Hi, crafty friends. Today’s card is another one of those happy ones. We’ve been buried in snow in Oslo so far this winter, there’s more coming, and there’s nothing like the dead of winter to make me want to make happy, cheerful cards using spring and summer colors. Rachelle Anne Miller to the rescue. This month’s release was definitely geared toward Valentine’s day, and I fell for Butterfly Kisses, which is a stamp of two butterflies with flower wings.
I colored the butterflies (and the three hearts that are part of the image) with Copics and fussy cut them, leaving a thin white trim around the edge. Onto a top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I ink blended the center of the card, using the Watercolor Rectangle stencil from My Favorite Things and various inks (Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Distress Ink Worn Lipstick, Altenew Pink Pearl, Distress Ink Scattered Straw). I went with pink on the edge and yellow in the center to mimic the colors in the hearts.
I die cut the word klem (hug) four times from white cardstock and once from Gold Shine cardstock from My Favorite Things, and stacked them for a layered look. I added foam tape to the back of my butterflies, adhered them top center on the card and put the stacked klem below them. I also added a sub sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS that I white heat embossed on a piece of Berry Sorbet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I put a few layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and added it to the card, partly on top of the die cut, before embellishing with the colored hearts to finish.
Bright and happy color palette for this one.
I colored the cow with Copics, before fussing cutting it, leaving a white trim around the edge. Onto a top fold fold card base, I ink blended blue inks from Altenew (Winter Lake, Icy Water and Polar Bear) through the Geometric Landscape stencil, also from Altenew, before stamping a Happy Birthday background stamp from My Favorite Things on top, using the darker two of the inks I used for the blending. I also used the stencil in the top right corner and used what was left on my ink blender brush for a soft look.
I added Light & Fluffy modeling paste from The Crafters Workshop through the Tiny Clouds stencil from My Favorite Things. I wanted dimension to my clouds and put down a very thick layer of the paste. While that dried I worked on the rest of the card. I die cut four polaroid framed using the Precious Polaroids die set from My Favorite Things and stacked them for dimension. Onto Grapefruit cardstock from Concord & 9th, I stamped and white heat embossed three sentiments from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things and cut them all down to strips, adding a few extra layers of cardstock behind each for dimension. I adhered the polaroid frame to my card base at an angle, glued the cow on top, added my sentiment strips and finished off with sequins and gems from the
Super simple and very neutral color palette for this one.
I really don’t want the sentiment to come true right now, I don’t remember there ever coming this much snow in the city in such a short time, and I’d very much like to not have to walk to work tomorrow. I saw plenty of people out with their shovels today when I walked home, their cars were snowed in, their driveways were full of snow and they could barely open their front doors. It’s winter, we get it, but it’s enough now, we don’t need more snow.
I’m done venting. I think. I was originally planning on adding a stacked die cut where all the snow is, but then I came up with the idea of a shaker card instead. It’s kind of like the little person under the beanie is trapped inside the shaker with all the shaker bits, which I thought was a fun concept.
I used the Giant Let It Snow die from Lawn Fawn, covered my window with acetate and filled my shaker well with Distress Mica Flakes, a little bit of Rock Candy Distress Glitter and a small pile of embellishments from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I added my shaker panel to a top fold card base I created from Blueberry cardstock from My Favorite Things and decided not to add anything else.
Very simple color palette for this one.
I used the Big Balloons stencil from My Favorite Things and did a rainbow of balloons going across the card. Each balloon is a gradient color, from dark at the bottom right, to a lot lighter at the top left. I used sooooo many ink colors to achieve this look.
I die cut the word bursdag from Gold Shine cardstock from My Favorite Things. This is a very dainty die cut, so I chose to put double sided adhesive (I used a sheet from Altenew) on the back of the cardstock before die cutting, which made everything easy once it came to assembly. I die cut the shadow layer from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink and used black foam tape to pop it up in the center of my card. I used some sticker strips to fill out my sentiment, and added those using foam tape as well, before finishing off with a little gold bling.
I printed the image onto X-Press It blending card and colored it with Copics. I went with a grayish green/muted pink combo, which is one I often use for holiday cards. I’m not a fan of bright red and green together, but this works for me. Once colored, I used a die from the Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX set from My Favorite Things for a fun faux stitch look on the edges. I adhered my panel to a top fold card base I created from Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink, which is a nice match with my pink coloring.
I used a fairly simple color combo, but it’s still a lot of Copics, I never can seem to rein it in.
As usual, I colored the image with Copics, cut my panel down a little on the sides and added Glossy Accents to all the ornaments. This time, I decided to use the
My signature clean and simple cluster cards have been few and far between this year, and I thought a mini cluster would work well for this card. I started with a scrap of a mini paper doily from Doodlebug Design that I adhered to my colored panel with liquid glue. I die cut a couple of additional pieces using the Happy Days Ticket Stubs die from XCut. This is one die that cuts nine different tickets, and it’s one I use a lot. I cut one from the light blue gingham patterned paper, and the other one from a scrap piece of patterned paper from Kaisercraft. I put them both on foam squares for dimension. The sentiment is from the Itty Bitty Holiday stamp set from My Favorite Things, stamped and white heat embossed on a piece of Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink, which I then die cut into a strip with flag ends using a die from the Itty Bitty Strips die set from My Favorite Things. I finished off with a few sequins from the Ice Water mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
A very simple color palette for this card. I started out with blue ornaments, but once I printed the patterned paper, I realized they needed to have a green tinge and went over the blue with BG32 and G00.
I colored my reindeer with Copics, added black Glaze to his eyes for shine, a white dot on top with a Gelly Roll 05 once the black was dry and also a thick layer of Glossy Accents to his nose for dimension as well as shine. I fussy cut him leaving a white border and proceeded to work on the rest of my card.
I covered a card base with the Julhälsningar sheet from the Vintage Winter collection from Maja Design. This has a little bit of pattern to it, but not so much that it’s too distracting. I created a window in a white panel using a heart die from Papirdesign, then used one of the dies in the Stitched Borders die set from Lawn Fawn to create a little bit of interest to the sides, before adhering the panel with foam tape to the center of the card front.
Using the Merry Script die from Mama Elephant, I die cut three layers from white cardstock and one from the patterned paper to adhere on top. I stacked the four together and adhered my die cut to the card. I white heat embossed a sub sentiment from the Holiday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant onto a scrap piece of patterned paper and trimmed it down to a strip, before I added a few layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and adhered it below my die cut word.
I mounted the reindeer on foam tape offset in the heart opening and added die cut snow flakes here and there. Some I created with the Snowflake Confetti Fancy die from Hero Arts, some are made with the Stitched Let It Snow Circle Frame die set from Memory Box, which includes a die that cuts three individual snowflakes (which is what I used).
This card has a lot of texture and dimension, and the shine on Rudolph’s nose is the perfect detail to draw attention to him!
I die cut the reindeer from several colors of colored cardstock. I used Cocoa Nibs from Papertrey Ink for the antlers, Amarena Cherry from My Favorite Things for the red nose, Milk Chocolate from My Favorite Things for eyes and the remaining noses, as well as Kraft from Bazzill. I would have preferred Classic Kraft from Papertrey Ink, as it’s a heavier weight cardstock, but I’ve run out, and the Bazzill kraft worked just fine.
I mounted a white panel onto my top fold landscape card base and adhered the reindeer in a line. A couple of them have additional layers of cardstock behind them for a tiny bit of dimension, Rudolf has lots of layers behind him, as well as shine to his nose. I added a very thick coat of Glossy Accents, and I also added black Glaze to his eyes for shine and dimension. I stamped GOD JUL using Milk Chocolate ink from My Favorite Things.
I had an extra reindeer that I decided to add to the inside of the card, you can see his ear peeking out in this photo.
I colored my snowman with Copics, added black Glaze to his eyes, then a white dot using a Gelly Roll 05 once the black was dry. I also used the white to add the white dots to his hat. I fussy cut my snowman, leaving a thin white trim around him, before putting him to the side to work on the rest of my card. I covered my card base with patterned paper from Maja Design. This frosty blue paper is from the Vintage Frost Basics collection from 2013, the sheet’s called 13th of December. I used the Notebook Edge die from My Favorite Things to create a fun border on a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I used Light & Fluffy Modeling Paste from The Crafter’s Workshop to create snow through the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp. While the paste was still wet, I sprinkled on Rock Candy distress glitter for an even frostier effect, and mounted my white panel with foam tape to my card front.
I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the
Simple color palette for this one. Lots of blues.
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.