Hi, everyone.
Last Tuesday, Lisabeth and I decided to get a little crafty the following day and participate in the sketch challenge over on the My Favorite Things blog, no matter what the sketch would look like. As always, I’m getting my creation in just under the wire. Turns out I wasn’t in a creative mood on Wednesday. Or Thursday, Friday, Saturday… you get the gist. It was only when I got home today that the ball really got rolling. I did sort of start yesterday, but I couldn’t for the life of me find the right color cardstock to use. I wound up using Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink on top of diecut pieces of Aqua Mist cardstock from Papertrey Ink to get a color that matched my little dragons, which I colored up for Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day coloring challenge way back in February 2018. These puppies have been laying around for a while.
I’d already fussy cut my dragons, but I used the Stitched Rectangles STAX sets (both sets, actually) to create my little frame, and glued them both straight onto my card base. I also diecut a scalloped eyelet circle using a CottageCutz die and mounted it on thin, black foam tape from Gina K. Designs for a little bit of dimension. I used the same foam tape on the back of my dragons and glued them to the circle. I created a stacked diecut sentiment using dies from Papirdesign and stamped a small sub sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Hawaiian Shores ink from Papertrey Ink. I embellished very simply with some sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, and that finishes my card.
I printed my image onto X-Press It blending card towards the bottom left corner of a quarter sheet. I colored it in with my Copics, before trimming it down to 5 3/8 x 4 1/8″. I wanted the Melon Berry cardbase from Papertrey Ink to show around the edges, and this size panel creates the perfect 1/16″ border on all four sides.
If you’ve seen a card or two from me previously, you’ll no doubt know that I’m a fan of adding clusters on my cards. They vary in size and some are simpler than others, but they tend to have three things in common: a piece of a paper doily, fishtail banners and enamel dots or sequins. I also usually put my elements on straight, but this time I went for a less rigid look. I went through my patterned paper scraps and found a green piece from the Vintage Garden collection by Pion Design and diecut it using a fishtail flag frame die from My Favorite Things. I thought I’d have to go for just a piece of cardstock for the other banner, but then I remembered that I have a paper pack from Sunny Studio with pastel colors, and one of them fit perfectly.
I stamped a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment onto the green banner using My Favorite Things Extreme Black ink and stapled the two banners together before gluing them onto the card. I added a string of Green Apple divine twine to the top of the card and a few My Mind’s Eye enamel dots to finish it off. In real life, the green dot looks closer to the greens I used in my image. Photos sometimes lie.
I colored up this image from the Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes for day 8 of the last round of Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day coloring challenge on Instagram. I’m not usually good at turning images from that challenge into cards, but I’m trying to be better. I decided to fussy cut this one and put him on a vellum circle.
I followed a sketch from MFT and glued a piece of patterned paper from Sunny Studio onto my cardbase, before cutting a white cardstock piece from Papertrey Ink on an angle and adding lots of foam adhesive on the back. I am not shy with my foam adhesive, I tend to cover the entire back, which I did this time as well. I stamped a sentiment from the same stamp set in VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I like the color and the crispness of this ink, but am no fan of that hinged lid, it’s a pain to work with.
I glued my vellum circle to the white cardstock (I put my liquid glue strategically behind the bunny) and added a couple of Papirdesign enamel dots for a finishing touch.
I did what I usually do by diecutting the panel with the hippo using the largest of the stitched rectangle dies from MFT. This is the one die I use more than any other, and it gives such a nice look with that faux stitching around the edge and the 1/16″ border of the cardbase (in this case Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink) showing.
I diecut a word die from Kort & Godt four times from Aqua Mist cardstock and glued them all together for a stacked look. There was just enough space above the head of that hippo for the word to fit nicely. I stamped and white heat embossed a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment on a piece of that Berry Sorbet cardstock and added three more layers behind that, so it’s flush with the word above.
The small birds were also colored way back in 2018 for that same challenge as the hippo with the balloons. They didn’t have cheeks colored in, so I just went in with a couple of red markers and then a white pen on top to make them look like the first bird. I fussy cut both and added them to my sentiment to form a visual triangle. A few enamel dots from My Mind’s Eye finishes the card nicely. I usually know exactly where to put my enamel dots (or sequins or other small embellishments), but I was really stuck on this one and couldn’t find a good placement until 
Last, but not least, the Copics I used for this card.
I printed 
I’m no stranger to adding clusters on my cards, so I pulled out half a paper doily from Doodlebug Design, more scraps of Maja Design patterned paper (the Vintage Summer Basics and Vintage Autumn Basics collections) and diecut a couple of banners using the Fishtail Flag Frames die set from My Favorite Things. I also stamped and white heat embossed a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment, before punching it out using my 1″ circle punch from EK Success. I added a pebble on top for an extra bit of dimension.
I also added some sequins (from the Ice Water mix) and a couple of heart shaped drops (from the Crystal Collection – Glass mix) from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and my card was done.
I used a very limited color palette for this one.
This card was a bit of an evolution. You might even call it remotely controlled cardmaking. I’ve been coloring so much lately, but not made a lot of cards, so I was really unsure of what to do when I sat down to create this. 
The first decision was to diecut those monsters from My Favorite Things. I usually like fussy cutting, but Liz decided that diecutting was the way to go with this one. She pretty much ran the show, I just did as she asked. I made my little frame and decided where it needed to go before going in with orange and yellow inks on the cardbase.
I had four monsters, so Liz urged me to put the last one on an ink blended circle on the inside. I asked her if she wanted paint splatters on the inside too, before I removed my circle mask. She wanted water splatters, so I added water splatters. I had a great time being remote controlled by her!
The sentiment (by Mathia Design) was a story in an of itself. By the time I got that far, I was super tired, so I struggled to decide where to put it. My “remote control” had also run out of batteries at that point, so I needed to sleep on it. This morning, it was a lot easier to decide. I added a few enamel dots close to the frame, and that finishes off my card. Or our card, I should say, I probably wouldn’t have gotten this done if it weren’t for Liz helping out!
This is one of Mo’s birthday fairies. Her name is Dee, and you can find it in the store 
I diecut my panel using the largest of the faux stitch rectangle dies from My Favorite Things. I think it’s the perfect size as it creates a 1/16″ border when I add it to my cardbase. The color scheme might not be typical of me, but the layout definitely is. I added half a mini paper doily from Doodlebug Design, diecut some scraps of pink patterned paper to go with my image using another favorite MFT die set (Fishtail Flag Frames) and stamped a Norsk Stempelblad AS birthday sentiment using Papertrey Ink Hibiscus Burst ink. The ink matches the cardstock, which is also Hibiscus Burst from Papertrey Ink.
I added my banners using foam tape and embellished very simply with some sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. I even used my scissors on one to cut a little bit off and tucked it underneath that sentiment banner. Laura Bassen would be proud, haha.
Det er ingen tvil om at jeg liker å lage enkle kort, men mine enkle kort er ofte ikke så enkle som man skulle tro ved første øyekast. Dette er et sånt kort. Jeg startet med å stemple monstrene fra 
Jeg lagde bakgrunnen ved å maskere alle fire kantene, før jeg gikk inn med forskjellige farger Distress Ink med 
Mer pirkearbeid. Jeg stanset ut en 
Til slutt gjensto kun å lime fast monstrene med 3D-puter og å få på en hilsen. Jeg stemplet og embosset en 
I had to use my favorite color combination for Christmas on this one. Blue, grey and brown. I made my greys very light, so they look more white than grey, and I have to admit I kind of love the look! I printed the image with 15 % opacity and did no line coloring. I love no line coloring!
This card is very “me”. The cardbase is made from Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening cardstock, I used a die from My Favorite Things to add the faux stitching detail on the main panel, and I added a little cluster of diecut patterned paper scraps. I stamped and heat embossed a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment on one of the patterned paper pieces and added three snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Card as my finishing touch.
Clean and simple with cluster, these cards come together so easily once the image is colored.
I used quite a few colors for this simple image. Lots of different earth tones for different parts of the image, and two grey families.
I love every image Stacey Yacula designs. This little penguin, from the 
I created a polaroid frame by diecutting the 
I wanted a little bit of interest to my background and diecut a piece of Raspberry Fizz cardstock from Papertrey Ink with the 
I glued my polaroid frame in the center of the card and added a few strategically placed vellum clouds. Because they hang off the edge of the frame, they break up the rigid rectangular look a little bit.
Papirmølla 