Floral birthday card

Hi, crafty friends! A little known fact about me is that I love coloring florals. I don’t do it often, as it’s very time consuming, but every once in a while, I do take the time to do it, and for this card, I did just that.

The floral stamp’s an old Stamptember collaboration stamp with Studio Katia called Flower Bunch. Studio Katia is no longer in business, I believe, but that doesn’t mean this image is any less gorgeous. I stamped it with Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things onto X-Press It blending card, colored it with Copics and fussy cut the whole thing.

I created a card base from Rustic White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and added some interest to the background with the Garden Lattice Base and Garden Lattice Top dies, both from Honey Bee. I cut two of each, stacked them and adhered them to my card base, gluing the fussy cut image down in the bottom left corner.

I die cut the Gratulerer 6 die (PD17240) from Papirdesign from Summer Sunrise cardstock from Papertrey Ink and backed it with a couple of additional ones die cut from Harvest Gold cardstock, also from PTI. I stamped and white heat embossed a sub sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a scrap of True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink, trimmed it down to a strip and backed it with additional strips for dimension. I’m pretty sure I used some glitter spray at the end of my coloring, because the image on this card really sparkles. It’s not in my notes, though. To finish off I scattered a few sequins from the White Orchid sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I even embellished my envelope. I used the By the numbers die set from Papertrey Ink for the big numbers, then white heat embossed another sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS, this time onto Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I love how you can get so many variations of pink with just five markers.

To the happy couple

Hi, crafty friends. Wedding season is right around the corner, and I have a wedding card to share today with a bit of a fun fold.

This is a super simple fun fold, you basically fold the front of a regular sidefold card at the halfway point, so it doubles up on itself, which then becomes the front. For this one I started with three panels of Pale Peony cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I inked up the Leafy Lattice press plate from Pinkfresh Studio with white pigment ink from Concord & 9th to impress and ink up a very subtle pattern on all panels. I created a card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink that measures 5 x 6 1/4″ when it’s folded. I scored and folded the front at 2 1/2″. I put one of my panels on the inside of the card, put one on the back of the card and cut the last one in two to put on the front, making sure the pattern lined up with the inside.

This is what the card looks like on display. I die cut a couple of images from a sheet from Kort & Godt (MA1001) using a die in the Stitched Circle STAX die set from My Favorite Things. This paper is kind of thin, so I backed it with a plain white cardstock circle behind. I glued one circle to the front, making sure to put glue on the left side only. I die cut the leafy circle die from Kort & Godt (die 345) from Heavyweight Translucent vellum from MFT and added that on top of my circle image, adhering it only in a few spots. I used the Kjære brudepar die set (PD18406) from Papirdesign for the word, stacking a few white ones, adding the shadow die cut from vellum, then another few white die cuts topped with a glitter one, die cut from pink glitter cardstock from Kort & Godt, before finishing off with a few champagne glitter drops from Pinkfresh Studio.

The circle image on the inside is a little bit smaller than the one on the front, and is hidden when the card is closed. . I added some wedding themed sentiment sticker strips from Kort & Godt (ST1018) and a few more glitter drops to embellish. This circle actually opens to reveal a place to write a sentiment, there’s a score line you can see on the left here.

Another circle hides behind, and there’s enough room for a personal message without it showing too well when the card is open on display.

Here you can see the card open from a different angle.

This wound up being a very soft looking card, between all the pink, white and vellum.

I love love love the added texture and crisp inking you get with a press plate. It’s the best thing ever.

The back of the card. Another die cut circle, another vellum circle with the leaves and a couple more of the sentiment sticker strips. I hope you try this fun fold if you haven’t already. It’s easy, but still something different than store bought.

Gratulerer

Hi, crafty friends! Today’s the 17th of May, which is kind of a big deal in Norway. It’s our constitution day. It’s an all day event, with huge children’s parades in every nook and cranny of the country, followed by all the hot dogs and ice cream you can handle. We’ve been a country for close to a thousand years, but the constitution was signed on May 17 1814, so quite a while later. Today’s card is a very red, white and blue one, fitting with our flag. It could also double as a birthday card, actually, the sentiment works for both.

I used the Bouquet turnabout stamp set from Concord & 9th to create my focal point. This turnabout set has two separate images that you turn. The greenery is one stamp, the florals another. I used Sprout, Parsley, Basil and Evergreen inks for the greenery, and Bluebell, Capri, Poppy and Cranberry for the florals, all C9 colors. I’m loving the new 2026 colors from Concord & 9th, Capri is dynamite, it’s so awesome!! I cut my bouquet out using the coordinating die set and put the piece aside while I worked on the rest of the card.

I wanted a subtle background, and opted for the Stippled Plaid press plate from Pinkfresh Studio. I love this press plate, it’s probably the one press plate I use the most. I inked it up very carefully with Bluebell ink and ran it through my system with plain white cardstock to match the white cardstock I used for my floral bouquet stamping. I then cut the panel down significantly, added a mat from Poppy cardstock and mounted it on a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, which is the white cardstock I’ve used for everything on this card.

I popped up my bouquet using more foam tape and knew I wanted a die cut sentiment. Gratulerer med dagen is what you say when greeting someone on May 17th, it literally translates to “Congratulations on the day”. It’s the exact same sentiment we use to wish someone a happy birthday. I used the Gratulerer 6 die set from Papirdesign for the main part of my sentiment. I die cut four layers from white cardstock, one layer from Gold Shine cardstock from My Favorite Things and the shadow layer from Heavyweight vellum, also from MFT. I backed the gold one with one white, adhered it to the vellum and put the three remaining white ones behind the vellum, to give it a bit of dimension.

On a piece of Capri cardstock, I stamped a sentiment (have a fantastic celebration) from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS with VersaMark ink, sprinkled on Super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger and heat set it from the back. I always do my heat embossing from the back, it gives a much smoother result than working from the front.  I finished off the card with a few enamel dots from Concord & 9th in Capri, Bluebell and Poppy.

Gratulerer med dagen!

Just a little hello {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. We’re in the middle of a heat wave, and this little kid from 3 on a bench from Mo Manning has got the right idea, cooling down with a popsicle.

I colored the image with Copics, opting for the cool grays for the bench. I wasn’t planning on making it this dark originally, but when my C9 made a blob, dark was the only way to go. It still works, and I don’t think you can really see where the blob was. I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to trim the panel down a little, then a large blending brush to add some soft blue to the background. I didn’t add any ink to the brush, I simply used whatever was left from a previous project.

I stamped a sentiment from the Småtekster stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS next to the bench using Tide Blue ink from Altenew. I added my colored piece to a panel of Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th, which I then adhered to a top fold white card base. I die cut the word hei twice from Green Parakeet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, stacked them and adhered my double die cut next to the boy on the bench before adding a few die cut clouds and some dew drops. Both the cloud dies and dew drops are from Concord & 9th.

I used quite a few colors for this very simple image.

Confirmation blast {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back today with a confirmation card I made on commission. I was told that the recipient does kickboxing, likes car races, swimming (lake or beach doesn’t matter as long as it’s water) and is a bit of a prankster. Lots of interests that I tried to incorporate into my card. They’re all very different interests, so I had a tough time figuring out what to do, but the card was a huge hit with the recipient, and that’s never a bad thing.

I looked for a kickboixng image I could color up, as I wanted that to be the main focus on the card – it was his main hobby. I didn’t have one, nor could I find one, but I found this greyscale sketched image with boxing gloves that was perfect.

The gloves cover the entire front of the card. I still needed something to color, because a black and white image isn’t very interesting on its own. I settled on Blast from Mo Manning, which was the perfect image for a prankster who loves water. I colored it up in very vibrant colors, making sure to include some red, which I thought would work great with the boxing theme AND the car racing theme. I fussy cut him and placed him on top of one of the gloves. He blended in with the background a little too much, so I decided to print the gloves again, this time with a very low opacity. I fussy cut the glove, scored it on one side and made it into a flap that opens. Put the colored image on top of this one, and now it didn’t get lost in the background. I also added a bit of Glossy Accents to the goggles for a bit of shine.

I mounted the colored image on pieces of foam tape, making sure to add a magnet in a strategic spot to keep the flap from opening on its own. I put another magnet behind the image of the gloves to keep both magnets hidden. They’re still plenty strong enough to work through a couple of layers of cardstock.

Once you open the glove fully, there’s a sentiment from an old confirmation stamp set from Stempelglede, stamped in Wild Cherry ink from My Favorite Things. I used one of the dies in the Essential Stitched Sentiment Strips die set from My Favorite Things to create a flag end to pull the glove open when the card is closed. The magnets are so strong, it won’t open on its own, and by adding the little flag end, it gives the recipient a little clue to look behind the glove.

Back to the front of the card when it’s closed. I stamped an white heat embossed the word KONFIRMANT from the A05 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a piece of Red Hot cardstock from My Favorite Things, and then die cut it using a banner die from MFT – they have lots! I popped it up and made sure the end crossed into the image, to tie the two together. I did the same thing with my letters, die cut using the In Stitches Alphabet die set from My Favorite Things, also from Red Hot cardstock. I stacked a few layers for dimension and stability, the L and the U are only barely attached to the glove and the back of his left leg, so they needed a little bit of strength.

I finished off the front with a few red enamel dots from Papirdesign.

On the inside, I printed and cut out a checkerboard pattern, which I thought worked well with the car racing theme. There’s still plenty of room to write a personal message. I also used the Wax Seals die set from Waffle Flower to create a rosette badge with a Norsk Stempelblad AS confirmation sentiment heat embossed in the center. I used the Itty Bitty Strips dies from My Favorite Things to create the ribbon ends hanging down from the actual rosette.

On the back of the card, I used more of that checkerboard pattern, stamped another confirmation sentiment (it’s actually an Emerson quote) and used the Splash die set from Papirdesign to create some water splashes from Summer Splash cardstock from My Favorite Things. I thought they tied in well with the super soakers in the colored image on the front of the card.

A simple color palette to finish off. This card was a hard nut to crack, but once I got going I had a blast (no pun intended) creating it.

Confirmation card {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends. May is confirmation season in Norway, and I created this card on commission.

I started by stamping the big floral stamp in the Blooming Delight stamp set from Altewew using Altenew Obsidian ink onto watercolor paper (cold pressed Fabriano Artístico), before coloring with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. When my coloring was complete, I die cut the flower with the coordinating die and also cut a few extra from white cardstock to build dimension.

I used the Stippled Plaid press plate from Pinkfresh Studio with Pistachio ink from Altenew to create a subtle background. I matted it with some gold shine cardstock from My Favorite Things and adhered my florals pretty much in the center. The flowers stick out on both sides, but I just made a larger envelope to accomodate the larger size.

For the sentiment, I used a konfirmant die set from Papirdesign. I die cut the shadow layer from white cardstock and the word itself from the same gold cardstock that I used previously, with a few white die cuts stacked behind it for dimension. I even stacked a few behind the shadow, so it looks like the shadow floats on top of the flowers. For a sub sentiment, I used a sentiment sticker strip from Kort & Godt that I ink blended with Misty Sage ink from Altenew, before finishing off the card with a few Iridescent Dew Drops from Pinkfresh Studio.

I used the following Zig colors for the coloring: 215 Flamingo Red, 216 Bright Flamingo, 407 Grass Green, 098 Pale Dawn Gray, 061 Light Brown, 505 Yellow Ochre, 706 Light Orange, 999 Blender.

Wish you were here! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. Have you checked out Alberto Gava’s Coloring Club challenge over on Instagram yet? There is a total of 10 challenges running in April, each one with a different theme lasting 3 days. I’m kind of late with this “Water” themed one, but better late than never?

I combined Sapphire, Steel & Cobalt with Skip and the Rainbow Falls background. They’re all from last year’s summer’s Amongst the Pines collection from Purple Onion Designs. I stamped the images in Altenew Obsidian ink onto Fabriano Artístico Extra White Cold pressed watercolor paper.

I didn’t want color on the entire piece and decided on coloring a strip that includes the largest part of the waterfall, the beaver and part of the mama swan. I used Zig clean color real brush markers to color, using the blender for some of it, but a size 4 round watercolor brush from Princeton, along with water, for most of it. The Zig colors I used are the following: 068 Deep Brown, 816 Soft Violet, 028 Pale Pink, 705 Peach Orange, 505 Yellow Ochre, 407 Grass Green, 406 Sage Green, 411 Cactus Green, 307 Aqua Blue, 315 Ultramarine and 910 Warm Gray 6.

Once my coloring was complete, I cut the colored section apart from the rest. I adhered the uncolored sections onto a black mat I created from Black cardstock from Concord & 9th. Behind the colored panel, I stacked a few layers of cardstock for dimension and adhered it in between the other two pieces. I adhered my finished piece onto a card base that I created from Blue Beyond cardstock from My Favorite Things.

I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Sweet Summer sentiment set from Purple Onion Designs onto a scrap piece of black cardstock. I added a few cardstock layers behind it and adhered it to the card, before finishing off with a few blue enamel dots from Papirdesign.

Merry Christmas {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a very clean and simple card to share today that I created for the Papiria blog. Lots of white space and a simple color palette of white and blue – my favorite color combo for Christmas!

I started with a panel of white cardstock (Stamper’s Select White from Papertrey Ink) that I cut down slightly from a quarter sheet. I used a couple of dies from Papirdesign to do a dry emboss on my cardstock. I covered a white top fold card base with a quarter sheet of Harbor cardstock from Concord & 9th and layered my white dry embossed panel on top.

I die cut the banner pieces in the Joyful Season die set from Concord & 9th from Harbor and Powder cardstock, before stamping a sentiment from the Merry Greetings builder stamp set from Kristina Werner onto the banner pieces using Harbor ink. I assembled the banner and added a few layers of cardstock behind it for dimension. I die cut a tree and a snowflake from the same dies that I used for my dry emboss background, both from Powder cardstock. I stacked two of each and glued them on top of its actual position in the embossed background, before finishing off with Opal gems from Spellbinders. Very simple.

Juleklem {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with a card I actually shared a few weeks ago on the Papiria blog. It’s a very clean and simple one, using only white cardstock, a few dies and some blue ink.

I started with the Snowfall Backdrop Landscape die from Lawn Fawn, which I die cut from white cardstock (Stamper’s Select White from Papertrey Ink). I did a bit of ink blending with Fresh Dye inks from Altenew, using Arctic Mountain, Winter Lake and Icy Water inks going from top to bottom for a gradient effect.

I used the Snøkrystall ramme 2 die from Papirdesign to cut my border of trees and snowflakes. This die set actually has two borders – one that cuts out the trees and snowflakes I used here, and the other one does snowflakes and stars. I thought the trees went well with my snowfall backdrop, which is why I opted for that.

I trimmed down my snowfall backdrop, adhered it to a white cardbase and layered my die cut border on top, before adding a sentiment that I created with the Juleklem die from Kort & Godt. I cut two layers from the same white cardstock I’ve used throughout the card and one layer from an ink blended piece using the same inks that i used for the sky for a very clean look. This card is so simple, and you could easily mass produce this if you wanted to. I only make one offs, but it’s totally up to you.

Blooming Delight {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m sharing two cards today, featuring the Blooming Delight set from Altenew. This is a bundle with a stamp aet, a die set and a stencil set that all coordinate. I used the stamps and dies for these cards.

The floral stamp in the stamp set is big!!! I stamped it using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things onto X-Press It blending card and colored it with Copics, before using the coordinating die to cut it out. It’s too big to fit on a standard size card, so I decided to cut it apart and got two cards from it.

On the first card, I stamped the floral image again, this time on Powder cardstock from Concord & 9th. I used Fadeout ink from Inkon3 because I wanted a super soft look that didn’t compete with the focal image.

I popped up the flower on foam tape, added a layered sentiment I created using the coordinating die set and finished off with a few ombré glitter drops from Pinkfresh Studio.

On the second card, I used the Angled Mosaic embossing folder on a quarter sheet of Aqua Sky cardstock from Concord & 9th. I stamped and white heat embossed a Kort & Godt sentiment onto a strip of black cardstock, added my cut flower behind it and popped it all on foam tape for dimension.

I used a few black gems from Papirdesign to pick up the black from the sentiment strip.

I used a fairly limited amount of Copics, especially given how large this image originally is.