Hi there {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. Today I’m sharing a card featuring this Dragon Letter image from Lili of the Valley. I love dragons!!

The dragon has a little friend handing him a note, and it’s just so cute. I colored the image with Copics, fussy cut it leaving a thin white border and put it aside while I worked on the rest of the card.

I really like the stars scattered around in the image, and decided to die cut a piece of patterned paper from the Subtle Grey Tones 6×6 pack of patterned paper from Sunny Studio using a die from the Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things. I mounted it on foam tape on a card base I created from Harvest Gold cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I mounted the colored image on foam tape and added it to the top center of the card. I die cut and folded and envelope from the Mini Mail die set from My Favorite Things and glued it below the colored image.

Inside the envelope, I die cut another piece from Harvest Gold cardstock using the same die set. I love the little scalloped edge at the top. I stamped a sentiment from the Monster Hugs stamp set from the Concord & 9th/Simon Says Stamp collaboration stamp set from Stamptember 2018 using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and slid it into the envelope. I didn’t glue it down, it can be a nice little interactive element on the card, it fits perfectly inside the envelope on the front. To finish I added a couple of enamel stars from the Pocketful of Sunshine enamel dots pack from Altenew.

Lots of dimension on this card, but it’s still simple. The envelope with the message inside is a nice nod to the image with the dragon and the bird.

Aside from the colors I used for the background, this is a very warm color palette.

Easter treats {Sweet November Stamps}

Happy Easter Eve! I thought I’d share a couple of super simple treat wrappers with you, featuring the Sweet Easter stamp set from Sweet November Stamps.

Fun fact: Despite being a secular country, Norway has the longest Easter holiday in the world. I happen to love that fact, and we have some other elements to our Easter that are unique to Norway, like reading crime novels and watching murder mystery movies/miniseries on TV. An Easter without a good crime novel sounds like a miserable one, to be honest. I’m spending all 10 days of my Easter holiday at our cabin in the mountains with my family. Before leaving, I made these cute chocolate wrappers that I’m giving the kids today. Chocolate is a natural part of Easter, after all. I colored these cute images from the Sweet Easter stamp set with my Copics and fussy cut them. I put them aside while I worked on the rest of these little chocolate wrappers.

I used patterned paper from Papirdesign for both of these, wrapping the paper around the chocolate, adding glue to the seam and one end. Super simple, right? I added my colored chickens with foam tape and die cut the letters for their names using the Connected alpha die set from My Favorite Things. I die cut two layers from white cardstock and the top layer from Bright Buttercup cardstock from Papertrey Ink for the yellow, and patterned paper from Papirdesign for the purple.

I created slits at the open end to feed ribbon through, and put the ribbon around the chocolate. By doing this, the chocolate comes out of the wrapper when you pull on the ribbon. I put what’s known as fairy tale chocolate inside both of these. There are different illustrations from well known fairy tales on the chocolate wrapper, and the fairy tale itself is written on the inside. The fairy tale depicted on this wrapper is about a pancake that doesn’t want to get eaten, so he runs away from everyone and everything trying to eat him… until he meets a pig.

The color palette for these two couldn’t possibly be any simpler, right?

Hello baby {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a simple card to share today featuring this Mother and Baby Bunny from Rachelle Anne Miller, which was released last week.

The card isn’t just simple, it’s super simple. I colored the scene with my Copics and decided to just create a frame around it and leave it at that, letting the image really shine.

Using the Card Front Designs die set from Neat & Tangled, I die cut the oval frame twice; once in the center of a panel of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, once from Blueberry Sky cardstock, also from PTI. I used the negative of the white die cut and the actual frame from the blue, taped them together on the back and mounted them on my colored panel with lots of foam tape.

In the perfect “corner” of the image, I stamped a sentiment from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Blueberry Sky ink from Papertrey Ink.

I added three sequins from the Seaglass mix of sequins from Simon Says Stamp around the sentiment. Nothing else, I wanted this to be very simple.

A little dimension, a little shine and an adorable image. What more does a card really need?

Super simple color palette for this one. I also used a color I’ve made myself. I’ve made my own B20 using a couple of refills and an empty marker, which I used for the blanket.

Put on your party hat {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. There’s a new release out from Streamside Studios, and it’s all about dinosaurs. There are lots of images in the set and also some background elements to create a prehistoric scene in another new set, making the possibilities with these endless.

I’m focusing on ONE of the images for today’s card. I couldn’t resist the cute triceratops sitting on top of a present. I love The Land Before Time and chose to color this one similar to the character Cera from the movie. She’s orange with a cream underbelly. I kept mine all orange, but made the pads on her feet cream. Flowers are Cera’s favorite food, particularly yellow ones. There are no flowers in my scene, but opted for yellow on the present instead.

I used a couple of very pale blues for the sky in a halo around her, and used a few greens for a simple grassy hill for her to sit on. I die cut the Leafy Cover die from Mama Elephant to frame my image. I used one white die cut and two green ones made from Meadow cardstock from Hero Arts. I stacked them for stability and dimension.

I would have loved to use the prehistoric sentiment from the set of landscape elements, but I really wanted to heat emboss my sentiment, which is one of the few things you can’t do with digital stamps. I went digging through my clear stamps instead, and found this one from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things that I thought went perfect with the image. I stamped and white heat embossed it on a piece of Hawaiian Shores cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I wanted sequins that would match the sentiment strip and the teal colored parts of the image, and the Seaglass mix from Simon Says Stamp was the perfect match. I used way more sequins than I normally do and scattered them all across the card front.

There’s nothing quite like the dimension you get from layering die cuts, it adds so much interest to the card.

Lots of oranges and yellows for this. It IS an orange triceratops sitting on top of a yellow present, after all, so I guess it’s only natural.

May you be forever young {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends! I have another mini slimline card to share today. These are fun to make! This time it’s a birthday card, featuring this cute Birthday Turtle image from Rachelle Anne Miller. I didn’t notice it until I printed the image, but the big turtle (which really looks more like a tortoise than a turtle, I think) has a smaller one on its back! Sooo cute, right?

I recently made a full shaker card with another image from Rachelle with lots of balloons. That card was all in warm tones, so I thought I’d use cool tones for this one. I did add a few orange balloons, though, I think orange is a fun color to use with teal and green. I used a die from the Stitched Mini Slimline STAX set from My Favorite Things to turn my colored piece into the perfect rectangle to fit a mini slimline card. I stamped a sentiment from the Birthday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Prickly Pear ink from My Favorite Things and put the panel aside while I worked on the rest of my card.

I ran a piece of Sour Apple cardstock from My Favorite Things through my die cutting machine with a Geometric embossing folder from WRMK, and adhered it to a mini slimline card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, leaving a white frame on the outside. I used foam tape to mount my colored and die cut piece in the center of the card.

I wanted another element and used the Cloud 1 & 2 die set from Papertrey Ink to die cut a couple of clouds from vellum. I mounted the clouds on 1 mm foam square to give them a little bit of lift, making sure to put the foam squares in strategic spots so I could cover them with enamel dots in matching colors (green and orange dots from Papirdesign, teal dots from the Cool Summer Night pack of enamel dots from Altenew).

Simple, yet fun color palette for this image.

Hello there {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. Today I’m sharing with you a sweet mini slimline card with these adorable Leaping Bunnies from Lili of the Valley.

I had so much fun creating this card. I originally colored everything on one panel, but then decided to put the bunnies on action wobbles. I fussy cut the bunnies leaving a thin white border, fussy cut the eggs right up to the black lines and printed the grass and flowers at the bottom on a separate panel.

I used the Stitched Mini Slimline STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create the perfect panel for a mini slimline card with the faux stitch edge I like so much on my cards. I used the Slimline Cloud Edges stencil, also from MFT, with some Blue Yonder ink (again: MFT) to create the clouds in the background.

Onto a piece of Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Basics stamp set from My Favorite Things. I cut it down to a strip and added a few more layers of cardstock behind it for stability and dimension.

I used 1 mm foam squares behind the eggs and put an action wobbler behind each bunny. I only have the big action wobbles, but I was able to cut them down to fit behind these cute guys. I decided not to add any embellishments to the card, there’s enough going on with the eggs and the wobbling bunnies, I thought.

Simple color palette perfect for spring on this one.

How many candles? {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. Today I’m sharing with you a fairly simple birthday card featuring this cute puppy from the Spring Farm digi release from Lili of the Valley. This guy’s from the puppy set.

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.

Make a wish {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a super simple card to share today featuring a cute bunny from Streamside Studios.

This bunny is the Clover Bunny from the newly released Lucky Bunnies digi stamp set. She’s actually holding a clover, but by using an unexpected color and adding a few dark lines with my Copics, I was able to turn it into something that looks more like a flower.

Once my image was colored, I decided to turn this into a very simple card by adding a frame around it and not much else. Using Fire Coral cardstock from My Favorite Things along with the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 Set and the Selfie Square die, both of these also from MFT, I created my frame.

I used the Circular Lace Stencil from Simon Says Stamp with Fire Coral ink from MFT onto the Fire Coral cardstock for a little bit of subtle interest to the background.

Next to the bunny, I stamped a sentiment from the Scripty Bday stamp set from Mama Elephant using Fire Coral ink once again. I love it when everything matches on a card.

I added foam tape behind my frame and adhered it all to a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I added a bit of clear Wink of Stella to my “flower”, but decided not to add any embellishments. Super simple, right?

The color palette is even super simple. I rarely use as few colors as this.

Happy birthday {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a fun card to share today featuring the adorable Animal Balloons image from Rachelle Anne Miller. I actually turned this into a full card shaker, which I’ve never done before, but I’ve wanted to for so long. It was easy too, and I really feel like making more.

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.

Happy birthday {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. Today I have a fun birthday card to share, featuring the candles from the Designer Birthday Cake digi stamp set from Streamside Studios. I’ve made a card previously with these candles, you can find it here.

The stamp actually comes with all the candles in a row, but for this design I wanted to shake things up a bit. I colored my candles in a bit of a rainbow order and used a lot of candles (I printed the whole row of candles three times). After they were all colored came the fun part: fussy cutting.

I don’t normally mind fussy cutting, I find it relaxing, but these candles are tiny and there are plenty of them, so it took a while. Well worth it, though. I prefer cutting right against the black lines of the image when I fussy cut, and that’s what I did here, for everything but the wick of the candle, which has a bit of white showing on either side.

Using clear foam tape, I mounted each of the candles onto a panel I created from Soft Stone cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I then mounted that panel onto my card base, which I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock, also from PTI. I love the cardstock from Papertrey Ink, it’s my favorite!

Using the Happy Birthday die from My Favorite Things, I die cut the words three times from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink and the shadow twice from 40 lb vellum from Bazzill. I stacked the black cardstock and covered my layered die cut with VersaMark ink, then sprinkling on Super fine detail black embossing powder from Ranger and heat set. I don’t usually use black embossing powder, it tends to create a mess, but to create shiny die cuts like this, it works great. I repeated the embossing process a couple more times to make it extra shiny and glossy and even.

Before die cutting the vellum, I put a piece of adhesive sheet on the back of one, so I’d be able to glue them together without any adhesive showing. The trick with adhesive and vellum is to have an even layer on the back, whether it’s liquid glue or another type of adhesive. Of course you can add your adhesive in strategic places behind the vellum or put embellishments on top, but I didn’t want to have to think about that for this card, and doubling up the vellum makes it a little less transparent and it stands out more against the colorful candles behind it. I actually didn’t put any embellishments on this, I thought there was enough going on with all the candles and dimension already there.

Lots of colors for this. Three colors in most of the combos, some use four. Yes, I go overboard, I’m aware 😉