Hi, crafty friends! I’m definitely in a holiday card making mood these days. Between Christmas in July for Get Cracking on Christmas, the upcoming Christmas release from Lili of the Valley and this adorable image, it’s impossible not to be.
This is Got the Wreath from Mo Manning. For some reason this is named “with wreath” in the Dropbox folder where I keep my Mo Manning stamps and that’s kind of how this image was chosen. I was to create a card with an image that started with a W. Rules set by a 3 year old. The very same 3 year old chose red, orange and light pink for a color combo. I really didn’t know what to do, but I like a challenge, and created this card. Very untraditional in its color scheme, but I kind of dig it.
After coloring the image with Copics, I used the largest of the dies from the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel. I adhered it to a top fold card base I created from Hibiscus Burst cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before gluing on a scrap piece of doily from Doodlebug Design in the upper right corner. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Julehilsen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a die cut piece of patterned paper from Bo Bunny. I added another die cut piece of patterned paper (this dotted pink is from Sunny Studio) and stapled the two pieces together before mounting them to the card using foam tape. I put another scrap of the pink in the opposite corner of the card and finished off with a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Colors for this crazy combo. Evidently I forgot to include the greens, but they are BG99, G99, YG67, YG63 and YG61.
This image is the perfect fit for a mini slimline card. I colored it with my Copics, before using a die from the Slimline Starter die set from My Favorite Things to partially die cut my panel twice to get it down to the perfect size.
I adhered the colored piece onto a mini slimline card base I created from Sour Apple cardstock from My Favorite Things.
Onto the balloon, I stamped a sentiment from the Bursdag inch stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad using VersaFine Onyx Black ink.
I adhered some sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards here and there on the scene to embellish a little.
I really wanted the image to be the focal point of this card, and with this festive gang of party goers, I think it is.
Simple, analogous color palette for this card.
This time I’m keeping the focus on 
I used a lot of green for this card. Not too many markers, but I feel like most of the card is green. I actually had to refill all the greens I used for the fields and trees halfway through. They hadn’t been refilled in a couple of years, so it was about time, I use these greens a lot.
I needed a pop of color to counteract all the green and decided on a corally pink color combination that I used for the party hat and balloon. I dug through my colored cardstock looking for a match, and wound up with Fire Coral cardstock from My Favorite Things. I created a top fold A2 card base from it and adhered my colored panel onto it to the left side, it wasn’t wide enough to cover the entire card front.
In the fall of 2020 I was running seriously low on X-Press It blending card, which is the only cardstock I use for my Copic coloring. It was hard to get hold of back then, but I lucked out and got a pack from Amazon UK. It was A4, which kind of blew my mind a little bit. Up until that point, I didn’t even know A4 X-Press It existed, I’ve always bought letter size. A4 is less wide and taller than letter size, which means I only get two panels that cover an A2 card front from one sheet. I used one of the narrower pieces on this card, which left me with about 1/4″ extra width on the card base. I debated cutting it off, but I feel like the pink strip on the right provides a little bit of balance, the card would be very green without it.
Onto a separate piece of Fire Coral cardstock, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Til mannen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS, before die cutting it using a speech bubble die from Altenew. I popped it up on 1/16″ foam squares from Gina K for a tiny bit of dimension.
You’d think that with a close to full panel of coloring that I’d use a lot more colors than this, but the four greens near the left end of this graphic were all I used for the grass and the trees, which covers most of the card.
I colored up this fairy quite a while ago, and I even had a blue sky around her that I decided not to use. I fussy cut the image, leaving a trim around the edge (I didn’t want to contend with the whispy lines in her hair).
I created a white top fold card base using Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. It’s my all time favorite white cardstock. Using a geometric embossing folder from We R Memory Keepers, I created a bit of texture to the card front. It’s nice to have lots of white space while giving the background a little bit of interest, and embossing folders are a great way to ensure that.
I cut a piece of Winter Wisteria cardstock from Papertrey Ink at an angle and adhered it to the top of the card using foam tape.
I adhered my colored image, half on top of the purple cardstock using foam tape, the bottom half to the card base using foam tape. I let her foot hang off the edge of the card for a little bit of added interest.
To finish off the card, I die cut scraps of purple patterned paper from Papirdesign to adhere to the bottom right corner of the card. Onto one of the strips, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Hilsninger stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS, before I added sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards for a little bit of embellishment.
Not a lot of colors for this one.
I colored up 
These clusters are pretty easy to put together. On my desk I keep a bin with die cut scraps of patterned paper. I organize these scraps by color, and put each color in a stamp storage bag. Whenever I want to create a cluster, I choose the colors that go with my card, dump the contents of the storage pockets on my desk and play. This time I used three bags; the blue, the green and the gray – it’s nice to throw a neutral into the mix. The scraps I used for this card are from a few different companies. The blue ones are from Papirdesign (the grey with the blue stars is the back of that blue with the lighter dots), the green ones are from 3ndypapir and Karen Foster, with a little bit of New Leaf cardstock from Papertrey Ink thrown in for a darker green to make the dark blue a little less dominant. The top grey one is actually from Magnolia, whereas the one with the sentiment is from DCWV. The sentiment itself is from Norsk Stempelblad, stamped in Cornflower ink from My Favorite Things. To finish off the card I added a few green enamel dots from Papirdesign.
This color palette makes me happy.
I printed the image towards the bottom left of my panel of X-Press It blending card and colored it with Copics. I’ve colored this girl once before, but I decided to go for a different color scheme this time, I think the only thing that’s stayed the same since the last card is the coloring on the watermelon. The printer doesn’t print all the way to the edge, so I cut off a little strip on the left side and decided to add a strip of yellow patterned paper from Papirdesign on the right to balance out the design and fill the front of this A2 card.
And as usual, I finish with the Copics I used. Quite a few for this super simple image, I reckon.
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 him in very simply with just a few Copics, hinted at a sky behind him and grass below him using some very soft colors, trimmed my panel down and put it aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
Using Spring Moss cardstock from Papertrey Ink and the By the Numbers impression plate, also from PTI, I created a soft, yet textured background that I adhered to my top fold A2 card base created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love their white cardstock, it’s the whitest I’ve found, and it’s thick and wonderful to work with.
I glued a strip of silver glitter cardstock above and below my little puppy, before mounting it on foam tape on the top half of the card.
I die cut Gratulerer using the Gratulerer 6 die from Papirdesign three times: two from white cardstock, once from the silver glitter cardstock I’d already used. I stacked these for a little bit of dimension. I stamped a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a piece of Pale Peony cardstock from Papertrey Ink using VersaMark ink, then heat embossing using clear embossing powder from Ranger. I added two more layers of pink cardstock behind it so it’d be flush with the die cut word above it.
To finish the card I added a few Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. These might be my favorite sequins, and I’m almost out of them, so I’m desperately searching for new ones. They seem to always be sold out.
Very soft and simple color palette used for this card.
I colored the scene in using my Copics, before using Iceberg ink from Altenew with the Slimline Cloud Edges stencil from My Favorite Things to create soft clouds in the background. I then sacrificed one of my stamp storage pockets from Avery Elle, using about half of it for this card to create the pocket for the colored panel to slip into. I know there are full shaker covers on the market, but I don’t have any, and the storage pocket was easy enough to alter.
I filled my shaker pocket with sequins and gems from the Candy Corn mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. This is a great Halloween mix with clear, yellow and orange sequins, as well as some little gems and even acetate ghosts. I loooove the ghosts, but of course I removed them from the part of the mix I used for this birthday card.
I die cut the word Gratulerer twice from white cardstock and once from Pure Poppy cardstock from Papertrey Ink using the Gratulerer 8 die from Papirdesign, stacked them and used liquid glue to add the die cut to the front of the window.
I stamped a sub sentiment from the Go’klem stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a separate piece of Pure Poppy cardstock using VersaMark. I heat embossed it using super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger in white, cut the sub sentiment down to a strip and added a couple of additional cardstock layers behind it, before adhering it to the front of the shaker using score tape.
Simple, but fun color palette for this one.
Papirmølla 