Hi, crafty friends. Popping by today with a fun birthday card featuring a couple of cuties from the newest A Special Day release from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula.
I really wanted to create a birthday card with Bugsy (what a great name for a bunny, btw) and Jessie. They’re on their way to a birthday party and I stamped them using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, making sure to stamp Bugsy in a way that made part of the balloon hang off the edge of the panel, creating the illusion that the scene extends beyond the card to other partygoers and the birthday boy or girl. I did a teeny tiny masking on top of the balloon to stamp the Tree Line stamp from a previous release using Fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a soft no line look on the horizon.
I colored in my scene using Copics. I started with the sky (I don’t even remember what color I used there, sorry), before coloring the trees, the ground, then the critters. I struggled with my colors on this one. I wanted the trees to be a muted green way back in the distance, but the colors I used felt too gray, so I added a couple of more vibrant greens to make them come alive a little bit more.
I managed to make the same mistake with the ground. I originally wanted a muted green, because most of the green backgrounds I’ve colored using stamps from this release have been very vibrant. As it turns out, I’m not as big a fan of the muted green look when it’s down on paper as opposed to what I envision in my head before I start. I was originally only going to use three green markers for the ground, I ended up with eight, and I’m still not entirely happy with it. It’s messier than what I’m used to, and I struggled with the blending.
I used the largest die from the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to turn my colored panel into one with a nice faux stitch edge, and adhered it to a top fold A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love the look of the faux stitch with that thin white border going around the edge. For my sentiment I die cut the Happy Birthday Brush Script die from Simon Says Stamp four times from white cardstock and glued them together for a stacked, dimensional look, and I had just the right spot to adhere it to the card.
At that point I thought the card was a little plain and decided to add some “flowers” by drawing in white dots in a few clusters on the green grass. This adds a little bit of interest, but I still didn’t think it was enough, so I pulled out my Frosted Lace Stickles and added a thick layer to the balloon, before deciding to also add it to the die cut letters. This helped a little more, but I felt like I needed another element in the sky, it was still pretty plain. Using the Cloud 1 & 2 die set from Papertrey Ink, I die cut four small clouds from vellum. I glued two and two together and adhered them to the sky, which really helped pull the entire design together. This was an evolution of a card (I also colored the bird yellow to begin with, but decided I wanted it red and colored red over the yellow), but it came together in the end.
I used quite a few Copics for this one. I have a feeling I may have used B00 for the sky, but I’m not entirely sure.
Today is the last day for the 30% discount off the entire A Special Day release bundle, and also the last day to get 10% off the individual stamps in this release, so if you want them and have been on the fence, now is the time to get them and save.
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 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.
My first card with images from the release is this one. I love creating birthday cards, so this collection is right up my alley!! Using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, I stamped and masked 
I cut down my colored panel ever so slightly and adhered it to a top fold A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love that little 1/16″ border around the edge.
I kind of thought I’d use a whole lot more Copics for a full panel card, but I admit I love the orange color with the teal and the bright green, it’s such a classic color combo for a reason.
This time, I have a fun slimline card to share featuring 
I used a couple of dies from My Favorite Things to create the window openings and the faux stitch edge around the white cardstock. I stamped the 
I colored both the images in greys and reds and mounted the white panel with the window openings using foam tape for dimension. This cat is like a grey version of Garfield, it’s too funny.
Fiona looks like she’s kind of done with Christmas, Shari creates so much personality in each of her critters.
I kept the card very simple, but did add a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I colored and fussy cut 
For the background I used the largest die in the Stitched Traditional Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things and die cut two of these from Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things, before gluing them back to back. On the back I simply stamped a To/From stamp and on the front, I used the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp along with some paste for a subtle snowy effect in the background.
I used quite a few colors for the fur on the squirrel, but the rest of the colors are pretty basic.
I stamped the image using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, before coloring with my Copics. I love love love the way rubber stamps stamp even the thinnest lines. It’s great for details, and Stacey Yacula’s illustration style gets to shine. Her line work is very delicate, which pairs so well with rubber stamping, because you’re able to easily stamp all the little details.
I used a die in the Slim Card Basics die set from Mama Elephant to create a cloud border above my stamped and colored image, and used the same die on a separate piece of cardstock. I found a scrap piece of patterned paper from Scenic Route that I added to my card base, then added my cloud pieces on top using foam tape.
I used two sentiments from the 
Using the lower case Parker alphabet die set from Memory Box, I die cut each letter three times from Harvest Gold cardstock from Papertrey Ink to spell the word hello. I stacked my die cuts and adhered them to the right of Junie using liquid glue.
To finish the card I added a few yellow sequins from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. These are actually from the Candy Corn mix; a Halloween mix with orange, yellow and clear sequins and gems which even has a few tiny ghosts made from acetate thrown in. It’s a fun mix.
Simple color palette for this one.
As soon as I saw this train, I immediately thought of the movie The Polar Express, which happens to be my favorite animated Christmas movie. I colored my train in similar colors to the one in the movie, and I put a mask on top when my coloring was done and airbrushed the sky, moon and glow coming from the headlight.
My best friend and I have a tradition where we sit down and watch this movie every year, and I thought the sentiment from the 
The sentiment is actually one long line, but I did some masking to create a staggered one, which I thought fit my card better. I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark ink and heat embossed it in white using Super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger.
I created the moon by first masking off a circle as I airbrushed the sky, then I used the moon mask that was part of the Tim Holtz/Simon Says Stamp collaboration set for Stamptember 2021 to create my moon.
Once I’d created my moon I covered the circle opening again with VersaMark ink and sprinkled on Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder from Judikins, which I then melted. It gives the moon a nice sparkly glow. I thought that would be a nice detail to add to what is otherwise a very simple card. I adhered the colored scene to a white top fold card base and decided not to embellish, I wanted the image to be the focal point on this card.
Lots of Copics for this one. The ones after the white gap are the ones I used to airbrush the sky, moon and the glow from the headlight.
I stamped and masked 
I colored in the scene using my Copics, and I actually used all the gray families for this, something that rarely happens. I tend to stick to one or maaaaybe two, but using all four made sense for this card.
On a piece of Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped the 
The sentiment is a mix of a stamp from the 
To finish the card I added a few Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh around the sentiment.
Lots of Copics for this one, but not a lot of color. Like I mentioned, I used all the gray families for this card.
For this slightly larger than normal slimline card, I stamped the 
I cut down my background so that it would fit on my cardbase, which I created from Sprout cardstock from Concord & 9th. I stamped a sentiment from the 
It shows better in this photo that the dogs are slightly raised off the background. It adds a fun detail to an otherwise very simple card. This is the point where I’d normally share the Copics I used, but I seem to have misplaced my post-it note where I’d written it down. Things were kind of hectic before the holidays when I made this.
Papirmølla 