It’s your birthday! {Purple Onion Designs}

April 12, 2021April 12, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I’m back with a birthday card for an ice cream loving friend today.

I stamped Marigold from Purple Onion Designs in Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, before masking and stamping the Ice Cream Truck and the Mountains using fadeout ink from Inkon3.

I’ll admit, this took a while to color. I always start with my background elements and finish with the main image in the scene. Believe it or not, but I actually added quite a bit of brown to those trees. I added darker greens under the wheels of the ice cream truck and under the bunny, and a little bit here and there in the rest of the scene as well, for a little bit of interest. Once the entire scene was colored in, I went in and added a few blades of grass in the foreground.

I knew even before I started that I wanted the ice cream truck to be teal. Originally, I was going for a very light color, but it was looking a bit too blue, so I went in with some darker colors and made the whole truck darker, that did the trick. I went for a corally, peachy type color for the awning and the side panel, I really like peach tones with teal. Kind of weird, since I’m not generally a fan of complementary colors, but these work.

Once everything was colored, I did some fussy cutting around the bunny’s ear and used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 dies to die cut the entire panel. Except for the ear, of course. I adhered my panel onto an A2 card base, and I admit I love the little detail of the ear sticking out past the edge of the card. Of course it meant that I needed to make my own envelope, the ear would have gotten crumpled inside the envelope had I used an A2 envelope.

I stamped one of the sentiments in the Everyday Blurbs stamp set using Distress Oxide ink in the color Peacock Feathers, before fussy cutting the speech bubble and mounting it on foam tape onto the card.

Lots and lots of Copics used for this one!

I adore you {Lili of the Valley}

April 9, 2021April 11, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have a simple card with a fun technique to share today, featuring the pencil sketch version of Grace Beauty from Lili of the Valley. I love the pencil sketch versions of these images, and I’ve done some faux watercoloring for this one.

I printed the image onto Fabriano Artistico Extra White watercolor paper and did some Copic coloring. Yes, this is done with Copics, but not with the markers. Copic markers and watercolor paper are a bad match, the paper will ruin the nibs. I thought these sketchy images would be perfect with watercolor, but my printer and watercolor aren’t a good match either. That, and my watercolors still scare me. What never scares me are my Copics, so I filled a little bit of Copic blender solution into a water brush (one that I’ve designated for use with Copics) and used that as my paint brush, picking up drops of refill in various colors from a smooth, slick surface.

It’s not as precise as regular Copic coloring, but it’s a pretty fast, forgiving technique, and it’s a lot of fun to get more uses out of the markers (and the refills). It ticks all the boxes for me. I get the watercolor look that I like, without having to wait for things to dry (because the alcohol in the Copics evaporates a lot faster than water does), I can “watercolor” digital images with Copics because the ink won’t bleed. You don’t need a lot of colors either, and if you don’t have the refills, you can use the actual marker to scribble onto an acrylic block or another slick, non absorbent surface. One of these days I’ll practice coloring regular stamps with my actual watercolors, I just have to carve out the time. Even though they scare me, my watercolors don’t deserve to just be sitting unused in their palette, that’s not the reason I bought them.

I wanted to let the image shine and kept the card pretty simple. I used a rectangle die to cut a window in the center of a panel, mounting the negative on foam tape to frame the image.

I glued a couple of pieces of a mini doily from Doodlebug into the corners of my colored piece. I just wanted a little something. These go well with the soft look I was going for. I stamped a sentiment from the Leaf Clusters stamp set from Altenew in Soft Granite ink from Hero Arts onto a scrap piece of Sweet Blush card stock from Papertrey Ink, and added it in the top left corner, along with some pearls from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. The pearls are the perfect matching color, they were a sampler pack in a big order I placed from her a while back, so unfortunately, I don’t know the color name.

When I do normal Copic coloring I tend to go overboard and use a ton of colors to achieve the look I’m after. With faux watercolor, it’s the opposite, the color palette is always very limited, because I can get a lot of gradient with just one color, depending on how much I dilute it with the blender solution in the water brush. The pink on her dress, the bows in her hair and the flowers is all made with just R43, I’d never be able to achieve this ombré effect using just one color with the markers themselves.

Happy birthday {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

April 8, 2021April 7, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have a fairly simple birthday card to share today, featuring the Birthday Owls digital stamp from Rachelle Anne Miller. I thought these two owls holding a birthday banner were so adorable, and one of them even has a flower in her hair…. or… feathers, maybe, owls don’t really have hair, do they?

I colored the image with my Copics, before using a stitched border die from Lawn Fawn to create the pierced horizontal lines above and below the image.

Onto a white card base, I adhered a panel of Sour Apple card stock from My Favorite Things, that I’d die cut using the Isty Bitsy Polka Dot backdrop die from Lawn Fawn. I thought the dots in the background would tie in nicely with the dots on the balloons in the image.

I mounted the colored panel onto the front of the card using lots of foam tape for dimension.

I thought the card needed just a little bit extra, so I wrapped a piece of Aqua divine twine from Whisker Graphics around the top of my card and tied it in a bow.

Festive colors for this one, I absolutely loved coloring this image!

Christmas greeting

April 7, 2021April 6, 2021 Elin2 Comments

Hi, there! You probably aren’t thinking of Christmas cards yet. We’re still in early April and Easter just ended, but I looooove making Christmas cards all year and have one to share today. Not very traditional with a sheepdog on the front, but I know just who to send this to.

I colored up Christmas Sheepdog (with hat) very quickly using my Copics. There’s also a version without the hat. I colored the fur uneven and streaky on purpose. I didn’t want to take the time to do real fur, but I also didn’t want it completely flat.

After die cutting my colored piece to a rectangle with faux stitching around the edge using a die from My Favorite Things, I adhered it directly to a top fold card base made out of Soft Stone card stock from Papertrey Ink. Initially, I wanted green, but none of my green card stock colors were a good match (green is tricky), and this grey from Papertrey Ink is beautiful!

I pulled out my usual cluster supplies – mini paper doily from Doodlebug Design, the Happy Days Ticket Stubs die from XCut and my Fishtail Flag Frames dies from My Favorite Things. They’re staples whenever I make embellishment clusters.

Rummaging through my drawer of Christmas patterned paper scraps, I found these lovely green ones from the Christmas in Norway collection from Pion Design, and used the dies to cut out a few pieces to go on my card. I also used a die from Papirdesign to die cut a pine branch, just to add something different to the mix.

I stamped a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto one of the banners, heat embossing it in white, before assembling my cluster and adding it to the card with foam squares to build up the layers. I added a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and the card was finished.

Very limited color palette for this one.

Hello my friend {Hobbykunst}

April 6, 2021April 3, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I have a floral card to share today, featuring a gorgeous magnolia blossom from My Favorite Things.

mI stamped the flowers in fadeout ink from Inkon3, before coloring them in with Copics and fussy cutting up to the line.

I splattered some white liquid watercolor from Hero Arts onto a panel of Soft Stone card stock from Papertrey Ink, before adding the panel onto my card base using lots of foam tape. I put 1 mm foam squares behind the flowers and adhered them onto the gray panel.

I die cut Hello three times from white card stock and stacked the die cuts for dimension. The die is from a die set that came with my Gemini when I bought it two years ago, and this is the first time I used it. It has a swirl going down at the bottom of the H that connects to the o, but I chopped that off.

I stamped and white heat embossed a sub sentiment (from the Leaf Clusters stamp set from Altenew) onto Smokey Shadow card stock from Papertrey Ink, and added an additional two strips of card stock behind it for dimension, I wanted it flush with the die cut word above it.

I added sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s cards on or near the flowers and the sentiment, and my card was complete.

Just a few Copics for this one.

Birthday wishes {Purple Onion Designs}

April 4, 2021April 4, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have a wintery slimline birthday card to share today, featuring an adorable hedgehog from Purple Onion Designs.

Timothy is part of the Sweetest Little Town collection released back in October, and I think he’s just the cutest little guy. I colored him up months ago, and my plan was to turn him into a gift tag. Plans change, and instead of a small gift tag, I went big with a slimline card instead, keeping the colors on the rest of the card subdued to really make him shine.

I stamped the Snow Day! Hill background onto a piece of X-Press It blending card using Stormy Sea ink from Papertrey Ink. The panel was wider than the stamp, so I repeated the very left part of the stamp to extend my background scene, also re-stamping the smaller cloud. I also selectively stamped and white heat embossed the word “birthday” from the Warming Winter Thoughts stamp set onto a piece of Stormy Sea cardstock to form part of my sentiment.

I used the slim card basics die set from Mama Elephant to die cut the background. I added three layers of card stock behind the frame, inlaying the “window” pieces so they’re set back, before adding the hedgehog with foam tape on top of one of the windows.

I die cut the wishes die from Mama Elephant to create the rest of my sentiment. It’s four layers of Stormy Sea card stock, and another three layers of white card stock in the part of the word that spans across the windows.

A little princess {Lili of the Valley}

April 3, 2021April 2, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I have a simple baby card to share today, featuring the adorable Baby Scales image from Lili of the Valley.

I colored the image with Copics and fussy cut it, leaving a thin white border. Normally, I’d cut right up to the stamped lines, but with the baby’s strands of hair sticking out from the top of its head, that wasn’t going to happen.

I ran a piece of Lilac Grace card stock from Papertrey Ink through my Gemini Jr. with the Linen & Canvas impression plate, also from Papertrey Ink, for a little bit of subtle texture in the background. I love this particular impression plate, but it’s the first time I’ve used this side of it, I usually use the other. I cropped the panel down significantly and added it with foam tape to my card base. I used 1 mm foam squares behind the image, and adhered that to the bottom left.

I used a stamp from Norsk Stempelblad AS with Altenew Amethyst ink to create my sentiment strip. I found a scrap corner of a mini paper doily from Doodlebug Design that I adhered directly to my textured panel, before mounting the sentiment strip on top with more of those 1 mm foam squares, finishing off with a few enamel dots from Papirdesign.

Not a whole lot of Copics used for this image, it IS simple, after all. I also used V97, which is a color I’ve made myself.

You crack me up! {Streamside Studios}

April 2, 2021April 2, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have a fun, super simple card to share today, featuring the Hatching Chicks stamp set from Streamside Studios.

I colored in the eggs with my Copics, before fussy cutting them. I forgot to create a graphic of the colors I used, but it was B04, B02, B01 and B000 for the blue and YR16, Y17 and Y00 for the yellow.

I used one of the stencils in the Simple Patterns Trio set from Cathy Zielske (Simon Says Stamp) on a panel of Stamper’s Select White card stock from Papertrey Ink using an ink blending brush from Taylored Expressions along with Altenew Ink in Limeade and Fresh Leaf. I wanted a bit of a gradient in the green going up the panel, so I used the darkest of the two at the bottom of the panel with a medium firm application, and the lighter color with a lighter application towards the top. I cut off 1/4″ off each side and mounted the panel to my card base using foam tape.

I added the eggs with 1 mm foam squares and drew the legs back in on the chicken sticking his legs out on the left hand side.

By adding the sentiment inside one of the eggs, I eliminated the need to find a place for it elsewhere.

Happy birthday {Mo’s Dream Team}

March 31, 2021March 31, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have a very simple birthday shaker card to share with you today, featuring one of the monsters from Mo Manning’s Cupcake Monster stamp set. You can get the set as one merged stamp with a big cupcake monster and seven small monsters surrounding it, or a separated version, which is what I’ve used for today’s card.

I colored my monster with Copics and did some serious fussy cutting. That monster is tiny, and it’s a miracle I didn’t chop off the flame at the top of the candle.

I love the Stitched Happy Birthday rectangle die from Memory Box, but I don’t use it nearly enough. For this card, though, I pulled it out and die cut it seven times from white card stock. I removed the sentiment from six of them, gluing the frames together for dimension to create my shaker area.

For the background, I wanted a color that would allow the sentiment to show and the monster to pop, so I chose a piece of patterned paper from the Bloom Street collection from Pink Paislee. The paper I chose has a watercolor look to the back of it, which was perfect to complement my little monster. I used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangle dies from My Favorite Things and adhered it directly to my card base, placing the shaker frame in the center.

I filled the shaker with clear and iridescent crystals from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and added the top layer with the sentiment, that I’d already glued to a piece of acetate. The last thing was to add my little monster in the corner, and the card was complete.

Not a lot of colors used for this card, but that monster is tiny.

Trifold Christmas card {Purple Onion Designs}

March 29, 2021March 29, 2021 Elin1 Comment

Hi, everyone! I’ve got a Christmas card to share today. I know it’s Easter time, but there’s a line of lyrics in a Norwegian Christmas song that says Christmas lasts till Easter, and I’m sticking to it. The next line in the song states that it’s not true, but that’s beside the point 😉

This started out as an idea of a fairly simple card with a window on the front so you could see inside, but evolved fairly quickly into a trifold card. A heavy one at that, even though it looks simple, there are a lot of layers, and the card actually weighs in at 28 g.

I started by coloring the polar bear (Icicle) and fussy cutting him, leaving a thin white border around him. I’m not good at leaving a white trim when I fussy cut (my scissors naturally gravitate towards the stamped lines), but I get around that by drawing an outline about 1 mm outside the stamped line with a mechanical pencil, and then cut along that.

I love the snowflake circle die from Hero Arts and have used it many times before. I die cut a window into the center of the front of my card base, and at first thought that would be it. Once it morphed into a trifold, though, it was so back heavy that I needed an additional two die cut windows on top of the card base for some strength and stability. I used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles from My Favorite Things to create a nice finished edge to the top layer.

For the inside panel that you can see from the front, I stamped the Frozen Pond using fadeout ink from Inkon3 and colored in the entire panel, before using the same stitched rectangle die that I used for the front for a nice finished edge. This entire panel flips down, leaving lots of space on the inside for a personal message.

I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Messages Sentiment set straight onto my card using Ocean Tides ink from Papertrey Ink, before adding the polar bear with 1 mm foam squares.

In this photo it’s pretty evident that the three layers of panels with die cut windows add a nice bit of dimension, as well as stability to what would otherwise be a pretty floppy card front, since the window is so big. I use 110 lb white card stock (Stamper’s Select White from Papertrey Ink), which is a nice, sturdy card stock, but with that big of a window, the only thing that will work is using several layers.