Enjoy your day {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m sharing a fairly simple birthday card today with goodies from Kort & Godt, as well as a fun stencil set I bought at a craft fair last weekend.

To start, I die cut this focal image with a tag die. I die cut another in white to put on the back for a little strength and put my tag aside while I worked on my card base.

I used the Wimpelkette stencil set from Create a smile to create the pennants in the background. The set consists of 3 stencils that layer and create an easy pennant background. I used Peachy Glow and Amber Blaze inks from Altenew with two of the stencils, and through the third one, I added a layer of Solar Paste in the Golden Hour color. It creates a little bit of shine and some texture.

I mounted the tag with foam tape in the center of the card, used 1/16″ foam squares on the back of the Gratulerer  word sticker to make it stand out a little, then trimmed down the sentiment strips slightly and adhered them to the tag.

To finish off the card I added a few black gems and tied a bow using black cotton thread from Kort & Godt.

Kort & Godt products used:

MA1008 – image

Die 211 – tag die

BE107 – black gems (small size)

ST208 – black gems (larger size)

ST1002 – Word and sentiment sticker strips

TR124 – black cotton thread

Hugs – you are loved {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back today with a sweet card featuring an adorable monkey from Lili of the Valley. He’s from the Little Monkey stamp set, which is available both as a clear stamp set (here) and as a digital set (here). It’s always great when you can choose.

I haven’t done any coloring since December, so I felt rusty. Thankfully, these images from Lili of the Valley are easy ones for jumping back in! Once my coloring was complete, I fussy cut him, leaving a thin white border around the edge. I didn’t want to cut away the “fuzzies” that are so typical of LOTV images, so by leaving a white border, I could preserve the look. I used an embossing folder (Quilted embossing folder from Concord & 9th) to create some interest in the background without being too distracting.

I cut down a few colors of cardstock from Concord & 9th to 3/16″ wide strips and glued them together on a scrap piece of white cardstock. The colors I used are Oceanside, Aqua Sky, Buttercup, Grapefruit and Honeysuckle. I mounted my stripped up panel at an angle, put a few foam squares behind the monkey and added him on top. I die cut hugs (Quilted die set from C9) three times from white cardstock, stacked them and adhered them on top of my strips next to the monkey. I then stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Itty Bitty Gifting stamp set from My Favorite Things onto a black piece of cardstock from Concord & 9th. I added a couple of layers of black cardstock behind for strength and dimension and adhered it on top of the die cut word, before finishing off with a few sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Simple color combo this time.

Have a holly jolly Christmas {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. Today, I’m sharing with you a card featuring Giggling Snowman from Mo Manning. This is one of my all time favorite images from Mo, and if you look closely at the tiny little image next to the header in the tab in your browser, you’ll see it’s the same little guy.

I love coloring this image in noline versions. I usually print with his eyes and eyebrows in a dark brown and the rest of him in a super light grey. I kept the snow on the ground around him this time, and cut away the part of the panel that above my imagined horizon line. I created stars in the sky by using solar paste from Simon Hurley (in the golden hour color) through the Falling stars stencil from Simon Says Stamp onto the front of an A2 card base I created from After midnight cardstock from My Favorite Things.

Once the stars were dry, I adhered my panel with my snowman, adding die cut trees a little bit below the horizon line. I created the trees by coloring a scrap piece of X-Press It using the same green markers I used for the image, before die cutting them using the Silhouette Snow Trees die set from Mama Elephant. I finished off the trees with some liquid glue and Rock Candy distress glitter for a sparkly, snowy look. For a sentiment I die cut the words holly jolly from the Jolly Holiday greeting die set from Concord & 9th five times from white cardstock and adhered them all together for a stacked, dimensional look and completed the greetings with some small words from the Holiday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant that I stamped in Obsidian ink from Altenew onto pieces of cardstock I colored with the lightest of the green markers I used for the snowman and the trees.

Fairly simple color palette for this one, although I don’t think I’ll ever have a limited color palette for snow, I always choose a lot of colors to create snow.

Happy holidays {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back with what I’d call a super rare card. Super rare for me, that is, because I’ve put florals on a Christmas card. I don’t know why I don’t feel like it’s a good match, but the Festive Blooms die set from Concord & 9th was too good, I just couldn’t resist.

This die set is massive, there are 18 dies to cut out everything I’ve used on this card. Included in the die set is also a large die that leaves a faux stitch outline of this arrangement. I didn’t use that for this card, but I’ve used all the other dies in the set.

Aside from the white cardstock (Stamper’s Select White from Papertrey Ink), I’ve used Concord & 9th cardstock colors. Tidepool for the poinsettias, Harbor for the other flowers, Honeycomb for the centers, Mushroom for the holly leaves, Dove for the medium grey leaves, Pebble for the light grey leaves and Juniper for the banner. I ink blended on most of these die cuts (not the banner) using coordinating inks, but on the dark grey holly leaves I chose Midnight, which is a dark blue ink. It doesn’t show too well in the photos, but it’s definitely more noticeable in real life. On the white berries I used a little bit of Polar Bear ink from Altenew to give them a hint of blue.

I used the outline die in the die set to cut my card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I folded half a sheet (4 1/4 x 11″) and did partial die cutting, so the top of the die wouldn’t cut. I then adhered a white panel I cut with the same die and then arranged my florals on top. I glued some pieces flat down and added others with diemension behind them.

I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Festive Blooms stamp set onto Juniper cardstock, die cut it into a banner and added a couple of white die cuts behind it for strength and dimension, before popping it up on foam tape in the center of the card.

Merry & bright {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends. Can you believe we’re in October already? I don’t know where the time’s gone, but I do know that if you haven’t started your holiday cards yet, you might want to think about it soon. Enter Kristina Werner. She’s now launched her own line of products, and they’re SO good. Her September release sold out pretty much on the first day, and it’s no wonder, it’s THAT good. I was lucky enough to grab the things I wanted before they sold out, though, and the products are now back in stock.

I wanted to create a blue Christmas card. Blue’s my jam, and I had this idea as soon as I saw the release. I started with the Merry Trees stencil set, which is a set of two stencils that creates a line of trees. Each of the stencils has two “layers”, and if you layer all four you have the full line of trees in up to four colors. I used the Northern Shore family of Fresh dye inks from Altenew for my stenciling, it’s a great blue family of inks.

Using the Merry Trees die set, I took the big MERRY die and die cut it straight out of my ink blended trees. I also die cut an additional four layers of using After Midnight cardstock from My Favorite Things. I cut off a little on each side of the white panel, adhered it to a card base in that same dark blue color and puzzle pieced the letters back in. The fact that they’re stacked with a dark color makes the word easier to read than if I’d used white to stack.

I white heat embossed a couple of sentiments from the Merry Greetings builder stamp set onto After midnight cardstock and cut them down to sentiment strips using the Merry Greetings builder die set. I usually use a steel ruler and craft knife to create my sentiment strips, but there’s something about the roundness of the edge that you get by using a die. I added a few more strips of cardstock behind each of the sentiment strips for dimension and placed them above and below the die cut MERRY to complete the sentiment.

I decided not to use any embellishments on this card. Sometimes I feel like the colors and cardstock do all the work for me, and I love how this one turned out.

Have a cool yule {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another Christmas card in non-traditional colors, this time using a snowball image from the new Polar Christmas release from Lili of the Valley. The set is available for pre-order here.

I colored the little snowball with Copics and fussy cut him, adding a touch of black glaze pen to his eyes to make them shiny, and then a tiny white dot of Gelly Roll 05 once the black was dry. I used the Fa la la inlay die from Concord & 9th and die cut a white panel. I trimmed off a little on each side and glued it to a card base I created from Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th, inlaying the white letters back into place. I cut a few in the grapefruit color, stacked them and emphasized one line in the background using this color, which left just enough room on the right for the snowman to sit on some foam tape.

I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the older Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley onto a piece of Aqua Sky cardstock from Concord & 9th. The cardstock color was a little bit light for the white letters, so I ink blended on top using Aqua Sky ink to make the sentiment more visible. The exposure in the photo makes it lighter than it is in real life, it’s actually very easy to read it in person. I used the Snowflake Confetti Fancy die from Hero Arts to die cut small snowflakes from Aqua Sky cardstock. I stacked two of each for a tiny bit of dimension and used them as embellishments on the card.

Very limited color palette for this one.

Merry Christmas {Rachelle Anne Miller}

Hi, crafty friends! It’s a well known fact that I’m a sucker for penguins, so I was over the moon for this month’s release from Rachelle Anne Miller. It’s the Penguin Party scene creator set, which is geared toward celebrations with balloons, party hats, presents and little pennant flags. I created a birthday card with this set earlier in the month. Today, I chose a penguin that doesn’t have any accessories besides a scarf and created a holiday card.

I colored my penguin with Copics, fussy cut him and used a black Glaze pen to add shine to his eyes, before putting him aside while I worked on the rest of my card.

I really wanted to use the big MERRY greeting in the Merry Trees stamp set from Kristina Werner. I love her cleanly designed products, they’re right up my alley, and this greeting makes a statement. I stamped with VersaMark onto Juniper cardstock from Concord & 9th, before sprinkling on super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger, which I then heat set. I die cut an additional four layers of the letters from white cardstock and stacked them with the green on top.

I used the Berries & Boughs embossing folder from Concord & 9th to create a little bit of interest to the background. I trimmed my white dry embossed panel slightly and adhered it to a black cardstock panel that I adhered to a top fold white card base. I arranged my merry letters on the front of the card, added my penguin with foam tape and also added a white on black heat embossed sub sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley.

I added a few pearls from the Glossy Porcelain mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish. I love how I was able to turn this cute party penguin into a holiday penguin, and I’m kind of liking the untraditional Christmas palette of green and black.

I messed around with a few greens to find the right combo to somewhat match my green cardstock. If it hadn’t been for that, this would have been a very limited color palette.

Hello friend {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I haven’t shared many cards recently, and I apologize for that – there have just been too many things lately needing my attention, and it means less time in the craft room. I do have a new card today, though (yay), featuring this cute Peaches image from Mo Manning. I’ve used this one before, and it’s very summery. I’m holding onto summer (or at least the idea of summer, we didn’t really have much of a summer this year) for dear life, even though the leaves are changing colors and falling like it’s all they know how to do.

I colored her up with my Copics and kept the panel intact this time. No die cutting, no nothing. I adhered it directly to a top fold A2 card base and put a torn piece of patterned paper at the top. The paper is from the Watercolor Wishes pad from Lawn Fawn, and I white heat embossed triangles onto it to create a little more interest, using the Scattered Triangles Background stamp from My Favorite Things.

I used a small circle die to create notches near the top of the card. I stamped a sentiment from the Mini messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Obsidian ink from Altenew onto a piece of patterned paper from the Watercolor Wash Brights paper pad from My Favorite Things, and die cut it with one of the dies in the Blueprints 27 die set from My Favorite Things. I put foam tape on the back and adhered it to my card, before adding some black twine to the card, tying it in a bow at the top of the die cut. The notches help keep the twine in place. I finished off with a few pearls from the Meadow mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I love using Rs and YRs to create peach colors.

You are so worth celebrating {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends! There’s a new release coming next week from Rachelle Anne Miller which has me super excited. It has a theme I love and a type of critter I simply can’t resist – a little tease for you there. Today’s card, however, is created using an oldie, but goodie stamp. This is the Animal Parade, and I know I keep saying so many of Rachelle’s images are among my favorites, but they really are, and this is another one. I’ve used this image once before on this card. This time I cut the image apart and used the critters individually to create postage stamps on my card.

I colored the images with Copics, then used the Postage Collage die from Waffle Flower to create stamps.

I added Solar Paste in the Golden Hour color onto Lemon Tart cardstock from Papertrey Ink using the Merry Go Round stencil from Memory Box. I wanted a little bit of interest in the background, but nothing too distracting, and this worked really well. I added the panel to a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I added scraps of cardstock behind my die cuts to give them a little lift off my card and adhered them pretty much in the center of the card.

I stamped a sentiment from the Anything-but Basic Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things onto Spring Rain cardstock from Papertrey Ink using Obsidian ink from Altenew. I cut the sentiment down to a strip and added a few layers of cardstock behind it before adhering it to the card.

I finished off with a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Fairly muted color palette for this one.

Hello – you’re amazing {Papiria}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a fun shaker card to share with you today, featuring the Kite Builder die set and Kite Strings stamp set from Concord & 9th.

I die cut the base of the kite from white cardstock and ink blended a gradient from the bottom using Oceanside and Aqua Sky inks from Concord & 9th. I taped the base die and the die that creates the wiring together and used it to crate my walls, snipping away the cross in the center on all but one of the layers. I filled the shaker with an embellishment mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards, closed it with a piece of acetate and put a white die cut kite on top.

I cut some cardstock down to different widths, stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the stamp set onto one of the strips and adhered them at an angle onto a piece of Soft Stone cardstock from Papertrey Ink. The strip colors are Oceanside, Aqua Sky, Lemongrass, Buttercup, Clementine and Watermelon, all from Concord & 9th.

I mounted the panel onto a white card base, white heat embossed another sentiment from the stamp set onto black cardstock, added that to the card using foam tape and adhered the kite to the card.

Using black cardstock, I die cut the kite string and a bow in the die set, adhered them to the card and finished off with a few black enamel dots from Altenew.