to the card. Once I finished the coloring, I stamped the word Christmas from the Christmas Greeting stamp set that Lili of the Valley released earlier this year using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things.

I then die cut the panel using the second larges die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it directly to a card base I created from Jalapeño Popper cardstock, also from My Favorite Things. On a scrap piece of cardstock the same color, I stamped and white heat embossed the words cosy and wishes to complete my sentiment. I put a couple of additional layers of green cardstock behind each word for a little bit of added dimension.

I added a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off this very simple card. A little bit of shine is never a bad idea on a simple card.

You’d think an image this simple would have less Copics used, but I tend to go overboard on snow. This time I also went overboard on the fur, even though it might not look like it.

I hope you like the present you told me to buy for you {Alex Syberia Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. Today is the final Instagram hop for the Alex Syberia Designs Kickstarter campaign. We’re all sharing cards with the products in the kickstarter release and there are plenty of prizes up for grabs, so head over to Instagram once you finish reading this blog post 😉

For my final card I’m focusing on the Birthday Wonderland stamp set, and I used both trees, the raccoon and the bear for my card, in addition to one of the sentiments.

I decided to go for a no line look in the background with the trees and used black lines for the two cute critters.

Once my image was stamped and colored I cut it down significantly and mounted it on foam tape to a top fold landscape card base I created from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

There’s something about this bear that reminds me of Yogi. That might actually be the reason I colored his hat green. These two have such character, but the bear’s my favorite, just don’t tell the raccoon.

I used a white Sharpie with an extra fine tip for the dots of snow (is it snow?) on the trees.

Simple, subdued color palette for this card.

Alex Syberia Designs Kickstarter Campaign | Blog Hop 2 & Giveaway

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with the card I made for the second blog hop for the Alex Syberia Kickstarter Campaign. We had our first blog hop mid September, which you can find here, and our first IG hop about a week later. My blog post for that is here. For the first two cards I featured a sentiment set and one of the beautiful floral stamp sets. This time, I’m focusing on critters – penguins, more specifically. ONE penguin, to be perfectly accurate.

I thought this guy from the Smile and Wave stamp set was too cool not to use, so I colored him with my Copics and did some fussy cutting, leaving a white border around the edge. I wanted him to stand out and to make a super simple card.

I created a mask with some 2″ post-It tape by cutting a sloping hill with a craft knife. This is easy to do free hand, but you can use a curved die if you’d like.

I wanted this guy to really stand out against the background and decided to ink blend using distress inks. I used Abandoned Coral, Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed and Scattered Straw for the sky. The yellow and orange tones pick up the colors from his belly, beak and feet and really stand out against the blue of his hat. For the ground I used a little bit of Tumbled Glass Distress Ink near the horizon, fading into white near the bottom.

I sprinkled on Chunky White embossing enamel to the background, making sure no granules covered my stamped sentiment before melting the granules from the back. I mounted the panel onto the white top fold card base using foam tape for dimension.

I mounted the penguin onto foam tape and used some clear iridescent crystals from the Crystal Collection (Glass) from Little Thing from Lucy’s Cards to finish off this very simple card.

Simple color palette.

Did you know that Kickstarter is all or nothing? That means that Alex Syberia Designs need to reach their funding goal to be able to go ahead and manufacture this beautiful collection, so please, help them! You can back them on their Kickstarter Campaign and you can help them spread the word about it!

Remember that you have some fantastic discounts, which are only available through their Kickstarter Campaign.

GIVEAWAY PRIZES | OVER £1000/$1200 IN TOTAL

Alex Syberia Designs is giving away some fantastic prizes; their full September Release and two of their gorgeous Floral Bundle or Critter Bundle to choose from. There are also amazing companies and crafty friends who are celebrating with us. Here’s the complete list of awesome prizes:

Check the Kickstarter Campaign for more info

That’s a total of 15 prizes for 15 lucky winners! To be in with a chance to win one of these amazing prizes all you have to do is play along with each of the four hops! Alex Syberia Designs will draw winners from those entrants that have played along the hops by 16th October 2022. 

To enter, leave a comment on this blog post as well as those of all other amazing designers. You can see the full list, with links to each blog, below.

Winners will be announced on the Alex Syberia Designs blog on the 23rd October 2022.

BLOG HOP 2 | DESIGNERS LIST

Sending smiles across the miles {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing an untraditional Christmas card today, using untraditional colors for our friends down under. This Christmas Kangaroos image is brand new from Rachelle Anne Miller, and it’s so cute with the little joey holding a candy cane.

I love teal for Christmas cards. I actually love teal for anything, but it’s the perfect color to pair with the dreaded traditional red. I’m not a fan of complementary colors, so red and green don’t really work for me, but red and teal totally do. As does red and light blue, or red and grey, but that’s pretty much my entire list for what goes with red at Christmas. I’m weird, I know.

I decided to pair my teal with a bright pink and used the RV Copic family for the candy cane and all the flowers.

Once my coloring was done I used the Notebook Edge die from My Favorite Things to die cut from the left hand side of the panel. Below the image, I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Hawaiian Shores Ink from Papertrey Ink.

I mounted the panel onto a top fold cardbase I created from Hawaiian Shores cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love it when my colors are a match, and the teal of the cardstock goes well with the teal combo I used for the image.

I thought about adding some sort of embellishment to the card, but in the end, I decided to keep it simple.

Not a whole heap of Copics used for this one.