Have a monster fun birthday {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a fun birthday card to share today featuring some cute monsters. These monsters are from the Cupcake Monster set from Mo’s Digital Pencil. The set has a big cupcake monster and seven small monsters, and I chose three of the smaller ones for this card.

I colored the monsters on X-Press It blending card using my Copics, then fussy cut them all, before putting them aside while I worked on the rest of my card.

Onto a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I ink blended a section left of center using Volcano Lake ink from Altenew, then added splatter with some watered down Caribbean Sea ink from My Favorite Things. It adds a little bit of interest to what is a pretty plain background.

I used the Photo Booth Strip die from My Favorite Things to create my little frame. The die leaves a thicker border at the bottom, but I snipped off the bottom bit to make the border even on all sides. I die cut it twice for strength, then decided to add Crystal Clear Double Thick foam tape from The Rabbit Hole Designs on the back. This creates a lot of dimension, and it also gives an airy effect that you don’t achieve by stacking die cuts (which was my original plan). I added my frame at an angle on top of the ink blending, then put the monsters on the frame.

I white heat embossed a sentiment from Huldra Designstudio onto a piece of True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I fussy cut around it and used the same foam tape on the back of this to pop it up, before finishing off the card with a few enamel dots from the Sea Shore mix from Altenew, which matches my blended background perfectly. So does the envelope I used, which is also Volcano Lake from Altenew.

Fun color palette for this one.

Varme tanker {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a one layer sympathy card today, featuring a stamp set from Kort & Godt.

I started by ink blending directly on the card base. I used the Window Panes stencil from My Favorite Things, and Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed Distress inks.

I stamped the image and sentiment using Obsidian ink from Altenew and did some very light pencil coloring using my Prismacolor Premier pencils. I used Goldenrod (1034), Yellow Ochre (942) and Cream (914) for the yellow, and Olivegreen (911) and Limepeel (1005) for the green. I decided not to add embellishments, so this is truly a one layer card, as everything is done on the card base itself.

Kort & Godt products used:

M480 (stamp set)

Bunny Hugs {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a sweet card to share with you today, featuring this cute Two Little Bunnies image from Lili of the Valley. This is a digital stamp, but there’s also a clear stamp version in the recently released Spring Sweeties stamp set.

I separated the image into two, so I could create staggered postage stamps on my final card. I colored the images with Copics, and used the Postage Collage die from Waffle Flower to turn them into postage stamps. I also die cut a third postage stamp and stamped the sentiment in the center of it using Obsidian ink from Altenew. The sentiment itself is from the Easter Bunnies stamp set from Simon Hurley. Once I knew the sentiment was dry, I masked off the edges of the postage stamp and ink blended the center rectangle using Grapefruit ink from Concord & 9th.

I cut down a sheet of Powder cardstock from Concord & 9th to fit the front of an A2 card, and used the Linen & Canvas impression plate from Papertrey Ink to add some subtle texture to the background. I adhered it to a white top fold card base and arranged my postage stamps, adding various thicknesses of dimension behind each for some interest, before finishing off with a few pearls from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I realize now that I’m missing a few colors in this graphic. I used RV42, R11 and YR000 for the peachy pink.

Bee happy {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a sweet bee card to share today, featuring the bees in the Spring Squishies digi stamp set from Streamside Studios.

I colored the bees with my Copics, fussy cut them and put them aside while I worked on the rest of the card. Using the Simply hexagons cover die from Pinkfresh Studio, I die cut hexagons from a subtle dotted patterned paper from Waffle Flower, and I added two white die cuts behind each for dimension, before adhering them to the card.

I die cut the letters to spell bee from Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey. ink using the Parker alphabet die set from Memory Box. I stacked four of each letter for dimension and added them to the card in a wonky fashion to introduce a little playfulness to the card. I stamped and white heat embossed HAPPY on a strip of Mushroom cardstock from Concord & 9th, added a few extra strips behind it for dimension. I added the bees using foam squares for a little bit of lift and finished off the card with a few gems and a heart from the Strawberry Champagne mix from Streamside Studios.

Very simple color palette for this one.

Hello {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a sweet card to share today featuring Amanita from Mo Manning. I love Mo’s fairies, and I’ve used this one before – on this card. This time, I flipped the image so she’s facing the other direction, it’s one of the advantages of using digital stamps.

I colored the image with my Copics, cut my panel way down and even cut a little bit around the image for a fun effect.

I decided to cover the card base with patterned paper. This one is from Waffle Flower, it’s from their dot pattern in the Christmas color scheme. It’s not too distracting, the colors work well with the colors I’ve used and the dots work well with this amanita mushroom hat.

I mounted the panel with my image using foam tape and adhered it left of center on the card, so a little bit of the patterned paper would peek out on the right, and a lot of it would peek out on the left.

I die cut the word hello from the Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew using Pure Poppy cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I die cut four layers and stacked them together for dimension. This is a very fine lined die cut, and I’ve found that using microdot adhesive is a good way to go. Even liquid glue in a fine tip bottle will ooze out the sides on this one, it’s so fine.

I finished off with a few pearls from the Glossy Porcelain mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

This is such a bright, happy color palette.

Chirp chirp! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a fun card today featuring three small chicks from Purple Onion Designs. Meet Flo, Mo & Bo. These three are older, they’re from the Sunny Meadow Fair collection from 2019, but I’ve been dying to use them, and this was the perfect opportunity.

These little chicks are so cute. And since they’re so small, they’re very easy to color. I did quick Copic coloring, before using the 1″ square die in the Postage Collage die set from Waffle Flower to cut them out. I then quickly scribbled on some grass so they’d have something to stand on, then masked off the chicks and the outer perimeter of each postage stamp, before ink blending the sky using Aqua Sky ink from Concord & 9th.

Onto a panel of Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th, I ink blended with the same ink color using the Watercolor Stripes stencil from Altenew. I cut the panel down slightly, and adhered it to a card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I mounted my postage stamp chicks in the top center of the card, and also an additional fourth square that I ink blended in the same way. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Easter bunnies stamp set from Simon Hurley Create and ink blended over the top using more of that Aqua Sky ink from Concord & 9th. I cut the sentiment into two small strips and mounted them on foam tape on the top of the bottom right square, angling them for a playful look, before finishing the card with a few enamel dots from the Cool Summer Night pack from Altenew.

I love the dimension behind these postage stamps, it looks like these chicks are floating.

Super simple color palette for this one.

Hoppy birthday {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing a simple birthday card today, featuring this cute bunny from the Hoppy Birthday bunny digi stamp from Rachelle Anne Miller. It comes with a greeting and a little mouse, but I opted to use the bunny on its own for my card today.

I colored the bunny with my Copics (I actually only used 6 Copics for this card) and fussy cut around it, leaving a white trim to prefer the whispy lines and squiggles that are so characteristic of Rachelle’s images. I created a card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and ran it through my die cutting machine with the Crystal Distortion embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp to create some texture.

Onto a piece of scrap paper, I adhered strips of solid colored cardstock. I didn’t measure, they’re all different widths for a playful look. The colors are (bottom to top) Honeysuckle and Grapefruit, both from Concord & 9th, and then Lemon Tart, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores, all from Papertrey Ink. I put a few layers of cardstock behind my strips and adhered them near the bottom of the card. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Easter bunnies stamp set from Simon Hurley onto a piece of True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink, cut it down to a strip and used a craft knife (I don’t trust scissors) to create the angle at the end. I glued the piece left of the sentiment to the back of the bunny, put 2mm foam squares behind everything and adhered it on top of the colored strips, before finishing off with a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Color palettes don’t get much simpler than this.

Happy Easter

Hi, crafty friends. I started March by hopping on a flight to Trondheim for a crafty weekend away, and on Sunday, I even taught a class. I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing, as my mojo went missing around New Year’s. As it turns out, it had run away to Trondheim, and I was lucky enough to bring it back home with me. I taught a very simple Easter card, complete with Copic coloring. Some people did use Zig clean color brush markers, as that was the coloring medium taught in an earlier class, and the participants all received a few Zigs in their class kits for the weekend.

The Easter Bunnies stamp set from Simon Hurley was the perfect one to teach with. It’s a stamp set with lots of images to choose from. They’re all small, easy to color and very beginner friendly, as there aren’t any big areas to fill in. Once colored, we fussy cut the bunnies. There’s a coordinating die set for this stamp set, but these are pretty easy to fussy cut.

I did some simple ink blending on the background. I used the Watercolor Rectangle stencil from My Favorite Things and ink blended from the bottom to the top using Worn Lipstick distress ink, Pink Pearl ink from Altenew and Scattered Straw distress ink. These colors went well with the Copics I used for the bunnies, and it creates a little bit of interest to the background. I used the Giant Happy Easter die from Lawn Fawn and die cut that four times from white cardstock, before gluing them all together for a stacked look. I adhered the sentiment in the top center of the card, mounted the bunnies on foam tape and added a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I also used a black Glaze pen for the eyes, which the attendees really enjoyed, as it creates a little bit of dimension and shine very quickly and easily.

Very soft color palette for this one.

I’m lucky to have you in my life {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. Today, I’m sharing a fun card featuring Flappy’s Lucky Day, illustrated by Pei for Purple Onion Designs. I love her collection of critters! My mojo’s been missing since we entered the new year. I’ve done some shopping, cleaned and refilled all of my Copics (which took forever, btw) and done a few other things in hopes that my mojo would return. Nothing worked, and for the last two months, my cards have been very basic and also somewhat similar as a result. Last weekend, that changed. I flew to Trondheim for a crafty weekend away, and even taught a class (I’ll share more about that tomorrow). The weekend away did a world of good, and I *think* my mojo’s back. At the very least I had no issues creating this card, it all flowed very nicely, and I’m hoping my mojo will stay for a good long while this time.

I didn’t want to use Flappy and his little friends on their own, so I decided to create a mask and stamp The Perfect Spot behind them. This is an older stamp from Stacey Yacula, it’s from the A Beautiful Day collection, which released in 2014. I still wanted to keep the focus on this new image, so I decided to leave the background un-colored. This way, Flappy and his friends really get to shine, and the card isn’t all green, which could have easily been the case had I colored the background also.

Once my coloring was complete, I stamped a sentiment from the coordinating Lucky sentiment set using Sprout ink from Concord & 9th. This color goes really well with the vibrant green I used for the ground. I trimmed the panel down to 3 1/2 x 4 7/8″ and adhered it to a 4 bar card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before finishing off with a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I used a mixture of brown and gray for Flappy’s fur, and an obscene amount of colors for the green.

Happy Easter {Amanda Jayne Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a super simple Easter card to share today, featuring Chick Hug from Amanda Jayne Designs. This is one of the images Amanda asked me to color a few weeks back, and by keeping the card simple, I’m letting the image really shine.

I colored the image with my Copics and used the largest die in the Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create a little bit of interest to the edge. I adhered my panel onto a top fold card base I created from Harvest Gold cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

The sentiment is from the Sweet Easter stamp set from Sweet November Stamps. It’s actually a single line stamp, but I wanted a staggered look and cut the two words apart. You could also mask if you don’t want to cut your stamps, but I promise they don’t cry, and it’s easy to put the two halves back together as originally intended. I used Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide ink, stamping Easter first, then nestling in Happy above it, before finishing the card off with a couple of enamel dots from the Pocketful of Sunshine pack from Altenew.

I used quite a few Copics for this, even though the card is very simple.