Wish BIG on your birthday

May 26, 2021May 26, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there. Second blog post of the day. If you’re looking for a Mo Manning creation, it’s right here. This time I’ve got a bright, slimline birthday card to share, featuring lots of goodies from My Favorite Things. It’s no secret that I love their products, and I rarely make cards without at least using MFT dies.

I stamped the images from the Picture Perfect Party Animals stamp set using MFT Extreme Black ink, which is a hybrid ink that works well with Copics. I cut each of the squares right up against the lines and mounted them on foam tape onto a piece of Limelight card stock that I die cut using a die from the Slimline Starter die set. I adhered the green card stock directly to the white card base.

Using the Big Birthday Wishes die, I die cut the word wish four times from Tropical Teal card stock and stacked them for a little bit of dimension. I adhered the letters to the green card stock and mounted a sub sentiment on top using some 1/16″ foam tape from Gina K. That sub sentiment is part of a sentiment from the Pawty Time stamp set, and just for a little bit of a different look, I used Milk Chocolate card stock for that. To finish off the card, I added quite a few enamel dots from Papirdesign to pick up the orange from my coloring.

Normally, I’d have my Copic colors at the end of the post, but I colored these images for Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day coloring challenge last July, and don’t recall what colors I used.

Happy birthday monsters {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

May 26, 2021May 24, 2021 Elin2 Comments

Hi, everyone! I’ve got a simple, colorful, dimensional birthday card to share today, featuring some adorable monsters from Mo Manning. They’re from the Cupcake Monster set. It exists as a merged version, and a separated version, which is what I used today. I didn’t even use the big monster, just the smaller ones.

There are 7 small monsters in this stamp set – perfect for a rainbow. I actually colored all 7, the last little (red) monster’s on the inside of the card, you’ll have to trust me on that 🙂 Once I was done coloring, I fussy cut them all, leaving a thin white border on the outside edge of each. I usually prefer cutting right up against the line, but these are so small, and those candles so thin, that there was just no way to do it.

I used the Simply hexagons die from Pinkfresh Studio to create some hexagons from Soft Stone cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love this soft grey for a neutral on neutral look. I adhered the hexagons in the center of a white top fold card base using foam tape.

I put the monsters on 1 mm foam squares, cutting the squares into little slivers to put behind their feet and the candles. These monsters really are tiny, but I wanted the dimension, so I think it was still worth the extra effort.

I stamped and heat embossed a sentiment from the Over under easy stamp set from Papertrey Ink onto Smokey Shadow cardstock, also from Papertrey Ink. I love the cardstock colors from PTI, they’re my favorite!! I cut the sentiment down to two strips and adhered them at wonky angles with foam tape, before finishing off the card with a few sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

Lots of Copics for this one. That happens with rainbows 🙂

Mr. Fixit {Purple Onion Designs}

May 25, 2021May 24, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I’ve got a simple card with some dimension and fussy cutting to share today, featuring a couple of stamps from the latest release from Stacey Yacula and Purple Onion Designs.

I started by stamping Milton the bear and the ivy cottage in Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, coloring in both images with my Copics. I fussy cut both right up to the stamped lines, and used a die from the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from MFT to do some partial die cutting of the cottage. I wanted the foreground to have that nice stitched edge, but not cut off the tree – partial die cutting is great for that.

On a piece of white cardstock, I used the cloud stencil from My Favorite Things to ink blend some puffy clouds with Iceberg ink from Altenew. I die cut this panel with that same die that I used for the ivy cottage, adhered it directly onto a white top fold card base, and mounted the ivy cottage onto that using 1 mm foam squares. I added Milton on top with more 1 mm foam squares, stamped a sentiment from the Around the Town sentiment set using Soft Granite ink from Hero Arts, and added the sentiment towards the top of the card using foam tape. I adhered a few sequins from the white orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish my card. I need to create a slightly bigger envelope than usual for this card. The tree hanging out from the edge means it won’t fit in a standard envelope for A2 cards.

Not a whole lot of Copics for this one. Lots of green, though.

You deserve flowers {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

May 23, 2021May 24, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have a super simple card to share today, featuring the Little Fairy image from Rachelle Anne Miller.

I colored my image with Copics and die cut it using a die from My Favorite Things and adhered it to a top fold card base I made from Bright Buttercup cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

Using VersaMark ink, I stamped a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a scrap piece of Raspberry Fizz cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I turned it into a strip using one of the dies in the Fishtail Flag Frames die set from My Favorite Things, mounted it on foam tape and adhered it to the card.

I finished off the card with some white sequins from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

As usual, a graphic of the Copics I used.

Hang in there {Purple Onion Designs}

May 20, 2021May 20, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have a very clean and simple card to share today, featuring some more stamps from the latest release from Stacey Yacula and Purple Onion Designs.

I thought the Hang in there sentiment from the Around the Town sentiment set (also new with this release) would be the perfect accompaniment to the clothes line. I could have kept my card even simpler by not adding anything else to it, but I wanted to create a little scene. I stamped Jane the fox waving hello at the very front and added in one of the stamps from the country flowers set to fill out my scene a little. They match the little sprigs at the bottom of the clothes line perfectly. I stamped the countryside horizon towards the top of my panel and colored everything with my Copics.

Once my entire scene was colored, I used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles dies from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with a nice faux stitch egde and adhered it to a top fold white card base. I stamped the sentiment using Blueberry Sky ink from Papertrey Ink, die cutting it into a nice banner using one of the dies in the Fishtail Flag Frames die set from My Favorite Things. I adhered it to my card using foam tape and added some blue enamel dots from Papirdesign to finish.

I’ve colored a lot of scenery for the cards I’ve made with this release, and wanted to get a different green look for the grass and trees for this card compared to the others, which have all been fairly bright. This is a more subdued green, I kind of like it.

Best news ever! {Purple Onion Designs}

May 17, 2021May 17, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I’m sharing a shaker card today, featuring Alex the owl from Purple Onion Designs. He’s got good news to share!

I colored the image with Copics and set it aside while I worked on the rest of the card. On a piece of white card stock, I used the Linen & Canvas impression plate from Papertrey Ink to add texture to all that white space, before using the Selfie Square die and the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles dies from My Favorite Things to add the faux stitching around the edge and also to frame the window.

I added acetate in the window and put micro beads inside, before mounting it all on foam tape and adhering it to a top fold card base I made from New Leaf cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Around the Town sentiment set onto a scrap of New Leaf cardstock, which I die cut using the smallest of the Fishtail Flag Frames dies from My Favorite Things. I finished off the card with a few green enamel dots from Papirdesign.

The image is small and very simply colored, so I didn’t use a lot of Copics for this.

Hope your day is peachy keen! {Purple Onion Designs}

May 14, 2021May 13, 2021 Elin1 Comment

Hi, everyone! I have a peachy keen card to share today, using a few of the stamps from the most recent release from Purple Onion Designs. You can still purchase the entire collection in a bundle at a 30 % discount, an offer that expires at midnight tonight EST.

My card is actually a tri-fold card. My original plan was a regular card with a window on the front and the remainder of the scene on the inside, but I really wanted to use William the owl for this card while still keeping it an A2 size, and there just wasn’t room for him, so I opted for a tri-fold design. I started by stamping and masking Alice the squirrel and the crate of apples from the fruit crates set, and then stamping the produce stand. I colored everything with my Copics, used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles dies from My Favorite Things to turn it into a nice panel and adhered it to the front of a sidefold A2 card card base. Using a craft knife, I cut the opening in the fruit stand through both layers of paper, making sure to be very careful around those garlics so I didn’t chop them off.

On a separate piece of X-Press It blending card, I stamped the remaining two fruit crates, masking the one with the lemons and adding Jane the fox behind it, stamping her so she’d be perfectly placed in the window on the front of the card when it’s closed. You can see the back of the window on the left in this photo. I used the same die from MFT to die cut this panel too, and added a sentiment from the Around the Town sentiment set above the cute fox. I adhered the panel on the back of another sidefold card and glued the two cards together to make my tri-fold.

William gets to steal the show on the middle inside of the card. The front is to his left (you can see the window there) and the panel with the fox and the two fruit crates on the back of the part you can see to his right. He might look a little mis-placed since he’s not tucked in a corner, but it’s with good reason. The panel on the right (which is the back of the one with the fox) has plenty of room for a personal message.

Here’s a bit of a close up. I prefer not to color with my Copics on regular card stock, so I stamped him on X-Press It, colored him with Copics, fussy cut him and glued him to the card base, using a think black pen to draw his feet back in and some gray colored pencils on the card base to ground him.

If you close the front of the card without folding the panel with the fox back where it belongs, it looks like William is the one standing behind the produce stand. This was my reason for placing him where I did, I wanted to have the option of keeping the card half open, so he’d appear in the window instead of Jane.

I used a ton of Copics for this card.

You are sweet {Mo’s Dream Team}

May 12, 2021May 12, 2021 Elin1 Comment

Hi! Today I have a sweet card (pun intended) to share featuring one of the kids from the 3 on a bench stamp set from Mo Manning. There are two options in the store: you can by the merged stamp with 3 kids sitting on a bench or opt for the separated version, which has the bench and each of the kids as 4 separate image files. I used the latter for my card today, and chose to use just the girl eating the watermelon and the bench.

I colored the girl with my Copics and fussy cut her. I put her to the side while I worked on the rest of my card.

I wanted to repeat the blue from the image in my card, and found a scrap of Fancy Pants patterned paper that was already cut down to fit the front of an A2 card. It’s a beautiful blue, and it has a little bit more interest to it than card stock, without distracting too much from the image.

I used the cloud die in the slim card basics die set from Mama Elephant to create my clouds. The die was long enough that I only had to die cut it once, and cut my finished cloud border into two pieces that are both 4 1/4″ wide. I mounted them to the bottom of my card with 1 mm foam squares for both layers, creating a little bit of depth and dimension in my card, and also an anchor point for the remaining elements. I even stamped part of a background stamp from Tim Holtz on the left half using Spring Rain ink from Papertrey Ink, which is a very light blue ink. Again, it adds a little interest to the background without being too distracting.

I put 1 mm foam squares on the back of the little girl and adhered her near the left edge of my card. I think she’s so cute with that big slice of watermelon!

I used the Parker alphabet die set from Memory Box to die cut the letters to spell “sweet” six times from Red Hot heavyweight card stock from My Favorite Things. I glued them together for a stacked look and adhered the word to my cloud. I stamped and white heat embossed the words “you are” from the Courageous You stamp set from Altenew on a scrap piece of that blue patterned paper, cut the words apart and adhered them to the card using clear foam tape from KoolTak. Those little word strips are so small, I thought clear would be best. I added a couple of light blue enamel dots from Papirdesign to finish.

Not a whole lot of colors used for this one. I also used B90, which is a color I’ve made myself.

Birthday wishes {Streamside Studios}

May 11, 2021May 11, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Welcome to the world {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

May 10, 2021May 10, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! Today I’m sharing a super simple card (I feel like I always say that), featuring an image (Dinosaur Friends) from Rachelle Anne Miller from the release that’s coming later this week.

I colored the image with my Copics, using the largest of the A2 Stitched rectangles dies from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with a nice faux stitch edge. I adhered it to a card base made from Lush Lagoon card stock from My Favorite Things and wanted to keep everything simple and the focus on the image. I did that by adding just a sentiment strip (white heat embossed sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS) and a sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.