Thanks {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a sweet card today, featuring a real cutie from Lili of The Valley. Isn’t this bunny sooo sweet? My heart melted as soon as I saw it.

I used the Little Friends Rabbit with daisy stamp, printed it near the bottom left corner of a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ panel of X-Press It blending card, which is hands down my favorite for Copic coloring. I’ve used this cardstock for the past 10 years, it’s just the best for Copic coloring!!

Once my coloring was done, I adhered it to a top fold A2 card base I created from white cardstock. Using the Snow Drifts Cover-Up die from My Favorite Things, I die cut three wavy pieces from solid colors Of cardstock to go towards the top of my card. I used Limeade Ice, Lovely Lady and Harvest Gold, all from Papertrey Ink. I butted them right up against each other, added them to a backer so I could handle one piece instead of three and mounted them on foam tape. I then die cut the Thanks from the Twice the Thanks die set from My Favorite Things four times from white cardstock from PTI. I love the cardstock from Papertrey Ink, it’s my favorite!! Onto a strip of Lovely Lady cardstock, I white heat embossed a sub sentiment from the Itty Bitty Basics stamp set from My Favorite Things and mounted it below my stacked Thanks die cut. To finish I added a few Sparkling Clear Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

Soft, simple color palette for this one.

Sometimes we’re all a little nutty! {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends! There’s a new stamp out from Streamside Studios. It’s a fun palm tree with some crazy looking coconuts. There’s also a few puns included, which makes creating funny cards sooo easy.

The stamp is called Coco Loco, the name’s even funny. And also very fitting. I printed it near the bottom left of my panel of X-Press It blending card and printed my sentiment near the top right corner.

I did some very simple Copic coloring of the palm tree, the beach and also colored a pale blue halo around it to give the illusion of some sort of sky around it. I prefer the look of this light blue on the outside of the actual image instead of the bright white of the paper, I think it looks more finished this way.

I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 die set from My Favorite Things to trim down my panel slightly and add faux stitching around the edge, before I adhered it to a card base I created from New Leaf cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I added some brown enamel dots from Papirdesign near the sentiment and also a couple near the image itself to embellish a tiny bit. I love enamel dots!

To enhance the nuttiness of this image, I colored the cheeks pink and added Glossy Accents to what was already crazy looking eyes for a bit of extra fun.

Simple image equals simple color palette.

Slim happy birthday {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for another Mo Manning creation. This time I made a simple slimline card, featuring Carry the Cake, which is a cute image of a little girl holding a BIG cake with lots of candles above her head.

I colored the image with Copics and used the largest die in the Slimline Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to cut it down to the perfect size panel to go onto a slimline card. I adhered it directly onto a card base I created from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

From Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I die cut the Happy Birthday Brush Script die from Simon Says Stamp three times and stacked the diecuts for a dimensional look, before adhering them below the image on my card. I added a layer of Frosted Lace Stickles to the star on top of the cake and scattered a few chosen sequins from the Seaglass mix of sequins from Simon Says Stamp to finish the card.

Lots of Copics for this one.

Hello friend {Lee Holland Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a clean and simple, yet dimensional card to share today, featuring the Peony Dragon 1 digi stamp from Lee Holland. This was one of the first of Lee’s images I colored up a couple of years ago, and this tiny dragon hugging these peonies is just sooo adorable.

I printed the image onto X-Press It blending card and colored it with my Copics, before trimming it down. I mounted it on foam tape to a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I felt the need to add a design element that would break the rigidity of the rectangular panels, and decided to add some twine going across. I wrapped Green Apple Divine Twine around the card front three times and tied a knot. The green goes well with the green in the image.

Onto a piece of Eiffel Tower cardstock from My Favorite Things, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Mini messages stamp set from Mama Elephant, before using a 1″ circle punch from EK Success to create a quick circle from it. I added strategically placed pieces of foam tape on the back of it and adhered it directly onto the knot I had tied on the front of the card.

To finish off the card, I added sequins and gems from the Urban Chic mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. They’re kind of scattered in a trail going from the bottom left to the top right of the image.

The card is simple, but has lots of dimension, and that dragon hugging his peonies will always steal the show.

Mostly analogous color palette, with a little bit of pink and yellow (!) for the peonies.

Believe {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi. Christmas is less than six months away, so what’s more natural when we’re approaching the end of June than a Christmas card, to kind of kick off Christmas in July?

I decided to create a full card shaker this time. They’re fun to make, and a lot easier than you’d think. Even easier (and way faster) than regular shaker cards! At least they are to me.

This is the Snowman Family stamp from Rachelle Anne Miller. She creates the cutest snowmen. I printed the image so it covered most of my panel and colored it with Copics.

This cool, deep pink is so much fun to use for Christmas cards, it’s unexpected and fun, and matches the Autumn Rose color cardstock from Papertrey Ink sooo well.

I created my shaker pocket from half a stamp storage pocket from Avery Elle. I created score lines and folded so my panel would fit inside, used score tape on the back of the bottom and sides of the pocket and filled it before folding over the top flap and sealing it shut.

I used the Icicle Sequin mix from Hero Arts to fill my pocket. This mix has clear sequins, matte white sequins and iridescent star confetti, just enough to create interest, while not being too distracting. It’s a perfect mix for wintery shaker cards.

For the die cut word, I used the Believe die set from Simon Says Stamp. I die cut the shadow from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and the word itself from Autumn Rose cardstock, also from Papertrey Ink. I adhered the two together and then directly onto the shaker pocket. If you’ve never created a full card shaker before, I urge you to try, it’s so much fun!

I tend to go overboard when I color snow. No exception this time 🙂

Waving hello {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends! If you’ve been here before, it won’t come as a surprise that I love coloring dragons. Today I have a cute dragon card to share, featuring the Flying Dragon from a digi stamp set from Streamside Studios released last month.

I colored the dragon with my Copics and fussy cut him right up against the black lines of the image. I put him aside while I worked on the rest of the card.

Onto a top fold white A2 card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I ink blended Azurite, Ultramarine and Eastern Sky inks (all from Altenew) towards the top of the card, fading to white near the bottom. I splashed some water droplets on top for a cool effect. Dye inks are water based and react with water, so this works with most inks you probably have. The darker the color, the bigger the impact.

From Cement Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things, I die cut two layers of the skyscraper skyline in the Slim Film City die set from Mama Elephant and adhered them at the bottom of my card. Using the cloud die in the Slim Basics die set, also from Mama Elephant, I die cut the cloud shape three times from Stamper’s Select White cardstock, stacked them and adhered them to the top of the card.

Onto the card base, I stamped a sentiment from the Journey Sentiment Set from Purple Onion Designs using more of the Azurite ink from Altenew that I used for the ink blending. I thought the blue on blue would be a better fit for the card than a black sentiment.

I adhered the dragon partially on top of the clouds, using foam squares behind the parts hanging off the clouds for even dimension, and sprinkled a few gems and sequins from the Seashore mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards around the dragon and sentiment to finish the card.

Suuuuper simple color palette for this dragon.

Merry & Bright {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends! There’s a brand new release out from Rachelle Anne Miller, and it’s all about our new bunny and guinea pig friends – they’re getting ready for the holidays. July is right around the corner, and we all love Christmas in July, right?

The image is called Bunny & Guinea: Snowman, and you’ll find it over in Rachelle’s shop here. I decided to go for a winter sunset look with my sky for this card and used fairly soft colors throughout.

I used the Mega Snowflakes Cover die from Mama Elephant to die cut my frame. I stacked three for dimension and adhered it to my colored image, then adhered the whole thing to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

Using the Merry Script die from Mama Elephant, I die cut three from Hawaiian Shores cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and another three from the same white cardstock that I used elsewhere on the card. I stacked the colored die cuts and the white ones separately so that I could put the white ones behind the parts of the colored ones that aren’t on top of the white stacked die cut frame at the bottom.

Onto a strip of Hawaiian Shores cardstock, I white heat embossed part of a sentiment from Purple Onion Designs and cut it down to fit my card, adding two more strips behind it so that the stamped part of the sentiment would be flush with the die cut part.

I added a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish the card.

Simple color palette.

Thinking of you {Crafty Meraki}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a (for me) super clean and simple card to share today, featuring products from Crafty Meraki’s anniversary release. No coloring today, which is rare on my cards.

I thought the Natalia Meraki Flora dies were really beautiful and wanted them to be the focal point on my card. Using all three flower dies in the set, I die cut from Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th as well as from New Leaf and Cocoa Bean cardstock, both from Papertrey Ink.

I wanted to add a little bit of interest to my flowers and did some simple ink blending. I used Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks for the yellow, Fresh Leaf ink from Altenew for the green and Vintage Timber from My Favorite Things for the brown. I also added additional diecuts to build dimension and interest to these flowers.

Onto a white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped a sentiment from the Paper Hugs stamp set, which comes with a beautiful image of an envelope full of flowers and is another new one from the anniversary release. I really want to color up the envelope with flowers too, so stay tuned for that. I used VersaFine Onyx Black ink and placed the sentiment in a sweet spot between my sunflowers.

This is a very simple card, and in hindsight I kind of wish I’d used a different color for my card base, or even ink blended a gradient blue with on the card base, but the white makes the yellow pop and is very clean, which is usually my preference on simple cards.

Here you can see a little bit of the dimension on the card. I used white diecuts behind the the yellow ones (I don’t have a lot of that Buttercup cardstock and wanted to use as little of it as possible), which worked out great. The white almost disappears against the white of the background, making it look like the flowers are floating on the card, it’s such a cool effect!

Happy birthday {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a super simple card to share today (I feel like I always say that), featuring this adorable turtle (based on the shape of the shell, I’d say it’s a tortoise and not a turtle, but that’s just because I like being as accurate as I can) from the Turtley Awesome stamp set from Streamside Studios.

I colored in the image using Copics, before fussy cutting it, right up against the black lines of the image. I put the image aside while I worked on the rest of my card.

I actually worked directly on the card base for this one. Using the Big Balloon stencil from My Favorite Things, I ink blended two balloons using Distress inks – one using Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick and Abandoned Coral; the other using Mustard Seed and Squeezed Lemonade. And in the words of Laura Bassen – the magic’s in the overlap.

Once the balloons were done, I used the mask in the Big Balloon stencil set to mask off the balloons while I used the Slimline Cloud Edges stencil, also from MFT, to create the illusion of clouds in the distance. I used Eastern Sky ink near the top of the card, Iceberg ink towards the bottom, both are gorgeous colors from Altenew.

I free hand cut a grassy hill from Parsley cardstock from Concord & 9th and adhered it to the bottom of my card. I die cut the Happy Birthday die from My Favorite Things twice using white cardstock from Papertrey Ink (same cardstock as my card base) and adhered the two layers together for a tiny bit of dimension and adhered my layered die cut on top of the balloons.

To finish off the card, I drew in balloon strings using a 0.35 Copic Multiliner, popped the tortoise (I can’t bring myself to write the word “turtle” when this is clearly a tortoise) up using some 1/16″ foam squares and added sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things From Lucy’s Cards for a bit of sparkle and shine.

Simple color palette for this small image.

Get Cracking on Christmas – June

Hi, crafty friends. It’s the third Thursday of the month, which means it time to Get Cracking on Christmas.

I’ve made a slimline card this time, with images from a Stamptember collaboration set from Mama Elephant and Simon Says Stamp that I colored up in November 2020. These have been sitting on my desk for a while, and I always planned on creating this window design with them – Get Cracking on Christmas is the perfect opportunity to execute plans you’ve had for a while, but not had time for.

Using the Slim Card Basics die set from Mama Elephant, I die cut the rectangle with the three openings three times from white cardstock and glued them together for a little bit of dimension. I knew this card would wound up very simple, but the dimension adds a little bit of interest. Before adhering my scenes to the back of this layered die cut, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Tree Picking stamp set from Mama Elephant that came out last year, simply because I couldn’t find the Stamptember one in my stash (I found it after I finished the card). The punny tree sentiment works well with all the trees in the background here anyway, so it’s all good. Once I’d adhered the window piece to my colored little scenes, I adhered everything onto a card base I created from Dark Indigo cardstock from Papertrey Ink. It’s such a pretty, dark blue color – the Papertrey Ink cardstock colors really are the best. I added a few snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish off the card.

No Copic graphic this time. Evidently, I didn’t write down the colors on a Post-It, and since it’s been so long, I really don’t remember what I used.