Just saying hi {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, eveyone! The dumping of snow we got yesterday doesn’t stop me from wanting spring and summer, and my remedy tends to be on the colorful side. This card is so bright you might actually need sunglasses.

I colored up Dinosaur from Rachelle Anne Miller, and this bright green is definitely one that you notice! The dinosaur actually reminded me of Littlefoot, and for some reason, I thought that he was green (he’s not, but Spike and Ducky are!). I die cut my colored piece down to a faux stitched rectangle using a die from My Favorite Things, before heat embossing a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment in white onto my colored ground.

I added two layers of cardstock behind my colored piece, so it would stand out a little from my Limelight card base (colored card stock from My Favorite Things).

I added some vellum clouds on tiny pieces of foam tape, so it looks like the dinosaur’s neck is really long, I thought that was a fun little detail to add. Placed some enamel dots from Papirdesign in strategic places to cover the foam tape, and made an envelope from Papirdesign patterned paper using the A2 V flap envelope dies from Simon Says Stamp for the card to go in.

Bright, bold Copics!

God påske {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, everyone! We’ve reached March and the first of three glorious spring months. The weather’s getting warmer, and I took advantage big time by going on a hike for a couple of hours. About 10 kilometers and 14,000 steps, and it felt sooo good to get out. Before that, though, I colored and created a card using one of the images in the upcoming release from Lili of the Valley. Bunny Hugs is such a cute image, and I decided to make an Easter card. Easter cards aren’t really a thing in Norway, but I thought the big bunny was perfect for Easter.

I wanted a soft look to this, but at the same time, I also wanted to change things up a bit. I went with a darker skin tone than I normally do, and I really wanted a soft yellow bunny. I printed the image onto a piece of X-Press It blending card cut to 3×6″ for a mini slimline card. I adhered it to a card base I made from Lemon Tart card stock from Papertrey Ink with a 1/8″ border. I used the same color card stock to die cut “God påske” (Happy Easter in Norwegian) using a die from Papirdesign. I stacked three die cuts on top of each other and used a sparkle shimmer spray from Imagine to add lots of shimmer to the die cut. It has a really nice shimmer in real life, even though you can’t see it in the photo. To finish off the card I added a few sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Part of me can’t believe I used five different greens for this one, but that tiny green heart? They all fit in there!

It’s the most magical time of the year {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, everyone! Hope you’ve had a great weekend. I thought I’d share with you a gift tag before we get to a new week and a new month tomorrow. I sat down to color Flannel the racoon from Purple Onion Designs, and a friend of mine suggested pink and silver for a color combo. Not my go tos for Christmas (well, silver kind of is), but I had so much fun with this. I always do when she suggests colors for me.

I went with a really bright pink, colored in the image with my Copics and did some serious fussy cutting, before adding 1 mm foam squares to the back. I also stamped one of the sentiments from the Holiday Blurbs II set using Hibiscus Burst ink from Papertrey Ink, fussy cut it leaving a thin white border and added 1 mm foam squares to the back. I even added some sparkly sheer shimmer spray to the raccoon. He’s very sparkly and shimmery in real life, even though the camera couldn’t quite capture it.

From a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock, I used the largest of the dies in the Stitched Traditional Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things, masked off a curved line towards the bottom and ink blended a gray sky using Charcoal, Soft Granite and Wet Cement ink from Hero Arts, as well as Soft Stone ink from Papertrey Ink. The Charcoal is fairly dark, but the Soft Stone super soft, giving a nice gradient feel. I sprinked on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous and heated the tag from behind to melt the granules for a snowy effect on my background.

Going direct to paper, I colored a scrap of Bristol Smooth with the Hibiscus Burst ink pad that I used for the sentiment, before using one of the tiny dies in the Tag Builder Blueprints 6 die set from My Favorite Things to create my reinforcement piece. I think the faux stitching on the circle matches the stitching on the tag perfectly, one of many reasons why I love my MFT dies, they’re so awesome to mix and match. I added a bit of Cotton Candy twine from Whisker Graphics and a charm from my stash near the top to complete the tag.

Not a lot of colors for this one, but I did my best to make the pink really pop against the other colors.

Hugs {Mo’s Dream Team}

Hi, everyone! I’ve got a bright and cheerful card to share today, featuring Little Fairy Maxi from Mo Manning. I wanted her to be in a summery landscape, so I used a scene builder stamp set along with fadeout ink from Inkon3 to stamp the grassy hill with the bushes in the background, before coloring everything with my Copics.

I really enjoyed playing with the mini slimline format last week, so I wanted to create another mini slimline. Last time, I slightly miscalculated the measurements I needed to create the matching envelope, so I made this one a little bit smaller, so it fits inside the envelope from last week that was just a tad too small for that particular card. This one measures 3 3/8 x 5 7/8″. I didn’t want to mess with the scene too much, so I die cut a few clouds from vellum using dies from Papertrey Ink and white heat embossed a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment onto one of the clouds. I mounted the clouds onto tiny pieces of foam, and added enamel dots from Papirdesign on top in very strategic spots.

I used a bright color palette for this one.

Hop, Skip and Jump {Hobbykunst}

I’ve got a simple slimline card to share today, featuring this cute Jungle Gym stamp set from My Favorite Things. I colored this about a year ago, but only now turned it into a card. Sometimes, I work at the speed of light to create my cards, other times, not so much.

I colored in all the critters using Copics, before masking them off and creating clouds behind them using a cloud stencil and various inks. Most of the colors were distress inks (I use the minis), but I’m thinking I probably used an Altenew ink at the very top, as I don’t have any purple distress inks. Using one of the dies from the slimline starter die set from My Favorite Things, I die cut the colored panel so it would have a nice finished edge and mounted it with foam tape onto a card base made from Stamper’s Select White card stock from Papertrey Ink. I also added a black glaze pen to the eyes and noses of these cute critters.

You’re even cuter on your birthday {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, everyone! I’m one of the lucky ones to get to play with one of the new Rachelle Anne Miller stamps coming in the February release from My Favorite Things. Tomorrow (10 AM EST), this cute girl and the coordinating die are available for purchase over at the MFT store, so I thought I’d share my card today.

I don’t often purchase coordinating dies for stamp sets, but boy, they make it easy to add dimension. Once I’d colored up the little girl with the balloon, I die cut her and four additional pieces from white card stock to add dimension behind her. Way more sturdy than foam tape.

I wanted to use lots of other goodies from MFT on this card, so I used the cloud stencil with a very light blue ink (Iceberg from Altenew) to create a barely there puffy cloudy sky behind her. It’s really soft, but shows up better in real life than in photos. I used a couple of elements from the Scene Builder stamp set and stamped those near the bottom using Fadeout ink from Inkon3 for a little bit of no line coloring. I die cut the largest of the Stitched Rectangle Scallop Edge Frames four times from Peach Bellini card stock and glued them together for dimension.

I added clear Wink of Stella glitter and a thick layer of Glossy Accents on the balloon, before stamping and white heat embossing one of the sentiments in the Birthday Cutie stamp set onto Berry Sorbet card stock from Papertrey Ink. I die cut the sentiment using one of the Fishtail Flag Frames dies from MFT, and found some scraps in my stash that I’d already die cut using dies from the same set. I use that die set a lot. I added three green enamel dots from the Tropical Forest set from Altenew and my card was finished. I paired the card with a Persimmon envelope, also from MFT. I love their envelopes!

Lots of colors for this one! I was going for a peachy pink jacket and leggings, but it was too close to the pink I’d used for the rest of her, so I added some yellows on top. I also decided to go for a brighter green on the grass than her little stuffie.

You warm my heart! {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, everyone! I’ve been wanting to try mini slimline cards for months, ever since Taylored Expressions introduced this new size back in August. I finally took the plunge and gave it a go, using the Penguin Hug image from Rachelle Anne Miller as my focal point.

My card measures 3 1/2 x 6 1/2″. I printed the image onto X-Press It blending card and colored it with my Copics. I was planning on doing a split complementary color scheme, but went with an analogous in the end, which is never a bad idea, in my opinion. I adhered the colored panel onto a card base I made from Soft Stone card stock from Papertrey Ink, adding two layers of cardstock behind the image for added dimension.

I wanted to create a proper embellishment cluster for this card. I love making these, and this card format really gave me lots of space to play with for a cluster, using die cut scraps of patterned paper from Maja Design, StudioLight, Imaginisce and My Mind’s Eye. I printed the sentiment that comes with the image onto a separate piece of X-Press It and die cut it using a fishtail flag banner die from My Favorite Things. I also added chipboard pieces from Snip Art and a couple of pieces of mini paper doilies from Doodlebug to build all my elements onto.

It’s no secret that I love enamel dots, and the Cool Summer Night enamel dots from Altenew were the *perfect* color to match my penguin. Since I didn’t have any envelopes in the right size for this card, I created my own using patterned paper from Papirdesign and my envelope punch board from WRMK.

I love this color palette. In addition to these colors, I also used BG71, which is a color I’ve created myself.

Winter wishes on your birthday {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, everyone! It’s the coldest time of year. The sun’s out, but the high pressure makes it even colder. I’m staying warm by not venturing out too much to actually FEEL the cold, but creating cards in the comfort of my craft room. I have a wintery birthday card to share today, using a couple of stamps from Purple Onion Designs.

I stamped Birch using Memento Rich Cocoa ink and colored him with my Copics, before doing some fussy cutting. I knew I was going to have the blue polaroid frame behind him, so I did my best to leave a slim white border around him. I don’t know about you, but when I fussy cut, I find it much easier to cut right up against the line than to leave a white border. I even prefer the look of fussy cutting against the edge, but for him to stand out against the blue behind him, I needed that white. I actually used a pencil to trace around the bunny before cutting, so I didn’t accidentally cut off too much white or create an uneven trim.

I used one of the Precious Polaroids dies from My Favorite Things, as well as a wishes die from Mama Elephant. I die cut both four times from Blue Yonder card stock from My Favorite Things and stacked them for a dimensional look. Directly onto the card base, I used a blender brush from Taylored Expressions with Classic Kraft ink from Papertrey Ink over a Tim Holtz mini layering stencil to create some interest in the background. I stamped selected words from two sentiments from the Warming Winter Thoughts stamp set from Purple Onion Designs using Papertrey Ink Blueberry Sky ink, and turned them into strips using my Cut-align ruler from Misti. That’s my favorite tool for creating perfect little sentiment strips. I glued an additional three layers of card stock strips behind each of the stamped strips, and glued them all on to the front of the card at various angles, to create a full sentence sentiment along with the stacked die cut, which is also adhered at a bit of an angle for a playful look. I finished with a couple of enamel dots from Papirdesign.

I’m woefully short on envelopes to fit A2 cards, and definitely didn’t have any blue, kraft or white ones to go with my card, so I pulled out my A2 V Flap Envelope dies from Simon Says Stamp and created one using scraps of patterned paper from Papirdesign. Blue with snowflakes, can you get any better for a blue, wintery birthday card?

Very limited color palette this time, but it’s no wonder given the size of the image. I also used B90 for the hat, which is a color I’ve made myself.

Christmas joy {Mo’s Dream Team}

Hi, everyone! Another Wednesday, another Mo Manning creation and another Christmas card. That’s right, this is my second Christmas card for 2021. Solid start, I’d say. Since I’ve been working my way through the alphabet of unused Mo digis that I have in my Dropbox, I just color and create something with whatever’s next on my list. Ragged Martha was waiting for me, and I just had to turn her into a Christmas card. I love all of Mo’s Ragged images, so it took me by surprise that I hadn’t colored this one before.

Once I’d colored the image with my Copics on X-Press It blending card, I used the largest of the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX dies from My Favorite Things to turn it into a panel with faux stitching, a look I still love after years and years. I grabbed some various green scraps of patterned paper from various Christmas collections from Maja Design to embellish my card. Some were already die cut using the Fishtail Flag Frames dies from My Favorite Things and the Happy Days Ticket Stubs die from XCut, but I also die cut a scrap using a doily die from Prima.

I adhered everything to my die cut panel, some directly, and some with a couple of more layers of paper behind them for added dimension. I added a couple of veneer snowflakes from Crafty Moly that I’d already white heat embossed with three layers of super detail embossing powder from Ranger. I used a piece of the strip of 12×12″ paper that has the barcode on it from Papirdesign. Their barcode strips are awesome. One side has the barcode and all the information, the other side of the strip actually has a design on it, so nothing needs to go to waste.

I adhered everything onto a card base I made from Classic Kraft card stock from Papertrey Ink. I didn’t have any colored envelopes to match (and I’ve run out of white envelopes for A2 sized cards), so I used the A2 V Flap Envelope dies from Simon Says Stamp to create an envelope from some larger scraps of Maja Design patterned paper.

As usual, I leave you with the Copics I used. In addition to B0000 and the blender, I also used B90, which is a color I’ve made myself, for the sky.

You rule {Hobbykunst}

Hi, everyone! I’ve got a fairly simple card to share today, featuring a skateboard boy from hÄnglar & Wings.

I colored the skater boy using Copics, then fussy cut him right up against the black stamped lines.

I don’t often use green as my main color in my cards, but on boy cards, I think it’s one of the best colors out there, even better than blue. And coming from me, that’s saying a lot. For this one, I used the Geometric Landscape stencil from Altenew, along with five different colors of Altenew ink for my background; Bamboo, Parrot, Grass Field, Shadow Creek and Evergreen. I smooshed the Grass Field onto an acrylic block and added some water to it, before using a paint brush to create green paint splatter in the background. I also pulled out my Black Marble ink spray from Ranger (Dylusions) and did the same with that.

I mounted my ink blended background to a white card base using lots of foam tape, before adding the skater boy on top using some 1 mm foam squares. I stamped and white heat embossed “you rule” from the same stamp set onto True Black card stock from Papertrey Ink and added a couple of more black card stock strips behind it for dimension. To finish off the card I added three black dots from Papirdesign.

Blues, greens, gray and a little bit of skin and hair.