Handmade hugs {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I have another spring themed card to share. I can’t wait for spring to arrive (although we’re technically 10 days into spring already), but with temps in the double digits below 0, there’s no chance of that happening any time soon, so I’m pretending with cardstock and cute images.

These guys are from the Spring Rabbits stamp set that came out a couple of weeks ago from Lili of the Valley. I colored the rabbits with Copics, fussy cut them all leaving a thin white border and then added some shine to their eyes with a black glaze pen, and then went in with a dot of white Gelly Roll 05 once the black was dry.

Onto the card base, I ink blended Fresh Leaf and Eastern Sky inks from Altenew to create a soft background that went from green to blue. I then added splatters of my sheer shimmer spray from Imagine. It’s not really visible in the photos, but in real life it adds a bit of sparkle.

I die cut three circle openings in a quarter piece of white cardstock and mounted it with foam tape to the card base.

I added foam tape to the back of my critters, popping each of them into the circle openings. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from InkyWings onto a piece of Mushroom cardstock from Concord & 9th, mounted it on foam tape and added it to the card.

To finish off the card I added sequins from the Rosy Glow mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Such a simple color palette for this one. Aside from the colors of the fur, which differ for each bunny, I used the same colors throughout.

For a koalaty friend {Amanda Jayne Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. A while back, Amanda from Amanda Jayne Designs reached out to me, asking if I would like to color up a couple of her stamps. I’m not one to turn down an offer to do some coloring, so I of course said yes, and she sent me a couple of her digital stamps. Fast forward a couple of months (things have been hectic around here), and I’ve turned her Kali Koala image into a completed card.

This koala was so quick and easy to color. If you’re new to coloring, or enjoy coloring but don’t want to spend an eternity coloring one image, I’d recommend her images. They’re not super detailed, which makes them easy and fast to color.

I decided to put my colored koala in a polaroid frame, and used the largest of the dies in the Precious Polaroids die set from My Favorite Things to die cut three times from white cardstock for a stacked look on top of the cute koala.

I created a top fold A2 card base using Green Parakeet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Onto the left bottom corner of a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped some leaves from the Leaf Clusters stamp set from Altenew, using Limelight ink from My Favorite Things. This is a much more vibrant, yellowy green than what you’ll find in eucalyptus leaves, but I wasn’t going for realism with this card and happen to like the bright green – it really pops. I made sure to stamp a large enough area that some of the leaves would be visible around the polaroid frame with my koala. I also stamped the smallest leaf cluster in the Altenew stamp set near the top right corner for a little bit of balance and die cut the white panel using the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things.

I wanted a punny koala themed sentiment on my card, and the word koalaty (quality) came to mind. I needed something to use with it, and dug through my sentiment sets for one with the word friend in it. A sentiment in a stamp set from InkyWings was perfect, it said For a sweet friend. I stamped it in VersaMark ink and white heat embossed it using Super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger. I cut the sentiment down to a strip, removed the word sweet and had the perfect start and finish to my punny sentiment. Using the Connected alphabet die set from My Favorite Things, I die cut the letters to spell koalaty three times from Green Parakeet cardstock and stacked them for a dimensional look. I die cut an additional three white ones for the letters that hang off the polaroid (ATY) and glued these behind the green ones so the letters would all be flush on the card. I also added some additional layers of cardstock behind the white heat embossed strips for that little bit of added dimension, before finishing off the card with a few enamel dots from Papirdesign.

The dimension is more visible in this photo, I love adding dimension to my cards. Dimension is life 😉 I cut the layered up white A in half, because only half the letter hangs off the edge. The letters that have the white die cuts behind them kind of look like they’re floating on the card.

Super simple color palette for this one.

Hugs from the heart {Lee Holland Design}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another dragon card to share. This time it’s Dragon with three flowers from Lee Holland that is front and center on my card.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Lee’s Dragons, and this one holding sunflowers was begging for a blue/yellow combo. Once I’d colored the image with Copics, I used the second largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things to give the panel a nice finishing edge. I adhered it to a card base I created from Cornflower cardstock, also from MFT.

I die cut a heart from Bright Buttercup cardstock from Papertrey Ink and stamped a sentiment from an Inky Wings stamp set in the center using Cornflower ink from My Favorite Things. I added the heart using foam tape and then a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off this simple card.

A little sweet surprise {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a simple card to share today, featuring this Chocs Away image from Lili of the Valley. A bunny making it rain chocolate eggs, what’s not to love?

I colored the image with Copics and fussy cut it, leaving a white border. The frame that’s part of the image makes fussy cutting super easy, the only thing sticking out is one small egg at the bottom. I mounted my panel on a card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. This card is on the smaller side, it measures 3 x 4 7/8″.

I colored a separate piece of X-Press It blending card with one of the purples I used for the image. I made sure it was dry before I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the IWCL2017005 English stamp set from InkyWings. I popped it up the colored piece for even more dimension, using Double Thick Crystal Clear foam tape from The Rabbit Hole Designs.

I added a few Pearl White Crystals from Pretty Pink Posh between all the eggs for a little bit of embellishment.

A simple card, but the dimension adds some interest. The clear foam tape makes the sentiment look like it’s floating above the card.

Soft color palette for this one.

A little hello {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi there! I love lily of the valley, and as soon as I saw Lily Fairy from Mo Manning, I knew it was an image I needed. They’re at their peak right now, and they smell so divine. I’ve picket two bouquets, I just wish they lasted longer than a couple of days in a vase. Hopefully, my card will last longer than the actual flowers.

Mo Manning Lily Fairy front rett

I colored up my image with Copics. I chose a very light, bright combo for the green. The leaves on a lily of the valley are much darker than this, but I really like this combo, and with the fairy hanging out between the leaves, I didn’t really care too much about realism anyway. I chose to color her dress pink for a pop of a different color, and you can actually get real lilies of the valley that are pink, so I thought it was the perfect fit.

Mo Manning Lily Fairy front skrått

After using a die from My Favorite Things to add the faux stitch lines around the edge of my colored panel, I added Frosted Lace Stickles from Ranger to her wings for a little bit of sparkle. I adhered my panel onto a top fold card base I made from Sour Apple card stock from My Favorite Things.

Mo Manning Lily Fairy detail

Embellishment clusters have become a signature of mine, and I have five things that I pretty much always use to create them:

  1. White mini paper doily from Doodlebug Design.
  2. The Fishtail Flag Frames die set from My Favorite Things.
  3. The Happy Days Ticket Stubs die from XCut.
  4. Scraps of patterned paper.
  5. Enamel dots or sequins.

I keep a tub on my desk with die cut patterned paper scraps where I’ve used the two die sets I mentioned. The other day I even took the time to sort through them and divide them by color, which will make it easier to pull the ones I need for future cards. For this one I used two additional dies: a hole pattern die from Papirdesign and a die from the Itty Bitty Strips die set from My Favorite Things for the sentiment.

Mo Manning Lily Fairy flatlay

The sentiment is from a stamp set from InkyWings, heat embossed in white onto Sour Apple cardstock from My Favorite Things. I’ve added 1 mm foam squares between some of the layers in my cluster for a little bit of dimension, and I even put a mini cluster in the opposite corner, using scraps from the bigger cluster. I really like using as much of my cardstock and patterned paper as I possibly can, and by doing it this way, very little goes to waste. The patterned paper I used for these clusters is a mix of 3ndypapir, P13 and Sunny Studio, and I found the perfect color of enamel dots from Papirdesign as a finishing touch.

Mo Manning Lily Fairy Copics

Very limited color palette for this one.

A little hello {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, everyone. I’m starting the new week with a new card, featuring the Flower Garden digital stamp from Rachelle Anne Miller.

As usual, I printed the image on X-Press It blending card and colored it in using my Copics. Once done coloring, I took the second largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with nice faux stitching along the edges. I mounted it with foam tape onto my card base.

I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from InkyWings onto a tiny scrap of Raspberry Fizz card stock from Papertrey Ink. It was so small I barely even cut it smaller before adhering it to my card using Gina K foam tape, which isn’t as thick as the foam tape I used for my colored piece. I added some gems and sequins from the Iced Sherbet mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and my card was finished.

Colors. Not a lot, but some, with an added confession. I made a very similar card to this about six months back, and I’ve used the exact same colors on this one, except for one. Being a little lazy this time, I didn’t want to redo the entire graphic because of one single marker, so this graphic is one I’ve used before. The only color in there that I didn’t use for this card was E13, simply because I forgot.

Season’s Greetings {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, everyone! I’ve got a sweet little Christmas card to share today, featuring the Christmas Tree image from Rachelle Anne Miller.

I colored up just a portion of the image and made it into a polaroid by using a polaroid frame die from My Favorite Things that I love. I die cut the frame three times from white cardstock and glued them together for a stacked look.

I decided to stamp a sentiment onto the polaroid frame using Blueberry Sky ink from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is from a stamp set from Inky Wings.

I decided to put my polaroid frame on a blue card base. This blue cardstock is Blueberry Sky from Papertrey Ink, the same color as the stamped sentiment. I used an old snowflake frame die from Memory Box that I diecut from white cardstock.

I cut down my card base to make a 4 bar card. I like the smaller size, but don’t make too many cards this size, so I thought I’d change things up a bit. Once again, I have no graphic to show what Copics I used, but hopefully I’ll have my template remade in a few days.

With sympathy {Hobbykunst}

Hi. I’ve got a somewhat different card to share today, using this beautiful floral stamp from My Favorite Things.

I colored up these flowers for day 20 of the current round of Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day challenge. I wanted a challenge, and a friend told me to color grayscale flowers. I did as she asked and added a purple ink splatter backdrop with my Copics to get a little bit of color in there.

I used my largest faux stitch rectangle die from My Favorite Things and added my panel to a cardbase made from Winter Wisteria cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I stamped and white heat embossed an Inky Wings sentiment and added it to the center bottom half of the floral image.

My last finishing touches were a few sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, and my card was done!

A little hello {Rachelle Anne Miller Studios}

Hi, everyone.

I colored up Balloon Ride for this round of the 30 day coloring challenge hosted by Kathy Racoosin, and I turned my image into a very simple card.

I diecut the panel with the image using the largest of the faux stitch rectangle dies from My Favorite Things. I glued it straight to a cardbase I created from Soft Stone cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I added half a Doodlebug Nini doily, some diecut scraps of patterned paper (Papirdesign and Basic Grey, btw) and a white heat embossed Inky Wings sentiment on Papertrey Ink Autumn Rose cardstock. A few raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and my card was finished.

You make life fun! {Lili of the Valley release}

Lili of the Valley has a new release out today, and I was lucky enough to play with it a couple of days ago. There are penguins. Lots of penguins. You guys know how much I love penguins. I had a hard time deciding which ones to use, there are so many good ones. There’s a slew of birthday penguins and a whole bunch of others, as well. Not only that, but they’re also releasing inky backgrounds. All kinds of shapes and colors. There’s pastels, brights, basically the entire rainbow, whole washes for backgrounds, splatters, stripes and every little inky thing your heart could want. I love the look of inky backgrounds, but 1 – I don’t like getting my fingers inky, and 2 – I prefer my whites to match. Watercolor paper and X-Press It don’t go well together. This is the perfect solution. You can print on any paper you want and get that unique watercolor look without getting your fingers inky or warping your paper, it’s brilliant!

For this card I chose a tealy green/blue watercolor splash background and a penguin with a camera in his hand. I knew I had to use this one as soon as I saw it, and an idea formed in my mind as to how my card would look in the end. The files are in png format, so they’re good quality and very easy to use together. I simply added my penguin to the splash background in Photoshop and printed. It couldn’t be easier. I love that I now have a watercolor look, but the paper is bright white, smooth and perfect for Copic coloring.

I diecut my panel with a faux stitch rectangle die from My Favorite Things, and glued it to a cardbase made from Tropical Teal cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I used a polaroid die, also from My Favorite Things, to diecut the frame four times out of that same Tropical Teal color and once from the same white cardstock I used for the rest (X-Press It blending card, btw). I stacked them all on top of each other for dimension. “Dimension is life”, as Laura Bassen always says. She’s my cardmaking hero.

A side look at that frame. You can see the colored cardstock from the sides, which gives such a fun look to a panel that is predominantly white.

I finished off my card with a white heat embossed Inky Wings sentiment on black cardstock. I also popped that up, because dimension really IS life. A few blue enamel dots from Papirdesign to get a tiny more blue in there to embellish.

There are two bundle packs with penguins. One has birthday penguins, and the other one is all other occasions, which is the pack I used for this card.

There were also five different packs of watercolor backgrounds released. I used the Watercolour Splashes collection for this one. It comes in sooo many different colors, and it’s awesome!! There’s also the Watercolour Backgrounds pack, the Watercolour Pastels pack, the Watercolour Brights pack and the Watercolour Stripes collection.