Cast a spell {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends. It’s the time of year when all the ghosts come out to play, and as such, I’m sharing a fun Halloween card today, featuring the adorable Cast a Spell image from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Pei.

I stamped the image near the bottom center of a panel of X-Press It blending card using Extreme Black ink from MFT, which is a Copic safe hybrid ink. I colored the image and created a spooky silhouette background which fades from black in the distance to green as you get closer to the front of the image.

I masked off the scene and put a moon mask from an old Simon Says Stamp Stamptember collaboration with Tim Holtz into the top right corner, before I went in with Copics and an airbrush to create the sky. I used three colors of blue, trying to make it a bit lighter near the moon and darker further away. I took off the moon mask, masked the sky and airbrushed into the circle opening using E40 for a very pale moon. I then added the detail mask for the moon and airbrushed the openings with T1, which is a very light grey that I also used for the mouse. Once all the coloring was complete, I removed all the masks, added a bit of black glaze pen to their eyes and stamped a sentiment at the bottom using Obsidian ink from Altenew, before trimming the panel down a little and adhering it to a card base I created from Black cardstock from Concord & 9th  to finish.

I used quite a few markers for this. The ones after the gap are the ones I used for the airbrushing of the moon and sky.

Warm & cozy wishes {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! I know I haven’t posted in a while, but what better way to coax me out of hibernation than a brand new release from Purple Onion Designs? The Autumn Greetings collection, illustrated by Pei, is a small one. It consists of six images with coordinating sentiment, but they’re all so cute. Very fall vibe, there’s some Halloween in there and even a Thanksgiving image. I had to start with the Warm & Cozy Cocoa Wishes, it was too cute not to.

I colored the image with Copics onto X-Press It blending card and fussy cut it right up against the black lines. From another piece of X-Press It, I die cut the postcard shape using the Postcard combo die set from Mama Elephant. I used Peachy Glow ink from Altenew to ink blend across the panel, giving it a vintage feel. I then went in with a stencil from the mini stencil set 3 from Tim Holtz and added the splatter texture using Classic Kraft ink from Papertrey Ink along with a blending brush. In some areas, I added ink with the blender brush without using the stencil.

I stamped the leaves from the Tofu & Friends Autumn Greetings stamp (also new in this release) on a scrap piece of X-Press It, colored in the leaves and used another die in the Postcard combo die set to turn it into a postage stamp. I used the same Peachy Glow color to ink blend on the postage stamp. I pulled out a couple of additional panels of X-Press It and colored the edges with Copics, one with a blue marker and one with a red. I die cut both with yet another die in the Postcard combo die set, turned one upside down and adhered them together on top of another ink blended panel that I adhered to a top fold landscape card base. I stamped the coordinating sentiment using Dark Chocolate ink from Papertrey Ink and used one of the stamps in the Vintage PostCARD Set from Purple Onion to cancel the postage stamp. I added a bit of black glaze pen to the eyes of the bunny, but decided not to embellish further.

Fairly limited color palette for this one.

For a limited time, you can purchase the entire bundle of the Autumn Greetings collection for $40, which is a 25% discount off the full price. If you want the bundle, you’ll have to be quick, though – the offer ends October 10, 2025.

Happy holidays {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another card with an adorable image from the recent Lili of the Valley release. This time I’ve used the penguin in the Christmas Mugs stamp set. There’s also a Santa, snowman and reindeer in the stamp set, but I couldn’t not choose the penguin.

I colored my penguin mug with Copics and fussy cut the image right up against the black stamped lines. This image doesn’t have a whole lot of the whispy, perpendicular lines that are so characteristic of Lili of the Valley images, which was the reason I opted not to include a white trim around the edges. There are 3 or 4 lines at the top of his head that I had to cut off, but I was okay with that. I stamped some snowflakes onto a card base using Spring Rain ink from Papertrey Ink. The snowflakes are from an old Tim Holtz stamp set. I mounted the mug on foam tape near the bottom right of the card.

I die cut a few snowflakes using a couple of die sets from Memory Box. The one at the top, that is partially hidden behind the penguin and speech bubble is from the Stitched Let It Snow Circle Frame die set. The die set comes with a stitched snowflake circle frame and three individual snowflake dies. The snowflakes with the stitching detail are from the Twilight Snowflakes die set. I added some blue diamonds from Kort & Godt to the mug, as well as a heart from the Festivities mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I stamped a couple of sentiments from the Holiday messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Lazy Days ink from My Favorite Things and die cut them into speech bubbles using the Say Anything die set from My Favorite Things. I stacked a couple of additional white die cuts behind the speech bubbles for dimension.

Simple color palette for this one, and I realize now that I forgot to jot down the blue Copics I used for this, but I believe they are B93, B91 and B90, which is a color I’ve made myself.

This week is Designer Week at Lili of the Valley! This means you can save 20% on any item on www.liliofthevalley.co.uk by using the coupon code ELINVENGE20 – so Happy Shopping! The offer lasts from October 10th until October 17th. I hope you are inspired by all my LOTV makes!

Happy birthday {Mo’s Digital Pencil}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with one of those cards I make once in a blue moon, which happens to be a type of card I used to make all the time back in the day (I realize I’m making myself sound really old by saying that). It’s a 6×6″ card, but still not square.

The card was made on order for a superintendent turning 60. I was told he likes wine, good food, sunny, warm weather and enjoying life and was given free reign to do as I pleased. Mr. Fixit from Mo Manning seemed like the perfect choice for an image to color.

I rarely use patterned papers on my cards anymore, and certainly not pieces this big, but I love the XXL Square Frames Frilly #10 die set from GoKreate, the dies in the set are perfect for creating shaped cards. I use two 12×12″ sheets of patterned paper to make one of these cards, and this time I used the Drivers License patterned paper from the Denim & Friends collection as well as the Tough but sweet sheet from the Denim & Girls collection, both from Maja Design. I can cut two of the larger shapes and two of the smaller shapes from one sheet, so the insides of the card are reverse.

I colored the image in colors that went with the patterned paper, adding a bit of red to catch the eye and writing the words on his t shirt with a black Copic friendly pen. I thought the pun would tick the “loves wine” box.

I used foam tape to add the smaller shape to the larger one, and also to add the die cut circle to the smaller shape. I stamped postmarks from various cities in the world using Memento Rich Cocoa ink to add a little bit of interest to the circle and the panel behind it. I figure if the guy loves warm, sunny weather, he probably also loves to travel, there’s not a whole lot of warm days in Oslo over the course of a year.

I added some metal embellishments from Tim Holtz in a bit of a cluster near the bottom left “corner”, as well as his age, die cut and put on a 1″ circle with an epoxy sticker on top for a bit of added dimension.

I hid a die cut tag behind my image. I used to do this all the time, and it’s a fun way to add a sentiment without having to find space for it on the front of the card. The sentiment is from the Til mannen stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS. The dies I used for the tag and reinforcer are old ones from Magnolia. I tied a bow from twill onto the tag, and some cutlery charms to the twill bow using natural twine from May Arts. I thought the cutlery was perfect for a food lover, I have so many treasures in my stash that I forget about until I go looking for something to use.

The inside of the card are pretty simple. The same patterned paper as the front, only with the reverse size. I used more of the postmark stamps from Marianne Design, as well as a sentiment from the Gratulerer stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS. There’s plenty of space for a personal message on the second circle, which only has the postmark stamps on the edges.

The back of the card is also simple. Another sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS, this time it’s the B03 stamp set. I love their stamp sets and use them more than any other of my Norwegian sentiment stamps. They’re hard to get your hands on because the company is no longer in business, but they’re the best sentiments out there.

Simple color palette.

Enjoy the traditions of the season {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, crafty friends! Guess what? I have another holiday card to share, this time featuring the train and train tracks from the I’ll Be Home for Christmas collection illustrated by Stacey Yacula for Purple Onion Designs.

As soon as I saw this train, I immediately thought of the movie The Polar Express, which happens to be my favorite animated Christmas movie. I colored my train in similar colors to the one in the movie, and I put a mask on top when my coloring was done and airbrushed the sky, moon and glow coming from the headlight.

My best friend and I have a tradition where we sit down and watch this movie every year, and I thought the sentiment from the Home for the Holidays sentiment set was the perfect one to add to this card.

The sentiment is actually one long line, but I did some masking to create a staggered one, which I thought fit my card better. I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark ink and heat embossed it in white using Super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger.

I created the moon by first masking off a circle as I airbrushed the sky, then I used the moon mask that was part of the Tim Holtz/Simon Says Stamp collaboration set for Stamptember 2021 to create my moon.

Once I’d created my moon I covered the circle opening again with VersaMark ink and sprinkled on Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder from Judikins, which I then melted. It gives the moon a nice sparkly glow. I thought that would be a nice detail to add to what is otherwise a very simple card. I adhered the colored scene to a white top fold card base and decided not to embellish, I wanted the image to be the focal point on this card.

Lots of Copics for this one. The ones after the white gap are the ones I used to airbrush the sky, moon and the glow from the headlight.

Bøø {Streamside Studios}

Hi! We’ve got a fun spook-tacular Instagram hop happening today for Streamside Studios, but I thought I’d share my project here as well.

This cute vampire is from the My Little Pet Ghost stamp set. There’s also a witch in the same set that I used for a similar treat bag, which you can read all about in this blog post. For today’s treat bag, I colored the vampire with Copics, fussy cut him and added him onto my treat bag using 1 mm foam squares for a tiny bit of dimension. On the treat bag itself, I used a mini layering stencil from Tim Holtz along with Eiffel Tower ink from My Favorite Things to create the brick pattern on the front. On the inside, I glued a piece of patterned paper from My Favorite Things to get a little more orange in there. I colored some white letter stickers from Papirdesign with Copics (E08, YR07 and Y38 for an ombré look) and adhered the letters next to my little vampire. I created a hole near the top with the smallest die in the Labels Trio set from Spellbinders, added some orange ribbon and tied a bow around it using Black Licorice Divine Twine from Whisker Graphics.

I colored this vampire on the same day that I colored the witch, and I used the exact same colors.

You are sweet {Mo’s Dream Team}

Hi! Today I have a sweet card (pun intended) to share featuring one of the kids from the 3 on a bench stamp set from Mo Manning. There are two options in the store: you can by the merged stamp with 3 kids sitting on a bench or opt for the separated version, which has the bench and each of the kids as 4 separate image files. I used the latter for my card today, and chose to use just the girl eating the watermelon and the bench.

Mo Manning 3 on a bench watermelon front rett

I colored the girl with my Copics and fussy cut her. I put her to the side while I worked on the rest of my card.

Mo Manning 3 on a bench watermelon front skrått

I wanted to repeat the blue from the image in my card, and found a scrap of Fancy Pants patterned paper that was already cut down to fit the front of an A2 card. It’s a beautiful blue, and it has a little bit more interest to it than card stock, without distracting too much from the image.

Mo Manning 3 on a bench watermelon flatlay rett

I used the cloud die in the slim card basics die set from Mama Elephant to create my clouds. The die was long enough that I only had to die cut it once, and cut my finished cloud border into two pieces that are both 4 1/4″ wide. I mounted them to the bottom of my card with 1 mm foam squares for both layers, creating a little bit of depth and dimension in my card, and also an anchor point for the remaining elements. I even stamped part of a background stamp from Tim Holtz on the left half using Spring Rain ink from Papertrey Ink, which is a very light blue ink. Again, it adds a little interest to the background without being too distracting.

Mo Manning 3 on a bench watermelon flatlay skrått

I put 1 mm foam squares on the back of the little girl and adhered her near the left edge of my card. I think she’s so cute with that big slice of watermelon!

Mo Manning 3 on a bench watermelon flatlay detalj

I used the Parker alphabet die set from Memory Box to die cut the letters to spell “sweet” six times from Red Hot heavyweight card stock from My Favorite Things. I glued them together for a stacked look and adhered the word to my cloud. I stamped and white heat embossed the words “you are” from the Courageous You stamp set from Altenew on a scrap piece of that blue patterned paper, cut the words apart and adhered them to the card using clear foam tape from KoolTak. Those little word strips are so small, I thought clear would be best. I added a couple of light blue enamel dots from Papirdesign to finish.

Mo Manning 3 on a bench watermelon Copics

Not a whole lot of colors used for this one. I also used B90, which is a color I’ve made myself.

Are you sure you’re a year older? {Mo’s Dream Team}

Hi, there! It’s Wednesday again, and you know what that means. Time for another Mo Manning creation around here. This time, I’ve kind of gone back to my roots, but not really. It’s a layered card, which used to be the norm for me, but the image is fussy cut, which most certainly has never been my signature.

Mo Manning Mr Fixit Morten 50 front

I received an order for a 50th birthday card for an electrician. The card needed to be “messy”, which is kind of difficult for me. My usual style is pared back and very simple, I just don’t have enough elements on my cards to be able to make a mess of any kind. Thus going back to my roots of using lots of patterned paper. I colored up Mr. Fixit in my favorite colors and fussy cut him.

Mo Manning Mr Fixit motiv

I had to go looking for inspiration online. The last “old style” card I made was in June of last year, which means I’m rusty. I found a card I liked and used it as a guide to create this one, which is actually an A7 card (5×7″). I dug through my patterned papers, both 12×12″ sheets and scraps, and found a few from Papirdesign, Maja Design and a small scrap from My Mind’s Eye that I used to die cut the gears and numbers. I arranged all the elements on my card, some using foam tape and others adhered straight down, and wound up with this. I used old dies from Sizzix for the gears, forcing me to pull my BigShot out of retirement for a few minutes. Those dies are too thick for my Gemini Jr., which is the machine I use for nearly all my die cutting. The last time I used my BigShot was over two years ago, so there’s a reason it’s retired in the closet. I added a piece of Snip Art chipboard and a film strip piece from Tim Holtz for a little bit of added interest and something that wasn’t just made of paper.

Mo Manning Mr Fixit Morten 50 innside

On the inside, I adhered left over pieces of the gears, just to use it all, and stamped a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Dark Indigo ink from Papertrey Ink. There’s plenty of room on the right for a personal message, this is a side fold card (another anomaly from me, I prefer top fold).

Mo Manning Mr Fixit Morten 50 bakside

On the back of the card, I repeated a lot of the elements that I used on the front. The tag dies I used are from My Favorite Things, and I used my recently acquired personal stamp from Create a Smile on one of the die cut tags, stamped in Dark Indigo ink.

Mo Manning Mr Fixit Morten 50 Copics

Not a lot of Copics used for this one, I mostly stuck to blues.

Winter wishes on your birthday {Purple Onion Designs}

Hi, everyone! It’s the coldest time of year. The sun’s out, but the high pressure makes it even colder. I’m staying warm by not venturing out too much to actually FEEL the cold, but creating cards in the comfort of my craft room. I have a wintery birthday card to share today, using a couple of stamps from Purple Onion Designs.

I stamped Birch using Memento Rich Cocoa ink and colored him with my Copics, before doing some fussy cutting. I knew I was going to have the blue polaroid frame behind him, so I did my best to leave a slim white border around him. I don’t know about you, but when I fussy cut, I find it much easier to cut right up against the line than to leave a white border. I even prefer the look of fussy cutting against the edge, but for him to stand out against the blue behind him, I needed that white. I actually used a pencil to trace around the bunny before cutting, so I didn’t accidentally cut off too much white or create an uneven trim.

I used one of the Precious Polaroids dies from My Favorite Things, as well as a wishes die from Mama Elephant. I die cut both four times from Blue Yonder card stock from My Favorite Things and stacked them for a dimensional look. Directly onto the card base, I used a blender brush from Taylored Expressions with Classic Kraft ink from Papertrey Ink over a Tim Holtz mini layering stencil to create some interest in the background. I stamped selected words from two sentiments from the Warming Winter Thoughts stamp set from Purple Onion Designs using Papertrey Ink Blueberry Sky ink, and turned them into strips using my Cut-align ruler from Misti. That’s my favorite tool for creating perfect little sentiment strips. I glued an additional three layers of card stock strips behind each of the stamped strips, and glued them all on to the front of the card at various angles, to create a full sentence sentiment along with the stacked die cut, which is also adhered at a bit of an angle for a playful look. I finished with a couple of enamel dots from Papirdesign.

I’m woefully short on envelopes to fit A2 cards, and definitely didn’t have any blue, kraft or white ones to go with my card, so I pulled out my A2 V Flap Envelope dies from Simon Says Stamp and created one using scraps of patterned paper from Papirdesign. Blue with snowflakes, can you get any better for a blue, wintery birthday card?

Very limited color palette this time, but it’s no wonder given the size of the image. I also used B90 for the hat, which is a color I’ve made myself.

Kjære pappa {Ett trykk}

Det er den andre søndagen i november, og det betyr farsdag i Norge. I fjorårets oktobernummer hadde vi en artikkel med fokus på farsdagskort. Likevel var det ikke helt vanlige kort, de åpnes nemlig på en litt annen måte enn vanlige kort. Man tar et ark kartong i lettersize og skjærer diagonalt, før man preger og bretter på 4 1/4″ på kortsiden og 5 1/2″ på langsiden. Her er min variant.

Jeg har brukt mørkeblå kartong fra Papertrey Ink (fargen heter Enchanted Evening) som kortbasen min, og lagd et lag på lag-kort som jeg likevel syns er ganske maskulint.

Jeg har blandet ark fra mange forskjellige serier fra flere produsenter på dette kortet. Her er Skolestart-serien til Papirdesign (arket med linjer i bakgrunnen og også det som ser ut som betong), Julehilsen fra samme produsent (trevirke), Kaffepause (det sennepsgule med sikksakk), også fra Papirdesign, Pipeline fra Fancy Pants (det blå mønsterarket) og til slutt Maja Design (bilen).

Arkene er limt litt småstrukturer, men likevel hulter til bulter, både rett oppå hverandre og med 3D-puter i forskjellige høyder for dimensjon. Det krevde litt planlegging, for all pynten måtte være limt fast i den ene halvdelen av kortet for at det skulle kunne åpnes. Jeg valgte den høyre halvdelen, og venstresiden av diagonalen har dermed ingen mønsterark, annet enn linjearket helt bakerst. Jeg har også limt magneter under et par av mønsterarkene, så kortet skal kunne lukkes ordentlig.

I tillegg til mønsterark brukte jeg noen andre elementer for å myke opp uttrykket litt. Jeg brukte en hullmønsterdie fra Papirdesign på en bit kartong og brukte biter av den her og der på kortet. Jeg stanset også ut en stor stjerne i kartong med en Spellbindersdie for å rydde opp litt, så ikke kortet så så rotete ut med alle mønsterarkbitene. Stjernen gjør også at bilen kommer bedre frem, og den er også en fin plass til å lime på glassrøret fra Tim Holtz med NSB-tekst stemplet inni med samme farge som kartongen.

Jeg brukte også noen chipboardbiter fra Snip Art som jeg dyttet inn her og der og limte på plass, og også noen finérstjerner fra Studio Calico. En liten bit blå sytråd fra Mölnlycke myker opp enda litt mer, og jeg blandet blekkfargen med litt vann og sprutet over kortet for å få det enda litt mindre rigid.

Siden kartongen er så mørk valgte jeg å bruke et mønsterark til skrivefelt inni kortet. Her stemplet jeg noen stjerner fra Stampers Anonymous med samme blekkfarge som jeg har brukt ellers, og den ene stjernen nede til høyre er andregenerasjonsstemplet for et litt dusere uttrykk. Jeg limte også på en bit av hullmønsteret mitt for en siste lille finish. Her syns også at arkene på kortets forside kun er limt på trekantpanelet til høyre.