Hi, crafty friends. Purple Onion Designs has a brand new release out. Tofu and his friends, first featured in the holidiay collection in 2023, are back with a Valentine and St. Patrick’s Day theme. Obviously, these images can be used for other occasions, as well, and they’re just so darn cute!
I colored up Love, Brownie Bear for my first card, I just couldn’t resist the wings and bee costume on this cute bear. I added some grass under his feet, die cut the panel using the second largest die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower and adhered it to a card base I created from Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th.
I stamped a sentiment from InkyWings using Pink Pearl ink from Altenew. The stamp actually has the word hugs in it too, but I opted for a die cut hugs, using the Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew. I die cut four from Grapefruit cardstock and stacked them together for a dimensional look.
I finished off with a couple of heart droplets from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Fairly simple color palette for this one.
I almost gave up on this background. One of my markers went sticky. It had recently been refilled, so I knew it wasn’t because of lack of ink (which is usually the culprit when my markers go sticky). I had to investigate, and as soon as I cleaned the marker cap, I knew why. It had a big crack. I keep spare marker caps on hand, so I replaced the cap, changed the brush nib (the chisel nib was fine) and added a few more drops of ink to the marker. It’s an old marker, so I’m hoping I was able to salvage it. I don’t want to have to get a new one, I know the new ones aren’t as good.
I wanted a very light background to make Lavender & Thyme stand out, and while I’m happy with the window display, I think I would have liked it better if the exterior wasn’t this dark. Lesson learned for next time, I guess.
I’m happy with how Lavender & Thyme turned out, though. I wanted a bit of a vintage vibe with the colors and may have gone overboard with Thyme’s jacket. I wasn’t happy with the red I used initially, there just wasn’t enough contrast between the jacket and her mitten. I went back over the jacket with a couple of other colors and I’m much happier with this.
I stamped a sentiment from the 
I used ink from Papertrey Ink for the department store, as well. I used Classic Kraft ink, which I knew would work well with the sepia coloring I had planned. I even used a Sepia colored Copic multiliner to darken the letters in the sign. The Copic multiliner pens have very fine tips, and it was the perfect tool for the job.
I only used seven colors for the entire background, but way more colors for the critters in front for this card.
Meet 
Once my scene was all colored in, I used a stamp from the 
Lots and lots and lots of Copics for this one. The first eight in this graphic are for the sky alone.
I colored the cute mouse and the tree with Copics, before fussing cutting them. I left a white trim around the edge to make it a little easier on myself, that mouse is small and I didn’t want to accidentally cut off his tail. Onto Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I ink blended trees using the Wintry Forest stencil set from Pinkfresh Studio along with Polar Bear, Icy Water and Winter Lake inks from Altenew. I used the largest die in the Stitch. Trad. Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a tag and sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, which I melted from the back for a snowy look.
I mounted Pippin and the Christmas Tree to the tag using foam tape. I stamped a sentiment from the 
I used a reinforcer die from the Fold-up Tags die set from MFT to add strength to the hole at the top of the tag, added a couple of Snowdrift Sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, as well as some blue satin ribbon, a piece of Blueberry Divine Twine, a thin string and a snowflake charm to the top of the tag for a finished look.
Simple color palette for this one. I didn’t even go overboard with the snow on the tree.
I stamped the image with Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, colored it with Copics, then stamped again, this time using Obsidian ink from Altenew for crips, dark lines. I decided to fussy cut right against the stamped lines, and put this cute dog to the side while I worked on the rest of the tag.
I die cut a tag from white cardstock using the Stitched Trad. Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things, before using Polar Bear, Icy Water and Winter Lake inks from Altenew to ink blend a soft blue sky. I die cut a couple of trees using the silhouette snow trees from Mama Elephant and adhered them on top of my ink blending. I used a die in the Stitched Hillside Borders die set from Lawn Fawn to create the faux stitch hill, then used the tag die again to die cut the bottom part and adhered it to the tag also.
I added my dog using foam squares. stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Julehilsen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto Wild Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things, before trimming it down and adding it with foam squares to the tag. I die cut a reinforcement piece from white cardstock using a die in the Fold-up Tags die set from My Favorite Things and adhered it to the top, before threading some ribbon through and adding a charm. I used some May Arts Natural Twine to tie a bow to secure everything.
On the back of the tag, I stamped the Til/Fra frame from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Obsidian ink from Altenew. I used Dark Chocolate and Classic Kraft inks from Papertrey Ink to stamp the images that make up the background. The stamps are from North Star Design, Inkido and Ladybug and Friends. I believe none of these companies are still in business, but I love these particular stamps and use them regardless.
Simple color palette for this one. No wonder, as it’s essentially just brown, gray and red.
I always say that you can’t go wrong with a penguin, and with so many images to choose from in this release, I knew I could color another penguin and the rest of the card would fall into place. 
I colored the ice first, and added a hint of reflection underneath their feet. I probably could have used a darker marker, but it’s more noticeable in real life than in the photos. Initially, I’d planned on keeping the buildings and sky uncolored, but once I’d colored the snow and the trees, it kind of all looked white, so I decided to add color to the background anyway. I colored the buildings in various shades of cool greys, before masking off the buildings and airbrushing a blue sky behind them.
I colored my critters (here you can see the reflection in the ice a bit better) before finishing up with a sentiment from the 
There’s an ice rink stamp in this release, I just really loved the large area I was able to create with this older horizon stamp.
Lots of Copics used for this card. B000 was only for airbrushing the sky.
I stamped my critters using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, added a mask and stamped the trees in the background using Stormy Sky ink from Papertrey Ink. It’s a nice grayish green that goes really well with the colors I used for the coloring of the trees. I created my signature winter sunset behind it all, and did my best to create depth in the background by varying the intensity of the coloring of the trees. Once everything was colored, I stamped the critters again, this time using Obsidian ink from Altenew for a crisp, black outline.
At the bottom, I stamped a sentiment from the 
I used lots of Copics for this one. Lots!!
Meet 
Shari Bresciani’s cast of characters is so fun and quirky. Michele at Purple Onion Designs is very good at finding illustrators with a distinct style. The left tag features 
For both of my tags, I used the Wintry Forest stencil set from Pinkfresh Studio to create my background of blue trees. I used Polar Bear, Icy Water and Winter Lake inks from Altenew to create my trees, die cut my panel into tags using the Stitched Trad. Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things, then sprinkled on Chunky White embossing enamel from Stampendous which I melted from the back for a snowy look.
I love the expression on Scruffy’s face! This tree originally has a star on top, but I wanted Starla to add the star to the tree, so I cut off the star from the top and colored the cone shaped part of the star in green, so it looks like it’s the actual tree, even though the even curved line is a telltale sign that it’s not. I don’t think many people will notice, and even less will care.
I stamped the sentiment using two ink colors from My Favorite Things: Jalapeño Popper and Sour Apple. I would have preferred a green tone with more blue in it, but I don’t have that in the ink formulation that’s best for this kind of mostly solid stamping. I find that the squishy ink pads that have become popular in recent years do better with this kind of stamping than the old firm felt pad type ink pads.
Close to the sentiment, I added pearls from the Party Girl mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I was tempted to add lots of pearls in different colors to the tree too, to act as baubles, but opted not to.
I threaded some satin ribbon through the tag hole and tied it with a piece of Natural twine from May Arts. I also added a couple of gold bells from my stash, I love tags that make that jingle sound.
Lots of colors for this, even though I felt like I didn’t use too many.
It’s Carrie’s turn. She goes so well with this snowman, you could almost think they’re one stamp and not two. I don’t mind when things hang off the edge of my cards or, in this case, tags. Will the ears and the branch get bent once this tag is on a present under the tree? Possibly. But I don’t mind, because I feel it adds to the design. If I had cut off the ears and branch to make everything fit inside the dimensions of the tag, this tag wouldn’t be as fun.
For this one, I stamped the sentiment in Amarena Cherry ink from My Favorite Things. It matches her scarf nicely.
I managed to get something sticky in the middle of Carrie. There was no way to remove it, so I was very strategic about the placement of the clay snowflakes I added. They’re Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, and I love them.
I threaded ribbon through the hole at the top of the tag, tied a bow around it using more of that Natural Twine from May Arts and added a couple of gold bells to the top. Different kind of bell than on the green tag, but they still make that wonderful sound.
Lots of Copics for this one too. I just can’t help myself.
For the back of the tags, I stamped To/From from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Obsidian ink from Altenew. The remaining stamps are stamped in Classic Kraft and Dark Chocolate inks from Papertrey Ink. For some of it, I used second generation stamping. The circle stamp with 24.12 in the center and the tree stamp are both from Inkido. The little snowflakes are from North Star Design, the smaller circle stamp with God jul in the center is from Ladybug & Friends. Unless I’m mistaken, none of these companies are still in business. It’s kind of sad, but I’m very glad I have these stamps!
For this card I paired 
This is why! This image, taken from a TV advent calendar, is of the fictional character Skomaker Jens Petrus Andersen. He was the protagonist in this advent calendar and he lived (and had his shoe repair business) in this green house. If you’ve grown up in Norway after the ’70s (but before 2010), you undoubtedly know this character and this very green house. I get nostalgic just looking at the photo.
Back to the card. Once my coloring was done, I added my panel to a card base I created from Cornflower cardstock from My Favorite Things. I used the Stitched Happy Birthday rectangle die from Memory Box to die cut the word happy. The die cuts a rectangle with the words happy birthday inside, but I wanted the word happy for my card and cut it away from the rest. I stacked a few for strength and dimension and adhered it to the roof of the train station, adding a white heat embossed sub sentiment from the 
Lots of Copics for this one.
Papirmølla 