Hello friend {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’ve got a sweet, simple card to share today featuring Forest Sounds from Rachelle Anne Miller. My printer’s been acting up lately, but after a few tries, I was able to print this one to color up with my Copics.

I printed my image on a quarter sheet of X-Press It blending card and colored it in. I stamped the word friend from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Obsidian ink from Altenew. The sentiment actually says hello friend across two lines, but I masked off the top row so I’d have friend isolated. I adhered my panel to a top fold card base and used a black glaze pen to add some shine and a tiny bit of dimension to the eyes of the bunnies, the girl and the cute little bird.

Onto a scrap piece of X-Press It, I scribbled RV34 across a section large enough to die cut from. The Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew is such a great one, I love that these dies create small words that don’t take up too much real estate on a card. I backed my colored die cut with two white ones for a little bit of dimension and added it at somewhat of an angle right above the stamped part of the sentiment. This also served to cover up a booboo. Somehow, I was able to spill a tiny little drop of juice from a peach (note to self – don’t eat in the craft room), and the sentiment covers it nicely. I finished off the card with a triangle formation of sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Simple, subtle color palette for this one.

Another confirmation card? {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with another confirmation card made for the Kort & Godt gallery blog. This might be my last one for 2024, it’s definitely the last one for the spring confirmation season. There might be some coming for the fall season, I just don’t know yet.

This card started out with me playing with the cotton thread from Kort & Godt. I wanted to something with it besides tying it in bows, and crocheting came to mind. I crocheted three flowers in different colors, and that was my starting point. I created a subtle background using the Watercolor Stripes stencil from Altenew with VersaMark ink, Sticky embossing powder and Distress Glitter in the Rock Candy color. This gives a soft tone on tone sparkle on the white cardstock and doesn’t distract too much from the flowers. I thread the flowers through to the back of the panel, used some tape to hold the thread down on the back and mounted it using foam tape onto a top fold white card base.

I die cut the leaf circle die twice; once from vellum (I used Heavyweight translucent vellum from My Favorite Things), and once from Sprout cardstock from Concord & 9th. I offset them a bit, and used small amounts of liquid glue to adhere them to the card. I also die cut Konfirmant a few times from pink cardstock and adhered them together for a stacked, dimensional look. Once I added my die cut to the card, however, it got lost, so I die cut a layer from black cardstock from Papertrey Ink and glued that on top. That did the trick. I used a sentiment sticker to complete the sentiment and added some faceted pearls as a finishing touch.

This was a fun way to use the cotton thread, and I still have heaps more!

Kort & Godt products used:

Die 268 (Konfirmant)

Die 345 (Circle with leaves)

ST1017 (Word sticker “kjære”)

TR-121 (yellow thread)

TR-107 (peach thread)

TR-108 (pink thread)

ST178 (faceted pearls)

Have an adventurous birthday! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a fun, one layer birthday card today, featuring lots of cuties from the latest Amongst the Pines collection from Purple Onion Designs. I love every single collection Stacey Yacula creates for Purple Onion Designs, and this is a great outdoorsy one!

I created a fun water scene with Hazel, Skip, Rip, Paddle and the Rainbow Falls background, all from the latest release. There’s a bit of masking involved, but I love creating cards like this! I stamped all the critters using My Favorite Things Extreme Black ink, which is Copic friendly. I added masks for all of them, then stamped the background using Fadeout ink from Inkon3, which is an awesome ink for no line coloring. I colored the background first, then all the critters, before stamping the critters again, this time using Obsidian ink from Altenew. This is a pigment ink and not at all Copic friendly, so I do this once all the coloring is done. Using a Misti and a sheet of acetate makes it easy to line the images back up to stamp on top of the previous stamping.

I stamped a sentiment from the coordinating The Great Outdoors Sentiment Set using Blue Yonder ink from My Favorite Things. The blue matches the water nicely, and the sentiment isn’t too much of a distraction from the main scene when it’s tone on tone. I used an extra fine point white Sharpie to create ripples in the water and the foam created from the waterfall, and my card was complete.

Considering I colored the entire card front on this card, I don’t think I used too many markers.

Hipp hipp hurra {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m sharing a birthday card today that I made for my sister, whose birthday was back in March (she did receive this in March, I’m not *entirely* hopeless). Peonies are among her favorite flowers, which made the Build-a-garden: Pristine Peonies set from Altenew the perfect one to use.

I stamped one of the images in the stamp set using black ink and used the coordinating layering stencils to color it in. It’s no secret I’m a fan of Copic coloring, but this was soooo much faster, and maybe it’s okay to cheat a little once in a while. I used the Dried Petals set of inks for the pink in the flowers and the Forest Trail set for the green. For the yellow I used Sunflower and Buttercup inks from Concord & 9th, as I don’t have yellow inks from Altenew.

I created a card base from Sno Cone cardstock from My Favorite Things and used the Angled Mosaic 3D embossing folder from Altenew to add some texture and interest. I mounted my flowers in the bottom center using foam tape, then added a black sentiment sticker strip from Kort & Godt with a couple of layers of cardstock behind it for a little bit of lift, before finishing off the card with Sparkle & Shine ombré glitter drops from Pinkfresh Studio.

You are loved {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. There’s a new image out from Rachelle Anne Miller, and this is Summer Rain, a real cute one. She’s got several large images like this, they usually have a bunch of flowers and some fairies. This one has the little fairy hugging a duck as they’re both sheltering from the rain under a flower, and it’s just so sweet.

The RAM Stamps digital images always come in sets of two, where one has black lines and the other has grey lines to make it easier to print images for no line coloring. I wanted to change things up for this card and decided to pair the two versions. I layered them in Photoshop (the black lined one on top) and erased the background in the black lined version, only keeping the lines for the duck, the fairy and the large flower. I kept the no line version intact and printed my image. This way, I had dark lines for the focal point and soft grey for the remaining scene. I love the look of this.

I colored the part of the image that had the black lines using Copics, keeping the rest uncolored. I stamped a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Gifting stamp set from My Favorite Things directly on the panel using Obsidian ink from Altenew, then added a hugs word above, created using the Sweet Sentiments die set, also from Altenew. I die cut a few from white and one from a piece I’d colored with one of the Copics I used for the image. I still had the sentiment stamp mounted in my Misti, so I could stamp on top of the die cut for a continuous sentiment. I cut my panel down slightly and adhered it to a panel of Wildberry cardstock from Concord and 9th, adhered it all to a white card base and finished off the card with a few sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

The image is simple, but I still went overboard with the coloring for this. It happens.

Happy birthday {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m a big fan of creating backgrounds with tiny images in stamp sets that often get overlooked. The stamping (or in this case, Photoshop work, as I’m working with digital stamps for this card) takes a while, but the images are quick and easy to color. These images are from the Par-tea Pandas release from Streamside Studios. This set has lots of small images, and I chose the party hats, one of the balloons and the envelope from the set.

Once I had enough images to cover a background, I printed it onto X-Press It blending card and chose a few Copics to color in the images. I went with flat color for most of these, only adding dimension in the coloring of the balloons.

I cut my panel down and mounted it onto a top fold card base I created from Vintage Cream cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I die cut the sentiment using the Happy Birthday Brush Script die set from Simon Says Stamp, using Heavyweight Translucent Vellum from My Favorite Things for the shadow layer and black glitter cardstock from Kort & Godt for the words themselves, backed with a few layers of plain black cardstock (True Black from Papertrey Ink) for dimension. Behind the vellum, I die cut the word dies from a few layers of white cardstock to make the vellum “float” above the images.

I adhered the greeting in the top center of the card and added enamel dots from the Forest Trail pack of enamel dots from Altenew to finish. I paired the card with a Sour Apple envelope from My Favorite Things.

Just a few Copics for this one.

Roses and sunshine {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a birthday card today featuring Mummu’s Roses from Mo Manning. I made this on order a few weeks ago for a lady turning 70.

I printed the image on X-Press It blending card and colored it with my Copics. I pulled out my RV90 series, which I used to use a lot ages ago, but haven’t really used much in recent years.

Once my coloring was complete, I decided to cut off quite a bit on the right hand side of the panel, which meant doing some fussy cutting around the flowers. I don’t mind fussy cutting, and cutting on the border like this makes for a more dynamic design. Along the right hand side of a top fold card base, I adhered a scrap strip of patterned paper from the Vintage Romance collection from Maja Design, then popped my colored panel on the left.

I die cut the Gratulerer 6 die from Papirdesign a few times. I die cut the shadow layer in white, then a few stacked of the word, before finishing off with a colored one. I actually colored this one with Copics on the scrap I cut off the panel. This is a neat trick if you want your colors to match, but don’t have the right cardstock color. I stamped a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Briar Rose ink from Concord & 9th, cut it down to a strip and adhered it below the die cut, adding a few strips of cardstock behind it for dimension. I finished off the card with a few enamel does from the Shades of Purple pack from Altenew.

Using patterned paper from Craft Consortium along with a stamp, die and a few sentiment sticker strips from Kort & Godt, I created an envelope to match.

I actually didn’t use too many Copics for this one. I see I’ve left out the colors I used for the sky, but I’m betting I chose B0000, BG90 and the blender for that.

I hope you have a great day {Amanda Jayne Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a sweet, simple card to share today featuring this bear in pot of lilies image from Amanda Jayne Designs.

I colored the image and fussy cut, leaving a bit of a white trim around the edge, before putting it aside while I worked on the rest of my card. Onto a top fold white card base, I ink blended Scattered Straw Distress ink in a gradient from the bottom, fading into white. I wanted a little more oomph and went in just at the bottom with Mustard Seed, which is a little bit darker. I used the Sweet hello die from My Favorite Things to die cut hello four times from white cardstock, which I stacked for dimension.

Onto a piece of Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Pristine Peonies stamp set from Altenew. I cut it down to a strip, added a few additional strips behind it and started assembling my card. I put foam tape on the back of the image and adhered it so a little bit of it hangs off the edge, adhered my stacked hello die cut partly on top of the pot, partly directly on the card base, and then the sentiment strip on top of the die cut. I like when it’s all connected like this, it makes for a more cohesive design than if I were to add the sentiment strip below the hello. To finish off, I added a few sequins here and there from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Simple color palette for this one.

I adore you. The end. {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends. I’ve played with colors and texture on today’s card. It’s fun to play.

This time, I landed on Honeysuckle, Sprout and Tidepool, which are all colors from Concord & 9th. I started by die cutting hexagons from my three colors using the Simply Hexagons die from Pinkfresh Studio.

Onto the Sprout hexagons, I stamped leaves from the Leaf Clusters stamp set from Altenew using Sprout ink. On the Tidepool hexagons, I ink blended for a gradient look using Tidepool ink before dry embossing with an old stencil from Memory Box (Texture Dot Grid) for some added texture. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment onto one of the pink hexagons and left the other one plain. I glued additional hexagons behind each and even added foam tape behind the sentiment one for even more dimension. Dimension is life, after all.

After adhering everything to my card base, I cropped the card down slightly. It matched my design better, so this card is 4 x 5 3/8″. I added opal gem stones from Spellbinders near the sentiment to draw the eye in.

The dimension makes it look like these hexagons are floating on the front of the card, and the pink one with the sentiment is floating a bit more than the rest.

Have a monster fun birthday {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a fun birthday card to share today featuring some cute monsters. These monsters are from the Cupcake Monster set from Mo’s Digital Pencil. The set has a big cupcake monster and seven small monsters, and I chose three of the smaller ones for this card.

I colored the monsters on X-Press It blending card using my Copics, then fussy cut them all, before putting them aside while I worked on the rest of my card.

Onto a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I ink blended a section left of center using Volcano Lake ink from Altenew, then added splatter with some watered down Caribbean Sea ink from My Favorite Things. It adds a little bit of interest to what is a pretty plain background.

I used the Photo Booth Strip die from My Favorite Things to create my little frame. The die leaves a thicker border at the bottom, but I snipped off the bottom bit to make the border even on all sides. I die cut it twice for strength, then decided to add Crystal Clear Double Thick foam tape from The Rabbit Hole Designs on the back. This creates a lot of dimension, and it also gives an airy effect that you don’t achieve by stacking die cuts (which was my original plan). I added my frame at an angle on top of the ink blending, then put the monsters on the frame.

I white heat embossed a sentiment from Huldra Designstudio onto a piece of True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I fussy cut around it and used the same foam tape on the back of this to pop it up, before finishing off the card with a few enamel dots from the Sea Shore mix from Altenew, which matches my blended background perfectly. So does the envelope I used, which is also Volcano Lake from Altenew.

Fun color palette for this one.