Hello {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a sweet card to share today featuring Amanita from Mo Manning. I love Mo’s fairies, and I’ve used this one before – on this card. This time, I flipped the image so she’s facing the other direction, it’s one of the advantages of using digital stamps.

I colored the image with my Copics, cut my panel way down and even cut a little bit around the image for a fun effect.

I decided to cover the card base with patterned paper. This one is from Waffle Flower, it’s from their dot pattern in the Christmas color scheme. It’s not too distracting, the colors work well with the colors I’ve used and the dots work well with this amanita mushroom hat.

I mounted the panel with my image using foam tape and adhered it left of center on the card, so a little bit of the patterned paper would peek out on the right, and a lot of it would peek out on the left.

I die cut the word hello from the Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew using Pure Poppy cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I die cut four layers and stacked them together for dimension. This is a very fine lined die cut, and I’ve found that using microdot adhesive is a good way to go. Even liquid glue in a fine tip bottle will ooze out the sides on this one, it’s so fine.

I finished off with a few pearls from the Glossy Porcelain mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

This is such a bright, happy color palette.

For you {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have some chocolate for you today. Well, a paper chocolate, featuring the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cows digi stamp set from Streamside Studios. This set has five cute cows, a chocolate bar and a bunch of other little accessories that you can use. I replaced the heart and the text on the wrapper for my chocolate, and put one of the cows there instead. This sort of mimics a Stratos chocolate bar, and that’s the look I was going for.

I colored my chocolate bar with Copics and fussy cut right up against the black stamp lines. Most of these lines are straight, which made it super easy to use a steel ruler and a craft knife to get precise cuts.

The Stratos cow is a very happy blue card, so it’s not entirely the same, but I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch with the blue wrapper and the cow on the card.

I created the card base from Something Blue cardstock from My Favorite Things. I used the Angled Mosaic 3D embossing folder from Altenew to give it some texture and interest.

I used the Watercolor Wash Free Form die from My Favorite Things and die cut from white cardstock. I think the free form makes it look like spilled milk, and it was the perfect grounding element for the chocolate.

I used the Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew to die cut the sentiment. I stacked four die cuts of each word for strength and dimension, the top one from Ballet Slipper cardstock from Concord & 9th, added the sentiment to the card and finished off with a few sequins from the She’s So Lovely mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Simple color palette.

Hoppy birthday {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a simple birthday card today, featuring this cute bunny from the Hoppy Birthday bunny digi stamp from Rachelle Anne Miller. It comes with a greeting and a little mouse, but I opted to use the bunny on its own for my card today.

I colored the bunny with my Copics (I actually only used 6 Copics for this card) and fussy cut around it, leaving a white trim to prefer the whispy lines and squiggles that are so characteristic of Rachelle’s images. I created a card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and ran it through my die cutting machine with the Crystal Distortion embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp to create some texture.

Onto a piece of scrap paper, I adhered strips of solid colored cardstock. I didn’t measure, they’re all different widths for a playful look. The colors are (bottom to top) Honeysuckle and Grapefruit, both from Concord & 9th, and then Lemon Tart, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores, all from Papertrey Ink. I put a few layers of cardstock behind my strips and adhered them near the bottom of the card. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Easter bunnies stamp set from Simon Hurley onto a piece of True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink, cut it down to a strip and used a craft knife (I don’t trust scissors) to create the angle at the end. I glued the piece left of the sentiment to the back of the bunny, put 2mm foam squares behind everything and adhered it on top of the colored strips, before finishing off with a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Color palettes don’t get much simpler than this.

Happy Easter

Hi, crafty friends. I started March by hopping on a flight to Trondheim for a crafty weekend away, and on Sunday, I even taught a class. I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing, as my mojo went missing around New Year’s. As it turns out, it had run away to Trondheim, and I was lucky enough to bring it back home with me. I taught a very simple Easter card, complete with Copic coloring. Some people did use Zig clean color brush markers, as that was the coloring medium taught in an earlier class, and the participants all received a few Zigs in their class kits for the weekend.

The Easter Bunnies stamp set from Simon Hurley was the perfect one to teach with. It’s a stamp set with lots of images to choose from. They’re all small, easy to color and very beginner friendly, as there aren’t any big areas to fill in. Once colored, we fussy cut the bunnies. There’s a coordinating die set for this stamp set, but these are pretty easy to fussy cut.

I did some simple ink blending on the background. I used the Watercolor Rectangle stencil from My Favorite Things and ink blended from the bottom to the top using Worn Lipstick distress ink, Pink Pearl ink from Altenew and Scattered Straw distress ink. These colors went well with the Copics I used for the bunnies, and it creates a little bit of interest to the background. I used the Giant Happy Easter die from Lawn Fawn and die cut that four times from white cardstock, before gluing them all together for a stacked look. I adhered the sentiment in the top center of the card, mounted the bunnies on foam tape and added a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I also used a black Glaze pen for the eyes, which the attendees really enjoyed, as it creates a little bit of dimension and shine very quickly and easily.

Very soft color palette for this one.

I’m lucky to have you in my life {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. Today, I’m sharing a fun card featuring Flappy’s Lucky Day, illustrated by Pei for Purple Onion Designs. I love her collection of critters! My mojo’s been missing since we entered the new year. I’ve done some shopping, cleaned and refilled all of my Copics (which took forever, btw) and done a few other things in hopes that my mojo would return. Nothing worked, and for the last two months, my cards have been very basic and also somewhat similar as a result. Last weekend, that changed. I flew to Trondheim for a crafty weekend away, and even taught a class (I’ll share more about that tomorrow). The weekend away did a world of good, and I *think* my mojo’s back. At the very least I had no issues creating this card, it all flowed very nicely, and I’m hoping my mojo will stay for a good long while this time.

I didn’t want to use Flappy and his little friends on their own, so I decided to create a mask and stamp The Perfect Spot behind them. This is an older stamp from Stacey Yacula, it’s from the A Beautiful Day collection, which released in 2014. I still wanted to keep the focus on this new image, so I decided to leave the background un-colored. This way, Flappy and his friends really get to shine, and the card isn’t all green, which could have easily been the case had I colored the background also.

Once my coloring was complete, I stamped a sentiment from the coordinating Lucky sentiment set using Sprout ink from Concord & 9th. This color goes really well with the vibrant green I used for the ground. I trimmed the panel down to 3 1/2 x 4 7/8″ and adhered it to a 4 bar card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before finishing off with a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I used a mixture of brown and gray for Flappy’s fur, and an obscene amount of colors for the green.

Hello, sweet friend {Amanda Jayne Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. A few weeks ago, Amanda over at Amanda Jayne Designs asked me if I wanted to color up a few of her new images. I usually jump at the chance to color, and her images are often pretty small and really cute. I shared the coloring of this Little Friend image on Instagram, but I now have the finished card to share.

I used the second largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to turn my colored piece into a panel with a fun edge. I added some layers of cardstock behind it and adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I used the Sweet Hello die from My Favorite Things to create my sentiment. I die cut four from white cardstock and one from Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th and adhered them all together for a stacked, dimensional look. I stamped and white heat embossed a sub sentiment from the IWCL2017005 English stamp set from InkyWings on a strip of Berry Sorbet cardstock and added it to my die cut sentiment, making sure to put a few layers of cardstock behind it on the part that overhangs. I added a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and put a dot of black Glaze pen from Sakura on the squirrel’s eye for a little bit of shine and dimension to finish off the card.

I used a lot of colors for this simple image.

Love you {Amanda Jayne Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. A couple of weeks ago. Amanda from Amanda Jayne Designs asked me if I would color up a few of her new images. I rarely pass up an opportunity to color, and she sent me these adorable squirrels. This is the Heart Balloon Squirrels, and I really let the image shine in this card and did very little to the card itself.

I colored the image with my Copics and stamped love you from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Berry Sorbet ink from Papertrey Ink, before using the panel die in the Blueprints 27 die set from My Favorite Things to cut it out and give it a nice scalloped edge with a faux stitch line on the inside.

Onto a top fold white card base, I adhered a piece of blue patterned paper from the Watercolor Brights 6×6″ paper pad from My Favorite Things. I added a few layers of cardstock behind my large panel for a little bit of lift and adhered it to the card front, before finishing off simply with a few pearls from the Glossy Porcelain Mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. Oh, and I also used a black glaze pen from Sakura to add a black dot to each of the eyes. This makes the eyes pop, and it adds shine and a little bit of dimension in real life, which you can’t really tell from the photo.

Very simple coloring for this one.

Let it snow {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. You might think it’s early to be sharing the first Christmas card of the year already, but with the amounts of snow we’ve currently got, this Winter is coming image from Mo’s Digital Pencil was the perfect one to use. It’s been snowing, it’s been windy, it’s been chaos. I spent longer getting home from work than I spent AT work today. All the buses in the city were cancelled, trains across the entire eastern part of the country weren’t running, I tried the metro, but that didn’t work either, and they even had to shut down the main airport because the snow and wind combo was too much for the plows to handle, they couldn’t clear the runways before they filled back up with snow. This has only happened three times in the last 12 years, so it was kind of crazy. Evidently, the trams were running, but they’re mostly downtown and nowhere near me, so this card? Very fitting today.

I really don’t want the sentiment to come true right now, I don’t remember there ever coming this much snow in the city in such a short time, and I’d very much like to not have to walk to work tomorrow. I saw plenty of people out with their shovels today when I walked home, their cars were snowed in, their driveways were full of snow and they could barely open their front doors. It’s winter, we get it, but it’s enough now, we don’t need more snow.

I’m done venting. I think. I was originally planning on adding a stacked die cut where all the snow is, but then I came up with the idea of a shaker card instead. It’s kind of like the little person under the beanie is trapped inside the shaker with all the shaker bits, which I thought was a fun concept.

I used the Giant Let It Snow die from Lawn Fawn, covered my window with acetate and filled my shaker well with Distress Mica Flakes, a little bit of Rock Candy Distress Glitter and a small pile of embellishments from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I added my shaker panel to a top fold card base I created from Blueberry cardstock from My Favorite Things and decided not to add anything else.

Very simple color palette for this one.

Hugs from the heart {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. Purple Onion Designs has a brand new release out. Tofu and his friends, first featured in the holidiay collection in 2023, are back with a Valentine and St. Patrick’s Day theme. Obviously, these images can be used for other occasions, as well, and they’re just so darn cute!

I colored up Love, Brownie Bear for my first card, I just couldn’t resist the wings and bee costume on this cute bear. I added some grass under his feet, die cut the panel using the second largest die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower and adhered it to a card base I created from Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th.

I stamped a sentiment from InkyWings using Pink Pearl ink from Altenew. The stamp actually has the word hugs in it too, but I opted for a die cut hugs, using the Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew. I die cut four from Grapefruit cardstock and stacked them together for a dimensional look.

I finished off with a couple of heart droplets from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Fairly simple color palette for this one.

Thanks so much {Rachelle Anne Miller}

Hi, crafty friends. We’ve reached the end of 2023, can you believe it? I thought I’d round out the year with a thank you card, featuring one of my favorite images – Penguin Hug from Rachelle Anne Miller. This is actually my card number 137 for 2023.

I’ve used this image a few times in the past, but I’ve never colored the penguins blue, which kind of blew my mind when I realized. I decided to remedy that and created soft blue penguins and a corally pink scarf. I cut my panel down to a square, die cut a heart in the center using a die from Papirdesign and mounted the negative onto a square card base I created from Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

Onto my colored heart, I stamped a sentiment from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Berry Sorbet ink from Papertrey Ink. I adhered the heart to the card front and added a few sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish my card.

Thanks so much for coming with me on this creative journey, and I wish you a happy, healthy and creative 2024.

Oh, and before I forget, I used a super simple color palette for this one.