Happy holidays

Hi, crafty friends! I suppose it’s hard not to notice that I create a lot of cards with peach tones. I spent quite a bit of time this week creating a ton of die cut color combo swatches from C9 cardstock to kind of step away from the peach. Obviously, there are combos with peach in them, but I also have plenty without.

For this card, I really tried. I chose a color combo of Pebble, Ballet Slipper, Brickyard, Cranberry, Cobblestone and Tidepool from C9. I wanted to focus on Ballet Slipper, Cranberry and Tidepool for the Gummiapan diecut houses, but Tidepool and Ballet Slipper created mud when they mixed, while ink smooshed Cranberry looked like an episode of Dexter. I switched gears and ink smooshed Ballet Slipper on its own on watercolor paper. When it dried it looked like Grapefruit. So much for not using peach tones. I watercolored a background using Tidepool reinker and did the same with Pebble reinker on a separate piece of watercolor paper. Once dry, I die cut the Pebble piece with a curved landscape die from the Slim Card Basics die set from Mama Elephant, then layered the two pieces together and die cut them using the largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things.

I sprinkled on Chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous onto the background, heat set it so the granules melted to look like snow, adhered the slope with 1 mm foam squares and mounted the entire panel onto a card base that I covered with a piece of Nectar cardstock from Concord & 9th. I tried Grapefruit first, but felt it was too dark against the background. I mounted the houses using foam tape, die cut and stacked four layers of Happy Holidays from the Jolly Holidays Greetings die set from Concord & 9th and adhered the greeting at an angle above the houses, before finishing off with Snowdrift Sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.

Baby, it’s cold outside {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! It’s never to early for holiday cards, right? Although, I did technically create this back in the first half of December. Things just got so hectic before Christmas I never found the time to share. That time is now, apparently! 🙂

These images in this scene are all from the Winterwood collection from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Holly Mabutas. We have Frosty, Finn (with his tophat), Blossom the bunny and Will, who’s giggling next to Frosty. I stamped the Winter Neighborhood in fadeout ink for a no line effect in the background. Except for the holly on the tophat, there’s really nothing that screams holiday on this card, so it could easily work throughout the winter season and in my neck of the woods through the majority of spring, too, actually. Most of the snow is usually gone by mid May.

I colored the scene with Copics, then stamped the critters and the snowman again, this time using Obsidian ink from Altenew to get crisp black lines. This is a pigment ink, which doesn’t play nice with Copics, but as long as the coloring’s already complete, using this ink is totally fine. I sprinkled on Chunky White embossing enamel from Stampendous, melted the granules from the back of the paper and finished off the card with a sentiment from the Holiday Blurbs I stamp set that I stamped in Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things. I added some foam tape on the back of the speech bubble for a tiny bit of dimension on the card. This is an A6 size card, measuring 6 1/4 x 4 5/8″.

Not a whole lot of colors used given the large scene, but I did use 7 for the fox alone. But he came out so cute, it was totally worth it!

Christmas magic is in the air {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today to share a card featuring Tofu & The Snowman from the Tofu & Friends holiday collection from Purple Onion Designs.

i colored the scene with Copics, before using a die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower to trim down my panel. I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Time Sentiment set using Harbor ink from Concord & 9th, before sprinkling on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, which I then melted from the back for a snowy look.

I used the Snowflake Oval Frame embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp to create some texture on a panel of white cardstock which I adhered directly to a top fold card base, before mounting the panel on foam tape to finish the card. Super simple, right?

A lot of Copics for this one.

We wish you a merry Christmas! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! Another day, another holiday card. This time it’s a big one, it measures 5 1/2 x 7 1/4″. I tend not to worry about card sizes when I create scenes with Purple Onion images, and for this card, this size just worked.

This scene is created entirely with images from last years holiday collection from Stacey Yacula. Hannah & Finn, City Christmas Tree, Gift Car and City Skyline Background are all from The Merriest Little City collection and I used a combination of no line coloring and black stamped line coloring. Hannah & Finn and the tree are stamped in black, the others in paler inks for a softer looking background.

I colored the entire scene with Copics, stamped the sentiment from the Holiday Time Sentiment Set using Harbor ink from Concord & 9th, before sprinkling on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, which I melted from the back of the panel. Once that was done, I adhered it to a card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I used lots of Copics for this, and all the different gray families, actually.

This is a gentle reminder that he annual holiday sale is underway at Purple Onion Designs. Everything (with some exclusions) is at 25 % off. The sale ends on Sunday, so there’s still time to fill up your cart with goodies!

Det snør, det snør, tiddelibom {Rachelle Anne Miller}

Hi, crafty friends. The sentiment on this card probably won’t make much sense to you unless you’re Norwegian, but it’s the first line of a Winnie the Pooh song about snow (I found a voice recording of it here if you want to listen). Now, Winnie the Pooh isn’t in this card, but I have some cute Polar Bears from Rachelle Anne Miller. I love this image, and realized once my coloring was done that I had printed a no line version on the back of the panel. I probably intended to use that, as I prefer no line for “white” things. Oh well, I wasn’t starting over, and I’ve colored these polar bears in a no line version previously, so maybe having black lines this time wasn’t such a bad idea after all?

I took a quick look at the colors I’ve focused on recently to try to choose something different and opted for this blue green combo. I colored the image with Copics and added a horizon in the distance with a few trees scattered about.

I made sure not to add to many trees so there would be room for the sentiment, which I stamped in Oceanside ink from Concord & 9th. The sentiment itself is from the Snøstorm stamp set from byCino. I die cut my panel using the lartest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things, before I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous. I made sure that none of the granules covered the sentiment or the eyes of the polar bears before melting the powder from the back.

I adhered my panel to a card base I’d covered with a quarter sheet of Oceanside cardstock from Concord & 9th. This is actually a side fold card. I usually make top fold cards, but I didn’t have any landscape oriented card bases on hand and didn’t feel like breaking open a new pack of cardstock. Long live lazy crafting, right?

Very cool color palette for this one.

Delivering a little holiday cheer! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! It’s been a week full of Purple Onion Designs on my blog, but with three new collections that launched on Monday, that’s just how it is. I shared a card with new illustrator Holly Mabutas’ collection on Monday, one with stamps from Stacey Yacula’s collection on Wednesday, and today, it’s time to feature Pei’s collection. Pei’s images are larger than the others, so you can easily create a card with one image alone, which is what I did. I had to choose Christmas Igloo for my first Pei card of the season. It’s my favorite stamp across all three collections! I’m a sucker for penguins, and these cuties coupled with the polar bear and igloo just had me.

I originally planned on creating a regular portrait oriented A2 card with this image, but I had this idea of another igloo in the distance, and it kind of evolved from there. I don’t usually create my own backgrounds for cards (I like background stamps that do all the work for me), but I had a blast with this one. Keeping the colors to a minimum certainly helped. I only used five Copics for the entire background.

Once the background and the actual stamped image were both colored in, I stamped a sentiment from the Holiday Messages sentiment set below my little igloo. The sentiment set is from The Sweetest Little Town collection from 2020). I think the penguins are definitely spreading holiday cheer by decorating their igloo, so I thought it was a fitting sentiment, and decided to stamp in Powder and Harbor inks from Concord & 9th to get a good color match with my scene. I added chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous for snow and adhered the panel to a top fold A6 card base (6 1/4 x 4 5/8″) that I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

Limited color palette for such a large card.

Pei’s entire collection is available as a 30 % discounted bundle until November 15, 2024. 9 amazing stamps for only $52, that’s a good deal!!!

Eat, drink & be merry! {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back today to share another card with the new release from Purple Onion Designs. Today, I’m focusing on Stacey Yacula’s Whispering Pines collection. I always love everything Stacey illustrates!!

Meet Mack and Katie. They’re both enjoying their beverages out in the snow, and I added the general store behind them to create my scene and even snuck in Santa’s Silhouette from a previous release (A Little Christmas Magic! collection from 2022) to really bring out the Christmas spirit.

Once everything was colored in, I stamped Santa’s Silhouette using Obsidian ink from Altenew. This is a pigment ink, which doesn’t really play well with Copics, so it’s best to use it once the coloring’s complete. I then stamped a sentiment from the Home for the Holidays sentiment set using Jalapeño Popper ink from My Favorite Things, before I sprinkled on chunky white embossing enamel from Stampendous, which I melted from the back for a textured snow look. I adhered my panel to a top fold card base and my card was complete.

I used a lot of Copics for this scene. A lot.

The entire Whispering Pines collection is available as a bundle at 30 % discount until Friday, November 15 2024, so if you want to take advantage of this offer, you still have about a week left.

God jul {Kort & Godt}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m back today with a simple Christmas card I created for the Kort & Godt gallery blog.

This card was so easy to create. I rummaged through my scraps of patterned paper and found these from the Greetings from the North Pole collection from Pion Design, which happens to be a collection from 2016. I don’t buy patterned paper anymore, but I have loads of scraps from the days when I did. The two pieces on the left were actually already torn (and the top was already heat embossed with white Fran-táge. This is an embossing powder which has a little bit of gold in it, and the gold pops off the background. I adhered the dark piece directly to a top fold card base I created from Rustic White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, and I popped the other one up on foam tape.

I die cut the shadow for God and the word jul from the same dark pattern, and I die cut a few extra of the words themselves in white for dimension, using Die 347 God jul from Kort & Godt. I also used Die 231 to create the little branch of leaves from patterned paper, and I mounted it on foam tape for a little bit of dimension, before gluing the God die cut on top. I added a few pearls to finish.

God jul {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. Guess what? Christmas is in five months. At least it is if you celebrate on the 24th. I love creating Christmas cards, and since it’s Wednesday, also known as Mo day, I couldn’t resist creating a holiday card with this Feed the birds image from Mo. I flipped it, so the girl faces right instead of left.

I printed the image on a piece of X-Press It blending card, colored it with my Copics and used a die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower to trim the rectangle down a bit. You could also use a trimmer for this. Into the panel, I die cut the words god jul using dies from Kort & Godt. The two words are actually from separate die sets, but work perfectly together like this.

I adhered my panel to a top fold card base I created from Autumn Rose cardstock from Papertrey Ink, paper pieced the counters back into place, sprinkled on Chunky White embossing enamel from Stampendous and heated the granules from the back. I should have done this before adhering my panel to the card base to spend less time with the heat gun (melting the powder through two layers of cardstock takes significantly longer than doing it through just the one layer), but I honestly forgot about it. It does work through two layers, it’s just a matter of patience.

Once my snow was in place, I die cut four layers of each of the words from black cardstock. I stacked them, added the colored one on top and puzzle pieced them in where they belonged, before adding a few Snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish the card.

Pink and dirty green. This is about as close as I (willingly) get to using red and green together on a card.

Season’s Greetings {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. I have a fun gift tag to share today, featuring a couple of images from Purple Onion Designs. Pippin and Christmas Tree are both from Shari Bresciani’s line of stamps. Pippin is from last year’s Snow Much More Fun release, while the Christmas Tree is from the It’s Snowing Cats & Dogs collection from 2021.

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 Holiday Blurbs I set from Purple Onion Designs using Gravel Gray ink from My Favorite Things, fussy cut around it and used more foam tape to add it to the tree.

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.