25Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with a very simple, yet colorful card, featuring Mrs. Claus from Mo Manning. I had a birthday card to make for a day care worker, and I thought this image was perfect for it. By choosing a very bright, colorful palette, this no longer looks like it was created for the holidays (if you look closely, you’ll see that the “kids” (elves) have pointy ears, but this card is so colorful I’m hoping no one will mind).
I knew one of the elves at the bottom would get his head cut off (the one wearing blue), so I created a copy with just his head, rotated it and put it in the top right corner to include another kid peeking in.
I colored in the scene with Copics, choosing very bright colors. I then took my white Gelly Roll 05 to create patterns on most of the kids’ clothes. I used the largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create a fun edge to my panel, before using the Connected alphabet die set, also from MFT, to spell out the name of the recipient. At first, I thought of cutting them straight, but realized that a wonky look would work well with the card and also be less time consuming.
I wanted to include her age too, but didn’t have any number dies that matched the letters. There was just enough room on her apron for me to sketch in a couple of stick figures holding signs. I used my 0.03 Copic multiliner, and I think it’s running out of ink, which only enhanced the sketchy look I was going for. I die cut six more of each of the letters from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink, stacked them and added the colored pieces on top for a stacked inlay look. I mounted the panel on foam tape and adhered it to a card base I created from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I decided not to add any embellishments, I figured this card is colorful and really doesn’t need it.
For the inside, I stamped a fun sentiment (You’re not thaaaat old – you were just born too soon) from the Til mannen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Summer Splash ink from My Favorite Things.
I stamped a sentiment from the Go’klem stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS onto a Summer Splash envelope from My Favorite Things using Summer Splash ink. I thought the envelope and ink matched the dress nicely.
Here you can see those popped up letters a bit better.
I used a lot of Copics for this one. Skin tones (and hair) make up that entire top row. I wanted different skin tones for the kids, and even though they don’t look that different in my photos, the difference is more pronounced in real life.
I colored my reindeer with Copics and fussy cut him leaving a thin white border. I added Glossy Accents to the string of lights and his nose for shine, and used a black Glaze pen and a white Gelly Roll 05 for his eyes.
I stamped and white heat embossed the Christmas Background stamp from My Favorite Things on a piece of white cardstock, before using Hunter Green, Forest Glades and Frayed Leaf inks from Altenew, as well as Squeezed Lemonade Distress ink, to ink blend on top. I ten used a die in the Stitched Mini Slimline STAX die set from My Favorite Things to turn it into a nice panel that would fit my card. I used the Country Landscape die from Memory Box to die cut the landscape in the background, and used the same stitching die on the hilly die cuts for a continuous stitching border across the card. I die cut the windows from Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th and the doors from white cardstock from Papertrey Ink that I ink blended with the same colors I used for the ink blending in the background.
I used the Snow Globe Accessories die set from My Favorite Things to die cut the string of lights from a dark gray cardstock and the individual bulbs from Buttercup cardstock once again. I added Glossy Accents on top of the bulbs for extra shine and dimension.
I die cut the word merry from the Merry Christmas die set from My Favorite Things five times from white cardstock, and once from Gold shine cardstock from My Favorite Things. I stacked them, adding the gold on top, and adhered my chunky die cut to the card. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the 
I tried using a somewhat limited color palette for this.
I colored him with Copics and fussy cut him leaving a white trim around the edges. This particular image would be easy to cut up against the lines, but the wispy lines so characteristic of Lili of the Valley images would be lost, so I opted for the white border. I put black glaze pen in his eyes for shine, and then a dot of white using a 05 Gelly Roll, and put him aside while I worked on the rest of my tag.
I used a die from the Stitched Traditional Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things to die cut from Classic Kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I sprinkled Chunky White embossing enamel from Stampendous on top and melted it from behind for a snowy background look.
I used the Silhouette Snow Trees die set from Mama Elephant to die cut trees from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before I added some snowy texture to them using a Snow Pen from Rayher.
I stamped and white heat embossed Just for you from the 
I used some ribbon and twine from my stash, as well as a charm, to finish off the front of this tag. The ribbon, banner and the penguin’s earmuffs create a visual triangle of red elements on this otherwise very neutral tag.
I die cut the same tag from white cardstock to use on the back. I added a couple of kraft colored branches that I die cut with the Pine Branches die set from Craft Emotions, as well as a to/from from the Tag Builder Blueprints 6 die set from My Favorite Things.
Lots of colors for this little penguin.
I colored the mouse with Copics and fussy cut her, leaving a thin white border. I used a black Glaze pen to create some shine in her eyes, and once the black was dry I added a dot of white using a Gelly Roll 05.
Onto a white cardstock panel, I ink blended Amarena Cherry and Wild Cherry inks from My Favorite Things for an ombre effect. I then used a die cut as a stencil to add some snowflakes to the background with modeling paste from The Crafter’s Workshop. The die I used to die cut the makeshift stencil is the Snowflake Confetti fancy die from Hero Arts, which is one of my all time favorite Christmas/winter dies.
I cut the ink blended panel down a little and adhered it to a panel of Amarena Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things that covers the front of a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
From white cardstock, I die cut the Polaroid Shaker Frame die from My Favorite Things five times for a stacked look, stamping a sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley to the top layer using Amarena Cherry ink from My Favorite Things. I added the cute little mouse on top of the frame, and my card was complete.
If you look closely, you can see the shine in the eyes in this photo.
Very Christmas-y color palette for this one.
This is the card closed. I created this by gluing 2 side fold A2 card bases together; the half with the snowman with the fold on the left and the other one with the fold on the right.
I used the Snowflake Confetti fancy die from Hero Arts to die cut from Gina K Masking Magic to create a stencil to ink blend through. I used Iceberg ink from Altenew to create subtle blue snowflakes in the background on the front of the card to the left of the snowman and also on the other flap.
I adhered an 1/8″ gold glitter cardstock strip from Kort & Godt for the snowman to hold on to for a defining edge and used the Stacked Merry die from My Favorite Things to die cut 6 times for a stacked look. 5 layers from white cardstock, the top layer from a piece of X-Press It blending card that I colored to match the green on the snowman. I stacked the six layers and adhered them in the center of the left front panel, stamped and white heat embossed a sub sentiment from the 
I embellished with a combination of gold pearls around the sentiment and tiny confetti stars all across the background. Both are from the Vanilla Kiss mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I also added a bit of black glaze pen to the eyes of the snowman. It adds a tiny bit of dimension and some shine. Once dry, I went over with a dot of white, using a Gelly Roll 05.
On the inside flap, behind the snowman, I stamped another sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley, this time using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things.
Simple color palette for this one. Lots of colors for the snow, though, I can’t seem to help it.
I colored up these two sloths from the Hang Out and Celebrate stamp set. I stamped using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things, which is a hybrid ink safe to use with alcohol markers. I colored the sloths with Copics, then re-stamped over the black lines, this time using Obsidian ink from Altenew. This is a pigment ink that is super crisp, but it’s not compatible with Copics, so I need to stamp with an alcohol friendly ink first, do my coloring, then stamp on top with the pigment ink. Once the ink was dry I used the coordinating dies to cut out these cute sloths.
I created an A2 top fold card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink and decided to do a little ink blending near the top right. Using the Watercolor Circle stencil from My Favorite Things (which was also new in the July release), I ink blended Eastern Sky and Iceberg inks from Altenew to create a soft sky. I eventually realized it needed to be darker for my clouds to show up over top, so I also went in with Ultramarine, which is one shade darker than Eastern Sky. These three blues are all in the same color family from Altenew.
With the circle mask still in place, I added the Tiny Clouds stencil from My Favorite Things on top, and used Fresh Snow hybrid ink from Papertrey Ink to create soft clouds on top of the blue I’d already ink blended.
At the bottom center of the card, I stamped a sentiment from the stamp set with the sloths, this time using Caribbean Sea ink from My Favorite Things. I also stamped “Make a” from the older Birthday Chicks stamp set and adhered die cut letters between my stamping to complete the sentiment. I die cut the word with from the Wish Big Today die that also came out in the July release from My Favorite Things (it was such a good release). I used Sour Apple cardstock, and at the base of the letters I ink blended using Sour Apple ink, and a little bit of Jalapeño Popper ink for extra oomph. I put three additional die cuts behind each letter and adhered them to my card.
Time for the sloths. I die cut three additional layers of cardstock to go behind each of my die cut sloths, and glued them directly to the card base. I cut off a portion of the balloon on the back layers, so I could overlap the colored one with the other sloth. I added a dot of black glaze pen to the eyes of the sloth that’s awake, and Glossy Accents to the balloon for a bit of shine.
To finish off the card I used some sequins from the Waterfall mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I packed a lot into this card, and the sentiment wound up taking much more space than I’d sketched out in advance, but I still like it. This is the part where I usually show a graphic of the Copics I used, but I simply can’t locate the post-It I used to write them down.
I’m usually a pretty slow card maker, but this came together sooo quickly. The card, start to finish, including the coloring, took me just over half an hour. I don’t think I’ve ever created a card this quickly. Yes, it’s simple, but most of my cards are, and they still usually take me way longer than this to create.
I printed the image fairly small on a piece of X-Press It blending card. I wanted it to fit the width of a top fold A2 card. I colored the image and letters with Copics, then used a border die from Lawn Fawn to create a nice detail on the top and bottom. Using a black Glaze pen, I added a little bit of shine and dimension to the eyes, and on the koala I also added white dots with a Gelly Roll 05 pen once the black was dry.
I wanted a soft background and chose this pretty yellow chevron pattern from the Wallpaper Patterns 6×6″ paper pad from My Favorite Things. I let it cover the entire card base and mounted my colored panel near the top of the card using foam tape.
I love dimension on my cards, and for cards that are this simple, it makes a big difference.
I added a few yellow pearls from the Beach Dreams mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards for a finishing touch. The end result is a clean and simple card, with just enough detail to make it interesting.
Super simple color palette.
The cold weather’s been perfect for Christmas in July, though, and this 
I colored both the penguin and the letters with Copics and fussy cut them. I left a white border around the penguin, but cut the letters up to the black lines.
I created a circular card base from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and added a circle on top that I created from Sno Cone cardstock from My Favorite Things. I dry embossed the Magic Snow Cover die from Mama Elephant onto the colored cardstock for a little bit of added interest in the background, before mounting the penguin in the center of the card and adding the letters around him.
To finish off the card I added a few Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to the letters. I tried using pearls first, but these worked better with the card. She’s stopped selling these clay sprinkles, so I kind of hoard the ones I have.
Super simple color combo for this guy.
Hot pink and orange/yellow/gold. It’s not a Christmas color palette you see every day, and when I did the actual coloring, I wasn’t sold on this. I wasn’t sold when the card was done, either, but it’s grown on me, and I’m now in a place where I like it. That might change again, though, ask me tomorrow 😉
I printed the image on the bottom half of a quarter sheet of X-Press It blending card, did my coloring, then used the Basket Weave stencil from My Favorite Things to add a little bit of interest to the panel. Above the image, I used Puffy Heart and Rose Quartz inks from Altenew, underneath the image I used Scattered Straw Distress Ink. I trimmed off 1/4″ on each side and mounted it with foam tape onto a card base I created from Ripe Raspberry cardstock from My Favorite Things.
I added black glaze to the eyes for some shine and Glossy Accents to the lightbulbs, before stamping and white heat embossing a sentiment from the Holiday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant onto a scrap piece of pink cardstock. I cut the sentiment down to a strip, added a few more layers behind it and added it to my card, before finishing off with a few gold jewels from the Fesitivities mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
The Glaze, Glossy Accents, sub sentiment and gems all work together to add interest to what is otherwise a very simple card.
The coloring is pretty simple too 🙂
There are five adorable penguins in this stamp set, and I chose two to color, with a vague idea for a card in the back of my mind as I was coloring. Once I’d colored both penguins and fussy cut them, I realized splitting them up and creating two cards would be better. For this card, I placed the Grid stencil from My Favorite Things at a bit of an angle directly on my top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Using Sno Cone ink from My Favorite Things and a blender brush, I created a soft blend near the bottom of the card front, fading to white above and below.
The wishes die from Mama Elephant is probably my most used word die, I love it so much. I die cut it five times from Wild Cherry cardstock from My Favorite Things and stacked the die cuts for dimension. Onto the background I stamped a sub sentiment and the word Christmas from the 
The good thing about small(ish) images is that you don’t need heaps of colors. They’re also fairly quick to color.
Papirmølla 