Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with one of those cards I make once in a blue moon, which happens to be a type of card I used to make all the time back in the day (I realize I’m making myself sound really old by saying that). It’s a 6×6″ card, but still not square.
The card was made on order for a superintendent turning 60. I was told he likes wine, good food, sunny, warm weather and enjoying life and was given free reign to do as I pleased. Mr. Fixit from Mo Manning seemed like the perfect choice for an image to color.
I rarely use patterned papers on my cards anymore, and certainly not pieces this big, but I love the XXL Square Frames Frilly #10 die set from GoKreate, the dies in the set are perfect for creating shaped cards. I use two 12×12″ sheets of patterned paper to make one of these cards, and this time I used the Drivers License patterned paper from the Denim & Friends collection as well as the Tough but sweet sheet from the Denim & Girls collection, both from Maja Design. I can cut two of the larger shapes and two of the smaller shapes from one sheet, so the insides of the card are reverse.
I colored the image in colors that went with the patterned paper, adding a bit of red to catch the eye and writing the words on his t shirt with a black Copic friendly pen. I thought the pun would tick the “loves wine” box.
I used foam tape to add the smaller shape to the larger one, and also to add the die cut circle to the smaller shape. I stamped postmarks from various cities in the world using Memento Rich Cocoa ink to add a little bit of interest to the circle and the panel behind it. I figure if the guy loves warm, sunny weather, he probably also loves to travel, there’s not a whole lot of warm days in Oslo over the course of a year.
I added some metal embellishments from Tim Holtz in a bit of a cluster near the bottom left “corner”, as well as his age, die cut and put on a 1″ circle with an epoxy sticker on top for a bit of added dimension.
I hid a die cut tag behind my image. I used to do this all the time, and it’s a fun way to add a sentiment without having to find space for it on the front of the card. The sentiment is from the Til mannen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS. The dies I used for the tag and reinforcer are old ones from Magnolia. I tied a bow from twill onto the tag, and some cutlery charms to the twill bow using natural twine from May Arts. I thought the cutlery was perfect for a food lover, I have so many treasures in my stash that I forget about until I go looking for something to use.
The inside of the card are pretty simple. The same patterned paper as the front, only with the reverse size. I used more of the postmark stamps from Marianne Design, as well as a sentiment from the Gratulerer stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS. There’s plenty of space for a personal message on the second circle, which only has the postmark stamps on the edges.
The back of the card is also simple. Another sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS, this time it’s the B03 stamp set. I love their stamp sets and use them more than any other of my Norwegian sentiment stamps. They’re hard to get your hands on because the company is no longer in business, but they’re the best sentiments out there.
Simple color palette.
This card features the same stamp from the Snow Cute stamp set that I used on the previous card I made with stamps from this release (
I created my card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and I wanted a blue gradient near the bottom, fading into white at the top. I pulled out a couple of blender brushes, the Lapis Lazuli inks (Azurite, Ultramarine, Eastern Sky and Iceberg) from Altenew and started blending from the darkest at the bottom to the lightest at the top.
Once I was happy with my blending, I die cut a bunch of snowflakes. I used an old die from Marianne Design (CR1335) which cuts plenty of snowflakes, as well as the Snowflake Confetti Fancy Die from Hero Arts. This is actually a cover plate, but as the name suggests, it creates confetti in the shape of snowflakes. I put the positive die cut back into the packaging to use for another card and glued the snowflakes to my background. The stark white of the snowflakes was a little too white for the sentiment I was putting on top to stand out, so I went back over with more blue ink once the snowflakes were adhered. This toned them down a bit, just enough for my die cut word to stand out.
Speaking of die cut word, I used this wishes die from Mama Elephant and die cut three layers of white cardstock, which I glued together for dimension. For the polaroid frame, I used the Precious Polaroids die set from My Favorite Things and die cut three of those as well.
I adhered the polaroid frame and the die cut word to the card front, popped the little penguin into the opening of the polaroid using some foam tape and completed the sentiment with a stamped word from the new sentiment set from Lili of the Valley, cut down to a strip and adhered with a couple of additional strips of cardstock behind it. Because dimension is life!
For my first card, I chose to feature this adorable image from Lee Holland. Last year, he asked his followers and fans what more we wanted of his dragons (he is known for his dragons, he has lots of different ones), and I suggested one hugging a penguin. He came through big time, and created this image, which I, of course, had to get. I colored it in noline, because I love the look, before sprinkling Chunky White embossing enamel on top and melting the granules from the back of the paper to create that wonderful snowy look.
I taped a square die inside a rectangle die from Waffle Flower and die cut the two dies four times from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink to create a chunky polaroid frame for my little fellas to fit into. By taping the two dies together, they won’t shift and the square opening will be in the same spot for all my diecut pieces. I stacked my diecuts and put the image behind my chunky frame, before adhering it all to a cardbase I created from Stormy Sea cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Using a die from Kort & Godt, I die cut the word klem three times from the same color cardstock. The die actually cuts the word juleklem (Christmas hug in Norwegian), but it’s so big the first part didn’t fit my card, so I just chose the latter half of the word. I stacked three together for dimension, adhered it at an angle to my card, and put a white heat embossed sub sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS below. This too, has additional layers of cardstock behind it for dimension. To finish off the card, I die cut a few white snowflakes using dies from Hero Arts and Marianne Design, and I stacked two of each snowflake on top of each other to make them stand out a bit.
Fairly simple color palette for this image.
This 
I used 3 different collections of patterned paper from Maja Design for this card. One of the benefits of using their papers is that their collections usually match pretty well. Vintage Basics Summer, Vintage Baby and Sofiero are the collections I used for this card, and they all match. I used older dies from Lifestyle Crafts, Cottage Cutz, Scrapmagasinet, Marianne Design and Spellbinders, as well as flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Papirdesign.
The insides of the card have a very similar layout, and so does the back. Onto a white circular panel, I stamped a christening stamp from North Star Design using Soft Granite ink from Hero Arts.
The card was too thick to fit inside a regular envelope, so I created a box envelope using a punch board from We R Memory Keepers. Onto a diecut eyelet circle I stamped a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment and adhered it to the box envelope.
This image is so quick to color and doesn’t require a ton of markers. Easy peasy!
I used Anyu and Nanook Igloo for my card today. They’re part of the 
I used my trusty faux stitch rectangle die from My Favorite Things to turn my colored piece into a panel before stamping the perfect sentiment from Mama Elephant’s Holiday Messages stamp set using Enchanted Evening ink. I wanted to pick up the blue from the little girl’s coat, and this is such a pretty blue. I sprinkled on chunky white embossing powder and heated the panel from the back to create my snowy look, before adhering my panel onto a cardbase I made from After Midnight cardstock from My Favorite Things. I added a few snowflakes that I diecut using an old Marianne Design die that I absolutely love, and my card was finished.
Here you can see the effect of the chunky white embossing enamel. It’s nice and thick and adds a bit of texture to the card, it kind of feels like braille when you touch it, it’s really cool, not to mention quicker than drawing on snowflakes with a white pen, also with the added bonus of it being more random than you’re able to achieve on your own.
No surprise that I used mostly cool tones for this card, except for the skin colors and the ears and tongue of the dog.
For today’s card, I used the image “
I die cut the words oh so merry from the Penguin’s Waddle die set from Mama Elephant a few times from white cardstock and stacked them for a dimensional look. I added chunky white embossing enamel to my scene, glued my panel onto a card base made from Pure Poppy cardstock from Papertrey Ink and glued my diecut words in the sky. I stamped and white heat embossed “& bright” from the Holiday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant onto a scrap of the same red cardstock and glued that below my diecut words. I added a few diecut snowflakes with pearls in the centers as my finishing touch.
Lots and lots of marker, many of them used on the snow, believe it or not.
This image was part of the Christmas release from Lili of the Valley that came out a few weeks ago, you can find the stamp 
Til dette kortet stanset jeg ut en haug med små sirkler med en die fra Lifestyle Crafts, og en haug med små, hvite snøfnugg med en die fra Marianne Design. Snøfnuggene ble limt på sirklene, som så ble limt på rekke og rad på den hvite kartongen. Jeg satte striper av 3D-teip tett i tett bak det hvite panelet og limte det på kortbasen, som er laget av den samme lyseblå kartongen jeg har brukt til sirklene mine. Til min store forskrekkelse oppdaget jeg rett etterpå at jeg hadde hatt kortbasen min opp-ned da jeg limte på det hvite panelet. Sirklene skulle jo være nede på kortet, ikke oppe. Å ta av et panel som er limt på med mengder med 3D-teip er rimelig håpløst, så sirklene fikk bare være øverst på kortet.
Sirkelen med teksten fra Norsk Stempelblad AS klarte jeg å ta forsiktig av og sette på på nytt så skriften kom riktig vei. Til slutt pyntet jeg enkelt med blå diamanter fra Kort & Godt i hvert snøfnugg. De matcher den lyseblå Spring Rain-kartongen til Papertrey Ink ganske bra. Jeg syns fortsatt det er noe som skurrer litt med kortet, og det er meget mulig at jeg hadde likt kortet bedre om jeg hadde limt på alt riktig vei. Jeg har nå blitt flinkere til å sjekke at ikke kortbasene mine ligger opp ned når jeg limer på store paneler med 3D-teip for å unngå samme tabbe flere ganger.
Etter å ha vært på flere designteam i mange år har jeg opparbeidet meg en fin samling med hjemmelagde adventskalendere. Jeg trenger derfor ikke flere, og bestemte meg for å lage en tekalender jeg kunne gi til en venninne. Da fikk jeg laget adventskalender til bladet, min personlige adventskalendersamling ville ikke øke, og på toppen av det hele kunne jeg glede noen bittelitt med en tepose hver dag de første 24 dagene i desember. Vinn-vinn-vinn!!!
Jeg fant noen nydelige mønsterark fra Papirdesign som jeg bestemte meg for å bruke, og jeg lagde små konvolutter til hver dag. Da alle konvoluttene var laget bygget jeg en eske av kartong med lokk som passet til. Teksten på lokket er stemplet med et stempel fra Norsk Stempelblad AS med Papertrey Ink Classic Kraft blekk. Jeg har pyntet enkelt med snøfnugg laget med en die fra Marianne Design og noen swirler og blader laget med en Sizzix-die.
Rundt hver konvolutt knøt jeg en bit med seam binding fast med litt naturlig twine. Tallene er skrevet ut fra PC og limt til doble sirkler av mønsterark og kartong rett på båndene. Siden de kun er festet i båndene, og båndene kun er knytt fast kan de lett dras av konvoluttene som magebelter.
Alle 24 konvoluttene stablet på rekke og rad. Jeg brukte fire forskjellige mønsterark i en ganske rolig fargepalett. Selve esken er forsterket med chipboard i veggene for at den skulle være litt stabil.
Jeg har brukt seam binding på lokket også for å pynte opp litt ekstra. Båndet går hele veien ned på sidene, endene er limt fast på innsiden av lokket, så man skal slippe å knyte opp noe som helst.
Lag på lag, Maja Design, blått og snøfnugg – det er liksom meg i et nøtteskall når det gjelder julekort, så jeg storkoste meg da jeg satt med dette i de sene kveldstimer (og let’s face it: nattetimer). Vi var alle inneforstått med at Camilla ikke hadde anledning til å komme, så da hun dukket opp sent på fredagskvelden var jeg veldig, veldig glad. Camilla er nemlig den på teamet (i tillegg til meg selv) som er litt natteravn, så vi satt der på kvelden og scrappet og koste oss med godteri!
Papirmølla 