Fill the season with joy {Lili of the Valley}

September 23, 2021September 17, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I’m sharing another red Christmas card today. I’ve been sharing a lot of red Christmas cards recently, I’m hoping to go back to normal colors soon 😉 I created a shaker card, focusing on the Snow Folk image from the Christmas 2021 release from Lili of the Valley. This digi set actually comes with two images. There’s one with a frame and a few additional stars and extra greenery and this pared back version that I used.

I printed the image on a 4 1/4 x 4 1/4″ piece of X-Press It blending card and colored in my scene using Copics. I don’t always color the sky behind my images, but for this one I knew I wanted to create a framed shaker card, and I colored the sky with a single marker, making sure it was nice and juicy before starting.

Using a couple of dies in a set of nesting squares from Lifestyle Crafts, I created a frame to go around my image. I taped the two squares together, so I could run them through my die cutting machine several times and be sure that the size of the frame would be the same with each pass through the machine. I die cut 8 of these frames, I wanted a very dimensional shaker card. I stacked 7 of them, glued them to my colored piece, added lots of sequins from the Icicle sequin mix from Hero Arts and glued the last die cut frame on top.

That’s when I ran into trouble. I wasn’t able to glue the frame onto the acetate so that it lined up with the others. I’d adhered it with score tape, so there was no way to remove it without ruining it. My solution was to die cut a new, larger frame with a slightly smaller window. I went one die larger for the outside and one die smaller for the inside for this frame, and adhered it directly onto the ones that were already there. It was a happy accident, because I’m really happy with the chunkier frame.

I added the shaker to a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2″ card base I created from Wild Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things, before stamping and white heat embossing a se23ntiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS to a separate piece of the same color cardstock, which I then die cut using a die from the Gemini Extra Deep Loving Tags die set from Crafter’s Companion. I adhered it directly to the inside top right corner of my shaker frame, and my card was finished.

Not a whole lot of colors for this card, in spite of all those stripes on the snowmen’s accessories.

Merry Christmouse {Lili of the Valley}

September 9, 2021September 8, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I have a fun Christmas card to share today, featuring one of the brand new images from Lili of the Valley. It’s called Mouse with Bauble, and the best thing is that you can choose to purchase the digital stamp (which is what I’ve used) OR the photopolymer stamp. That’s right, Lili of the Valley is reintroducing physical stamps. Some of my oldest and most cherished rubber stamps are from Lili of the Valley, and I think it’s awesome that they’re going back to having physical product.

Enough blabbing. I printed the cute mouse onto a 1/4 sheet of X-Press It blending card, which is my favorite for Copic coloring. Using a stencil from My Favorite Things and Iceberg ink from Altenew, I did some very light ink blending around the image for a little bit of added interest before I started coloring.

Onto the “white” stripes on the bauble, I used my quickie glue pen from Sakura and sprinkled on Rock Candy Distress Glitter for a little bit of sparkle. You can kind of see it in this photo, but it’s more noticeable in real life.

I cut my panel down, added lots of foam tape to the back and added it to a top fold A2 note card that I created from Blueberry cardstock from My Favorite Things. Sadly, this is one of their discontinued colors, but I have a pack of this cardstock that I absolutely love, and this color is just beautiful. It’s dark blue, but not too dark, and it’s just the right tone of blue.

I stamped a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Blue Yonder ink from My Favorite Things. I don’t have ink in the discontinued Blueberry color, and I didn’t want to use too dark of a blue ink, so I triple stamped using the Blue Yonder instead. It matches the robe pretty well.

I added a few sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and the card was done. Super simple.

Super simple color palette, too.

Good friends are the best gift of Christmas

August 31, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I’m sharing a Christmas card today, featuring the Dragon building a snowman image from Lee Holland. He still has his Ultimate Christmas bundle and Ultimate Dragon bundle at a whopping 60% discount with the code CHRISTMAS60, but the offer expires today, so you’d better be quick if you want to get them.

I colored in my image using the no line technique. Before printing, I made all the lines in the image light gray except for the eyes and eyebrows, which I kept black. This is a great trick to color no line without having to worry about drawing things back in with a black pen and potentially getting things wonky and weird. I’ve done that once, starting over isn’t fun, so I’ve learned to get around it.

I cut my colored piece down using a stitched rectangle die from My Favorite Things. I covered the card base with patterned paper from the Forever Green collection paper pack from ModaScrap and mounted my colored panel onto that using lots of foam tape.

I cut a couple of strips of patterned paper from that same paper pack from ModaScrap and added them onto my colored panel. Using a green marker, I created a green colored cardstock piece to match my dragon, stamped my Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment onto it, heat embossed it and used a circle punch to get it to a perfect 1″ circle, before adding an epoxy sticker on top for a little shine and dimension.

To finish off my card I added a few enamel dots. The brown ones and the white are from Papirdesign, the green ones from Altenew.

Not a whole heap of colors for this one.

Christmas hugs from me to you {Lili of the Valley}

August 19, 2021 Elin1 Comment

Hi! I haven’t shared a Christmas card in a while, and with a brand new HUGE Christmas release from Lili of the Valley, I thought I was overdue for a new one.

This Penguin Parade is one of many different images in this release. There are penguins, badgers, people, snowmen and angels, even a polar bear or two, so there’s something for everyone, no matter what kind of card you prefer to create. As you may know, I have a soft spot for penguins, and just had to create a card with this little parade.

I colored my penguins with Copics, added glitter to parts of the ground, sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel all over the image and melted the granules from the back of the paper. I die cut a piece of Autumn Rose card stock from Papertrey Ink using a die from Mama Elephant and adhered my colored piece directly on top, and then mounted that on foam tape onto a slimline card base I made from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I stamped and white heat embossed a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment onto more of that Autumn Rose cardstock, die cut that using a die from My Favorite Things and adhered it using 1 mm foam squares. I added a few veneer snowflakes from Crafty Moly to finish off the card.

Last, but not least, the Copics I used for my image.

Happy summer! {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

August 18, 2021August 18, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! Part of me is struggling to believe it’s been a week since my last post, but it totally has been. I was so good and efficient in my craft room before going on vacation, getting lots of stuff done and scheduling everything for when I was away, and let me tell you, getting back into the swing of things is not easy, I feel like I’m still in vacation mode. I’ll get there, though, it just takes a little while.

Technically, I should have made this card at the beginning of the summer, but it’s a recent image from Mo and I couldn’t NOT make a summer card using it. The air is definitely getting cooler here, and I’m very well aware of the fact that summer officially ends in two weeks. I kind of want to go back to June and warmer temps, I don’t like the cold.

Onto the card. I colored the image with Copics and used a double stitch rectangle die from My Favorite Things to turn it into a nice panel, before adhering it to a top fold card base I made out of Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I love their cardstocks.

When I don’t have a clear idea for a card, I turn to embellishment clusters of patterned paper scraps. These are so easy to put together and a great way to add SOMETHING when I’m out of ideas and my mojo’s low.

I’ve sorted my die cut patterned paper scraps by color, so I pull out colors that will match my card and just start playing. I used patterned paper from 3ndypapir, Papirdesign, Kaisercraft and Imaginisce for this card, and the dies I used to cut them out are from XCut and My Favorite Things.

I white heat embossed a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a scrap piece of Enchanted Evening cardstock and used one of the Itty Bitty Strips dies from My Favorite Things to diecut it, before using 1 mm foam squares to mount it onto my cluster. I added a few enamel dots from Papirdesign to finish my card.

Fairly limited color palette for this one.

You can actually get the image I used for FREE if you spend $20 or more during Mo’s summer sale, which ends today, so you’d better be quick.

Hipp hipp hurra {Lili of the Valley}

July 24, 2021July 22, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I’m sharing a card with a super cute bunny on a cupcake today, an image from the latest release from Lili of the Valley, which consists of 6 different cupcake images with various critters. You can find the Cupcake Bunny here, and the entire cupcake bundle here.

I printed the image onto X-Press It blending card, which is my favorite for Copic coloring. Once I finished my coloring, I die cut the image down to a panel with faux stitching using the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX dies from My Favorite Things. I think this might be my most used die.

I adhered my panel onto a top fold card base I created from Ripe Raspberry cardstock from My Favorite Things. I love the cardstock from MFT, it’s nice and sturdy and they have some great colors!

Using a die from Kort & Godt, I stacked the word “hipp” twice from four layers of the same pink cardstock. I colored the top layers with R85 and R83 for a little bit of a gradient color and for the top layer to match my coloring a little bit better than the actual cardstock color.

On a strip of the same pink cardstock that I’d colored with R85, I heat embossed the word “HURRA” from the Gratulerer stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using VersaMark ink and white detail embossing powder from Ranger. I added a few more layers of pink cardstock behind it and added my stacked sentiment strip to complete my sentiment.

I added a few sequins from the Rosy Glow mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and decided to also cover the green sprinkles with Nuvo Jewel Drops in the color Key Lime. They add even more shine and dimension to the card.

Simple color palette. I love pink, yellow and green together!

Let’s get floral {Streamside Studios}

June 29, 2021June 27, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! Sometimes, I like to change up the use of a stamp or two in a stamp set. Small stamps in stamp sets, for example, are great for making backgrounds (though time consuming). This time, I’ve turned a floral image from the Fairy Happy Couple stamp set from Streamside Studios into a card that isn’t wedding related at all. It could be, though, I chose a sentiment that can be used for a birthday card, a wedding card and many other occasions.

This wedding bouquet is so gorgeous, and I printed it onto X-Press It blending card before fussy cutting it, leaving a white border around the edge. For some reason, I’ve been riding a pink, peachy, yellow wave whenever I’ve colored flowers lately, and this one is no exception.

I cut down a piece of Lemon Tart card stock from Papertrey Ink to 3 1/4 x 5 1/2″ and ran it through my die cutting machine with an impression plate to create some texture to my yellow background. I mounted it with foam tape onto a side fold A2 card I created using Stamper’s Select White card stock from Papertrey Ink. It’s my favorite white card stock, it’s thick, bright white and doesn’t crack.

Onto the yellow, I added my colored flowers using 1 mm foam squares. On the part that hangs off the yellow edge, I used foam tape in addition to the 1 mm foam squares to prevent sagging and make everything level. Using a die set from Papirdesign, I created a stacked sentiment. For the shadow, I used some 40 lb vellum, and on top of that I have four white die cuts stacked on top of each other for dimension. The trick here is that I also put two layers of white die cuts behind the vellum, giving it a little lift. In fact, the part of the word that overhangs to the right of the flowers has an additional three white die cuts behind it to compensate for the height of the 1 mm foam squares behind the flowers. Dimension is life?

I stamped and white heat embossed part of a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto Melon Berry card stock from Papertrey Ink and added a few more strips of the same card stock behind it for dimension. I embellished the card very simply using sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink staggered around the flowers. Some are tucked behind, others hanging off the edge, I really like the effect it brings.

Lots of layers, and lots of dimension.

Quite a few colors despite a fairly simple palette. I didn’t want the center flower to be the same color as the other ones, so I went in with dark colors and plenty of layers before I was happy.

Bear hugs {Lili of the Valley}

June 28, 2021June 27, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I have a simple card to share today, featuring Jenny floral border, which is an image from Lili of the Valley. I printed the image with a low opacity setting to get the no line look and colored in my image with Copics, drawing the facial features back in with a black pen.

I don’t often color fur like this. It’s very relaxing to do and a very forgiving technique, but it’s a time consuming one, layering up all those fine lines isn’t done in five minutes, or fifteen, for that matter, so I don’t usually take the time to do it, but this cute little bear was begging for it.

Using the watercolor stripes stencil from Altenew, I dry embossed a piece of Soft Stone card stock from Papertrey Ink. I’ve had a love affair with the Papertrey Ink card stock for close to a decade now; it’s my favorite, and this particular grey color is so soft and perfect! I mounted it onto a top fold white card base (made out of Stamper’s Select White card stock, another one from PTI) using lots of foam tape, leaving a 1/4″ border around the edge. Using even more foam tape, I mounted my fussy cut colored piece in the center of the grey card stock for even more dimension.

I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a scrap piece of Berry Sorbet card stock from Papertrey Ink and turned it into a small banner with one of the dies in the Itty Bitty Strips die set from My Favorite Things. This particular pink card stock is another favorite of mine, and I only have tiny scraps left, I need to stock up! I mounted the banner onto my colored piece using 1 mm foam squares.

I added sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh to finish off my card. Three groupings forming a visual embellishment triangle. I usually only place my embellishments near the sentiment to draw the eye to the sentiment, but for this one I staggered them elsewhere too. I love that these sequins come in a bag with four different sizes. I have other sequins I love too (the mixes from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards are awesome), but I still believe these are my favorites. If I could only buy one type of sequins for the rest of forever, these are the ones I’d choose.

I’m sending sparkling, dimensional, flowery bear hugs your way!

You are simply wonderful {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

June 23, 2021June 23, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! Today, I have a simple card to share. Nothing out of the ordinary, really, my cards are usually pretty simple.

August from Mo Manning is such a cute image, and I colored it up with my Copics in the beginning of the month, and I’ve turned my colored piece into a very simple card.

I die cut my colored piece with the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX dies from My Favorite Things and adhered it to a top fold card base I made from Lavender Fields card stock, also from MFT. I also die cut a white piece to put on the inside of the card for a space to write a personal message.

I die cut a patterned paper piece from My Favorite Things using the same die, and cut it down to a 1 1/4″ strip with my paper trimmer. I mounted it on foam tape above my image. I love that the faux stitch edge is continuous across the colored panel and this patterned paper strip.

I stamped and white heat embossed a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment onto a separate piece of Lavender Fields card stock, and die cut it into a banner using the smallest die in the Fishtail Flag Frames die set from My Favorite Things and mounted it on 1 mm foam squares to the patterned paper.

I finished off with a few sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh near my sentiment.

I used lots of colors for her skin, but other than that, I didn’t use a whole lot of Copics for this one.

Teeing off! {Lili of the Valley}

June 18, 2021June 16, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I have a 50th birthday card to share today, featuring the Teeing Off image from Lili of the Valley that was released a few weeks ago.

The card was made on order for a golf-playing tinsmith whose favorite football team (European football) is Liverpool. I wanted to include as many of the elements as possible, and made a slimline card with patterned paper from Papirdesign, P13 and 7 Dots Studio.

I used lots of foam tape for dimension, and varying widths of the patterned paper layered and criss-crossed across the card. I used the Slimline Starter die set from My Favorite Things and also the Stitched Trad. Tag STAX dies to create the tags. The reinforcers are made with the Tag Builder Blueprints 6 die set, also from MFT.

Through one of the reinforced holes, I pulled a piece of Cherry twine from Whisker Graphics and dug through my stash to find a ball charm, perfect for a football fan. I wanted to include a little bit of metal because of his profession, and started by stapling the twine to the tag. I also fussy cut a few footballs from patterned paper from Papirdesign that I scattered across the front.

I fussy cut my golfer and added him to the front of the card using foam tape.

I created a circle with the recipient’s age and covered it with a thick layer of Glossy Accents. Glossy Accents takes a long time to dry, so I made this little piece before starting on the rest of the card and put it somewhere safe to dry for a few hours. Once it was time to put the card together, I’d completely forgotten about this little 1″ circle, and only found it after I’d handed the card over to the woman who ordered it. Thankfully, I was able to meet up with her the following day to add it to the card, but of course, all my photos were already taken, so I snapped this super quickly with my phone just to show what the card should have looked like all along.

I was asked to try to put the Liverpool team song somewhere on the card, and I figured that one of the insides had just enough space. The other inside has plenty of room for a personal message to the recipient.

On the back of the card I used more patterned paper, more fussy cut footballs and also a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS stamped in Memento Ladybug ink.

I also added my personal stamp to the back of the card, on a white football with splatters. Back in February, Create a Smile had a two week collaboration with Sommerabend where you could order personal stamps. I got this one and an address stamp. I’ve been creating cards for over 10 years, but never had a personal stamp until now, and I’m so happy with how they both turned out.

I felt like I hadn’t hit the brief in terms of the tinsmith part, so I decided to die cut the letters of his name in foil sheet and add to the front of the envelope. I put a couple of layers of plain card stock die cuts behind each foiled letter for dimension, and used an old hammer from Tim Holtz to add a little texture to the letters. A few footballs on either side of his name to complete the look.