Hi, everyone!
It might seem a little early for those holiday cards, but I never make multiples, and this is only my tenth this year, so I need to get cracking!
I try very hard not to have favorites, but I can’t help it. Giggling Snowman from Mo Manning gets me every time. I colored him up in nolines for day 1 of the current 30 day coloring challenge from Kathy Racoosin, and I turned him into a deceptively simple shaker card. I messed up big time when making this card. Several times. But I didn’t give up, I’m too stubborn. Way too stubborn. In the end it turned out almost the way I wanted it to, at it shakes like crazy, which I really wanted. I spent a considerable chunk of time turning every sequin, jewel and diamond the right way, but the shaker itself is so deep that the two largest sizes of sequins are the only ones that stayed that way. Live and learn, right? My biggest struggle with making shaker cards is usually that I either fill up the shaker too much or not enough. This time I was able to get the perfect amount. I’m celebrating the small victories!
I used the largest of the Stitched Rectangles STAX dies from My Favorite Things to create the front of the shaker, then the oval dies from the Card Front Designs die set from Neat & Tangled to create the actual window and the frame around it. I doubled up on my foam tape, and used acetate from Hot off the Press to create my window. I used the Urban Chic mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards for my filling.
This really shakes, those sequins have a lot of room to move freely. I stamped an InkyWings sentiment using Ocean Tides ink from Papertrey Ink (which matches the Ocean Tides cardstock SO well) on a scrap piece of X-Press It (I wanted the white to match the white in the image) and mounted it on 1mm foam squares onto the front of my card, and it was finished.
I colored my image with my Copics, and added a scraped knee, some chocolate stains around the mouth and on the clothing and decided to create mismatched socks. That happens when kids dress themselves, right?
I turned my image into a rectangular panel with faux stitching using one of my favorite dies – the largest in the Stitched Rectangles STAX Set 2 from My Favorite Things. It creates a 1/16″ border if you glue the panel to an A2 cardbase, which is the perfect width if you ask me. Speaking of cardbases, this one is made from Ocean Tides cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I stamped an InkyWings sentiment using Dark Chocolate Ink from Papertrey Ink and added a couple of raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to frame my sentiment.
I’m not the best at remembering to add envelopes for my cards, but these scraps of patterned paper from Pion Design were the perfect colors to make an envelope from. I used the A2 V flap envelope dies from Simon Says Stamp to create my envelope.
The die set is 
I glued all the triangles to my white cardbase a little haphazardly, added some Pretty Pink Posh sequins to embellish a tiny bit and stamped a sentiment from an Inky Wings stamp set using VersaFine Onyx Black and called it done.
Once my panel of gingerbread men was finished, I glued it straight to a cardbase made from Dark Chocolate cardstock from Papertrey Ink before adding a diecut sentiment heart with foam tape. I used Pure Poppy cardstock (also Papertrey Ink) and a Papirdesign die.
I scattered a few Papirdesign enamel dots for my finishing touch.
I started by coloring up the cute little bear with my Copics. I haven’t used my markers in quite some time, so I felt a little rusty going in, but I took my time and it came together in the end.
I used a background die from Papertrey Ink to create my hexagons and stacked them five layers thick in three separate clusters on my card. I made the cardbase from Summer Sunrise cardstock (also from Papertrey Ink) just to shake things up a little bit, and glued some leftover hexagons on the inside.
I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from Mathia Design onto Hawaiian Shores cardstock from Papertrey Ink before gluing my sentiment strips to the card using foam squares and liquid glue. I finished it off with a few sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, and my card was done.
For this card i used 
I used a stitched circle die from My Favorite Things to diecut the image, used a bigger die to cut from Sweet Blush cardstock from Papertrey Ink and glued the two circles together. I used an embossing folder from We R Memory Keepers to create texture to my background by running it through my Gemini Junior. I love that little machine.
I used foam squares without too much dimension on the back of my circles, added them to the center of my card and added a stamped Mathia design sentiment with more foam squares. I finished off the card with a few pink pearls from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I really like the peachy pink combo I used for this one and colored many images around the same time using that same combo.
I was told that the birthday girl likes blue, pink and flowers. I knew just which papers to dig out from my stash. The paper I’ve used here is all from the Denim & Girls collection from Maja Design. I love their collections, the patterns are nice and small and the colors to die for. I mean, look at those blues!!! Amazing!!! I’ve predominantly featured two sheets on this card; 
I started by cutting down the patterned paper to the sizes I wanted, before using a paint brush with clean water to wet all the edges. This makes the paper more pliable, and I can curl the edges with my fingers, giving the paper some dimension and interest. The cool thing is that when it dries, it stays like that, it’s very sturdy. With Maja Design patterned paper it’s extra sturdy, because the paper is so thick you can actually use it for card bases. It’s really nice.
I added a paper doily, some pink lace, some May Arts natural twine, a bow, a couple of diecut numbers and a few paper roses from Papirdesign, in addition to a couple of sentiment strips. I stamped the 
When creating this type of card I go all out and decorate all four sides of my card. I used the same layout on the insides, but skipped all the embellishments. The kraft panels are actually removable. I added double sided tape to the back in generous amounts, but left the release paper on, and glued the panels on using just a glue dot. Glue dots are a nice temporary solution, and it enables you to pull the panels out fairly easily, write your personal message, remove the release paper from the double sided tape and glue the panels back where they belong. It’s a great way to not have to write inside a bulky card.
I had to decorate the back, too. I just had to. Same basic layout on the back. Not as heavily embellished as the front, also not as bare as the insides. I stamped a birthday sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS using the same color ink as the sentiment strips on the front, and added a few blue roses to finish the card.
With cards this thick, they don’t fit in regular envelopes, so I usually make simple envelope boxes to match. This one is 1″ high, and it actually could have been a little higher, it was a little bulgy when the card went in. I diecut the blue patterned paper with a Simon Says Stamp label die and added pink diecut letters from Scrapmagasinet to spell the name of the birthday girl. I did two layers so the name wouldn’t get completely lost with that busy background.
This is another one that I’ve colored for Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day coloring challenge. I’m getting better at putting my colored images to use. I colored this one for day 13 of the challenge back in March, so this cute little elephant hasn’t had to wait too long.
I used the largest of the dies in a faux stitched rectangle die set from My Favorite Things to create my panel and glued it onto a scrap piece of patterned paper from Pion Design that I’d already cut to fit the size of my card. I added a cluster in the top right corner, I’ve got part of a Doodlebug doily, a couple of patterned paper banners (also diecut with dies from My Favorite Things) and a few enamel dots from My Mind’s Eye.
That light pink paper is from the same paper collection from Pion Design as the darker pink (Vintage Garden collection), and the green one with the dots is from Inkido. I stamped a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment using Autumn Rose ink from Papertrey Ink, and that finishes my card.
Lots of greys, greens and even blues for this one, even if the card mostly reads as pink. 3
Another Wednesday, and another Mo Manning creation. I’m trying to be better at using all the different images I have from Mo’s Digital Pencil, and I’ve kind of started at the beginning of the alphabet when coloring up previously unused images. I colored up this one for Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day coloring challenge back in June 2018, so it’s about time 
This isn’t exactly the easiest image to add to a card. I decided to stamp and heat emboss a couple of sentiments from a Huldra designstudio stamp set. The top one says Good luck… and the bottom one says “with new challenges”, which I thought was very fitting with the image. That red cardstock is Pure Poppy from Papertrey Ink, and I added foam tape behind both strips to create a little bit of dimension.
I added the colored image to the center of the card front and a strip of Kaisercraft patterned paper (P214 Periwinkle) on either side. I topped everything off with a few blue enamel dots from Papirdesign.
This time I used a 
I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from another 
Behind the black cardstock piece I put a nest of angel hair. It’s a very very thin thread, and it has actual silver in it. I buy mine at the flower shop, one bag will last a looooong time. I finished off my card with some crystals of unknown origin. I know the brands of most of the stuff in my craft room, but these are a mystery.
Papirmølla 