Hi, crafty friends! I have a fun gift tag to share today, featuring Flappy’s Christmas Delivery from the Tofu & Friends holiday collection from Purple Onion Designs. I love the quirky nature of the cuties in this collection from the new illustrator.
I stamped the image with Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, colored it with Copics, then stamped again, this time using Obsidian ink from Altenew for crips, dark lines. I decided to fussy cut right against the stamped lines, and put this cute dog to the side while I worked on the rest of the tag.
I die cut a tag from white cardstock using the Stitched Trad. Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things, before using Polar Bear, Icy Water and Winter Lake inks from Altenew to ink blend a soft blue sky. I die cut a couple of trees using the silhouette snow trees from Mama Elephant and adhered them on top of my ink blending. I used a die in the Stitched Hillside Borders die set from Lawn Fawn to create the faux stitch hill, then used the tag die again to die cut the bottom part and adhered it to the tag also.
I added my dog using foam squares. stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Julehilsen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto Wild Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things, before trimming it down and adding it with foam squares to the tag. I die cut a reinforcement piece from white cardstock using a die in the Fold-up Tags die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it to the top, before threading some ribbon through and adding a charm. I used some May Arts Natural Twine to tie a bow to secure everything.
On the back of the tag, I stamped the Til/Fra frame from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Obsidian ink from Altenew. I used Dark Chocolate and Classic Kraft inks from Papertrey Ink to stamp the images that make up the background. The stamps are from North Star Design, Inkido and Ladybug and Friends. I believe none of these companies are still in business, but I love these particular stamps and use them regardless.
Simple color palette for this one. No wonder, as it’s essentially just brown, gray and red.
I always say that you can’t go wrong with a penguin, and with so many images to choose from in this release, I knew I could color another penguin and the rest of the card would fall into place. 
I colored the ice first, and added a hint of reflection underneath their feet. I probably could have used a darker marker, but it’s more noticeable in real life than in the photos. Initially, I’d planned on keeping the buildings and sky uncolored, but once I’d colored the snow and the trees, it kind of all looked white, so I decided to add color to the background anyway. I colored the buildings in various shades of cool greys, before masking off the buildings and airbrushing a blue sky behind them.
I colored my critters (here you can see the reflection in the ice a bit better) before finishing up with a sentiment from the 
There’s an ice rink stamp in this release, I just really loved the large area I was able to create with this older horizon stamp.
Lots of Copics used for this card. B000 was only for airbrushing the sky.
I stamped my critters using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, added a mask and stamped the trees in the background using Stormy Sky ink from Papertrey Ink. It’s a nice grayish green that goes really well with the colors I used for the coloring of the trees. I created my signature winter sunset behind it all, and did my best to create depth in the background by varying the intensity of the coloring of the trees. Once everything was colored, I stamped the critters again, this time using Obsidian ink from Altenew for a crisp, black outline.
At the bottom, I stamped a sentiment from the 
I used lots of Copics for this one. Lots!!
Meet 
Shari Bresciani’s cast of characters is so fun and quirky. Michele at Purple Onion Designs is very good at finding illustrators with a distinct style. The left tag features 
For both of my tags, I used the Wintry Forest stencil set from Pinkfresh Studio to create my background of blue trees. I used Polar Bear, Icy Water and Winter Lake inks from Altenew to create my trees, die cut my panel into tags using the Stitched Trad. Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things, then sprinkled on Chunky White embossing enamel from Stampendous which I melted from the back for a snowy look.
I love the expression on Scruffy’s face! This tree originally has a star on top, but I wanted Starla to add the star to the tree, so I cut off the star from the top and colored the cone shaped part of the star in green, so it looks like it’s the actual tree, even though the even curved line is a telltale sign that it’s not. I don’t think many people will notice, and even less will care.
I stamped the sentiment using two ink colors from My Favorite Things: Jalapeño Popper and Sour Apple. I would have preferred a green tone with more blue in it, but I don’t have that in the ink formulation that’s best for this kind of mostly solid stamping. I find that the squishy ink pads that have become popular in recent years do better with this kind of stamping than the old firm felt pad type ink pads.
Close to the sentiment, I added pearls from the Party Girl mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I was tempted to add lots of pearls in different colors to the tree too, to act as baubles, but opted not to.
I threaded some satin ribbon through the tag hole and tied it with a piece of Natural twine from May Arts. I also added a couple of gold bells from my stash, I love tags that make that jingle sound.
Lots of colors for this, even though I felt like I didn’t use too many.
It’s Carrie’s turn. She goes so well with this snowman, you could almost think they’re one stamp and not two. I don’t mind when things hang off the edge of my cards or, in this case, tags. Will the ears and the branch get bent once this tag is on a present under the tree? Possibly. But I don’t mind, because I feel it adds to the design. If I had cut off the ears and branch to make everything fit inside the dimensions of the tag, this tag wouldn’t be as fun.
For this one, I stamped the sentiment in Amarena Cherry ink from My Favorite Things. It matches her scarf nicely.
I managed to get something sticky in the middle of Carrie. There was no way to remove it, so I was very strategic about the placement of the clay snowflakes I added. They’re Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and I love them.
I threaded ribbon through the hole at the top of the tag, tied a bow around it using more of that Natural Twine from May Arts and added a couple of gold bells to the top. Different kind of bell than on the green tag, but they still make that wonderful sound.
Lots of Copics for this one too. I just can’t help myself.
For the back of the tags, I stamped To/From from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Obsidian ink from Altenew. The remaining stamps are stamped in Classic Kraft and Dark Chocolate inks from Papertrey Ink. For some of it, I used second generation stamping. The circle stamp with 24.12 in the center and the tree stamp are both from Inkido. The little snowflakes are from North Star Design, the smaller circle stamp with God jul in the center is from Ladybug & Friends. Unless I’m mistaken, none of these companies are still in business. It’s kind of sad, but I’m very glad I have these stamps!
For this card I paired 
This is why! This image, taken from a TV advent calendar, is of the fictional character Skomaker Jens Petrus Andersen. He was the protagonist in this advent calendar and he lived (and had his shoe repair business) in this green house. If you’ve grown up in Norway after the ’70s (but before 2010), you undoubtedly know this character and this very green house. I get nostalgic just looking at the photo.
Back to the card. Once my coloring was done, I added my panel to a card base I created from Cornflower cardstock from My Favorite Things. I used the Stitched Happy Birthday rectangle die from Memory Box to die cut the word happy. The die cuts a rectangle with the words happy birthday inside, but I wanted the word happy for my card and cut it away from the rest. I stacked a few for strength and dimension and adhered it to the roof of the train station, adding a white heat embossed sub sentiment from the 
Lots of Copics for this one.
Meet 
I paired them with sentiments from the 
There are some differences between these. Kale is stamped and colored on the tag, while Flo is fussy cut and popped up. I used similar techniques for the background, but kept a lot of the same elements across both tags.
For Kale, I masked him off and ink blended around him using Coral Bliss and Pink Pearl inks from Altenew, as well as Scattered Straw Distress ink. I used the largest die in the Stitched Traditional Tag STAX set from My Favorite Things to turn him into a tag and then used the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp with Light & Fluffy Modeling Paste from The Crafter’s Workshop to create snow coming down. I used Snowfall Grit-Paste from Ranger at the bottom of the tag and sprinkled on Rock Candy distress glitter before the paste dried. I then added a snowflake charm and some ribbon at the top of the tag and tied it together with Cotton Candy twine from Whisker Graphics.
On the back of the tag I did soft ink blending using the same colors and stamped a to/from stamp from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Coral Bliss ink from Altenew.
Not a lot of colors used for this adorable bunny.
I used the same tag die, stencil, paste and inks for blending on this tag, but decided to add a little extra. I die cut the Silhouette Snow Trees from Mama Elephant from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and on the trees I added Grit-Paste and Rock Candy Distress Glitter.
I let the trees dry, used liquid glue to adhere them to the tag and added Flo on top using foam tape.
I also used foam tape on the back of the speech bubble and used ribbon, a snowflake charm and some twine at the top for this one too.
Another stamp from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS on the back of this one.
I used very bright colors for Flo.
I stamped and colored the surfboard eight times, and fussy cut them all right up against the stamped lines. I put them aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
I used the Big Happy Birthday die from My Favorite Things to die cut into a 5×7″ piece of Soft Stone cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I put acetate behind it and added the counters of the letters back into place on top of the acetate, using the actual letters as placement guides, before doubling up on foam tape on the back of the cardstock for a deep shaker well.
On a piece of X-Press It blending card, I stamped the palm trees from the 
I added seven of my surfboards to the bottom of my panel and adhered it all to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I couldn’t fit all my surfboards on the front of the card, so I glued the last one to the inside next to a sentiment from the 
Lots of colors for this one.
I stamped Mimi using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, colored her with Copics and stamped on top using Obsidian ink from Altenew, which is a super crisp pigment ink that doesn’t play well with alcohol markers, but is perfect for stamping at the end after the coloring’s done. I fussy cut her leaving a white trim, and put her to the side while I worked on the rest of the card.
I chose one of the green papers in the Watercolor Wash 6×6″ paper pad from My Favorite Things to cover the front of a landscape oriented top fold A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I cut down a white piece of cardstock and created texture using the Crystal Distortion embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp, before mounting the panel in the center of the card front using lots of foam tape.
I then used the Stitched Happy Birthday Rectangle die from Memory Box to die cut once from the green patterned paper I’d already used and 10 or 11 times (I lost count) from white cardstock to create a shaker well. I cut the words out of the white frames, stacked them, added acetate to the back of my layered frame and adhered it in the center of the card. I then filled the shaker well with the Candy mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. This mix has pearls, little flower shapes, sequins without holes, some hearts and raindrops. I topped it with another piece of acetate, then adhered the patterned paper die cut on top.
By creating the well from so many layers of cardstock, my little embellishment mix has a lot of room to shake around. A few of the pieces in there are quite large, and I didn’t want any of them getting stuck.
I added Mimi to the side of the frame. I put three layers of foam tape behind her for dimension, so she’d be level with the frame. This card has a lot of dimension, it’s almost 1/2″ at its thickest.
Simple color palette for Mimi, she’s pretty quick to color.
Meet 
I colored the scene with Copics, cropped down the panel and white heat embossed a sentiment from the coordinating sentiment set using VersaMark ink and Super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger. I added a few white dots to the wave using a Sharpie and put the panel to the side while I worked on the rest of the card.
I thought the Stitched Ripple Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn would work perfectly for a subtle wave pattern in the background. It’s a landscape oriented die and I wanted a portrait oriented card, so I die cut it twice from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before adding colored strips along the seam for a little bit of added interest. I colored the strips with a few of the Copics I used for my scene and used a die from the Blueprints 27 die set from My Favorite Things to turn them into strips of the same width.
I mounted my scene to the center of the card using foam tape, before embellishing with sequins and raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. The sequins are from her Ice Water mix.
The finished card is a simple looking one. I love adding dimension, the sequins and raindrops work perfectly with the colors and Kalei’s making the most of her summer. I hope you are too 🙂 And if you’re in the Southern hemisphere in the middle of winter right now, I feel your pain.
I tend to go overboard whenever I color skies or water.
Papirmølla 