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

May 28, 2021May 28, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! You may think I’ve lost my mind making Christmas cards in May, but I actually enjoy making them all year. It saves me from having to scramble last minute in November to get them all done. It’s also been really wet and cold here lately, so it’s felt like we’re closer to Christmas than to summer. It’s sunny today, though, and tomorrow, the temperature’s supposed to creep over 20! Feels like spring is finally on its way now that it’s actually almost over.

I colored Winter Fun with my Copics, trimmed off a little on the sides and adhered my panel onto a top fold white card base.

I don’t normally use red on my Christmas card, but when I can pair it with blue or grey, I can tolerate it. The coloring on this card is pretty busy (it’s all those stripes), so I needed my sentiment to stand out. I used a god jul die from Papirdesign, and in the sleeve with the die were 7 white die cuts that were apparently scrapped from a previous project. I glued them together for a stacked look, die cutting one more to put on top from Electric Red card stock from My Favorite Things. Sadly, they’ve discontinued this color. I’m super picky about my reds, and this one is nice and rich and dark. I heat embossed a sub sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a strip of more of that red card stock, and mounted it on foam tape below my die cut. To finish off the card and add a little more dimension and interest, I sprinkled some snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards here and there. I love these little clay snowflakes.

Not a massive amount of colors for this. Everything left of E13 on the top row is used for the snow.

Happy birthday monsters {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

May 26, 2021May 24, 2021 Elin2 Comments

Hi, everyone! I’ve got a simple, colorful, dimensional birthday card to share today, featuring some adorable monsters from Mo Manning. They’re from the Cupcake Monster set. It exists as a merged version, and a separated version, which is what I used today. I didn’t even use the big monster, just the smaller ones.

There are 7 small monsters in this stamp set – perfect for a rainbow. I actually colored all 7, the last little (red) monster’s on the inside of the card, you’ll have to trust me on that 🙂 Once I was done coloring, I fussy cut them all, leaving a thin white border on the outside edge of each. I usually prefer cutting right up against the line, but these are so small, and those candles so thin, that there was just no way to do it.

I used the Simply hexagons die from Pinkfresh Studio to create some hexagons from Soft Stone cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love this soft grey for a neutral on neutral look. I adhered the hexagons in the center of a white top fold card base using foam tape.

I put the monsters on 1 mm foam squares, cutting the squares into little slivers to put behind their feet and the candles. These monsters really are tiny, but I wanted the dimension, so I think it was still worth the extra effort.

I stamped and heat embossed a sentiment from the Over under easy stamp set from Papertrey Ink onto Smokey Shadow cardstock, also from Papertrey Ink. I love the cardstock colors from PTI, they’re my favorite!! I cut the sentiment down to two strips and adhered them at wonky angles with foam tape, before finishing off the card with a few sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

Lots of Copics for this one. That happens with rainbows 🙂

Mr. Fixit {Purple Onion Designs}

May 25, 2021May 24, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I’ve got a simple card with some dimension and fussy cutting to share today, featuring a couple of stamps from the latest release from Stacey Yacula and Purple Onion Designs.

I started by stamping Milton the bear and the ivy cottage in Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, coloring in both images with my Copics. I fussy cut both right up to the stamped lines, and used a die from the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from MFT to do some partial die cutting of the cottage. I wanted the foreground to have that nice stitched edge, but not cut off the tree – partial die cutting is great for that.

On a piece of white cardstock, I used the cloud stencil from My Favorite Things to ink blend some puffy clouds with Iceberg ink from Altenew. I die cut this panel with that same die that I used for the ivy cottage, adhered it directly onto a white top fold card base, and mounted the ivy cottage onto that using 1 mm foam squares. I added Milton on top with more 1 mm foam squares, stamped a sentiment from the Around the Town sentiment set using Soft Granite ink from Hero Arts, and added the sentiment towards the top of the card using foam tape. I adhered a few sequins from the white orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish my card. I need to create a slightly bigger envelope than usual for this card. The tree hanging out from the edge means it won’t fit in a standard envelope for A2 cards.

Not a whole lot of Copics for this one. Lots of green, though.

Hang in there {Purple Onion Designs}

May 20, 2021May 20, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have a very clean and simple card to share today, featuring some more stamps from the latest release from Stacey Yacula and Purple Onion Designs.

I thought the Hang in there sentiment from the Around the Town sentiment set (also new with this release) would be the perfect accompaniment to the clothes line. I could have kept my card even simpler by not adding anything else to it, but I wanted to create a little scene. I stamped Jane the fox waving hello at the very front and added in one of the stamps from the country flowers set to fill out my scene a little. They match the little sprigs at the bottom of the clothes line perfectly. I stamped the countryside horizon towards the top of my panel and colored everything with my Copics.

Once my entire scene was colored, I used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles dies from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with a nice faux stitch egde and adhered it to a top fold white card base. I stamped the sentiment using Blueberry Sky ink from Papertrey Ink, die cutting it into a nice banner using one of the dies in the Fishtail Flag Frames die set from My Favorite Things. I adhered it to my card using foam tape and added some blue enamel dots from Papirdesign to finish.

I’ve colored a lot of scenery for the cards I’ve made with this release, and wanted to get a different green look for the grass and trees for this card compared to the others, which have all been fairly bright. This is a more subdued green, I kind of like it.

Hope your day is peachy keen! {Purple Onion Designs}

May 14, 2021May 13, 2021 Elin1 Comment

Hi, everyone! I have a peachy keen card to share today, using a few of the stamps from the most recent release from Purple Onion Designs. You can still purchase the entire collection in a bundle at a 30 % discount, an offer that expires at midnight tonight EST.

My card is actually a tri-fold card. My original plan was a regular card with a window on the front and the remainder of the scene on the inside, but I really wanted to use William the owl for this card while still keeping it an A2 size, and there just wasn’t room for him, so I opted for a tri-fold design. I started by stamping and masking Alice the squirrel and the crate of apples from the fruit crates set, and then stamping the produce stand. I colored everything with my Copics, used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles dies from My Favorite Things to turn it into a nice panel and adhered it to the front of a sidefold A2 card card base. Using a craft knife, I cut the opening in the fruit stand through both layers of paper, making sure to be very careful around those garlics so I didn’t chop them off.

On a separate piece of X-Press It blending card, I stamped the remaining two fruit crates, masking the one with the lemons and adding Jane the fox behind it, stamping her so she’d be perfectly placed in the window on the front of the card when it’s closed. You can see the back of the window on the left in this photo. I used the same die from MFT to die cut this panel too, and added a sentiment from the Around the Town sentiment set above the cute fox. I adhered the panel on the back of another sidefold card and glued the two cards together to make my tri-fold.

William gets to steal the show on the middle inside of the card. The front is to his left (you can see the window there) and the panel with the fox and the two fruit crates on the back of the part you can see to his right. He might look a little mis-placed since he’s not tucked in a corner, but it’s with good reason. The panel on the right (which is the back of the one with the fox) has plenty of room for a personal message.

Here’s a bit of a close up. I prefer not to color with my Copics on regular card stock, so I stamped him on X-Press It, colored him with Copics, fussy cut him and glued him to the card base, using a think black pen to draw his feet back in and some gray colored pencils on the card base to ground him.

If you close the front of the card without folding the panel with the fox back where it belongs, it looks like William is the one standing behind the produce stand. This was my reason for placing him where I did, I wanted to have the option of keeping the card half open, so he’d appear in the window instead of Jane.

I used a ton of Copics for this card.

Birthday wishes {Streamside Studios}

May 11, 2021May 11, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there. I have a super simple birthday card to share today, featuring the Turtley Awesome digital stamp set from Streamside Studios. This card is actually part of an Instagram hop, so if you head over to Instagram and hop along, you’re in with a chance to win some prizes. Who doesn’t like prizes, right?

I colored two of the tortoises (the other one’s on the inside of the card) and fussy cut both. I printed one of the watercolor splashes from Lili of the Valley at 50 % opacity straight onto the card base. I love the watercolor look, but hate getting inky fingers, and this way, there’s no drying time, and I can use my nice white cardstock and not have to rely on the more yellow watercolor paper.

Here you can see a little of the tortoise I glued to the inside of the card. On the front, I added a stacked wishes sentiment (die from Mama Elephant). It’s six die cuts thick for some real dimension.

I stamped and white heat embossed part of a birthday sentiment from a Simon Says Stamp/Concord and 9th Stamptember collaboration set onto a piece of Smokey Shadow card stock from Papertrey Ink, mounted it on foam tape and adhered it above the w.

To finish off the card, I added some sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. It’s a great mix of sequins in four different sizes, I really love using them on my cards.

Welcome to the world {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

May 10, 2021May 10, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! Today I’m sharing a super simple card (I feel like I always say that), featuring an image (Dinosaur Friends) from Rachelle Anne Miller from the release that’s coming later this week.

I colored the image with my Copics, using the largest of the A2 Stitched rectangles dies from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with a nice faux stitch edge. I adhered it to a card base made from Lush Lagoon card stock from My Favorite Things and wanted to keep everything simple and the focus on the image. I did that by adding just a sentiment strip (white heat embossed sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS) and a sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

Simple coloring, simple color palette.

One for the books {Purple Onion Designs}

May 9, 2021May 1, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, everyone! I have another card to share featuring the new spring release from Purple Onion Designs. This card is very different. First of all, it’s a slimline card, which I don’t make too many of (on account of them being difficult to photograph). Secondly, I only used 6 Copic markers for the entire card. I’ve dabbled with grayscale images in the past, but always with a pop of color somewhere. This one is all about those grays. Oh, and those fabulous new images, of course.

I stamped and masked George the raccoon on a piece of X-Press It blending card that I’d already die cut using the slimline starter die set from My Favorite Things. I stamped Room with a view so George is standing firmly on the balcony, then stamped the book store (minus the roof of the book store) below it and then the balcony railing directly over top of the raccoon once I’d removed the mask.

I colored the entire panel with my 6 chosen Copics, adhered the panel onto a card base I made from Stamper’s Select White card stock from Papertrey Ink.

Deciding to keep the grayscale going on the inside of the card, I stamped one of the sentiments in the “Around the Town” sentiment set using VersaMark ink on a piece of Steel Gray card stock from My Favorite Things, and heat embossed it in white, before adhering the sentiment to the inside of the card. Super simple.

The Ns and Ts are my favorite Copic grays. For this card, I went with the Ns.

Surprise {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

May 5, 2021May 4, 2021 Elin4 Comments

Hi, there! I can’t believe it’s May and the last month of spring already. It doesn’t really feel like spring, though, it’s still really cold with snow in the forecast for today. What do I do when it’s cold? I escape by coloring summery images, like this I like you image from Mo’s Digital Pencil.

For someone who claims that her favorite color is blue, I haven’t really used a lot of blue lately. It might have something to do with the fact that I associate blue with Christmas, but it might also be that I’ve found myself a new favorite. A double favorite, even. I’ve used the combination of teal and peach on so many of my cards lately, I might have to put away those markers for a bit and try some other colors. 😉

I changed up my teal combo a little bit for this girl and even introduced a green in my combo, making her shirt super light in the highlight areas. I even tried a new combo for her hair, which matched surprisingly well with those yellow flowers she’s holding. Once I was done coloring, I used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX dies from My Favorite Things to turn my colored piece into a panel with nice faux stitch edges.

On my desk I keep a tub of die cut paper scraps that I use for my embellishment clusters. I dug through it and found various pieces that I thought would fit this card well. They’re from a mix of companies: Maja Design, Studio Light, P13 and Sunny Studio. I love creating these clusters, they’re so fun to put together, and a great way to make use of scraps (not that my pile of scraps shrinks too much with each card). At the bottom is part of a mini paper doily from Doodlebug, and I added some enamel dots from the Warm and Cozy set from Altenew to finish.

I white heat embossed the sentiment from the Hilsninger stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS and die cut that using the smallest of the fishtail flag frames dies from My Favorite Things. After chopping off the overhang, I had a little piece of that doily left and the end of the sentiment banner, which I adhered in the bottom left corner of the card. I like not wasting my scraps, and this is a great way to use them.

Most of the pieces in my embellishment cluster are mounted on 1 mm foam squares for dimension. Foam without a ton of dimension is key for this, otherwise the card gets super thick from all the layers.

Quite a few Copics for such a simple image.

Thanks a bunch {Purple Onion Designs}

May 4, 2021May 1, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have another card to share today featuring new goodies from the latest release over at Purple Onion Designs.

Isn’t this bunny with her bouquet of flowers adorable? Look at that sweet smile. I love Stacey Yacula’s illustration style, she really brings her characters to life. This is Junie. I colored her with my Copics and decided to fussy cut her.

I pulled out a piece of patterned paper from the Dots & Stripes Pastels pack from Sunny Studio and cut it down to a strip, using one of the Stitched Borders dies from Lawn Fawn on both sides for a nice finished look. I die cut a white card stock circle using a die from My Favorite Things, and mounted it on foam tape.

I stamped and white heat embossed one of the sentiments in the “Around the Town” sentiment set on a piece of Melon Berry card stock and mounted it on foam tape, before adding my bunny with some 1 mm foam squares on top of the white circle.