You are my cup of tea! {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with another card featuring the adorable cuties from one of the stamp sets in the spring release from Lili of the Valley. This time I’ve used the Teacup Bunnies and actually made an interactive card.

I added a bunny to the top of the teacup stack and colored the image with Copics, before fussy cutting, leaving a thin white border around the edge. I used a black glaze pen from Sakura to add shine and a tiny bit of dimension to the bunny’s eyes, then a white dot of Gelly Roll 05 on top of the black, once the black was dry. The glaze pen dries fairly quickly once applied, so I didn’t have to wait long.

I adhered a panel of Blueberry cardstock from My Favorite Things to my white card base. Using a die in the A2 Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set, also from My Favorite Things, I die cut a piece of patterned paper from Sunny Studio to adhere on top of the blue. This patterned paper is from the Subtle Grey Tones pack, and it really is subtle.

I realized I hadn’t made any of my signature clusters in a while, and decided to pull out my die cut scraps of patterned paper and have a play. These patterned papers are from Sunny Studio (more from the subtle grey pack), Kaisercraft (light blue with dots), Papirdesign (dark blue with smaller dots) and Maja Design (pink floral), all die cut using a combination of the Happy Days Ticket Stubs die from XCut and the Fishtail Flag Frames dies from My Favorite Things. I used a mini paper doily from Doodlebug to mat my little clusters, and embellished with sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and Simon Says Stamp.

The sentiment is from the Coffee and Chocolate stamp set from hÄnglar & Wings, white heat embossed on a strip of the same color cardstock I used for the card front. I then die cut it using one of the dies in the Itty Bitty Banners die set from My Favorite Things.

The interactive element that I mentioned at the beginning of the post is actually the image. As you can see in this photo, it sits pretty high off the base. The reason for that is that it’s on an action wobble, so it’ll shake and move once you help it along a tiny bit.

Fairly simple color palette for this one.

You’re getting better and better {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing with you a super simple birthday card today, featuring this dragon eating ice cream from Lili of the Valley. This was the card we gave my nephew for his birthday this week. The first birthday card I ever made was for him for his first birthday. It featured a green dragon which I actually drew myself and colored in using Pantone markers. This week he turned 14, and even though this dragon is a bit childlike, it still feels like a nod back to that first one. Plus, he’s eating ice cream, you can’t go wrong with ice cream, and my nephew loves ice cream, so it was kind of perfect.

I printed the dragon on a piece of X-Press It blending card and colored him with my Copics, before using the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things. I covered my card base with a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ piece of patterned paper from Kaisercraft (Charmed from the Key to my Heart collection) to match the green. I cut the panel with the dragon at funky angles at the top and left side to create a convex quadrilateral that I mounted on foam tape in the top left corner of the card.

Using a scrap of patterned paper from the Fremtidsdrømmer collection from Papirdesign, I die cut Gratulerer using the Gratulerer med dagen 3 die set, also from Papirdesign. I die cut an additional 3 layers of white cardstock to glue behind it, but decided that even that wasn’t enough dimension, so I cut tiny slivers of clear foam tape from Rabbit Hole Designs to add to the back of the letters. That did the trick, and it looks like the die cut is floating. I stamped a sub sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto another piece of the same patterned paper using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things, cut it down to a strip, added a couple of white cardstock strips behind it and more of the clear foam tape to make it float, before finishing off the card with a few enamel dots from the Pocketful of Sunshine pack from Altenew.

Fairly simple color palette, but I went through too many teal colors before I decided on the right one for the straws and the sprinkles.

Easy peasy criss cross card {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. Today I’m sharing a card that’s a little bit different. It’s a criss cross card. I’ve made a few of them in the past, but it’s been a while, and they’re kind of fun to make.

This card was created for a little girl whose christening was this past Sunday. I think the Baby and Bunny image from Mo Manning is super adorable, and it’s an easy one to color up fairly quickly too. I chose some purplish patterned papers from Papirdesign and Maja Design and colored the image with Copics that matched.

I die cut the image using a circle die from Lifestyle Crafts and matted it with kraft cardstock. I also printed the name and date on a piece of white cardstock that I also matted with kraft. I put a doily from Helz Cuppelditch behind my image and added flowers using a hot glue gun. I took out the yellow centers of two of the flowers and replaced them with Lavender pearls from Kaisercraft.

On the inside tag I added a circle diecut made from white cardstock for a space to write a personal message. I used the Labels Trio die set from Spellbinders to create two “handles” from kraft cardstock. I tied a bow and attached a charm to one of them for a little added interest.

On the back of the card I stamped a sentiment from North Star Design using Amethyst ink from Altenew.

The card isn’t very big, it only measures 5×5″, but it’s quite dimensional and doesn’t fit in a regular envelope, so I decided it was best to create a box envelope.

I rummaged through my 12×12″ cardstock and found a color that matched pretty well, and used my Envelope Punch Board from We R Memory Keepers to create the box. I added another Helz Cuppelditch doily for cohesion, as well as more of the patterned paper that I die cut using the Impact alphabet die set from My Favorite Things.

Not a whole lot of Copics used for this.

Happy summer! {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi! Part of me is struggling to believe it’s been a week since my last post, but it totally has been. I was so good and efficient in my craft room before going on vacation, getting lots of stuff done and scheduling everything for when I was away, and let me tell you, getting back into the swing of things is not easy, I feel like I’m still in vacation mode. I’ll get there, though, it just takes a little while.

Technically, I should have made this card at the beginning of the summer, but it’s a recent image from Mo and I couldn’t NOT make a summer card using it. The air is definitely getting cooler here, and I’m very well aware of the fact that summer officially ends in two weeks. I kind of want to go back to June and warmer temps, I don’t like the cold.

Onto the card. I colored the image with Copics and used a double stitch rectangle die from My Favorite Things to turn it into a nice panel, before adhering it to a top fold card base I made out of Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love their cardstocks.

When I don’t have a clear idea for a card, I turn to embellishment clusters of patterned paper scraps. These are so easy to put together and a great way to add SOMETHING when I’m out of ideas and my mojo’s low.

I’ve sorted my die cut patterned paper scraps by color, so I pull out colors that will match my card and just start playing. I used patterned paper from 3ndypapir, Papirdesign, Kaisercraft and Imaginisce for this card, and the dies I used to cut them out are from XCut and My Favorite Things.

I white heat embossed a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a scrap piece of Enchanted Evening cardstock and used one of the Itty Bitty Strips dies from My Favorite Things to diecut it, before using 1 mm foam squares to mount it onto my cluster. I added a few enamel dots from Papirdesign to finish my card.

Fairly limited color palette for this one.

You can actually get the image I used for FREE if you spend $20 or more during Mo’s summer sale, which ends today, so you’d better be quick.

Friend {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, everyone! I have a sweet and simple card to share today, featuring the super cute Friendship Bird and Bee image from Rachelle Anne Miller.

I colored the image using my Copics, die cutting it with a faux stitch rectangle die from My Favorite Things for a nice finished loo, before stamping the definition of friend (stamp from Norsk Stempelblad AS) using VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

I added shimmer to the bird and bee using my clear Wink of Stella brush. The sparkle is hard to catch in photos, but in real life it’s very shimmery. I found a scrap piece of patterned paper from Kaisercraft that was already cut down to the perfect size and adhered it to my card base, before adhering the colored panel on top of that. The color of the patterned paper matches the bird nicely. It’s a closer match in real life than I’ve managed to capture in this photo.

I added a couple of sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and left it at that, this is a very simple card. In this photo you can see a little bit of the sparkle in the bird and the bee.

Super limited color choices for this one. I also used BG71, which is a color I’ve made myself using refill of BG72 and blender solution.

Wishing you an amazing day {Mo’s Dream Team}

Hi, everyone! Another Wednesday in the middle of winter, and I have a wintery birthday card to share today, featuring Miles in Winter from Mo Manning. I went with a combo of cool Copic colors and even used the E80s, which I hardly ever use. I cut my colored piece down using a faux stitch rectangle die from My Favorite Things.

I used some old scraps of patterned paper to create this card. On my desk I have a container of scraps of patterned paper that I’ve cut down to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″, making them very convenient to use. The paper I used to cover the entire front of the white card base is from My Mind’s Eye (it’s the same sheet as the one I used for the sentiment banner), the one with the white lines running through it is from Autumn Leaves, from their Manhattan line, which happens to be from 2007. I definitely have some old papers in my stash. The lightest piece is from Kaisercraft. I decided to add dark blue enamel dots from Papirdesign to break a little from the monochromatic patterned paper I had going, and also to reintroduce the blue from the image, even though I really like the grayish teal of the jacket and the patterned paper scraps.

I stamped the sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and die cut it using one of the fishtail flag frames dies from My Favorite Things.

Quick and easy coloring of this one without too many colors. As usual when I color snow, quite a few of the colors were used for the snow alone. I also used BG71 on the jacket, which is a color I’ve made myself.

Hello

Hi, everyone! Who here can honestly say that their drawer of scraps is shrinking? No one? Didn’t think so. For today’s card I’ve done just that, using scraps of green patterned paper from different brands to create a backdrop for my focal sentiment.

I used a cover die from Neat & Tangled to diecut twice from white cardstock and several times from scraps of different green patterned paper scraps. These are a mix of Papirdesign, Maja Design, Kaisercraft, and one that I don’t even know. Great way to use all those little bits.

I glued my white frames together and inlayed my green pieces, before die cutting a word die from Papirdesign using Ripe Avocado cardstock from Papertrey Ink for the word itself and white for the shadow. I stacked a few of the green ones on top of each other for it to stand out a little bit.

I used some angel hair to make a nest underneath my diecut and glued it right on top using liquid glue. I also added a few sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh for some shine, and stamped a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment in Ripe Avocado ink from Papertrey Ink on a white strip and added it below my die cut word.

Simple, but the dimension in the frame and the focal point still give the card a little bit of interest.

Hooray, hooray, hooray!

Hi, everyone!

I have a fairly simple birthday card to share with you today, featuring this cutie pie from Tiddly Inks. I colored up this image for day 21 of Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day coloring challenge in April, so it was about time I turned it into a card (though to be honest, I have images that have been sitting colored and unused way longer than that).

I like printing (or stamping) my images close to one corner of a quarter sheet of X-Press It blending card. That way, I know I’ll have lots of white space to play with and for the final card to breathe, I don’t like cards that are too busy and “crowded”, if that makes sense. I die cut my panel using my favorite stitched rectangle die from My Favorite Things, then actually went in with Memento Dandelion ink over my Geometric Landscape stencil from Altenew using a blender brush from Taylored Expressions. I rarely use yellow, and I rarely use stencils, but I wanted something other than my regular half mini doily behind my cluster of diecut scraps, and one of the hedgehogs is carrying a yellow heart, so I thought it was only fitting.

For the actual cluster I used scraps, which is a great way to use up all that oooold patterned paper (some of this is ten years old) I have laying around. These pieces are small, so it’s going to take me a while to use everything in my stash, but I’m working on it, one die cut at a time. I used the XCut Happy Days Ticket Stubs die for my cluster pieces. It’s one die that cuts nine different sized tickets in varying shapes, and I use it a lot on my cards. The papers are from (bottom layer to top layer) Imaginisce, Kaisercraft, and StudioLight. The little swirly line at the bottom of the cluster is a piece of paper from Fancy Pants, diecut using a die in the Tag Builder Blueprint 5 die set from My Favorite Things, the banner with the sentiment is from the same die set. The sentiment itself is from Norsk Stempelblad AS, stamped in Memento Bamboo Leaves ink. I thought it matched perfectly with the cardstock from My Favorite Things that I used as my card base. Those enamel dots from Papirdesign matched also.

Green is not a color I use often as my main color, but I’m trying to be better at using the entire rainbow and not just those gorgeous blues that I love so much. Even though blue IS the color of the year. Beautiful color for a crappy year, how’s that fair? 😉

One sheet of patterned paper – eight cards! {Hobbykunst}

Hi, everyone! Today’s blog post is a long one with lots of photos of lots of cards, so I suggest you get comfortable 🙂

I’m starting with a baby card. I made quite a few baby cards from this one sheet. Usually I make A2 size cards, but this image is so big that the card actually measures 5 x 8 1/2″. I used a knife and a pair of scissors to cut my image, keeping a thin white border along the edge.

I ran a piece of white cardstock through my Gemini Jr. using an embossing folder from We R Memory Keepers. The result is a background with a little bit of interest, while still keeping the image in focus. I used foam tape to add my dry embossed pane to my card base and some 1 mm foam tape from Rayher on the back of my image for a tiny bit of extra dimension. I also used 1 mm foam squares to add the sentiment strips to the balloon, and finished off the card with some sequins and crystals from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

The embossing folder I used is 6 x 6″. Since my panel was taller, I had to run it through from both ends. Along the seam I added a strip from another sheet of patterned paper from the same collection. The strip hides the seam and also acts as an anchor for the balloon image.

My goal was to use every little bit of the images on the one sheet, so I glued the left over branches to the inside of the card.

This is the sheet of patterned paper I’ve used for all my cards. It’s called Cuddles and is part of the Little Treasures collection by Kaisercraft.

My second card is along the same lines as the first one. I used the bunny in the pink hot air balloon and the stars that are scattered around the paper on this one. This card is a little more narrow, measuring 4 1/4 x 8 1/2″. On the background I used cloud stencil from My Favorite Things and Distress Oxide in the color Tumbled Glass to create some interest in the background without overshadowing my focal point. This time I glued the image straight to the cardbase using foam tape. I also used foam tape behind some of the stars, while others are glued down using liquid glue.

I used a Papirdesign die set to diecut the word babyjente (baby girl). I diecut the shadow twice in vellum and the actual word several times using white cardstock. I put a few layers behind the vellum, making it look like the vellum is floating, and the rest of the layers on top of the vellum. Diecuts really pop when they’re layered like this.

Even though the card is simple, all the dimension makes it a little bit interesting anyway.

I glued on some sequins from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards on this one too. The leftover stars I glued to the inside of the card.

My next card is a simple birthday card. I’ve gone back to my regular A2 size with this one. I used the largest of the dies in the Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things and used an embossing folder from We R Memory Keepers to create a little bit of interest to my background. I glued the panel straight onto my pink card front, with no dimension this time.

I used 1 mm foam squares to glue my fussy cut flower to the front of the card. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from Mathia design on a strip of black cardstock and used foam tape to attach it to the card over the stem of the rose.

I finished off my card by gluing on some Pretty Pink Posh sequins in a sort of visual path from the bottom of the card near the sentiment all the way to the top rose. I always glue small embellishments like this close to other elements on my cards, it creates a better visual effect than gluing them far from everything else.

Card number four is a very different kind of card for me. When I started the process of making these cards I drew sketches for each card. The sketch for this one was for a portrait orientation, but when I actually started making this one I realized that the image was a landscape orientation, so I had to flip my sketch and change things around a bit. This image is quite large, so this is an A7 (5×7″) card. I had two sheets of the patterned paper, so I used the back of the second one to create my frame, and glued it to my cardbase using foam tape.

I added the flowers to my cardbase using foam squares.

I wasn’t sure what to do for a sentiment since I had to turn my sketch 90 degrees and make changes to it. The idea I had for the portrait orientation didn’t translate to a landscape orientation. In the end I chose to put my sentiment in the bottom left of my card. That’s not a spot I usually use for my sentiment, but on this card I thought it was the best placement. The sentiment itself is a veneer piece from Rayher that I embossed using four layers of white embossing powder, glued straight to my flowers and frame using liquid glue.

A few Pretty Pink Posh sequins around the sentiment finished off this card.

My next card is another baby card. A square one, measuring 4 1/4 x 4 1/4″. No white border around the fussy cut bunnies, simply because the tip of the tail on the largest bunny intersects with a rose bud on the patterned paper, making me have to cut a little bit off his tail. Once that was done, I decided it would be best to cut right up to the edge of the rest of the bunnies as well.

The background paper I used on this card is part of the Little Gem sheet, so is the sentiment I used. I diecut an eyelet circle using a Cottage Cutz die and added it in the center of my card using foam tape. I added the bunnies with 1 mm Rayher foam suares, and did the same with the sentiment, staggering it.

I finished off the card with some matte gold sequins from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. As usual when I add sequins to my cards, I glued them on near the sentiment. There’s another yellow bunny on the sheet of patterned paper, I fussy cut that one and glued it on the inside of the card.

The next card is a slimline card. I used a Memory Box stencil with some acrylic paste from Kreul to make a little bit of interest to the background, once again making sure it still remains a background element.

I glued the bunny to the cardbase with 1 mm foam squares and diecut Gratulerer (Congratulations) from Papirdesign multiple times from white cardstock, then glued them to a shadow made from colored cardstock (Fine Linen from Papertrey Ink). The stamped sub sentiment is from a Papirdesign stamp set (100 år), stamped in Memento Espresso Truffle ink on the bottom strip of the patterned paper. I added it with some foam tape below the diecut.

I finished the card by adding sequins from Pretty Pink Posh in a visual triangle. They’re all in close proximity to the sentiment and the bunny. Some of them glued on top of other elements, some of them tucked behind.

My next card is another regular A2 size card. I covered the cardbase using the same sheet of paper I used on the square card, only the reverse side. The small flowers are from that main sheet I’ve used throughout each of the cards in this blog post. These flowers were on the edge of the sheet, so they’re flat on one side, so I had to put them along an edge. I figured that this polaroid frame from My Favorite Things was perfect.

I made a white, dry embossed background on this card also and mounted it using foam tape. It makes the background a little less busy, and the little flowers I fussy cut a little more prominant. I stamped a sentiment from fra Mathia design onto the patterned paper and used it as my “photo” in the polaroid frame, which I created from several layers of white cardstock that I stacked on top of each other. Here you can also see a little bit of the inside of the card, as well, where I glued the flowers that didn’t fit on the front of the card. I was determined to use every single image from that one sheet of patterned paper.

I embellished with sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. This time in two clusters near the flowers to keep the focus on them and not so much the sentiment in the center.

The final card. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with this one. The feathers were the only images remaining from that one sheet, and I didn’t know how to use them in a good way and turn them into a nice card until I realized I could make a background from them. There was only one turquoise feather on the page, so I fussy cut the turquoise feather from the second sheet to get a good balance of color between all the feathers.

Embossing folder on white cardstock once again, and I created a pretty wide margin on the outside with this one. I usually like my margins fairly narrow, but I think this turned out good. I added my feathers to the dry embossed panel using 1 mm foam squares, cut off the excess and used those bits to cover the empty spots left behind in the corners.

The sentiment is from a stamp set from Mathia design, stamped in black on a white cardstock strip. The turquoise strip behind it is from that other sheet of patterned paper that I’ve used here and there in the course of these eight cards. There’s a sentiment in white on that strip, but the strip I glued on top started and ended between words on the turquoise one, so only the turquoise is showing, I was really lucky that way. I finished off my card with some Pretty Pink Posh Sequins. This time I glued some near the sentiment and scattered a few others tucked between some of the feathers.

Good luck… {Mo’s Dream Team}

… with new challenges! Another Wednesday, and another Mo Manning creation. I’m trying to be better at using all the different images I have from Mo’s Digital Pencil, and I’ve kind of started at the beginning of the alphabet when coloring up previously unused images. I colored up this one for Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day coloring challenge back in June 2018, so it’s about time Alice with Baby made it onto a card.

This isn’t exactly the easiest image to add to a card. I decided to stamp and heat emboss a couple of sentiments from a Huldra designstudio stamp set. The top one says Good luck… and the bottom one says “with new challenges”, which I thought was very fitting with the image. That red cardstock is Pure Poppy from Papertrey Ink, and I added foam tape behind both strips to create a little bit of dimension.

I added the colored image to the center of the card front and a strip of Kaisercraft patterned paper (P214 Periwinkle) on either side. I topped everything off with a few blue enamel dots from Papirdesign.