Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a simple card today, featuring the Bunny & Guinea: Balloon image from Rachelle Anne Miller. It’s an adorable one, and I can’t resist a stamp with a balloon in it. And definitely not one that also includes cute critters.
I printed the image with the accompanying sentiment and made it bigger than what I normally color. I wanted the focus to really be on this stamp.
I colored the image with Copics, then used a die from the A2 Double Stitched Rectangles STAX set from My Favorite Things to create the faux stitch look around the edge that I really enjoy having on my cards.
I adhered the panel to a card base I created from Pure Poppy cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
The red cardstock matches the red balloon and really makes it pop.
To finish the card I added Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh here and there. These are my favorite sequins, and they’re near impossible to find in stock anywhere. I need to get some more soon, though, I’ve almost run out.
Last, but not least; the colors I used for this. The ones on the bottom row were all used for the balloon. I went a little overboard on the balloon.
I colored the image with Copics, die cut the word HURRA from my panel using a die from Kort & Godt and the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things for the faux stitching to frame the image. I printed a second image to put behind, so the ball of yarn is continuous throughout the word.
I adhered my panel to an A2 card base I created from Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Onto a strip of the same color cardstock, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from Huldra Designstudio, added a couple of additional layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and embellished with a couple of sequins from Pretty Pink Posh to finish the card.
Not a whole lot of colors used for this one, it’s a simple image, after all.
I colored the chick with Copics and fussy cut it, leaving a white border around the edge. I put it aside while I worked on the rest of the card.
On a 3 1/2 x 4 3/4″ panel of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I adhered 1/4″ strips of pastel colored cardstock at an angle. The colors are (top to bottom) Ballet Slipper (Concord & 9th), Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink), Mint Julep (Papertrey Ink), Aqua Sky (Concord & 9th), Blue Breeze (My Favorite Things), Lilac Grace (Papertrey Ink). I then die cut a circle from the center of this panel.
I die cut a sligthly smaller circle out of vellum and adhered it to my card base using foam tape for a little bit of lift. I mounted the stripped up panel on top using even more foam tape (a thicker one for this layer) and put pieces of foam tape behind the little chick and added it in the center of the window opening.
I stamped a sentiment from My Favorite Things using Harvest Gold ink from Papertrey Ink on a leftover strip of Lemon Tart cardstock, then used foam tape to adhere it to the front of the card before finishing off with a few raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
This card has lots of dimension and a soft look because of all the pastel colors of cardstock, but that little chick is still the star of the show!
Very simple color palette for this tiny little image.
This time, I have a fun slimline card to share featuring 
I used a couple of dies from My Favorite Things to create the window openings and the faux stitch edge around the white cardstock. I stamped the 
I colored both the images in greys and reds and mounted the white panel with the window openings using foam tape for dimension. This cat is like a grey version of Garfield, it’s too funny.
Fiona looks like she’s kind of done with Christmas, Shari creates so much personality in each of her critters.
I kept the card very simple, but did add a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
My first card as a Lee Holland design team member HAD to be a birthday card for the wonderful friend that sent me the link, thereby letting me know that this amazing opportunity even existed.
I first fell in love with Lee’s images because of his dragons, but all his critters are adorable, and I thought this 
She loves teal, so I knew just what color to use for the balloons. I made sure to print the image towards the bottom left corner of my quarter panel of X-Press It blending card, which is what I use for nearly all my Copic coloring. I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things to give my panel a slight trim and that faux stitch edge I love so much, before adhering it directly to a card base I created from Tropical Teal cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I die cut the letters to spell HURRA three times from the same color cardstock using the Connected alphabet die set from My Favorite Things. I stacked them for dimension and stability and adhered them to the right of the top balloon.
I also stamped a couple of sentiments from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto strips of Sea Glass cardstock from Concord & 9th using Caribbean Sea ink from My Favorite Things. I added a few additional strips behind each and glued them to the card, before finishing off the card with a few sequins from the Seashore mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I used a lot of colors for the coloring of this. I used 16 colors for the squirrel, which is kind of nuts (pun intended).
I colored the flamingo with my Copics and fussy cut it leaving a white border. I put it aside while I worked on the rest of the card.
I used the Crystal Distortion embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp on my white card base to create a little bit of texture and interest to the background. It doesn’t photograph very well, but the texture is much more impactful in person.
I cut a piece of Summer Splash cardstock from My Favorite Things at an angle and stamped the word flamazing. The Bella Letters stamp set from Mama Elephant was perfect for this. The stamp set comes with multiples of each letter, so I could stamp the entire word at once. I used Summer Splash ink from My Favorite Things for a tone on tone effect. I could have stamped the letters individually to get them closer together, but I like the spacing for this card. I also stamped and white heat embossed part of a sentiment from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things onto Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink to complete the sentiment.
I mounted my angled colored cardstock panel with foam tape at the bottom of the card, using foam tape behind the top part of the flamingo as well. This design worked out really well, because I could adhere it’s thin legs directly to the cardstock with liquid glue instead of having to fuss with small pieces of foam tape. I also added a few sequins from the Ice Water sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish the card.
The dragon has a little friend handing him a note, and it’s just so cute. I colored the image with Copics, fussy cut it leaving a thin white border and put it aside while I worked on the rest of the card.
I really like the stars scattered around in the image, and decided to die cut a piece of patterned paper from the Subtle Grey Tones 6×6 pack of patterned paper from Sunny Studio using a die from the Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things. I mounted it on foam tape on a card base I created from Harvest Gold cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I mounted the colored image on foam tape and added it to the top center of the card. I die cut and folded and envelope from the Mini Mail die set from My Favorite Things and glued it below the colored image.
Inside the envelope, I die cut another piece from Harvest Gold cardstock using the same die set. I love the little scalloped edge at the top. I stamped a sentiment from the Monster Hugs stamp set from the Concord & 9th/Simon Says Stamp collaboration stamp set from Stamptember 2018 using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and slid it into the envelope. I didn’t glue it down, it can be a nice little interactive element on the card, it fits perfectly inside the envelope on the front. To finish I added a couple of enamel stars from the Pocketful of Sunshine enamel dots pack from Altenew.
Lots of dimension on this card, but it’s still simple. The envelope with the message inside is a nice nod to the image with the dragon and the bird.
Aside from the colors I used for the background, this is a very warm color palette.
Fun fact: Despite being a secular country, Norway has the longest Easter holiday in the world. I happen to love that fact, and we have some other elements to our Easter that are unique to Norway, like reading crime novels and watching murder mystery movies/miniseries on TV. An Easter without a good crime novel sounds like a miserable one, to be honest. I’m spending all 10 days of my Easter holiday at our cabin in the mountains with my family. Before leaving, I made these cute chocolate wrappers that I’m giving the kids today. Chocolate is a natural part of Easter, after all. I colored these cute images from the Sweet Easter stamp set with my Copics and fussy cut them. I put them aside while I worked on the rest of these little chocolate wrappers.
I used patterned paper from Papirdesign for both of these, wrapping the paper around the chocolate, adding glue to the seam and one end. Super simple, right? I added my colored chickens with foam tape and die cut the letters for their names using the Connected alpha die set from My Favorite Things. I die cut two layers from white cardstock and the top layer from Bright Buttercup cardstock from Papertrey Ink for the yellow, and patterned paper from Papirdesign for the purple.
I created slits at the open end to feed ribbon through, and put the ribbon around the chocolate. By doing this, the chocolate comes out of the wrapper when you pull on the ribbon. I put what’s known as fairy tale chocolate inside both of these. There are different illustrations from well known fairy tales on the chocolate wrapper, and the fairy tale itself is written on the inside. The fairy tale depicted on this wrapper is about a pancake that doesn’t want to get eaten, so he runs away from everyone and everything trying to eat him… until he meets a pig.
The color palette for these two couldn’t possibly be any simpler, right?
I’m focusing on ONE of the images for today’s card. I couldn’t resist the cute triceratops sitting on top of a present. I love The Land Before Time and chose to color this one similar to the character Cera from the movie. She’s orange with a cream underbelly. I kept mine all orange, but made the pads on her feet cream. Flowers are Cera’s favorite food, particularly yellow ones. There are no flowers in my scene, but opted for yellow on the present instead.
I used a couple of very pale blues for the sky in a halo around her, and used a few greens for a simple grassy hill for her to sit on. I die cut the Leafy Cover die from Mama Elephant to frame my image. I used one white die cut and two green ones made from Meadow cardstock from Hero Arts. I stacked them for stability and dimension.
I would have loved to use the prehistoric sentiment from the set of landscape elements, but I really wanted to heat emboss my sentiment, which is one of the few things you can’t do with digital stamps. I went digging through my clear stamps instead, and found this one from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things that I thought went perfect with the image. I stamped and white heat embossed it on a piece of Hawaiian Shores cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I wanted sequins that would match the sentiment strip and the teal colored parts of the image, and the Seaglass mix from Simon Says Stamp was the perfect match. I used way more sequins than I normally do and scattered them all across the card front.
There’s nothing quite like the dimension you get from layering die cuts, it adds so much interest to the card.
Lots of oranges and yellows for this. It IS an orange triceratops sitting on top of a yellow present, after all, so I guess it’s only natural.
Papirmølla 