Hi, crafty friends. I have a super simple mini slimline card to share today, featuring this adorable Merry Christmas Penguins image from Lili of the Valley. Christmas is 11 months away, it’s never to early to start making those holiday cards.
I love the playful nature of the Lili of the Valley stamps, and their adorable critters drew me in when I was a new cardmaker years and years ago. I still have all my old rubber stamps from Lili of the Valley, and they stamp so well. This one is digital, however, and the two main advantages that I see in digital stamps are that you can adjust the size to suit your needs and that there’s no waiting for ink to dry. Also, you get a perfect print every time. I love digital stamps!
I haven’t made a mini slimline card in a while, and decided that this image would be perfect for it. I created a card base that was slightly smaller than an average mini slimline. This one measures 5 1/4 x 3″, it fit the scene better than a 6″ wide base.
I colored the scene with Copics, cut it down to a size that left a nice border around the edge and adhered it directly to the card base, before adding some crystals from a mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to the banner.
The crystals add a tiny bit of dimension to an otherwise fairly flat card, and those penguins are the cutest, aren’t they?
Simple color palette for this one.
I used flowers from different companies (I honestly don’t know where these are from, I’ve had them for 10+ years, but I’m thinking most of these are from Wild Orchid Crafts. The ruffled roses are really old ones from Kort & Godt, and I think the teal ones might be from I am roses, though I’m not entirely sure), removed the yellow centers from the teal ones and replaced them with white pearls from Papirdesign.
Both insides share the same layout, and so does the back. I printed a sentiment to go on the back, as well as the date, and a few more flowers. These cards that I make with decorations on all four sides are thick, flowers add a ton of dimension. I used old patterned paper from Maja Design for this card. The Vintage Spring Basics collection and the Vintage Summer Basics collection are both collections that Maja Design released over 10 years ago. Back then, I used plenty of patterned paper, and especially Maja Design. Their paper is such good quality, and I love their use of pattern and color. My style has changed considerably, and I rarely use large pieces of patterned paper anymore, but I still have a lot, and Maja Design is still a favorite.
Simple color palette that makes the teal pop!
This 
I colored the image with Copics and used patterned paper from Maja Design to create this criss cross card. I added some flowers, a few pearls and also a charm to the large square tag I put inside, which has plenty of room for a personal message.
On the back I put an additional sentiment, and the card was complete. Easy peasy.
Simple color palette, not a whole lot of Copics.
Cue 
I’ve always been a fan of creating blue Christmas cards, but in the past couple of years, green has grown on me, and I think I made more green Christmas cards this year than blue ones. It helps that I’ve found a green Copic combo that I really like.
When all the coloring was done, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the 
Lots of Copics for this one.
I used a white Gelly Roll 05 pen to create the white dots on the deer, and a die from the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things to create the faux stitching on the edges of the panel. By not stamping the entire deer, it creates a dynamic effect of having it walk in from the edge of the card.
I stamped a sentiment from the 
The pink and blue green color combination is definitely not traditional for Christmas, but I kind of like it. What do you think, does it work?
Quite a few Copics for such a simple card.
I wanted to make a peaceful scene for this card. I stamped and masked 
I masked off the background too, before going in with my Copic airbrush system to create a soft winter sunset. I then peeled off the masks, colored the background, then everything else.
I left the red details till the end. I don’t want to run the risk of other colors picking up the red, so by leaving it to the end, I avoid that.
Looks like these reindeer are very patiently waiting for Santa. I wonder where he is? Actually, yesterday on my way to work, I saw a passenger on the bus with a long red Santa hat.
I didn’t want to mess up the sky with a sentiment, and the bottom part of the card is too full for one. I might put one inside, but to finish the card, I merely adhered my scene onto a top fold card base I created from Stormy Sea cardstock from Papertrey Ink. The finished card measures 6 x 5 3/8″, which is a bit of an odd size, but I prefer making my card size fit the scene and not the other way around when I create these full scene cards with Purple Onion images.
Not a whole lot of Copics for this one, actually.
I love creating these scenes with Stacey’s images. It’s a time consuming process, as I create masks for each critter and fussy cut them, but the end result is always worth it.
I stamped Winter and Balsam using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things before covering both of them with masks. I then did second generation stamping of Santa’s workshop using Memento Rich Cocoa ink, using first generation for the signage only. I like the softer look of the brown lettering in the background. I stamped the silhouette of Santa’s sleigh using VersaFine Onyx Black ink AFTER I’d colored in the entire scene. This is an ink that stamps very black and very crisp, but it’s a pigment ink and doesn’t play well with Copics, so it’s best to leave it to the end. I stamped the sentiment using Blueberry Sky ink from Papertrey Ink.
I also went back over the “cast iron” of the OPEN sign using a 0.3 cool gray multiliner from Copic and added white dots on the penguin’s hat and scarf using my white Gelly Roll 05.
I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, melted the granules from the back of the paper and adhered my finished scene onto a 5 3/4 x 4 1/2″ white card base, making this card slightly larger than the regular A2 size card.
Lots of Copics used for this one.
There are some awesome stamps in the 
This image is 
I have a tall pine tree outside my craft room window. In it, there’s a huge nest that magpies built a few years back. One morning last week, I heard the magpies making more sound than usual. When I looked outside, there was a squirrel that had taken over the nest. It was adding one twig after another to the nest, I guess it had evicted the magpies. After quite some time, one of the magpies tried to get back in, but was chased away by the squirrel. I must admit I was delighted, I’d much rather have a squirrel outside my window than magpies. The squirrel is much cuter, and it’s a lot quieter too.
Back to the card. Once I finished the coloring, I stamped the word Christmas from the Christmas Greeting stamp set that Lili of the Valley released earlier this year using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things.
I then die cut the panel using the second larges die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it directly to a card base I created from Jalapeño Popper cardstock, also from My Favorite Things. On a scrap piece of cardstock the same color, I stamped and white heat embossed the words cosy and wishes to complete my sentiment. I put a couple of additional layers of green cardstock behind each word for a little bit of added dimension.
I added a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off this very simple card. A little bit of shine is never a bad idea on a simple card.
You’d think an image this simple would have less Copics used, but I tend to go overboard on snow. This time I also went overboard on the fur, even though it might not look like it.
Whenever the design team members get a glimpse of the new collection, I start my planning process. I sketch out very rough card ideas using the stamps I’d like to work with, send my stamp wish list off to Michele, the owner of Purple Onion Designs, and then wait patiently for the stamps to arrive.
Whenever there’s a new collection I like to create scenes to show off as many of the cute images as possible (without overcrowding the card), and for this card I stamped 
I always start by coloring the sky, and for this collection, I wanted each of my cards to have a different sky. I tend to go for all blues, but winter sunsets are explosions of color, so I was very conscious of that when I created my card. Once the sky was done, I colored the snow, followed by the trees and that cute fence, before starting with the rest of the scene.
I colored the critters, then the arch and finally all the red. I always leave the red details to the very end. It eliminates the chance of smearing and getting red ink where you don’t want it when you go in with another color right next to it. I wrote Happy Holidays with a black 0.35 Copic pen before coloring, but once the red was colored, you could hardly see the lettering, so I went back over with a white 05 Gelly Roll pen, and the text is much more visible now. My Ps are a little further apart than I’d like, and they’re also leaning a tiny bit to the right, but it’s a homemade card, it’s not supposed to be perfect, right?
Whenever I create these scene cards with Purple Onion images, I always let the stamping and the scene itself dictate the size of the finished card. This one wound up at 5 1/4 x 5 1/4″, which seemed pretty perfect. I haven’t made a square card in a while, so this was fun.
I used an obscene amount of Copics for this card.
For this card, I chose 
I didn’t want a dark night sky for this card. I also didn’t want it to have a basic blue sky, because I wanted to add lots of snow, and it doesn’t really snow from clear skies. I opted for a soft blue violet combo that wasn’t too dark and that fit the snowy scene look I was after.
When everything was colored, I stamped a sentiment from 
I sprinkled on a generous amount of chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, making sure no granules covered up the critters’ eyes or the sentiment, before melting the granules from the back of the panel. I then adhered it directly to a top fold white card base, and my card was complete.
Lots of Copics for this one.
Papirmølla 