Thanks a bunch {Purple Onion Designs}

May 4, 2021May 1, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have another card to share today featuring new goodies from the latest release over at Purple Onion Designs.

Isn’t this bunny with her bouquet of flowers adorable? Look at that sweet smile. I love Stacey Yacula’s illustration style, she really brings her characters to life. This is Junie. I colored her with my Copics and decided to fussy cut her.

I pulled out a piece of patterned paper from the Dots & Stripes Pastels pack from Sunny Studio and cut it down to a strip, using one of the Stitched Borders dies from Lawn Fawn on both sides for a nice finished look. I die cut a white card stock circle using a die from My Favorite Things, and mounted it on foam tape.

I stamped and white heat embossed one of the sentiments in the “Around the Town” sentiment set on a piece of Melon Berry card stock and mounted it on foam tape, before adding my bunny with some 1 mm foam squares on top of the white circle.

I finished my card by adding some Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins in a visual triangle around the circle and bunny.

Small image equals a limited color palette.

Paint the town {Purple Onion Designs}

May 1, 2021May 1, 2021 Elin1 Comment

Hi, there. I have a card to share featuring stamps from the brand new “A Happy Little Place” collection from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by the one and only Stacey Yacula.

As soon as I saw Polly the hedgehog with her cans of paint, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. She needed to paint a rainbow. I don’t really free hand draw much on my cards, but arches aren’t too daunting.

I stamped Polly and her paint cans using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, before masking the paint cans and stamping some country flowers behind them. Using a mechanical pencil, I drew in faint lines for the rainbow, before masking the section that needed to be in front of the countryside scene on the horizon, and then stamping that in fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a no line look in the background. I wanted the focus to be on the hedgehog and rainbow.

I colored in the entire scene with my Copics. To be honest I probably spent more time on the rainbow than anything else. I only have five arches, but it was tricky enough to try to color five (the bands are very thin) without the curves getting too jagged, I don’t even want to think about how hard it would have been with seven.

At the end of the rainbow, I created a dripping edge with a puddle of paint on the grass. Isn’t Polly cute holding that paint can and brush?

I stamped a sentiment from the “Around the town” sentiment set onto my colored piece using VersaFine Onyx Black ink, holding my breath as I did so. I didn’t want to mess up my panel and have to start over at this point.

I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things to turn my colored piece into a finished panel, making sure the ink in the sentiment was dry before running it through my Gemini Jr. I added my panel onto a white card base with a top fold, and my card was complete.

Lots and lots of Copics. That happens with rainbows 🙂

Have a blooming good day! {Purple Onion Designs}

April 30, 2021April 30, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! Today’s the day! The brand new spring release from Stacey Yacula and Purple Onion Designs, A Happy Little Place, is here! I’ve had a blast creating cards with this collection, and the first card I’m sharing happens to be a mini slimline one.

I decided to stamp Anna on the left hand side of my panel, before masking her and stamping the stone wall behind her and then finally country side towards the top of the panel. I colored the entire panel, adding in a dirt road and a little bit of grass at the bottom.

I stamped a sentiment from the Around the Town sentiment set in VersaMark and white heat embossed it, before using an 05 gelly roll pen to add little white dots in the grass to look like flowers in the background. I adhered my 6 x 3 1/2″ panel onto a top fold card base that measures 6 1/4 x 3 3/4″, and my card was done.

She looks so happy riding that bike!!

The Copics I used. Not really a lot, considering the entire panel is colored in.

You’ll find the entire “A Happy Little Place” collection as well as the sentiment set at a bundled price for the next two weeks. That’s a 30 % discount off the regular prices. A pretty good deal if you ask me.

Are you sure you’re a year older? {Mo’s Dream Team}

April 28, 2021April 25, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! It’s Wednesday again, and you know what that means. Time for another Mo Manning creation around here. This time, I’ve kind of gone back to my roots, but not really. It’s a layered card, which used to be the norm for me, but the image is fussy cut, which most certainly has never been my signature.

I received an order for a 50th birthday card for an electrician. The card needed to be “messy”, which is kind of difficult for me. My usual style is pared back and very simple, I just don’t have enough elements on my cards to be able to make a mess of any kind. Thus going back to my roots of using lots of patterned paper. I colored up Mr. Fixit in my favorite colors and fussy cut him.

I had to go looking for inspiration online. The last “old style” card I made was in June of last year, which means I’m rusty. I found a card I liked and used it as a guide to create this one, which is actually an A7 card (5×7″). I dug through my patterned papers, both 12×12″ sheets and scraps, and found a few from Papirdesign, Maja Design and a small scrap from My Mind’s Eye that I used to die cut the gears and numbers. I arranged all the elements on my card, some using foam tape and others adhered straight down, and wound up with this. I used old dies from Sizzix for the gears, forcing me to pull my BigShot out of retirement for a few minutes. Those dies are too thick for my Gemini Jr., which is the machine I use for nearly all my die cutting. The last time I used my BigShot was over two years ago, so there’s a reason it’s retired in the closet. I added a piece of Snip Art chipboard and a film strip piece from Tim Holtz for a little bit of added interest and something that wasn’t just made of paper.

On the inside, I adhered left over pieces of the gears, just to use it all, and stamped a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Dark Indigo ink from Papertrey Ink. There’s plenty of room on the right for a personal message, this is a side fold card (another anomaly from me, I prefer top fold).

On the back of the card, I repeated a lot of the elements that I used on the front. The tag dies I used are from My Favorite Things, and I used my recently acquired personal stamp from Create a Smile on one of the die cut tags, stamped in Dark Indigo ink.

Not a lot of Copics used for this one, I mostly stuck to blues.

You cake my day! {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

April 25, 2021April 25, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

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

I colored up the image with Copics in super bright colors. I used a border die from Lawn Fawn to add faux stitching above and below the image, and put lots of foam tape on the back.

I used the quilted backdrop die (also from Lawn Fawn) to die cut from a piece of Raspberry Fizz card stock from Papertrey Ink. The piece I used wasn’t big enough to cover a regular size card front, so I adhered it to a white top fold card base and cut off the excess white, before adding my colored piece on top. The card measures around 5 1/8 x 4″. I added a few clusters of 2 mm and 3 mm pearls from Kort & Godt to the colored panel, a little bit of Lemon divine twine tied in a bow at the fold, and my card was finished. Super simple, right?

A nice little Copic selection.

Christmas time {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

April 21, 2021April 21, 2021 Elin1 Comment

Hi, there! Another Wednesday’s come around, which means another Mo Manning creation. Today, I actually have a Christmas card to share. Christmas is only 8 months away, time will fly.

Mo Manning Winter Delivery front

I’m getting close to the end of the alphabet of my previously unused images from Mo Manning. I have close to 400 digital stamps from Mo, and it’s a pretty good feeling to have used nearly all of them. This is Winter Delivery, a cute hatted squirrel carrying a bag of acorns through the snow.

Mo Manning Winter Delivery flatllay venstre

I colored the image with my Copics, before taking out my most used cluster dies and scraps of patterned Christmas paper from Maja Design (and that sentiment strip from Papirdesign) to create a tiny cluster in the top right corner. I used part of a Doodlebug doily at the bottom, a branch die cut with a Papirdesign die, as well as tickets die cut using the Happy Days Ticket Stubs die from XCut (Docrafts) and the Fishtail Flag Frames dies from My Favorite Things. I used another favorite MFT die to die cut the panel with the squirrel, before adding it directly to a side fold landscape card base made out of Soft Stone card stock from Papertrey Ink. I rarely make side fold cards, but I had a piece of card stock already cut to 4 1/4 x 11″, and it made more sense to fold that down the middle rather than pulling out a new sheet to make a top fold card.

Mo Manning Winter Delivery Copics

Simple color palette today.

Precious baby boy {Lili of the Valley}

April 18, 2021April 3, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have a baby card to share today, featuring the Baby Swing image from Lili of the Valley.

I colored in the image with Copics and put it aside while I worked on the rest of the card. I had an old discarded panel of Aqua Mist card stock from Papertrey Ink that I’d already dry embossed using the Quilted Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn, and decided it would be perfect for this card. I used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX dies from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with a nice edge, and I used the Selfie Square die, also from My Favorite Things, to create my window.

Using a craft knife, I cut into my colored panel so I could get the legs of the bunny on the outside of my window panel, which I added to my card base using lots and lots and lots of foam tape. Dimension is life!

I die cut a few clouds from white card stock using a die set from Papertrey Ink, and stamped a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto one of the clouds in Hawaiian Shores ink, also from Papertrey Ink.

I added the clouds using foam squares, and embellished ever so slightly with sequins and confetti stars from the Sea Glass mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish my card.

Simple color palette for this one.

Miss you, my friend {Streamside Studios}

April 17, 2021April 4, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I’m sharing a very simple card today, featuring this rainbow image from Streamside Studios.

I colored in the image with a whole bunch of different Copics, I kind of went overboard for this one. I knew I wanted a frame around the image, so I colored the background as well.

I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Leaf Clusters stamp set from Altenew on the heart. The red color is dark enough for the white to stand out, and the size of the stamp was perfect. I dry embossed the card base using the Watercolor Stripes stencil from Altenew, I wanted a little interest in the background, without it being too distracting.

I die cut one of the dies in the Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frames die set (that’s a mouthful) from My Favorite Things four times from white card stock and stacked them for a dimensional frame on top of my colored panel, and adhered the frames with the colored panel in the center of the card front.

I added Wink of Stella to the stars in the stamp, but I forgot that I’d put water in my brush, and the printed lines of the stamp started bleeding. I was not about to start over, so I dug through my stash of card stock and found a scrap of Harvest Gold card stock from Papertrey Ink that I die cut using the stars in the Say What? Gift Tags die set from Lawn Fawn. I stacked the stars for dimension and added a little bit of Copic Y17 and Y00 to them, so they have a little bit of a gradient and don’t look too flat.

Like I said – lots and lots of Copics!

It’s your birthday! {Purple Onion Designs}

April 12, 2021April 12, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I’m back with a birthday card for an ice cream loving friend today.

I stamped Marigold from Purple Onion Designs in Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, before masking and stamping the Ice Cream Truck and the Mountains using fadeout ink from Inkon3.

I’ll admit, this took a while to color. I always start with my background elements and finish with the main image in the scene. Believe it or not, but I actually added quite a bit of brown to those trees. I added darker greens under the wheels of the ice cream truck and under the bunny, and a little bit here and there in the rest of the scene as well, for a little bit of interest. Once the entire scene was colored in, I went in and added a few blades of grass in the foreground.

I knew even before I started that I wanted the ice cream truck to be teal. Originally, I was going for a very light color, but it was looking a bit too blue, so I went in with some darker colors and made the whole truck darker, that did the trick. I went for a corally, peachy type color for the awning and the side panel, I really like peach tones with teal. Kind of weird, since I’m not generally a fan of complementary colors, but these work.

Once everything was colored, I did some fussy cutting around the bunny’s ear and used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 dies to die cut the entire panel. Except for the ear, of course. I adhered my panel onto an A2 card base, and I admit I love the little detail of the ear sticking out past the edge of the card. Of course it meant that I needed to make my own envelope, the ear would have gotten crumpled inside the envelope had I used an A2 envelope.

I stamped one of the sentiments in the Everyday Blurbs stamp set using Distress Oxide ink in the color Peacock Feathers, before fussy cutting the speech bubble and mounting it on foam tape onto the card.

Lots and lots of Copics used for this one!

I adore you {Lili of the Valley}

April 9, 2021April 11, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have a simple card with a fun technique to share today, featuring the pencil sketch version of Grace Beauty from Lili of the Valley. I love the pencil sketch versions of these images, and I’ve done some faux watercoloring for this one.

I printed the image onto Fabriano Artistico Extra White watercolor paper and did some Copic coloring. Yes, this is done with Copics, but not with the markers. Copic markers and watercolor paper are a bad match, the paper will ruin the nibs. I thought these sketchy images would be perfect with watercolor, but my printer and watercolor aren’t a good match either. That, and my watercolors still scare me. What never scares me are my Copics, so I filled a little bit of Copic blender solution into a water brush (one that I’ve designated for use with Copics) and used that as my paint brush, picking up drops of refill in various colors from a smooth, slick surface.

It’s not as precise as regular Copic coloring, but it’s a pretty fast, forgiving technique, and it’s a lot of fun to get more uses out of the markers (and the refills). It ticks all the boxes for me. I get the watercolor look that I like, without having to wait for things to dry (because the alcohol in the Copics evaporates a lot faster than water does), I can “watercolor” digital images with Copics because the ink won’t bleed. You don’t need a lot of colors either, and if you don’t have the refills, you can use the actual marker to scribble onto an acrylic block or another slick, non absorbent surface. One of these days I’ll practice coloring regular stamps with my actual watercolors, I just have to carve out the time. Even though they scare me, my watercolors don’t deserve to just be sitting unused in their palette, that’s not the reason I bought them.

I wanted to let the image shine and kept the card pretty simple. I used a rectangle die to cut a window in the center of a panel, mounting the negative on foam tape to frame the image.

I glued a couple of pieces of a mini doily from Doodlebug into the corners of my colored piece. I just wanted a little something. These go well with the soft look I was going for. I stamped a sentiment from the Leaf Clusters stamp set from Altenew in Soft Granite ink from Hero Arts onto a scrap piece of Sweet Blush card stock from Papertrey Ink, and added it in the top left corner, along with some pearls from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. The pearls are the perfect matching color, they were a sampler pack in a big order I placed from her a while back, so unfortunately, I don’t know the color name.

When I do normal Copic coloring I tend to go overboard and use a ton of colors to achieve the look I’m after. With faux watercolor, it’s the opposite, the color palette is always very limited, because I can get a lot of gradient with just one color, depending on how much I dilute it with the blender solution in the water brush. The pink on her dress, the bows in her hair and the flowers is all made with just R43, I’d never be able to achieve this ombré effect using just one color with the markers themselves.