Hug from the heart {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

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.

It’s time to party {Streamside Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a fun birthday card to share today, featuring an adorable cow from Streamside Studios. This is from the recent Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cows set. I’ve used the digi stamp, but there’s also a clear stamp version here.  I have another card coming using this set, it was so cute I couldn’t stop at 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 Christmas in your heart mix from Streamside Studios.

Super simple and very neutral color palette for this one.

Let it snow {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. You might think it’s early to be sharing the first Christmas card of the year already, but with the amounts of snow we’ve currently got, this Winter is coming image from Mo’s Digital Pencil was the perfect one to use. It’s been snowing, it’s been windy, it’s been chaos. I spent longer getting home from work than I spent AT work today. All the buses in the city were cancelled, trains across the entire eastern part of the country weren’t running, I tried the metro, but that didn’t work either, and they even had to shut down the main airport because the snow and wind combo was too much for the plows to handle, they couldn’t clear the runways before they filled back up with snow. This has only happened three times in the last 12 years, so it was kind of crazy. Evidently, the trams were running, but they’re mostly downtown and nowhere near me, so this card? Very fitting today.

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.

Rumor says it’s your birthday {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends, and happy new year! I thought it was about time I created something besides holiday cards, so today’s card is a very colorful, very happy birthday card, featuring a new die set from Kort & Godt.

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.

Blue balloon: Azurite and Ultramarine – both from Altenew

Turquoise balloon: Starlight, Tide Blue, Turquoise – all from Altenew

Green balloon: Shadow Creek, Grass Field – both from Altenew

Yellow balloon: Distress Ink Mustard Seed, Distress Ink Squeezed Lemonade

Orange balloon: Simon Says Stamp Orange Peel, Distress Ink Spiced Marmalade

Red balloon: Heart Beat, Coral Bliss, Pink Pearl – all from Altenew

Pink balloon: My Favorite Things Poppin’ Pink, Distress Ink Picked Raspberry

Purple balloon: Deep Iris, Lavender Fields, Soft Lilac – all from Altenew

Once all the balloons were done, I drew string using a 0.35 black Copic multiliner.

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.

Kort & Godt products used:

Die 346 – Du har jo bursdag

ST1002 – Sentiment strip stickers

ST174 – Gold bling

Gledelig jul {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a simple holiday card to share today, featuring Kayla with gingerbread from Mo’s Digital Pencil. This is such an adorable image!

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 stamped the word Gledelig from the Jul stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using VersaMark ink, and then heat embossed it using Super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger. I used a die from the Itty Bitty Strips die set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a banner, and I cut it short with a craft knife. I used the Gledelig jul die set from Kort & Godt to create a banner that spells JUL. I used Stormy Sea cardstock from Papertrey Ink and added three layers for strength and dimension. I adhered my Gledelig strip on top with a couple of additional layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and finished off the card with sequins and confetti from the Starry Sky mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

I used a fairly simple color combo, but it’s still a lot of Copics, I never can seem to rein it in.

Happy holidays {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, crafty friends. This month’s release from Rachelle Anne Miller is another adorable Christmas one, and I chose Oh Christmas Tree for today’s card.

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 Light blue gingham digital paper that also came out in this release. I love the wonky lines and gorgeous color in this paper, and colored some of the ornaments on my tree to match. I mounted the panel on foam tape and adhered it right of center on my card.

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.

Merry everything {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. Christmas is less than a month away, and if you haven’t started creating your holiday cards yet, you should probably start soon. Maybe this reindeer from the Christmas Friends stamp set from Lili of the Valley will inspire you to do just that.

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!

Not a lot of Copics for this one.

Rudolph says hi {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with a simple card created for the Kort & Godt galleri blog. I used a reindeer die and created a line of reindeer.

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.

Kort & Godt products used:

DIE 323 Diverse jul

M-467

Let it snow! {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. It’s no secret that I love a lot of the cute characters that pop up around Christmas. Reindeer, snowmen, penguins, polar bears; give me all of them (please leave Santa out, he’s creepy). Today’s card features an adorable snowman from the Snow folk  stamp set from Lili of the Valley.

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 Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley onto a scrap piece of the patterned paper, before using a die from the Itty Bitty Strips die set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a banner. I also die cut a white banner, grouped the two together and adhered them to the back of my snowman, which I mounted using foam tape. I finished off with a few snowflakes I die cut using the Snowflake Confetti Fancy die from Hero Arts. Sadly, this die is discontinued, but the snowflakes it creates are the perfect size, so I probably won’t ever stop using it!!

Simple color palette for this one. Lots of blues.

Christmas Delivery {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! I have a fun gift tag to share today, featuring Flappy’s Christmas Delivery from the Tofu & Friends holiday collection from Purple Onion Designs. I love the quirky nature of the cuties in this collection from the new illustrator.

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.