Christening {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. Today, I’m sharing a quick Christening card with Mo Manning’s Christening image. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve used this particular image, but it’s so versatile! This image is only available in her old shop until the end of the year, so if you want it, don’t wait too long to get it.

I colored the image and die cut it using one of the circle dies in the Stitched Circle STAX die set from My Favorite Things. I also die cut circles from grey cardstock and patterned paper from the Denim & Friends collection from Maja Design using the Nesting Circles die set from Lifestyle Crafts. The shape of the card is created with the Nesting Frames #8 die set from Lifestyle Crafts.

I popped some pieces up using foam tape, die cut the letters for the name using an alphabet die set from Scrapmagasinet and adhered the letters to a banner I die cut with an old die from Spellbinders. I used an old die from Marianne Design for the spriggy things on the left, and used some old Blueberry Sky buttons from Papertrey Ink to embellish.

Very limited color palette for this one.

Let it snow {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. Today, I’m sharing with you a very simple card featuring Giggling Snowman from Mo Manning. This is probably my most used image of hers, and it’s 50 % off right now. She has a new store (here), which means that everything in the old store (here) is half off. The old store will close at the end of the year, so if you want something there, it’s best to get it as soon as you can.

I went for a no line version this time. This is probably my most used image from Mo, and I love how easy he is to color. I chose a pink color combo that I really like, and I think this could work both as a holiday card and as a general winter card. I added the dots back into his scarf using an extra fine white Sharpie, and then fussy cut him. He’s pretty easy to fussy cut, too. I used the Sparkling snow embossing folder from Simon Hurley (Spellbinders) on the background for some texture. I love the detail this embossing folder gives, and they’re proper six pointed snowflakes and not the weird 8 pointed ones that some companies make. Real snowflakes never have eight points, they always come in multiples of six. It has to do with the way water molecules are formed and then bind together. Anyway, it’s a great embossing folder and it adds interest to an otherwise plain background.

I trimmed my embossed panel slightly, added a couple of layers behind it and adhered it to a card base covered with a panel of Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink. On a separate piece of Autumn Rose cardstock, I stamped a sentiment from the Snøstorm stamp set from byCino using VersaMark ink, before sprinkling on super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger and melting it until it was smooth. I cut my sentiment down to a wide strip, added a layer to the back of it for a little bit of dimension, then put a couple of additional layers behind the snowman before gluing him down and finishing the card with a few sequins from the Assorted Moonshine mix from Simon Says Stamp.

Simple color palette for this one.

Just a little hello {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. We’re in the middle of a heat wave, and this little kid from 3 on a bench from Mo Manning has got the right idea, cooling down with a popsicle.

I colored the image with Copics, opting for the cool grays for the bench. I wasn’t planning on making it this dark originally, but when my C9 made a blob, dark was the only way to go. It still works, and I don’t think you can really see where the blob was. I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to trim the panel down a little, then a large blending brush to add some soft blue to the background. I didn’t add any ink to the brush, I simply used whatever was left from a previous project.

I stamped a sentiment from the Småtekster stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS next to the bench using Tide Blue ink from Altenew. I added my colored piece to a panel of Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th, which I then adhered to a top fold white card base. I die cut the word hei twice from Green Parakeet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, stacked them and adhered my double die cut next to the boy on the bench before adding a few die cut clouds and some dew drops. Both the cloud dies and dew drops are from Concord & 9th.

I used quite a few colors for this very simple image.

Confirmation blast {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back today with a confirmation card I made on commission. I was told that the recipient does kickboxing, likes car races, swimming (lake or beach doesn’t matter as long as it’s water) and is a bit of a prankster. Lots of interests that I tried to incorporate into my card. They’re all very different interests, so I had a tough time figuring out what to do, but the card was a huge hit with the recipient, and that’s never a bad thing.

I looked for a kickboixng image I could color up, as I wanted that to be the main focus on the card – it was his main hobby. I didn’t have one, nor could I find one, but I found this greyscale sketched image with boxing gloves that was perfect.

The gloves cover the entire front of the card. I still needed something to color, because a black and white image isn’t very interesting on its own. I settled on Blast from Mo Manning, which was the perfect image for a prankster who loves water. I colored it up in very vibrant colors, making sure to include some red, which I thought would work great with the boxing theme AND the car racing theme. I fussy cut him and placed him on top of one of the gloves. He blended in with the background a little too much, so I decided to print the gloves again, this time with a very low opacity. I fussy cut the glove, scored it on one side and made it into a flap that opens. Put the colored image on top of this one, and now it didn’t get lost in the background. I also added a bit of Glossy Accents to the goggles for a bit of shine.

I mounted the colored image on pieces of foam tape, making sure to add a magnet in a strategic spot to keep the flap from opening on its own. I put another magnet behind the image of the gloves to keep both magnets hidden. They’re still plenty strong enough to work through a couple of layers of cardstock.

Once you open the glove fully, there’s a sentiment from an old confirmation stamp set from Stempelglede, stamped in Wild Cherry ink from My Favorite Things. I used one of the dies in the Essential Stitched Sentiment Strips die set from My Favorite Things to create a flag end to pull the glove open when the card is closed. The magnets are so strong, it won’t open on its own, and by adding the little flag end, it gives the recipient a little clue to look behind the glove.

Back to the front of the card when it’s closed. I stamped an white heat embossed the word KONFIRMANT from the A05 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a piece of Red Hot cardstock from My Favorite Things, and then die cut it using a banner die from MFT – they have lots! I popped it up and made sure the end crossed into the image, to tie the two together. I did the same thing with my letters, die cut using the In Stitches Alphabet die set from My Favorite Things, also from Red Hot cardstock. I stacked a few layers for dimension and stability, the L and the U are only barely attached to the glove and the back of his left leg, so they needed a little bit of strength.

I finished off the front with a few red enamel dots from Papirdesign.

On the inside, I printed and cut out a checkerboard pattern, which I thought worked well with the car racing theme. There’s still plenty of room to write a personal message. I also used the Wax Seals die set from Waffle Flower to create a rosette badge with a Norsk Stempelblad AS confirmation sentiment heat embossed in the center. I used the Itty Bitty Strips dies from My Favorite Things to create the ribbon ends hanging down from the actual rosette.

On the back of the card, I used more of that checkerboard pattern, stamped another confirmation sentiment (it’s actually an Emerson quote) and used the Splash die set from Papirdesign to create some water splashes from Summer Splash cardstock from My Favorite Things. I thought they tied in well with the super soakers in the colored image on the front of the card.

A simple color palette to finish off. This card was a hard nut to crack, but once I got going I had a blast (no pun intended) creating it.

Balancing act {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends! It’s no secret that I love the elves from Mo Manning. For this card, I let Little Elf Kippa leave a trail of baubles on her way through the living room. Those baubles are big and probably tough to balance.

I separated out the baubles from the image and did some copy paste work to create my scene. It’s one of the advantages of using digital stamps, and it makes them super versatile. I drew in a base board at the back with a black Copic multiliner and colored my scene.

I fussy cut around the back bauble and base board and adhered my colored piece onto a piece of patterned paper from ModaScrap that acts as a wall paper for my background. To make it even more obvious that it’s supposed to be a wall, I stamped part of the Window Signs image from Purple Onion Designs using Altenew Obsidian ink onto a scrap piece of X-Press It blending card that I’d colored with one of the neutral colors (E81) I used for my baubles. I then die cut that using the Postage Collage Die set from Waffle Flower and adhered it to my wall, drawing in strings and a nail on the wall for it to hang from.

I stamped a sentiment from the Merry Greetings stamp set from Mama Elephant using Melon Berry ink from Papertrey Ink. It matches really well with the coloring. I adhered my scene to a card base covered with a quarter sheet of Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th to create a matching frame and my card was finished.

Limited Copic color palette for this one. I also used W3, W1 and W0, but I see now that I cut my graphic off too short, so they’re missing here.

May all your wishes come true {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I shared the coloring of this cute Kissing Frogs image from Mo Manning last week on Instagram, with promises to share the finished card this week. Today’s the day, because the week is almost over. Time is flying by so quickly right now, it’s crazy.

When I printed my image, I printed Kissing Frogs in full strength, but I also put the Cottage Treehouse behind her at a 10 % opacity. I erased the bottom part of the background before printing it all, and I like the look of the faint background behind the little princess.

Once my coloring was complete, I used the Notebook Edge die from My Favorite Things to cut from the edge of the panel for a little bit of interest. I mounted my little scene using foam tape onto a card base I created from Cornflower cardstock from My Favorite Things.

I stamped a sentiment from the Birthday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using VersaMark ink onto a scrap of Cornflower cardstock, added super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger and heat embossed. I always heat emboss from the back of the back of the cardstock only, it gives a much better result than heat embossing from the front.

I cut my sentiment down to a strip, added a couple of layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and adhered it near the top left of the card, before finishing off with a few gems and confetti stars from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. The stars made me think of “When you wish upon a star”, which goes perfectly with the sentiment and the “Once upon a time” theme for the Coloring Club Challenge.

I used a fairly limited color palette for this one, I feel.

Christening {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends! I shared this card on the Mo Manning Dream Team blog last week, but thought I’d share it here as well. When I first started making cards, they were very layered with lots of embellishments. These days, I’m more of a clean and simple (or in my case clean and time consuming) maker, but every once and again, I go back to my roots, and that’s definitely true for this card.

I made a Christening card this time, for a little boy whose christening was this Sunday. I’ve used this image so many times over the years I’ve lost count. I colored the image with Copics and die cut it using the Stitched Circle STAX die set from My Favorite Things. I matted it on a piece of Maja Design patterned paper cut with the Nesting Circles die set from Lifestyle Crafts.

I created a shaped card using the Nesting Frames 8 die set from Lifestyle Crafts, and used a few sizes of this die for the patterned paper panels on my card, which are all created from the Vintage Spring Basics collection from Maja Design. I die cut a white doily using the English Tea Party die from Cheery Lynn, mounted it in the center of the card and added my circles on top. I die cut the letters to spell the boy’s name using Die 304 from Kort & Godt and adhered them to a strip I die cut with the Essential Stitched Sentiment Strips die set from My Favorite Things. I added some Studio Calico veneer stars to embellish and a button from Kort & Godt that I put on top of a bow I created from Chalk White seam binding which I’d colored with Copic B95 and B91. This took me back – I used to color seam binding with Copics to match my card sooo often back in the day, and it honestly made me a little nostalgic doing this.

The insides of the card have the same basic layout as the front, just different patterns, and I left the stitched circles plain white for the personal message. On the back of the card, I die cut a pre printed image from Kort & Godt, found another button and added a star on each side of it to finish.

Very limited color palette for this one, there wasn’t much to color.

Have a holly jolly Christmas {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. Today, I’m sharing with you a card featuring Giggling Snowman from Mo Manning. This is one of my all time favorite images from Mo, and if you look closely at the tiny little image next to the header in the tab in your browser, you’ll see it’s the same little guy.

I love coloring this image in noline versions. I usually print with his eyes and eyebrows in a dark brown and the rest of him in a super light grey. I kept the snow on the ground around him this time, and cut away the part of the panel that above my imagined horizon line. I created stars in the sky by using solar paste from Simon Hurley (in the golden hour color) through the Falling stars stencil from Simon Says Stamp onto the front of an A2 card base I created from After midnight cardstock from My Favorite Things.

Once the stars were dry, I adhered my panel with my snowman, adding die cut trees a little bit below the horizon line. I created the trees by coloring a scrap piece of X-Press It using the same green markers I used for the image, before die cutting them using the Silhouette Snow Trees die set from Mama Elephant. I finished off the trees with some liquid glue and Rock Candy distress glitter for a sparkly, snowy look. For a sentiment I die cut the words holly jolly from the Jolly Holiday greeting die set from Concord & 9th five times from white cardstock and adhered them all together for a stacked, dimensional look and completed the greetings with some small words from the Holiday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant that I stamped in Obsidian ink from Altenew onto pieces of cardstock I colored with the lightest of the green markers I used for the snowman and the trees.

Fairly simple color palette for this one, although I don’t think I’ll ever have a limited color palette for snow, I always choose a lot of colors to create snow.

Have a holly jolly Christmas {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a simple holiday card to share today, featuring Sneaking a peek from Mo Manning. I’ve used this image in the past, it’s so cute and quick to color.

I colored the image with Copics and fussy cut it. It’s an easy one to fussy cut, so that helps. I die cut a frame from the Mega Snowflake Cover die set from Mama Elephant three times from white cardstock, stacked them and adhered the stack to a card base I created from Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things, before mounting the image with foam squares.

I used one of the dies in the Jolly Holiday Greetings die set from Concord & 9th to die cut a few times from white cardstock and stacked those as well. I adhered the stacked die cut to my card base. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Holiday stamp set from My Favorite Things onto Amarena Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things, cut the sentiment apart and used part of it to complete the sentiment on the card, before finishing off with a few pearls from the Glossy Porcelain mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Simple color palette.

Hello friend {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I haven’t shared many cards recently, and I apologize for that – there have just been too many things lately needing my attention, and it means less time in the craft room. I do have a new card today, though (yay), featuring this cute Peaches image from Mo Manning. I’ve used this one before, and it’s very summery. I’m holding onto summer (or at least the idea of summer, we didn’t really have much of a summer this year) for dear life, even though the leaves are changing colors and falling like it’s all they know how to do.

I colored her up with my Copics and kept the panel intact this time. No die cutting, no nothing. I adhered it directly to a top fold A2 card base and put a torn piece of patterned paper at the top. The paper is from the Watercolor Wishes pad from Lawn Fawn, and I white heat embossed triangles onto it to create a little more interest, using the Scattered Triangles Background stamp from My Favorite Things.

I used a small circle die to create notches near the top of the card. I stamped a sentiment from the Mini messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Obsidian ink from Altenew onto a piece of patterned paper from the Watercolor Wash Brights paper pad from My Favorite Things, and die cut it with one of the dies in the Blueprints 27 die set from My Favorite Things. I put foam tape on the back and adhered it to my card, before adding some black twine to the card, tying it in a bow at the top of the die cut. The notches help keep the twine in place. I finished off with a few pearls from the Meadow mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I love using Rs and YRs to create peach colors.