Happy birthday {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a super simple card to share today (I feel like I always say that), featuring this adorable turtle (based on the shape of the shell, I’d say it’s a tortoise and not a turtle, but that’s just because I like being as accurate as I can) from the Turtley Awesome stamp set from Streamside Studios.

I colored in the image using Copics, before fussy cutting it, right up against the black lines of the image. I put the image aside while I worked on the rest of my card.

I actually worked directly on the card base for this one. Using the Big Balloon stencil from My Favorite Things, I ink blended two balloons using Distress inks – one using Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick and Abandoned Coral; the other using Mustard Seed and Squeezed Lemonade. And in the words of Laura Bassen – the magic’s in the overlap.

Once the balloons were done, I used the mask in the Big Balloon stencil set to mask off the balloons while I used the Slimline Cloud Edges stencil, also from MFT, to create the illusion of clouds in the distance. I used Eastern Sky ink near the top of the card, Iceberg ink towards the bottom, both are gorgeous colors from Altenew.

I free hand cut a grassy hill from Parsley cardstock from Concord & 9th and adhered it to the bottom of my card. I die cut the Happy Birthday die from My Favorite Things twice using white cardstock from Papertrey Ink (same cardstock as my card base) and adhered the two layers together for a tiny bit of dimension and adhered my layered die cut on top of the balloons.

To finish off the card, I drew in balloon strings using a 0.35 Copic Multiliner, popped the tortoise (I can’t bring myself to write the word “turtle” when this is clearly a tortoise) up using some 1/16″ foam squares and added sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things From Lucy’s Cards for a bit of sparkle and shine.

Simple color palette for this small image.

It’s your day {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends and welcome to Summer. Can you believe it’s June already? Where has the time gone? In the spirit of this first summer month, I’ve made a summery card with a summery image. 3 on a bench from Mo’s Digital Pencil is one of those stamps that you can get as a merged image or as the separate components that make up the scene. This particular one consists of three kids sitting on a bench, each enjoying their own snack. I’ve used the separated version for my card, and I’ve used the bench and the girl with the big wedge of watermelon. There’s also a boy with a popsicle and a girl eating corn in the same stamp, but I opted for the watermelon alone today.

I printed the image towards the bottom left of my panel of X-Press It blending card and colored it with Copics. I’ve colored this girl once before, but I decided to go for a different color scheme this time, I think the only thing that’s stayed the same since the last card is the coloring on the watermelon. The printer doesn’t print all the way to the edge, so I cut off a little strip on the left side and decided to add a strip of yellow patterned paper from Papirdesign on the right to balance out the design and fill the front of this A2 card.

I also added a tiny piece on the left side to add a tiny bit of added interest. I adhered my panel onto a top fold card base I created from Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th. I used a die from Papirdesign (Hipp hurra, oval) to die cut the letters from the same color of cardstock and adhered them towards the top right corner of the card front. Onto a strip of Red Hot cardstock from My Favorite Things, I stamped a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using VersaMark ink and white heat embossed it using super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger, before adding two additional layers of cardstock behind it for a bit of dimension and adhering it to the card. I added a few enamel dots from the Pocketful of Sunshine pack of enamel dots from Altenew, and my super simple card was finished.

And as usual, I finish with the Copics I used. Quite a few for this super simple image, I reckon.

You’re the best {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a fairly simple card today, featuring this cute Chick from Lili of the Valley. The card design is heavily inspired by this one that Laura Bassen shared last year.

I colored the chick with Copics and fussy cut it, leaving a white border around the edge. I put it aside while I worked on the rest of the card.

On a 3 1/2 x 4 3/4″ panel of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I adhered 1/4″ strips of pastel colored cardstock at an angle. The colors are (top to bottom) Ballet Slipper (Concord & 9th), Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink), Mint Julep (Papertrey Ink), Aqua Sky (Concord & 9th), Blue Breeze (My Favorite Things), Lilac Grace (Papertrey Ink). I then die cut a circle from the center of this panel.

I die cut a sligthly smaller circle out of vellum and adhered it to my card base using foam tape for a little bit of lift. I mounted the stripped up panel on top using even more foam tape (a thicker one for this layer) and put pieces of foam tape behind the little chick and added it in the center of the window opening.

I stamped a sentiment from My Favorite Things using Harvest Gold ink from Papertrey Ink on a leftover strip of Lemon Tart cardstock, then used foam tape to adhere it to the front of the card before finishing off with a few raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

This card has lots of dimension and a soft look because of all the pastel colors of cardstock, but that little chick is still the star of the show!

Very simple color palette for this tiny little image.

Just for you {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a simple, yet very dimensional card today featuring the adorable Mona from Mo’s Digital Pencil. I’ve colored her once before, and I wanted a different card style and different color scheme for this card than my previous one featuring this image, which you can find here.

I went for a green and yellow combo this time, and made her hair dark (I colored her blonde last time). I was going to color her dress in teals, but when I was done with everything else and only had the dress left to color I changed my mind and opted for white. White’s not really white, I used a few grays and the tiniest amount of light blue, but it reads white in the finished coloring. I fussy cut my image leaving a white trim around the edge and put her aside while I worked on the rest of my card.

I took a page out of Laura Bassen’s playbook and did a little paper stripping. Since I kept the dress white, I used teal colors of cardstock instead. I wanted a color that would go well with the green and yellow, and you just can’t go wrong with teal. I cut 1/4″ strips of the colors Peacock from Concord & 9th, Oceanside from Concord & 9th, Hawaiian Shores from Papertrey Ink, Aqua Sky from Concord & 9th and Sno Cone from My Favorite Things. I butted each of the strips against the last one on a scrap of white cardstock and trimmed off the excess before putting foam tape on the back. I adhered my striped piece at an angle onto a 3 1/2 x 4 3/4″ panel of Vintage Cream cardstock from Papertrey Ink and trimmed off the excess hanging off the sides.

I adhered my cream panel onto a top fold, white card base using foam tape, before stamping and heat embossing a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Birthday stamp set from My Favorite Things. I thought this particular sentiment would work for many occasions, not just birthdays, and the size was perfect to add to one of my cardstock strips.

Using even more foam tape I adhered Mona near the bottom left of the card. I love that her dress sticks out right below the sentiment, I really couldn’t have placed the sentiment any better, it’s nestled in perfectly. I put Glossy Accents on the lollipop and a few Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh here and there to finish the card.

Here you can see all the dimension. The cream panel is mounted on foam tape, the cardstock stripes are mounted on foam tape, and Mona is mounted on foam tape.

Quick and easy color palette for this one. I don’t think I went too much overboard with the amount of markers in this one. I won’t mention that I used six colors for her hair 😉

Hooray {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. Today I’m sharing a simple mini slimline card, featuring this adorable Little Bear Cupcake image from Lili of the Valley.

I actually made this card for my dad, whose birthday was last week. He loves his cakes and desserts, and has a stationary bike that he works on on almost daily (while watching police car chases on YouTube; no joke), and I thought this image would be perfect for him, with the little bear on his bike and the cupcake trailing behind. I colored the image with my Copics and used the Stitched Mini Slimline STAX die set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel that would fit nicely on a mini slimline card. I then die cut the letters to spell HURRA three times from Jalapeño Popper cardstock from My Favorite Things and stacked them for a dimensional look, before deciding that the green was too dark. I didn’t want to start over, so I using the same dies (the Connected die set from My Favorite Things), I cut an additional layer from Parsley cardstock from Concord & 9th and glued that on top of the dark green. I like the lighter green better.

I adhered my panel to a card base I created from Blueberry cardstock from My Favorite Things. I added Glossy Accents to the hearts in the image, stamped a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things and added a few more strips of cardstock behind it for dimension. I finished off the card with a couple of enamel dots from Papirdesign.

I probably used way more colors than I really needed for this card. Three colors for that cherry is kind of ridiculous, it’s not that big, but that’s kind of what I do – I really love my Copics.

We swish you a merry Christmas {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I know it seems like Christmas is an eternity from now, but time really flies, it’ll be November before we can blink. These dogs from Purple Onion Designs are kind of flying too, at the very least they’re hurrying home to get their tree up.

For this slightly larger than normal slimline card, I stamped the 3 Dog Holiday stamp on one piece of X-Press It blending card, and the Snow Capped Evergreen Tree and the Duo Snow Capped Trees on another. I took a think Copic friendly marker and drew in a horizon line between my trees and colored everything with my Copics.

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 Snow Much Fun Sentiment set using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things, fussy cut the image with the dogs carrying the tree and adhered them to my background using foam squares that are pretty thin.

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.

Let it snow {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi! I’m sharing another red Christmas card today. I honestly don’t know what’s going on, but there you go 😉 Today’s card is a very simple one. I colored up Merry Little Christmas about a week ago (there’s also a curly haired version here), and I didn’t add much to her.

I colored the image with my Copics, die cut her using the largest of the A2 Double Stitched Rectangle STAX dies from My Favorite Things and sprinkled on a generous amount of chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, which I then melted.

I adhered my panel onto a top fold cardbase I created from Cranberry cardstock from Concord & 9th, before adding a piece of a mini paper doily from Doodlebug and a sentiment from My Favorite Things that I white heat embossed onto a separate piece of the Cranberry cardstock, with three additional layers behind for a little dimension. I added a few Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and my card was complete. Super simple.

As usual, I finish with the Copics I used for my image.

Merry & Bright {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi. I’m sharing a sneak peek today. The new release from Rachelle Anne Miller is right around the corner, and this month, there’s a Christmas Penguin Scene Creator set. In the set there are three single penguins, one penguin decorating a tree, a couple of separate trees, a sheet of ice and lots of small elements that coordinate and work well with the larger ones. I’ve used one of the single penguins as well as the one decorating the tree today for the focus of my card.

I put the penguins on a sheet of ice, made the ice no line and scattered baubles and stars around the ice to create a fun scene.

I colored in my scene using Copics, die cut my panel using a double stitched rectangle die from My Favorite Things and decided to add a few little details for shine and texture. I added Rock Candy distress glitter to the stars, a dot of black glaze pen in each eye for a little bit of dimension and shine, and I also glued on some additional stars to the tree. The stars are from the Icicle sequin mix from Hero Arts.

I printed one of the sentiments in the scene creator set onto a piece of Aqua Sky cardstock from Concord & 9th, and die cut that using a die from My Favorite Things. I used the same die to die cut from some Grapefruit cardstock, another beautiful Concord & 9th color, and one that matches perfectly with the baubles I colored.

Near the sentiment, I added sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and that finishes my card.

I used lots of Copics for the ocean, the sheet of ice and the sky, not that many for everything else.

Make a wish {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi! I’m sharing a card today that is near and dear to my heart. I shared the coloring of this Wishing mouse from Stacey Yacula and Purple Onion Designs back in July last year. It was the first Purple Onion Designs image that I ever colored.  A little over a year later, and I’m lucky enough to be on the Purple Onion design team, all because of this one image.

I colored the image using a very soft color palette with my Copics. I didn’t write the colors down, so unfortunately, I have no fancy graphic to show you at the end of this post. I wish I did, though, because I really like the colors I used for this.

I used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 dies to turn my colored piece into a nice panel with the faux stitch edge I love so much. I decided to adhere it directly to my top fold card base, that I made from Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. The color matches the darkest parts of her dress very well.

Onto a separate piece of Berry Sorbet, I stamped and white heat embossed part of a sentiment in the A Beautiful Day Sentiment Set from Purple Onion Designs, before cutting it down to a super small sentiment strip using a steel ruler and a craft knife. To me, it’s the best way to create sentiment strips, die cutting is more risky to me, this way, I know it’s straight.

I die cut part the word wish using a die from Mama Elephant. The die actually die cuts the word wishes, but I cut off the tail end of the word so I was left with just wish. I die cut four more from Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th, and added them behind the top die cut for dimension. This makes the word lighter (and it makes it match the lighter parts of the dress) from the sides. I did the same with the sentiment strips above, making the strip and the stacked die cut flush.

I finished off the card by adding a few sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. I used my scissors to cut the largest sequin in half to tuck it behind the sentiment strip.

Birthday wishes {Streamside Studios}

Hi, there. I have a super simple birthday card to share today, featuring the Turtley Awesome digital stamp set from Streamside Studios. This card is actually part of an Instagram hop, so if you head over to Instagram and hop along, you’re in with a chance to win some prizes. Who doesn’t like prizes, right?

Streamside Studios Turtley Awesome bursdag front rett

I colored two of the tortoises (the other one’s on the inside of the card) and fussy cut both. I printed one of the watercolor splashes from Lili of the Valley at 50 % opacity straight onto the card base. I love the watercolor look, but hate getting inky fingers, and this way, there’s no drying time, and I can use my nice white cardstock and not have to rely on the more yellow watercolor paper.

Streamside Studios Turtley Awesome bursdag front skrått

Here you can see a little of the tortoise I glued to the inside of the card. On the front, I added a stacked wishes sentiment (die from Mama Elephant). It’s six die cuts thick for some real dimension.

Streamside Studios Turtley Awesome bursdag flatlay rett

I stamped and white heat embossed part of a birthday sentiment from a Simon Says Stamp/Concord and 9th Stamptember collaboration set onto a piece of Smokey Shadow card stock from Papertrey Ink, mounted it on foam tape and adhered it above the w.

Streamside Studios Turtley Awesome bursdag flatlay skrått

To finish off the card, I added some sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. It’s a great mix of sequins in four different sizes, I really love using them on my cards.