Hi, crafty friends! I have a sweet Christmas card (is there any other card this time of year?) to share today featuring Merry Little Christmas, which is one of my favorites from Mo’s Digital Pencil (I have many favorites, her images are awesome).
I colored my image with Copics and used a fancy border die from Papirdesign (Snøkrystall ramme 2) to create trees and snowflakes along the edge. I wanted to do something different, and actually created a card base from vellum. I have heavyweight translucent vellum from My Favorite Things, and it’s a very thick, sturdy vellum that can handle being a card base.
I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous both on my colored piece and on the vellum base, before adhering the two together. I decided to create a white panel with the same die cut border for the inside of the card, as the vellum is very slick and not well suited for writing a personal message.
I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the B05 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad onto Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I used the Wax Seals die set from Waffle Flower to turn it into a faux seal and mounted it onto my card using foam tape.
The vellum and die cut border create unexpected elements, the embossing enamel creates texture and you get a little bit of dimension with the sentiment seal. They all contribute and make this simple card a special one.
Not a whole lot of Copics for this, and a fairly muted color palette.
I knew one of the elves at the bottom would get his head cut off (the one wearing blue), so I created a copy with just his head, rotated it and put it in the top right corner to include another kid peeking in.
I colored in the scene with Copics, choosing very bright colors. I then took my white Gelly Roll 05 to create patterns on most of the kids’ clothes. I used the largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create a fun edge to my panel, before using the Connected alphabet die set, also from MFT, to spell out the name of the recipient. At first, I thought of cutting them straight, but realized that a wonky look would work well with the card and also be less time consuming.
I wanted to include her age too, but didn’t have any number dies that matched the letters. There was just enough room on her apron for me to sketch in a couple of stick figures holding signs. I used my 0.03 Copic multiliner, and I think it’s running out of ink, which only enhanced the sketchy look I was going for. I die cut six more of each of the letters from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink, stacked them and added the colored pieces on top for a stacked inlay look. I mounted the panel on foam tape and adhered it to a card base I created from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I decided not to add any embellishments, I figured this card is colorful and really doesn’t need it.
For the inside, I stamped a fun sentiment (You’re not thaaaat old – you were just born too soon) from the Til mannen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Summer Splash ink from My Favorite Things.
I stamped a sentiment from the Go’klem stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a Summer Splash envelope from My Favorite Things using Summer Splash ink. I thought the envelope and ink matched the dress nicely.
Here you can see those popped up letters a bit better.
I used a lot of Copics for this one. Skin tones (and hair) make up that entire top row. I wanted different skin tones for the kids, and even though they don’t look that different in my photos, the difference is more pronounced in real life.
Shari Bresciani’s cast of characters is so fun and quirky. Michele at Purple Onion Designs is very good at finding illustrators with a distinct style. The left tag features 
For both of my tags, I used the Wintry Forest stencil set from Pinkfresh Studio to create my background of blue trees. I used Polar Bear, Icy Water and Winter Lake inks from Altenew to create my trees, die cut my panel into tags using the Stitched Trad. Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things, then sprinkled on Chunky White embossing enamel from Stampendous which I melted from the back for a snowy look.
I love the expression on Scruffy’s face! This tree originally has a star on top, but I wanted Starla to add the star to the tree, so I cut off the star from the top and colored the cone shaped part of the star in green, so it looks like it’s the actual tree, even though the even curved line is a telltale sign that it’s not. I don’t think many people will notice, and even less will care.
I stamped the sentiment using two ink colors from My Favorite Things: Jalapeño Popper and Sour Apple. I would have preferred a green tone with more blue in it, but I don’t have that in the ink formulation that’s best for this kind of mostly solid stamping. I find that the squishy ink pads that have become popular in recent years do better with this kind of stamping than the old firm felt pad type ink pads.
Close to the sentiment, I added pearls from the Party Girl mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I was tempted to add lots of pearls in different colors to the tree too, to act as baubles, but opted not to.
I threaded some satin ribbon through the tag hole and tied it with a piece of Natural twine from May Arts. I also added a couple of gold bells from my stash, I love tags that make that jingle sound.
Lots of colors for this, even though I felt like I didn’t use too many.
It’s Carrie’s turn. She goes so well with this snowman, you could almost think they’re one stamp and not two. I don’t mind when things hang off the edge of my cards or, in this case, tags. Will the ears and the branch get bent once this tag is on a present under the tree? Possibly. But I don’t mind, because I feel it adds to the design. If I had cut off the ears and branch to make everything fit inside the dimensions of the tag, this tag wouldn’t be as fun.
For this one, I stamped the sentiment in Amarena Cherry ink from My Favorite Things. It matches her scarf nicely.
I managed to get something sticky in the middle of Carrie. There was no way to remove it, so I was very strategic about the placement of the clay snowflakes I added. They’re Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and I love them.
I threaded ribbon through the hole at the top of the tag, tied a bow around it using more of that Natural Twine from May Arts and added a couple of gold bells to the top. Different kind of bell than on the green tag, but they still make that wonderful sound.
Lots of Copics for this one too. I just can’t help myself.
For the back of the tags, I stamped To/From from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Obsidian ink from Altenew. The remaining stamps are stamped in Classic Kraft and Dark Chocolate inks from Papertrey Ink. For some of it, I used second generation stamping. The circle stamp with 24.12 in the center and the tree stamp are both from Inkido. The little snowflakes are from North Star Design, the smaller circle stamp with God jul in the center is from Ladybug & Friends. Unless I’m mistaken, none of these companies are still in business. It’s kind of sad, but I’m very glad I have these stamps!
I chose four of the snowmen in the set and scaled them to fit inside the windows on this Globies Grid Cover die from Mama Elephant. I colored them with Copics and fussy cut them leaving a thin white border.
I die cut the cover die from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, added acetate to the back and adhered my snowmen to the back of the acetate in a few of the windows. Onto a panel of Sno Cone cardstock from My Favorite Things, I did some very subtle ink blending at the bottom of each row of snowglobes, using Sno Cone ink, also from My Favorite Things. The ink blending adds a little gradient to each of the snowglobes. I stamped a sentiment from the Julehilsen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Caribbean Sea ink from My Favorite Things.
I flipped the front over, added foam tape to the back of my windows and sealed the globe with the sentiment shut so no shaker bits would be in that particular window. I added a sprinkling of Distress Mica Flakes to each of the remaining 11 windows and carefully placed my ink stamped and ink blended panel onto the exposed adhesive to close my shaker wells.
I adhered my front to a top fold card base I created from Sno Cone cardstock from My Favorite Things. To finish the card, I die cut the bases for the snow globes from white cardstock and added a little bit of subtle shading on the edges with a T0 Copic marker, as well as the colorless blender.
These snowmen are super tiny, it’s a miracle I used so many colors. I may have gotten carried away with the red in particular. Five colors for these tiny areas is probably way too many, but there you go.
It’s confirmation season, and my nephew’s confirmation was September 10th. I made several cards for him, and this is one of them. I thought this image was the perfect one to use, nothing says fifteen year old boy like a guy with his phone in his hand, school books hidden away and a bowl of snacks on the armrest. The controller tucked away is a nice touch too. We don’t wear shoes indoors in Norway, but the rest is pretty spot on.
I created a background for my colored image using a variety of stamps, inks and even a stencil. I started with the Abstract Triangle Background stamp from My Favorite Things that I stamped in Orange Peel ink from Simon Says Stamp. I didn’t want the stamp to cover the entire background and made sure to stamp it in the lower left corner and have it fade as it went up and to the right. I then took a confirmation stamp from the A05 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS and repeatedly stamped it on top of the stamping I’d already done using VersaMark ink, before sprinkling on super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger and melting the powder with my heat gun. I then used the Watercolor Wash Free Form stencil from My Favorite Things and ink blended using Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed distress inks.
I fussy cut my image leaving a white trim and mounted it on foam tape on top of the stamping and ink blending I’d done. I die cut the Hullmønster die from Papirdesign twice; once from Cornflower cardstock and once from Sour Apple cardstock, both from My Favorite Things. I tore them both up, tucking a couple of pieces behind the image for a little bit of added interest.
I used the Konfirmant 2 die from Papirdesign to die cut five times from cardstock for a stacked look, placing a layer die cut from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink on top of the stack. I adhered it to the card using liquid glue, placing the beginning of the word on top of Noah’s pant leg to make it all fit.
I added some sentiment stickers from Kort & Godt to fill the space at the bottom of the card a little. They’re originally a bit bigger than this and white with black letters, but I used a Copic marker to color them blue to make them stand out against the white background a little and also cut them down slightly. The banners with the stars are also Kort & Godt stickers.
In the top right corner, I created a little cluster with die cut pieces and those stickers, before finishing off the card with a few Papirdesign enamel dots. Onto a Limelight envelope from My Favorite Things, I adhered white die cut letters (dies from Papirdesign) to spell his name and stamped Konfirmant from the Konf. 02 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Limelight ink from My Favorite Things.
On the inside, I stamped a sentiment from the Konf. 02 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Orange Peel ink from Simon Says Stamp. I also adhered number stickers from Papirdesign to get the date on there. The right hand side has plenty of space for a personal message.
Fun, bright color palette for this one.
Meet 
I paired them with sentiments from the 
There are some differences between these. Kale is stamped and colored on the tag, while Flo is fussy cut and popped up. I used similar techniques for the background, but kept a lot of the same elements across both tags.
For Kale, I masked him off and ink blended around him using Coral Bliss and Pink Pearl inks from Altenew, as well as Scattered Straw Distress ink. I used the largest die in the Stitched Traditional Tag STAX set from My Favorite Things to turn him into a tag and then used the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp with Light & Fluffy Modeling Paste from The Crafter’s Workshop to create snow coming down. I used Snowfall Grit-Paste from Ranger at the bottom of the tag and sprinkled on Rock Candy distress glitter before the paste dried. I then added a snowflake charm and some ribbon at the top of the tag and tied it together with Cotton Candy twine from Whisker Graphics.
On the back of the tag I did soft ink blending using the same colors and stamped a to/from stamp from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Coral Bliss ink from Altenew.
Not a lot of colors used for this adorable bunny.
I used the same tag die, stencil, paste and inks for blending on this tag, but decided to add a little extra. I die cut the Silhouette Snow Trees from Mama Elephant from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and on the trees I added Grit-Paste and Rock Candy Distress Glitter.
I let the trees dry, used liquid glue to adhere them to the tag and added Flo on top using foam tape.
I also used foam tape on the back of the speech bubble and used ribbon, a snowflake charm and some twine at the top for this one too.
Another stamp from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS on the back of this one.
I used very bright colors for Flo.
I printed the image fairly large and chose a summery color palette of hot pink, apple green and bright yellow. I colored the image with Copics and used the largest die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower to turn it into a nice rectangular panel. I put the panel in my MISTI, and used the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS to stamp sentiments on the plain candles. I used Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things for the green candles, Raspberry Fizz ink from Papertrey Ink for the pink candles and Spiced Marmalade distress ink from Ranger for the yellow candle, with a little bit of help from VersaMark to prevent the distress ink from beading up on the photopolymer.
Once all my stamping was done, I adhered the panel onto a black card base I created from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I also die cut a panel to go on the inside from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink for a place to write my personal greeting. I used my black Glaze pen from Sakura to create a little bit of shine to the eyes and the nose of the bear, and added sequins from the Seashore and Iced Sherbet mixes from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards for a finishing touch.
Simple color palette for this one 🙂
I decided to cut off about half of the bench. Since I’m only using one of the kids, I didn’t need the whole thing. If you want, there’s also a 
I adhered my panel directly to a card base I created from Green Parakeet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I stamped a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a strip of the same color cardstock using Green Apple ink from Simon Says Stamp and put the sentiment aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
I die cut the word hipp 8 times from Tropical Teal cardstock from Papertrey Ink using a die from Kort og Godt, and created two stacks of four each for a dimensional look. I adhered my stacked die cuts to the card and put the green cardstock strip on top of the bottom hipp.
To finish off the card I added a few enamel dots from Papirdesign. I decided to go for orange ones to pick up the color from the little boy’s ice cream.
It’s a fairly simple card, but the clouds add a little something to the white space, and the die cuts and dots add dimension.
For such a small image, I used a lot of colors.
I colored my snowman with Copics and fussy cut him leaving a thin white border. I put him aside while I worked on the rest of the tag. Onto some white cardstock (Stamper’s Select White from Papertrey Ink), I ink blended distress inks in the colors Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade and Scattered Straw for a soft background. I then used a die set from Hero Arts (Snowflake and Ornament) to die cut the ornament from my background and the snowflake circle twice from white cardstock. I adhered the two white die cuts together for a smidge of dimension, before adhering them to the base.
I mounted the snowman on foam tape and white heat embossed a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a strip of Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink, mounted that on foam tape and added diamonds from Kort & Godt to the centers of the snowflakes, before finishing off the tag with a piece of ribbon, some thread and a couple of bells from UiT Hobby.
Super simple color palette for this one.
I stamped the cute mouse using Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Classic Kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before covering the image with a mask and running the cardstock through my printer to add the lyrics to a Norwegian Christmas song all about mice. I thought it was a fitting background. I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils (not Copics, I know, it’s rare), heat embossed a sentiment from the B04 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS above the cutie and used a die from the Stitched Traditional Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a tag. I then die cut a label from the Everyday Gift Box die set (also MFT) from Wild Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things, and used the tag die again to turn it into the top piece of my tag. I also used a reinforcer die from the Fold-Up Tags die set (also from MFT) and die cut that from Dark Chocolate cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I added a ribbon, a couple of bells and some Cherry twine from Whisker Graphics to the top of the tag, before adhering a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish.
Papirmølla 