Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing with you a super simple birthday card today, featuring this dragon eating ice cream from Lili of the Valley. This was the card we gave my nephew for his birthday this week. The first birthday card I ever made was for him for his first birthday. It featured a green dragon which I actually drew myself and colored in using Pantone markers. This week he turned 14, and even though this dragon is a bit childlike, it still feels like a nod back to that first one. Plus, he’s eating ice cream, you can’t go wrong with ice cream, and my nephew loves ice cream, so it was kind of perfect.
I printed the dragon on a piece of X-Press It blending card and colored him with my Copics, before using the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things. I covered my card base with a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ piece of patterned paper from Kaisercraft (Charmed from the Key to my Heart collection) to match the green. I cut the panel with the dragon at funky angles at the top and left side to create a convex quadrilateral that I mounted on foam tape in the top left corner of the card.
Using a scrap of patterned paper from the Fremtidsdrømmer collection from Papirdesign, I die cut Gratulerer using the Gratulerer med dagen 3 die set, also from Papirdesign. I die cut an additional 3 layers of white cardstock to glue behind it, but decided that even that wasn’t enough dimension, so I cut tiny slivers of clear foam tape from Rabbit Hole Designs to add to the back of the letters. That did the trick, and it looks like the die cut is floating. I stamped a sub sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto another piece of the same patterned paper using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things, cut it down to a strip, added a couple of white cardstock strips behind it and more of the clear foam tape to make it float, before finishing off the card with a few enamel dots from the Pocketful of Sunshine pack from Altenew.
Fairly simple color palette, but I went through too many teal colors before I decided on the right one for the straws and the sprinkles.
I colored and fussy cut 
For the background I used the largest die in the Stitched Traditional Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things and die cut two of these from Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things, before gluing them back to back. On the back I simply stamped a To/From stamp and on the front, I used the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp along with some paste for a subtle snowy effect in the background.
I used quite a few colors for the fur on the squirrel, but the rest of the colors are pretty basic.
I actually made this card for my dad, whose birthday was last week. He loves his cakes and desserts, and has a stationary bike that he works on on almost daily (while watching police car chases on YouTube; no joke), and I thought this image would be perfect for him, with the little bear on his bike and the cupcake trailing behind. I colored the image with my Copics and used the Stitched Mini Slimline STAX die set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel that would fit nicely on a mini slimline card. I then die cut the letters to spell HURRA three times from Jalapeño Popper cardstock from My Favorite Things and stacked them for a dimensional look, before deciding that the green was too dark. I didn’t want to start over, so I using the same dies (the Connected die set from My Favorite Things), I cut an additional layer from Parsley cardstock from Concord & 9th and glued that on top of the dark green. I like the lighter green better.
I adhered my panel to a card base I created from Blueberry cardstock from My Favorite Things. I added Glossy Accents to the hearts in the image, stamped a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things and added a few more strips of cardstock behind it for dimension. I finished off the card with a couple of enamel dots from Papirdesign.
I probably used way more colors than I really needed for this card. Three colors for that cherry is kind of ridiculous, it’s not that big, but that’s kind of what I do – I really love my Copics.
I colored the scene in using Copics. A couple of my browns went sticky during my coloring, and refilling them (which usually does the trick, markers tend to go sticky when they’re low on ink) didn’t work, so I replaced the nibs and they’re behaving a little bit better now.
Using Classic Kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I die cut the largest of the Wood frame infinity dies from Hero Arts and put two additional layers behind it for dimension. The die actually cuts a frame that is slightly larger than the size of an A2 card, so I created a custom sized card to fit the frame. I glued the frame to my scene, stamped a sentiment from the Småtekster stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto Cornflower cardstock from My Favorite Things and heat embossed it in white, before using a die from the Tag Builder Blueprints 6 die set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a nice strip with a flag end. I adhered it to the frame and added 3 sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish.
Very simple color palette. Since I had to color it twice I’m glad it wasn’t more involved 🙂
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.
These snowmen from the 
I have lots of layers on these, and used a whole bunch of Christmas scraps from old collections by Pion Design, as well as some sentiment stamps and other stamps from Inkido and Norsk Stempelblad AS.
More scraps on the back. I love this way of creating, and I hope to do more of it this year!
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!
Every year I seem to create just enough Christmas cards by making them all year, but I tend to neglect gift tags and scramble last minute to get them done as I wrap presents. This time I was a little more ahead, and this gift tag was one of the early ones I made, featuring 
Through the hole at the top, I looped a bit of tinsel and tied a bow around it using Purple Plum divine twine from Whisker Graphics. I also die cut a letter tag using the Personalized Tags die set from My Favorite Things from some Winter Wisteria cardstock from Papertrey Ink. My niece loves purple, so I thought it fit nicely. I also added a charm with a pair of mittens, I just couldn’t help myself. This tag doesn’t even have to be a holiday tag, it’d be perfect for someone born in the winter months (not my niece, though, her birthday’s in June).
On the back of the tag I used a piece of patterned paper from the Forever Green paper pack from Moda Scrap. I die cut it using that same stitched tag die from MFT that I used on the front and stamped a to/from stamp from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Milk Chocolate ink from MFT. I love their inks, they stamp so well!
You wouldn’t think I’d use this many colors for such a small image, but I did. I even airbrushed the sky in the background using B93, 91 and 90 (a color I’ve made myself), and used BG93 and BG90 with a tip to tip technique on the trees in the background for just a hint of color. I wanted the main focus to be on the cat in the foreground, so I chose very soft colors for the background.
I colored the gingerbread cookies with my Copics and used a circle die to turn it into a circle. I die cut another circle from patterned paper from Papirdesign and used a die from the Glassic Snow Globe die set from My Favorite Things to cut a window from the same piece. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS below the window and added a shaker pouch from My Favorite Things that I filled with the Icicle Sequin mix from Hero Arts.
I die cut another circle from the same patterned paper that I used on the front and white heat embossed a to/from stamp from Norsk Stempelblad AS in the center. After adhering all the pieces together, I cut a hole at the top, reinforcing it with an eyelet before pulling string through. This shaker gift tag can definitely be used as an ornament too, and I’m hoping that’s what will happen.
Simple image and simple colors for this one.
The process for creating this one was identical to the first ones I shared in 
There’s lots of texture and visual interest on this tag because of all the layers of paper, the foam tape to add dimension and the stenciled background. The accessories on the snowman are in a brighter green color than everything else on the tag, which still makes him stand out against the other elements.
For the back of the tag I used a couple of stamps from Inkido, as well as more of the white heat embossed sentiments from Norsk Stempelblad that I created lots of in one of my compartmental crafty sessions. These tags were heaps of fun to put together like this.
Papirmølla 