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.

Have a great day {Purple Onion Designs}

August 8, 2021July 23, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! Today, I’m sharing another simple card. As usual, it does involve something fiddly and somewhat time consuming, even though you can’t really tell from the end result.

For this card, I’m using the Together stamp set from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula. The stamp set comes with this cute image and five sentiments you can pair with it, and $10 from each set sold is donated to raise money for Covid-10 relief across the world.

I stamped the critters in Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things onto X-Press It blending card and colored in the image with my Copics. I kept the background white, but stamped and fussy cut a mask and ink blended clouds in the background using three stencils from My Favorite Things (Cloud, Rolling Clouds and Slimline Cloud Edges) and Lazy Day ink, also from MFT.

I die cut the largest of the dies in the Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frames die set from My Favorite Things 4 times from Cement Gray cardstock from MFT, stacked them for dimension and adhered my frame to my colored piece, and then adhered all of it to an A2 landscape top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I tried several different things for my sentiment. First I die cut a banner with a fishtail shape at the end, but it kind of didn’t fit the card. I cut that down using a smaller fish frame die from MFT, but I wasn’t happy with how that looked either. In the end I used my craft knife to cut it down to a strip, which worked heaps better. I added a couple more layers of cardstock behind it for stability and dimension.

I finished off the card very simply by adding three sequins from the Sparkling Clear sequins mix from Pretty Pink Posh. My baggie of these particular sequins is getting towards the end, they’re my most used sequins, they go with everything.

Last, but not least, the Copics I used for the cute little critters.

Just for you {Streamside Studios}

August 1, 2021July 22, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I’m sharing a super sparkly card today, featuring an adorable Uni-rex from Streamside Studios.

I colored up the uni-rex in a very vibrant green combo, paired with a fairy dull pink. I wasn’t sure what to do with him (or her), but I opted for some fussy cutting.

Onto a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock, I ink blended some Poppin’ Pink ink using the Rectangle Extraordinaire stencil from My Favorite Things. While the stencil was still in place, I added the Wavy Lines stencil on top and used it with some Pearly glitter paint from Aladine, which is super sparkly.

I added the uni-rex to the center of the card using 1 mm foam squares and decided to put the sparkly glitter paint on the lollipop he (or she) is holding.

I needed a sentiment, and the Itty Bitty Basics stamp set from My Favorite Things is quickly becoming my new favorite, I use it a ton. I heat embossed one of the sentiments in the stamp set onto True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink and die cut it using the Itty Bitty Strips die set. I added a couple of extra layers of cardstock for a little bit of dimension, and glued the sentiment strip onto the uni-rex.

Lots of glitter and dimension, and it’s still a fairly clean card. I love when I can make that happen.

I essentially only colored pink and green for this uni-rex, so it goes without saying that the color palette is limited.

Happy Wedding {Purple Onion Designs}

July 29, 2021July 22, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I have a card to share today with an image from Stacey Yacula and Purple Onion Designs that is a little bit different from the critters we’re used to seeing from Stacey.

I thought this Large Floral Wreath was so beautiful, and I wanted the focus to be on that. I decided to make my card super simple. Scratch that, I decided to make my card *look* super simple. Fussy cutting and putting tiny slivers of clear foam tape behind each of those leaves took a while.

I created a top fold white card base from Stampers Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and added a smaller gray panel made from Soft Stone cardstock, also from Papertrey Ink. I popped the gray panel up using lots of foam tape.

I wanted an elegant sentiment, and most of the sentiments I have from Purple Onion Designs didn’t really fit, so I wound up using a sentiment from the Vintage Roses stamp set from Altenew, and stamped that using Gravel Gray ink from My Favorite Things.

I added lots of sequins from Pretty Pink Posh around the entire wreath on this one. It adds a little bit of interest to what is a very simple looking card.

Super simple use of Copics for this card.

Hello friend! {Purple Onion Designs}

July 25, 2021July 22, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi, there! I have a fun slimline card to share today, featuring the Up and Away stamp from Purple Onion Designs. Photographing slimline cards is still something I find very tricky, but this image was begging for a slimline design, and if I don’t practice taking photos of slimline cards, I’ll never get better at it, right?

I stamped the image using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things onto X-Press It blending card and colored it with my Copics before fussy cutting right up against the black lines. I even cut off the strings of the image, but I made little marks on the back of where they were, so I could add some black sewing thread as strings instead.

I used the Slim Film City die set from Mama Elephant to create my background. I die cut the sky from Blue Breeze cardstock and used the Slimline Cloud Edges stencil and the Rolling Clouds stencil, both from MFT, along with some Lazy Day ink, also from MFT, to create my clouds. I even splattered a little bit of the ink on top for added interest. For the skyline I die cut three layers from Gravel Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things. I heat embossed a sentiment from the Sweet SUMMER Sentiment Set from Purple Onion onto the top layer of my skyline and added a few sparkling clear sequins around it.

I used 1 mm foam squares behind my hot air balloon, and decided I wanted even more dimension and interest, so I die cut a couple of clouds from vellum, using a set of dies from Papertrey Ink. I glued the vellum clouds onto my card in very strategic spots, and used more sequins to cover up the glue. Little trick of the trade.

I used a lot of colors for this balloon!

Your friendship is the cherry on top {Streamside Studios}

July 23, 2021July 21, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi! I’m sharing a fun card today, featuring the Cherry-ific mouse from Streamside Studios. I colored up this image last year, but sometimes, images simply take their sweet time making it onto cards.

I rarely use my red Copics (and most of the Rs aren’t really red, they lean either pink or orange, making red super tricky with Copics), but with these cherries I really didn’t have much of an alternative. Maybe I should have even made them darker, if you look at the cherries I used for props, they’re darker than the ones I colored.

I used an impression plate from Papertrey Ink to create some texture on a piece of Stampers Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I adhered it directly onto my cardbase, which is made from the same white cardstock.

Using a die from the Scallop Frames die set from Pretty Pink Posh, I die cut four frames from Amarena Cherry cardstock from Papertrey Ink and stacked them for a dimensional look. I adhered the stacked frame to my colored piece and then centered that on my card front.

I stamped a sentiment from the Mice Day to Celebrate stamp set from My Favorite Things using Amarena Cherry ink, and die cut that using the largest of the dies in the Fishtail Flag Frames die set, also from My Favorite Things. It’s adhered directly to the red frame, and popped up using foam tape on both sides for even dimension.

Simple color palette.

It’s a mice day {Streamside Studios}

July 17, 2021July 16, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

… to celebrate! I have some cute mice from Streamside Studios to share today. One of these is eating a cheese, which inspired the yellow and the circles. Sometimes it doesn’t take much.

I colored the mice with Copics and adhered them behind a panel of Lemon Drop card stock from My Favorite Things, which I die cut using a die from the Slimline Starter die set and also the Slimline Stitched Circle Trio set. I thought the plain yellow cardstock looked a little plain, and stamped some streamers from the Mice Day to Celebrate stamp set from My Favorite Things using Distress Oxide ink in the color Fossilized Amber.

I created my sentiment by heat embossing parts of sentiments from two different stamp sets from My Favorite Things (Always Bring a Smile and Pawty Time) on Gravel Gray cardstock, and added three extra strips of cardstock behind them for dimension. I die cut the word mice using the In Stitches Lowercase alphabet set from My Favorite Things. I initially planned on doing it in yellow, so I die cut four layers of Pineapple cardstock and stacked together. The yellow word kind of got lost, so I die cut an additional layer in gray and added that on top, which makes it stand out more. I finished off the card with some pearl white crystals from Pretty Pink Posh.

Lots of gray and hardly anything else for the coloring on this card.

You make me smile {hÄnglar & Wings}

July 16, 2021June 27, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi there! I’m back with the second card I made as a guest designer for hÄnglar & Wings (you’ll find my first card here). This time it’s even simpler than the last.

The stamp is from the Bästa Vänner stamp set (same as the first card), and I fussy cut this one leaving a thin white border on the outside edge once I’d colored the image with my Copics.

Using the Detail Ringlet Plate die from Simon Says Stamp AND one of the dies in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things onto a piece of Aqua card stock from Maja Design, I was able to create a little bit of texture and interest in the background. I added my die cut panel onto a white top fold card base using lots of foam tape.

On a die cut ticket (die from XCut), I stamped a sentiment from the Bästa Vänner stamp set using Audrey Blue ink from Simon Says Stamp. I added the ticket to the bottom center of my card using foam tape, letting the girl sit on top of the tag with foam tape behind her in the parts that were hanging off the sides of the ticket.

I added a couple of sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh to the bottom left of the ticket for a finishing touch.

Simple color palette of pink, teal and yellow for this girl. Teal’s my favorite color of the three, which is why I chose to do the sentiment and background in teal.

Hello there {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

July 14, 2021July 13, 2021 ElinLeave a comment

Hi there! Today’s card actually features an image called Hi there. This is a very simple image, and I should have been able to color it super quickly, but coloring the mint green around the white of the paper to leave the flowers white took a while. It might have something to do with the fact that I was watching the semi-final, then the first two parts of the finale of MasterChef Australia while coloring, but I won’t mention that.

I used mostly light colors for my coloring on this card, and die cut the colored panel using a die from the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things and adhered it onto a top fold card base made from Mint Julep card stock from Papertrey Ink. It’s a pretty small card measuring in just shy of 4 Bar dimensions at 3 1/2 x 4 3/4″. I added my “typical Elin cluster” in the top right corner using scraps of paper doilies from Doodlebug Design and scraps of patterned paper from various companies (Maja Design, Papirdesign, Diecuts with a view and Making Memories are represented here) die cut using dies from My Favorite Things and XCut.

I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Basics stamp set from My Favorite Things onto Smokey Shadow card stock from Papertrey Ink, before using one of the Itty Bitty Strips dies from MFT to die cut it. I added it on top of my cluster with a little bit of dimension behind it, before finishing off with a few enamel dots from Altenew. I added an even smaller cluster using similar elements in the opposite corner.