Party Time

Hi! Seriously late night post, but I just wanted to share my last entry for the Superstar contest over at My Favorite Things. This is for the Coloring Virtuoso category. I’ve created a scene with some super cute penguins from Stacey Yacula that I no line colored using my Copics.

I drew some sheets of ice with a pencil after I’d stamped my penguins, and made an ocean scene. The stamp with the two penguins holding the party banner is too wide for a regular portrait A2 card, and I wanted to include some more penguins in my scene as well. Slimline to the rescue. I thought it’d be fun to have the penguins on two separate icebergs instead of just the one.

I started by coloring the sky, then the ocean. This was probably what took the longest, it’s a big ocean, and while it’s not difficult to color, it takes time to build up layers. Next up were the icebergs, then the penguins, then finally all their accessories. I love Stacey Yacula’s style, it lends itself to create very textured critters, so that’s what I opted for.

When the entire scene was colored in I white heat embossed a sentiment from one of the stamp sets I used onto black cardstock and put two additional pieces behind it for a little dimension. I also heat embossed the word PARTY from the same stamp set. The letters are sized and spaced perfectly to fit across that bunting. It’s perfect. I mounted my colored panel onto a black cardbase to frame my cute penguins. Very simple.

Lots and lots of Copics for this one. I used a lot for the ocean, the icebergs and the penguins, and that little rainbow of accessories make up the rest of this very colorful palette.

My Favorite Things products used:

Sweet Holiday Penguins stamp set

Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes stamp set

Penguin Party stamp set

Sweet Christmas wishes {Streamside Studios}

Hi! I colored this Merry Mallows image from Streamside Studios back in November last year for Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day coloring challenge. Sometimes, I turn my colored images into finished cards pretty quickly, other times, it takes a while. Today’s card is one of the latter.

I printed my image with gray lines so I could do no line coloring. Whenever I do this, I like keeping facial features black or a dark brown, so I don’t have to free hand draw them back in once I’m done coloring. It’s a neat little trick.

I die cut my colored panel using the largest die in the A2 Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it directly onto a cardbase I created from Amarena Cherry cardstock, also from My Favorite Things.

I die cut the word wishes five times from my red cardstock using a die from Mama Elephant. I stacked the words for a dimensional look and also stamped and white heat embossed the words Sweet and Christmas onto separate pieces of the same color cardstock. The stamped words are from two separate sentiments from the Bitty Bears stamp set from My Favorite Things. I love using pieces of sentiments from stamp sets to create new sentiments, it makes them more versatile.

I felt like I had to add a little something to this, so I pulled out my White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards and added them in a visual triangle on my card. This mix is one of my favorites, it’s right up there with the Sparkling clear mix from Pretty Pink Posh.

Let it snow {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi! I’m sharing a fairly simple card today, using two images from Purple Onion Designs.

I did something a little different for this card. Exactly one year ago, with helpful advice and a gentle nudge from Debby Hughes, I bought a 36 tube watercolor set. Watercolor’s always scared me, but at the same time I’ve really wanted to try it, because it gives an effect you just can’t achieve using Copics. I decided to finally pull them out and try them on this card.

I stamped the Pine Tree Farm onto a 5×7″ sheet of Fabriano Artistico Extra White watercolor paper using Fadeout ink from Inkon3 and used my Mijello Mission Gold watercolors to color the sky, the ground and the trees. It took a while to get the dimension and depth I wanted in those trees, but I’m kind of stoked with my first attempt at watercolor, it wasn’t as scary as I thought it’d be.

I used a die from Waffle Flower to cut my panel down to a rectangle that would fit my card, which also helped flatten it out a bit, it was a little bit warped. I sprinkled on Chunky White embossing enamel from Stampendous and melted the granules from the back, before mounting the panel on foam tape and adhering it to the front of my top fold landscape A2 card.

Using My Favorite Things Extreme Black ink, I stamped the Sweet Snow Friends image onto a piece of X-Press It blending card and colored the image with Copics, before fussy cutting it and giving it that same chunky white embossing enamel treatment as the background. I added lots of 1 mm foam squares to the back, and added the cute little critters to my watercolor background.

I die cut the words let it snow three times from white cardstock using a die from Mama Elephant, stacked them for a dimensional sentiment and adhered it to my scene to finish the card.

The Copics I used for the cute critters and snowman.

Good friends are the best gift of Christmas

Hi! I’m sharing a Christmas card today, featuring the Dragon building a snowman image from Lee Holland. He still has his Ultimate Christmas bundle and Ultimate Dragon bundle at a whopping 60% discount with the code CHRISTMAS60, but the offer expires today, so you’d better be quick if you want to get them.

I colored in my image using the no line technique. Before printing, I made all the lines in the image light gray except for the eyes and eyebrows, which I kept black. This is a great trick to color no line without having to worry about drawing things back in with a black pen and potentially getting things wonky and weird. I’ve done that once, starting over isn’t fun, so I’ve learned to get around it.

I cut my colored piece down using a stitched rectangle die from My Favorite Things. I covered the card base with patterned paper from the Forever Green collection paper pack from ModaScrap and mounted my colored panel onto that using lots of foam tape.

I cut a couple of strips of patterned paper from that same paper pack from ModaScrap and added them onto my colored panel. Using a green marker, I created a green colored cardstock piece to match my dragon, stamped my Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment onto it, heat embossed it and used a circle punch to get it to a perfect 1″ circle, before adding an epoxy sticker on top for a little shine and dimension.

To finish off my card I added a few enamel dots. The brown ones and the white are from Papirdesign, the green ones from Altenew.

Not a whole heap of colors for this one.

Bear hugs {Lili of the Valley}

Hi! I have a simple card to share today, featuring Jenny floral border, which is an image from Lili of the Valley. I printed the image with a low opacity setting to get the no line look and colored in my image with Copics, drawing the facial features back in with a black pen.

Lili of the Valley Jenny floral border front rett

I don’t often color fur like this. It’s very relaxing to do and a very forgiving technique, but it’s a time consuming one, layering up all those fine lines isn’t done in five minutes, or fifteen, for that matter, so I don’t usually take the time to do it, but this cute little bear was begging for it.

Lili of the Valley Jenny floral border front skrått

Using the watercolor stripes stencil from Altenew, I dry embossed a piece of Soft Stone card stock from Papertrey Ink. I’ve had a love affair with the Papertrey Ink card stock for close to a decade now; it’s my favorite, and this particular grey color is so soft and perfect! I mounted it onto a top fold white card base (made out of Stamper’s Select White card stock, another one from PTI) using lots of foam tape, leaving a 1/4″ border around the edge. Using even more foam tape, I mounted my fussy cut colored piece in the center of the grey card stock for even more dimension.

Lili of the Valley Jenny floral border flatlay høyre

I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a scrap piece of Berry Sorbet card stock from Papertrey Ink and turned it into a small banner with one of the dies in the Itty Bitty Strips die set from My Favorite Things. This particular pink card stock is another favorite of mine, and I only have tiny scraps left, I need to stock up! I mounted the banner onto my colored piece using 1 mm foam squares.

Lili of the Valley Jenny floral border flatlay rett

I added sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh to finish off my card. Three groupings forming a visual embellishment triangle. I usually only place my embellishments near the sentiment to draw the eye to the sentiment, but for this one I staggered them elsewhere too. I love that these sequins come in a bag with four different sizes. I have other sequins I love too (the mixes from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards are awesome), but I still believe these are my favorites. If I could only buy one type of sequins for the rest of forever, these are the ones I’d choose.

Lili of the Valley Jenny floral border flatlay angled

I’m sending sparkling, dimensional, flowery bear hugs your way!

Hello my friend {Hobbykunst}

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

mHK My Favorite Things Magnolia Blossoms front rettI stamped the flowers in fadeout ink from Inkon3, before coloring them in with Copics and fussy cutting up to the line.

HK My Favorite Things Magnolia Blossoms front skråttI 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.

HK My Favorite Things Magnolia Blossoms flatlay venstreI 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. 

HK My Favorite Things Magnolia Blossoms flatlay rettI 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. 

HK My Favorite Things Magnolia Blossoms flatlay høyreI 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.

My Favorite Things Magnolia Blossoms CopicsJust a few Copics for this one. 

 

Hurra {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, everyone! As you may know, I’m a huge fan of no line coloring. I’m an even bigger fan of no line coloring when it comes to coloring snow. There’s something about the lack of lines that makes the snow look softer and more real. Not that a fox and bear building a snowman is very realistic.

For today’s card I really wanted to include both Rupert the fox and Wilson the bear, both from the Snow Day! collection illustrated by Stacey Yacula for Purple Onion Designs. I wanted a portrait oriented card, and putting the two side by side made the image too wide for a standard A2 size card, so I decided to go bigger and create a 5 x 7″ card instead. I don’t usually make cards this size. As much as I love white space, I often find it difficult to find the right balance with a larger card. I think it worked out on this one, though.

I stamped the bear using fadeout ink from Inkon3 and masked him, before stamping the fox in the same ink. While I still had the stamps in my MISTI, I stamped their eyes, mouths and noses using Memento Espresso Truffle ink. This saved me from having to draw the details back in after my coloring, which could have potentially ruined the entire scene. I used my Copics to color everything, and trimmed the panel down slightly. I used one of the greens from the image on the edges of a 5×7″ piece of X-Press It blending card to make the card front match the image, as I didn’t have any card stock in the right shade of green. For the die cut HURRA (die from Kort & Godt), I scribbled one of the green Copics onto a scrap piece of X-Press It before die cutting. I added another three white die cuts behind it for dimension, and used foam tape on the back of the colored panel to give it a little lift up from the card base.

As usual, I used lots of colors for the snow (everything in this graphic before E44), but that’s just how I roll.

Merry & Bright {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, everyone! I know Christmas is far away, but somehow, I have another Christmas card to share anyway, featuring the adorable Jolly snowman from Purple Onion Designs. I love how happy he is looking up at the sky, and my initial plan was to turn him into a wintery birthday card, but plans change…

I didn’t have any birthday sentiment dies that fit my slimline plan, but this Stacked Merry die from My Favorite Things was perfect. I die cut four from white card stock and stacked them for a dimensional look, before adding embossing powder on top and heat embossing for a shine that matches the embossed snow in the background. I stamped “& bright” from the Holiday Messages sentiment set onto Blue Yonder card stock from My Favorite Things and white heat embossed. I added my colored piece with the sentiment onto a card base made from that same Blue Yonder card stock and added a few snowflake sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards close to the snowman and the sentiment, finishing off the card with a trail of snowflakes.

I used quite a few colors for this very simple image. Building color to create contrast is key when doing no line coloring, and the first 7 markers in this graphic were all used for the snow. It might be difficult to tell from the photo, but the orange combo I used for carrot is  different than the combo I used for the scarf and pocket, which isn’t as bright a combo in real life.

Wishing you snow much fun {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, everone! I’ve got another one layer card to share today, featuring lots of cute images from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula.

I did no line coloring of Snowballs, Wilson, Rupert, Jingle, Dash, Jolly, Snowy Fence, and Snow Day Hill, before stamping a sentiment from Warming Winter Thoughts using Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening ink.

I love the no line look, and it’s really no more difficult than coloring with lines. In a way, it’s actually easier, because no one can tell if you went outside the lines a bit! I used a white gelly roll pen to add back in some details in the various scarves.

The holiday sale at Purple Onion Designs ends today, so this is your last chance to get lots of amazing rubber stamps (including the ones I’ve used here) at a whopping 25% off!

More than a couple of Copics used for this card, and I even used B90, which is a color I’ve made myself.

Wishing you warmth, joy & happiness {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, everyone! I’ve got another fairly simple card to share today, featuring some wonderful stamps from Purple Onion Designs. This is basically just stamping, masking and coloring.

I love creating nighttime winter scenes for my Christmas cards, but every once in a while, daytime scenes, or early sunset scenes like this are also fun to do. By using blues for the snow, you get a frosty look.

There are 7 different images in this scene. There are too many cute images to choose from, and I couldn’t decide, so I made an A7 card with a bunch instead. I stamped most of the images using Memento Espresso Truffle ink and the background using Fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a no line look.

Here are the Holly Branch, Holly the mouse, and Maggie the mouse. The snowman and bird stamp at the bottom is called Bianca & Neve.

Here’s Nora & Butter, hanging out by the mailbox. I added Birch the bunny as well, it’s just too cute and I couldn’t resist!!

I stamped a sentiment from the Snowflake Grove sentiment set using a combination of red and gray ink. I started with Memento Lady Bug ink, but it was a little too bright red for me, so I used Soft Stone ink from Papertrey Ink on top to tone it down a bit.

Lots of Copics used for this one, and I have to admit that quite a few are used for the snow.