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.
I colored up this fairy quite a while ago, and I even had a blue sky around her that I decided not to use. I fussy cut the image, leaving a trim around the edge (I didn’t want to contend with the whispy lines in her hair).
I created a white top fold card base using Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. It’s my all time favorite white cardstock. Using a geometric embossing folder from We R Memory Keepers, I created a bit of texture to the card front. It’s nice to have lots of white space while giving the background a little bit of interest, and embossing folders are a great way to ensure that.
I cut a piece of Winter Wisteria cardstock from Papertrey Ink at an angle and adhered it to the top of the card using foam tape.
I adhered my colored image, half on top of the purple cardstock using foam tape, the bottom half to the card base using foam tape. I let her foot hang off the edge of the card for a little bit of added interest.
To finish off the card, I die cut scraps of purple patterned paper from Papirdesign to adhere to the bottom right corner of the card. Onto one of the strips, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Hilsninger stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS, before I added sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards for a little bit of embellishment.
Not a lot of colors for this one.
This koala was so quick and easy to color. If you’re new to coloring, or enjoy coloring but don’t want to spend an eternity coloring one image, I’d recommend her images. They’re not super detailed, which makes them easy and fast to color.
I decided to put my colored koala in a polaroid frame, and used the largest of the dies in the Precious Polaroids die set from My Favorite Things to die cut three times from white cardstock for a stacked look on top of the cute koala.
I created a top fold A2 card base using Green Parakeet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Onto the left bottom corner of a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped some leaves from the Leaf Clusters stamp set from Altenew, using Limelight ink from My Favorite Things. This is a much more vibrant, yellowy green than what you’ll find in eucalyptus leaves, but I wasn’t going for realism with this card and happen to like the bright green – it really pops. I made sure to stamp a large enough area that some of the leaves would be visible around the polaroid frame with my koala. I also stamped the smallest leaf cluster in the Altenew stamp set near the top right corner for a little bit of balance and die cut the white panel using the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things.
I wanted a punny koala themed sentiment on my card, and the word koalaty (quality) came to mind. I needed something to use with it, and dug through my sentiment sets for one with the word friend in it. A sentiment in a stamp set from InkyWings was perfect, it said For a sweet friend. I stamped it in VersaMark ink and white heat embossed it using Super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger. I cut the sentiment down to a strip, removed the word sweet and had the perfect start and finish to my punny sentiment. Using the Connected alphabet die set from My Favorite Things, I die cut the letters to spell koalaty three times from Green Parakeet cardstock and stacked them for a dimensional look. I die cut an additional three white ones for the letters that hang off the polaroid (ATY) and glued these behind the green ones so the letters would all be flush on the card. I also added some additional layers of cardstock behind the white heat embossed strips for that little bit of added dimension, before finishing off the card with a few enamel dots from Papirdesign.
The dimension is more visible in this photo, I love adding dimension to my cards. Dimension is life 😉 I cut the layered up white A in half, because only half the letter hangs off the edge. The letters that have the white die cuts behind them kind of look like they’re floating on the card.
Super simple color palette for this one.
I colored up 
These clusters are pretty easy to put together. On my desk I keep a bin with die cut scraps of patterned paper. I organize these scraps by color, and put each color in a stamp storage bag. Whenever I want to create a cluster, I choose the colors that go with my card, dump the contents of the storage pockets on my desk and play. This time I used three bags; the blue, the green and the gray – it’s nice to throw a neutral into the mix. The scraps I used for this card are from a few different companies. The blue ones are from Papirdesign (the grey with the blue stars is the back of that blue with the lighter dots), the green ones are from 3ndypapir and Karen Foster, with a little bit of New Leaf cardstock from Papertrey Ink thrown in for a darker green to make the dark blue a little less dominant. The top grey one is actually from Magnolia, whereas the one with the sentiment is from DCWV. The sentiment itself is from Norsk Stempelblad, stamped in Cornflower ink from My Favorite Things. To finish off the card I added a few green enamel dots from Papirdesign.
This color palette makes me happy.
I stamped and masked all these critters. From left to right we have 
There are two sentiments that come with Petunia that you can stamp in the banner. One is the hip hip hooray!, which I white heat embossed, the other says Happy birthday! This card is a bit of an odd size. I needed it big to fit all my images, and it measures 7 1/4 x 5 1/16″. I probably could have trimmed off a little bit on the sides and on the bottom (or top) to make it an even A7 size, but this is what I wound up with. I’ll probably make my own envelope to fit anyway.
Lots of Copics used for this one. I tried to make the colors of the critters different even though I have two brown ones and two gray ones. I love the Copic range of earth tones and gray tones, it really does allow you the option to create different colors within the same color family.
I printed the image towards the bottom left of my panel of X-Press It blending card and colored it with Copics. I’ve colored this girl once before, but I decided to go for a different color scheme this time, I think the only thing that’s stayed the same since the last card is the coloring on the watermelon. The printer doesn’t print all the way to the edge, so I cut off a little strip on the left side and decided to add a strip of yellow patterned paper from Papirdesign on the right to balance out the design and fill the front of this A2 card.
And as usual, I finish with the Copics I used. Quite a few for this super simple image, I reckon.
I printed the image in the center of a panel of X-Press It blending card and colored it in with Copics.
I used the largest die in the Wonky Stitched Rectangles STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create a little bit of interest on the edge of my panel.
I adhered the panel to a top fold A2 landscape card base I created from Bright Buttercup cardstock from Papertrey Ink. The yellow border around the edge picks up the yellow of the flowers and makes them pop.
I added a few yellow sequins from the Seashore mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards around the image and sentiment, and my card was finished.
The end result is a very mail friendly card without a lot of bulk. The sequins add a tiny bit of lift off the base of the card, but not much.
Simple color palette for this one.
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Lee’s Dragons, and this one holding sunflowers was begging for a blue/yellow combo. Once I’d colored the image with Copics, I used the second largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things to give the panel a nice finishing edge. I adhered it to a card base I created from Cornflower cardstock, also from MFT.
I die cut a heart from Bright Buttercup cardstock from Papertrey Ink and stamped a sentiment from an Inky Wings stamp set in the center using Cornflower ink from My Favorite Things. I added the heart using foam tape and then a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off this simple card.
I stamped the image using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, before creating a mask, adding that on top and stamping the 
I colored in my scene using Copics and stamped a sentiment from the older 
Last, but not least – the Copics I used. I also used B30 (which is a color I’ve created myself) for the sky in addition to B32.
I printed the image with the accompanying sentiment and made it bigger than what I normally color. I wanted the focus to really be on this stamp.
I colored the image with Copics, then used a die from the A2 Double Stitched Rectangles STAX set from My Favorite Things to create the faux stitch look around the edge that I really enjoy having on my cards.
I adhered the panel to a card base I created from Pure Poppy cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
The red cardstock matches the red balloon and really makes it pop.
To finish the card I added Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh here and there. These are my favorite sequins, and they’re near impossible to find in stock anywhere. I need to get some more soon, though, I’ve almost run out.
Last, but not least; the colors I used for this. The ones on the bottom row were all used for the balloon. I went a little overboard on the balloon.
Papirmølla 