Baby, it’s cold outside {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! It’s never to early for holiday cards, right? Although, I did technically create this back in the first half of December. Things just got so hectic before Christmas I never found the time to share. That time is now, apparently! 🙂

These images in this scene are all from the Winterwood collection from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Holly Mabutas. We have Frosty, Finn (with his tophat), Blossom the bunny and Will, who’s giggling next to Frosty. I stamped the Winter Neighborhood in fadeout ink for a no line effect in the background. Except for the holly on the tophat, there’s really nothing that screams holiday on this card, so it could easily work throughout the winter season and in my neck of the woods through the majority of spring, too, actually. Most of the snow is usually gone by mid May.

I colored the scene with Copics, then stamped the critters and the snowman again, this time using Obsidian ink from Altenew to get crisp black lines. This is a pigment ink, which doesn’t play nice with Copics, but as long as the coloring’s already complete, using this ink is totally fine. I sprinkled on Chunky White embossing enamel from Stampendous, melted the granules from the back of the paper and finished off the card with a sentiment from the Holiday Blurbs I stamp set that I stamped in Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things. I added some foam tape on the back of the speech bubble for a tiny bit of dimension on the card. This is an A6 size card, measuring 6 1/4 x 4 5/8″.

Not a whole lot of colors used given the large scene, but I did use 7 for the fox alone. But he came out so cute, it was totally worth it!

Hugs – you are loved {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back today with a sweet card featuring an adorable monkey from Lili of the Valley. He’s from the Little Monkey stamp set, which is available both as a clear stamp set (here) and as a digital set (here). It’s always great when you can choose.

I haven’t done any coloring since December, so I felt rusty. Thankfully, these images from Lili of the Valley are easy ones for jumping back in! Once my coloring was complete, I fussy cut him, leaving a thin white border around the edge. I didn’t want to cut away the “fuzzies” that are so typical of LOTV images, so by leaving a white border, I could preserve the look. I used an embossing folder (Quilted embossing folder from Concord & 9th) to create some interest in the background without being too distracting.

I cut down a few colors of cardstock from Concord & 9th to 3/16″ wide strips and glued them together on a scrap piece of white cardstock. The colors I used are Oceanside, Aqua Sky, Buttercup, Grapefruit and Honeysuckle. I mounted my stripped up panel at an angle, put a few foam squares behind the monkey and added him on top. I die cut hugs (Quilted die set from C9) three times from white cardstock, stacked them and adhered them on top of my strips next to the monkey. I then stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Gifting stamp set from My Favorite Things onto a black piece of cardstock from Concord & 9th. I added a couple of layers of black cardstock behind for strength and dimension and adhered it on top of the die cut word, before finishing off with a few sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Simple color combo this time.

Here come the holidays! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! We’ve got ONE WEEK to go until the big night. I have another holiday card to share, I’m still making them. This time, I’m featuring Rusty & Piper, Crimson, Boots and Holiday Brownstone, all from the Merriest Little City collection from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula.

I love Stacey’s images, they all work so well together to tell stories. I colored my scene with Copics and cut my panel down ever so slightly.

I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Time Sentiment set using Eiffel Tower ink from My Favorite Things. I tend to opt for a colored ink to match the card whenever I stamp my sentiment, and I’m not sure how I feel about this grey. It might have been better in green, who knows? I adhered my panel to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and decided not to embellish at all. Sometimes simple is all you need.

Even with a fairly limited color palette on the card, I used quite a few Copics.

Christmas magic is in the air {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today to share a card featuring Tofu & The Snowman from the Tofu & Friends holiday collection from Purple Onion Designs.

i colored the scene with Copics, before using a die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower to trim down my panel. I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Time Sentiment set using Harbor ink from Concord & 9th, before sprinkling on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, which I then melted from the back for a snowy look.

I used the Snowflake Oval Frame embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp to create some texture on a panel of white cardstock which I adhered directly to a top fold card base, before mounting the panel on foam tape to finish the card. Super simple, right?

A lot of Copics for this one.

Winter Greetings {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a fun winter card today featuring Tofu, Flappy & Mousy Fun in the Snow, which is a stamp from last year’s holiday collection of Pei’s images from Purple Onion Designs.

This is one of those super simple cards. I stamped the image using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things and masked it before stamping the Winter Trees background in Fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a no line look in the background. I colored in my scene using Copics, before using one of the dies in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower to cut it down slightly.

I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Time Sentiment Set using Autumn Rose ink from Papertrey Ink, mounted my panel in the center of a top fold card base using foam tape and finished off with a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I love these sprinkles!!

I stuck to a pretty limited color palette, I feel, but there’s still a lot of markers.

Today’s the last day of the annual holiday sale over at Purple Onion Designs, so this is a gentle reminder to head over there, fill your cart with stamps at 25 % off, and check out.

Christening {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends! I shared this card on the Mo Manning Dream Team blog last week, but thought I’d share it here as well. When I first started making cards, they were very layered with lots of embellishments. These days, I’m more of a clean and simple (or in my case clean and time consuming) maker, but every once and again, I go back to my roots, and that’s definitely true for this card.

I made a Christening card this time, for a little boy whose christening was this Sunday. I’ve used this image so many times over the years I’ve lost count. I colored the image with Copics and die cut it using the Stitched Circle STAX die set from My Favorite Things. I matted it on a piece of Maja Design patterned paper cut with the Nesting Circles die set from Lifestyle Crafts.

I created a shaped card using the Nesting Frames 8 die set from Lifestyle Crafts, and used a few sizes of this die for the patterned paper panels on my card, which are all created from the Vintage Spring Basics collection from Maja Design. I die cut a white doily using the English Tea Party die from Cheery Lynn, mounted it in the center of the card and added my circles on top. I die cut the letters to spell the boy’s name using Die 304 from Kort & Godt and adhered them to a strip I die cut with the Essential Stitched Sentiment Strips die set from My Favorite Things. I added some Studio Calico veneer stars to embellish and a button from Kort & Godt that I put on top of a bow I created from Chalk White seam binding which I’d colored with Copic B95 and B91. This took me back – I used to color seam binding with Copics to match my card sooo often back in the day, and it honestly made me a little nostalgic doing this.

The insides of the card have the same basic layout as the front, just different patterns, and I left the stitched circles plain white for the personal message. On the back of the card, I die cut a pre printed image from Kort & Godt, found another button and added a star on each side of it to finish.

Very limited color palette for this one, there wasn’t much to color.

Happy mail {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a fun card to share today, featuring Happy Mail from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Pei. This image is from this year’s Season’s Greetings collection from Pei. I love her illustration style, and whenever there’s a penguin, I’m sold. Speaking of sold, the annual holiday sale is underway at Purple Onion Designs. Pretty much everything (with a few exceptions) is at 25 % off. The offer ends this Sunday (December 8th, 2024), so there’s plenty of time to browse the Purple Onion website and pick up favorites!

I suggest you put this image in your cart, it’s so awesome. I colored it with my Copics, adding an actual no line horizon behind my critters to complete the wintry scene, before using a die from the Nesting Postage Stamps infinity die set from Hero Arts to turn it into a huge postage stamp. I then used the Vintage Holiday Postmark Set along with the wavy lines from the Vintage PostCARD set to add to the postage feel. I used Lazy Day ink from My Favorite Things, which matches the blue in my coloring pretty nicely.

I created a top fold card base from Pure Poppy cardstock from Papertrey Ink, mounted my large postage stamp using lots of foam tape and adhered a few Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish.

I actually used red markers for red this time, with a little bit of B14 where I wanted it to be darker than R29 can create on its own. I usually use earth tones for red, this was a fun change.

Det snør, det snør, tiddelibom {Rachelle Anne Miller}

Hi, crafty friends. The sentiment on this card probably won’t make much sense to you unless you’re Norwegian, but it’s the first line of a Winnie the Pooh song about snow (I found a voice recording of it here if you want to listen). Now, Winnie the Pooh isn’t in this card, but I have some cute Polar Bears from Rachelle Anne Miller. I love this image, and realized once my coloring was done that I had printed a no line version on the back of the panel. I probably intended to use that, as I prefer no line for “white” things. Oh well, I wasn’t starting over, and I’ve colored these polar bears in a no line version previously, so maybe having black lines this time wasn’t such a bad idea after all?

I took a quick look at the colors I’ve focused on recently to try to choose something different and opted for this blue green combo. I colored the image with Copics and added a horizon in the distance with a few trees scattered about.

I made sure not to add to many trees so there would be room for the sentiment, which I stamped in Oceanside ink from Concord & 9th. The sentiment itself is from the Snøstorm stamp set from byCino. I die cut my panel using the lartest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things, before I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous. I made sure that none of the granules covered the sentiment or the eyes of the polar bears before melting the powder from the back.

I adhered my panel to a card base I’d covered with a quarter sheet of Oceanside cardstock from Concord & 9th. This is actually a side fold card. I usually make top fold cards, but I didn’t have any landscape oriented card bases on hand and didn’t feel like breaking open a new pack of cardstock. Long live lazy crafting, right?

Very cool color palette for this one.

Express delivery from the North Pole {Rachelle Anne Miller}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m still in the midst of creating holiday cards. Christmas is in exactly one month, and it snowed today as I was working on this card featuring Snowman’s Gift from Rachelle Anne Miller. I definitely went with a non traditional color palette this time, even choosing purple voluntarily. It doesn’t happen often, probably not even once a year.

I printed the image onto X-Press It blending card and colored it with my Copics, going for a couple of different purple combos – one dark for the snowman’s hat and scarf, another for the cute little bird. I chose a deep pink combo for the present and the bird’s accessories to bring in another color. I die cut my panel using a rectangle die from Waffle Flower, then went in with a snowflake stencil from Ciao Bella and some Lilac ink from Concord & 9th. I then added VersaMark on top and sprinkled on Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder from JudiKins to turn the snowflakes sparkly once the powder melted.

I stamped a sentiment from the Julehilsen stamp set from byCino using Autumn Rose ink from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment translates to “Express delivery from the North Pole” and was the perfect size for my chosen placement. I adhered a quarter sheet of Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink onto a white card base and mounted the colored panel in the center, before finishing off with sequins and raindrops from the She’s So Lovely mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Lots of purple. I can do hard things (using purple is HARD).

Deck the halls {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. My love for penguins is not a secret, so whenever there’s a penguin to color, I’m all over it. This penguin is from the Polar Christmas stamp set from Lili of the Valley, and I paired it with a mountain background that comes in the same set.

I colored my cutie with Copics and made sure to color enough on the sky and the ground beneath him so I could die cut my panel with a circle die. I used a black glaze pen to get some shine into his eyes, and once the black was dry, I added a dot of white Gelly Roll 05. I die cut a white ornament using the Snowflakes and Ornament die set from Hero Arts, and glued my colored panel on top, before working on the rest of the card.

For my background, I used the Magic Snow Cover die from Mama Elephant to die cut from Powder cardstock from Concord & 9th. I adhered that to a top fold white card base and glued my ornament in the center with a couple of layers of cardstock behind it for a little bit of dimension. I die cut a sentiment from white cardstock using the Jolly Holiday Greetings die set from Concord & 9th. I die cut the back from Champagne cardstock, also from Concord & 9th and added the complete sentiment to my card with a little dimension behind it, before finishing off with a die cut bow in the same cardstock color, die cut using the Gift Bows die set from Kristina Werner.

Simple palette for this one.