You are my cup of tea! {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends. I’m back today with another card featuring the adorable cuties from one of the stamp sets in the spring release from Lili of the Valley. This time I’ve used the Teacup Bunnies and actually made an interactive card.

I added a bunny to the top of the teacup stack and colored the image with Copics, before fussy cutting, leaving a thin white border around the edge. I used a black glaze pen from Sakura to add shine and a tiny bit of dimension to the bunny’s eyes, then a white dot of Gelly Roll 05 on top of the black, once the black was dry. The glaze pen dries fairly quickly once applied, so I didn’t have to wait long.

I adhered a panel of Blueberry cardstock from My Favorite Things to my white card base. Using a die in the A2 Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set, also from My Favorite Things, I die cut a piece of patterned paper from Sunny Studio to adhere on top of the blue. This patterned paper is from the Subtle Grey Tones pack, and it really is subtle.

I realized I hadn’t made any of my signature clusters in a while, and decided to pull out my die cut scraps of patterned paper and have a play. These patterned papers are from Sunny Studio (more from the subtle grey pack), Kaisercraft (light blue with dots), Papirdesign (dark blue with smaller dots) and Maja Design (pink floral), all die cut using a combination of the Happy Days Ticket Stubs die from XCut and the Fishtail Flag Frames dies from My Favorite Things. I used a mini paper doily from Doodlebug to mat my little clusters, and embellished with sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and Simon Says Stamp.

The sentiment is from the Coffee and Chocolate stamp set from hÄnglar & Wings, white heat embossed on a strip of the same color cardstock I used for the card front. I then die cut it using one of the dies in the Itty Bitty Banners die set from My Favorite Things.

The interactive element that I mentioned at the beginning of the post is actually the image. As you can see in this photo, it sits pretty high off the base. The reason for that is that it’s on an action wobble, so it’ll shake and move once you help it along a tiny bit.

Fairly simple color palette for this one.

Have a fantastic celebration {Lili of the Valley}

Hi, crafty friends! I’m sharing a very typical Elin card today. It’s what I like to call clean and simple cluster. I love creating clusters of die cut scraps of patterned paper for my cards, but I haven’t done it in a while, and thought this card was the perfect opportunity for some paper play.

I colored up Teddy with pile of presents from Lili of the Valley, sticking to a combination of mostly blue, teal and green (with a little bit of yellow). I’m a big fan of analogous color palettes, and the images from Lili of the Valley are perfect for it. There’s usually a lot of patterns in their images, and by sticking with analogous color combinations, the end result isn’t too busy. You may notice that each of the presents here only has one actual color, but I’ve gone a shade darker for the patterns (the base color in the top two presents). If I’d mixed and matched, this would look like a hot mess, but by sticking to one color, it’s more pleasing to the eye.

These clusters are pretty easy to put together. On my desk I keep a bin with die cut scraps of patterned paper. I organize these scraps by color, and put each color in a stamp storage bag. Whenever I want to create a cluster, I choose the colors that go with my card, dump the contents of the storage pockets on my desk and play. This time I used three bags; the blue, the green and the gray – it’s nice to throw a neutral into the mix. The scraps I used for this card are from a few different companies. The blue ones are from Papirdesign (the grey with the blue stars is the back of that blue with the lighter dots), the green ones are from 3ndypapir and Karen Foster, with a little bit of New Leaf cardstock from Papertrey Ink thrown in for a darker green to make the dark blue a little less dominant. The top grey one is actually from Magnolia, whereas the one with the sentiment is from DCWV. The sentiment itself is from Norsk Stempelblad, stamped in Cornflower ink from My Favorite Things. To finish off the card I added a few green enamel dots from Papirdesign.

This color palette makes me happy.

You warm my heart! {Rachelle Anne Miller Creative Studios}

Hi, everyone! I’ve been wanting to try mini slimline cards for months, ever since Taylored Expressions introduced this new size back in August. I finally took the plunge and gave it a go, using the Penguin Hug image from Rachelle Anne Miller as my focal point.

My card measures 3 1/2 x 6 1/2″. I printed the image onto X-Press It blending card and colored it with my Copics. I was planning on doing a split complementary color scheme, but went with an analogous in the end, which is never a bad idea, in my opinion. I adhered the colored panel onto a card base I made from Soft Stone card stock from Papertrey Ink, adding two layers of cardstock behind the image for added dimension.

I wanted to create a proper embellishment cluster for this card. I love making these, and this card format really gave me lots of space to play with for a cluster, using die cut scraps of patterned paper from Maja Design, StudioLight, Imaginisce and My Mind’s Eye. I printed the sentiment that comes with the image onto a separate piece of X-Press It and die cut it using a fishtail flag banner die from My Favorite Things. I also added chipboard pieces from Snip Art and a couple of pieces of mini paper doilies from Doodlebug to build all my elements onto.

It’s no secret that I love enamel dots, and the Cool Summer Night enamel dots from Altenew were the *perfect* color to match my penguin. Since I didn’t have any envelopes in the right size for this card, I created my own using patterned paper from Papirdesign and my envelope punch board from WRMK.

I love this color palette. In addition to these colors, I also used BG71, which is a color I’ve created myself.

You’re the best! {Mo’s Dream Team}

Hi, everyone!

I feel like every other day is Wednesday, and today’s another one. Time just goes by so incredibly quickly, it’s hard to keep up and keep track of the weekdays. I colored up Mona from Mo’s Digital Pencil on Saturday, that much I know. I’ve now turned her into a happy card. I diecut a panel with my image as I often do using the largest of the Stitched Rectangle STAX Set 2 dies from My Favorite Things, it’s probably the one die I use the most out of all the dies I own. I used double sided tape to glue it to a cardbase, which I made from Ocean Tides cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I haven’t made one of my cluster cards in quite some time, but I really enjoy the process of putting these clusters together, so I decided to do it for this card. It’s a great way to use some patterned paper scraps, and one of these patterned papers is actually from 2007! It’s from Autumn Leaves. Remember them? I think it’s been a while since they ceased to exist. Now, when you go to autumleaves.com, you get to a site for assisted living communities for those with dementia. It’s a Texas based company, and definitely not a maker of pretty patterned paper. The other papers I’ve used are also what we’d call old in the card making world, the yellow one is from My Mind’s Eye and was released in 2011, and the remaining two were both released in 2013, they’re from Maja Design and Inkido, respectively.

I use a couple of different dies to make these clusters, I make the banners using the Fishtail Flag Frames set from My Favorite Things, and I use the Happy Days Ticket Stubs die from Xcut for all those tickets. It’s one die that cuts nine different tickets, and I love that I get that many from one run through my diecutting machine. I mounted some of my diecut pieces on 1 mm foam tape, and glued others down using just double sided tape. Behind the whole thing I put half a mini paper doily from Doodlebug Design. I used the other half for the card I posted yesterday. On top I added a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS stamped in Ocean Tides ink from Papertrey Ink. I mounted that on foam squares, and tripled up the foam squares on the left side of the banner. Finished off with a few pink dots from Papirdesign.

I have so many tickets left over, and with this kind of cluster you don’t even use whole pieces for all of it, so I have the off cuts from some of these also. I added half a ticket in the bottom left corner, too, and glued another dot on top. And that finishes my card for today.

I leave you with the colors I used for the adorable little girl. Not too many today.

Grønne fingre {Mo’s Dream Team}

Det er onsdag i dag og min tur på Dream Team-bloggen til Mo Manning.

Today’s Wednesday, which means it’s my turn on Mo’s Dream Team blog

Mo Manning Gardener Guy Potters Bench Arild 70 front skrått liggendeFor noen uker siden fikk jeg bestilling på et bursdagskort til en mann som blir 70 år, dyrker grønnsaker og er glad i å grave i jorda. Gardener Guy og Potter’s Bench var perfekt match.

A few weeks ago, I received an order for a birthday card for a man turning 70, who grows vegetables and loves digging in the soil. Gardener Guy and Potter’s Bench were the perfect match. 

Mo Manning Gardener Guy Potters Bench Arild 70 frontSom vanlig har jeg fargelagt med Copics. Denne gangen har jeg brukt Vintage Autumn Basics-papirer fra Maja Design og også en kantdie fra Magnolia.

As usual I’ve colored my images with Copics. This time I’ve teamed them up with Vintage Autumn Basics patterned papers by Maja Design and an edge die from Magnolia. 

Mo Manning Gardener Guy Potters Bench Arild 70 front skråttJeg stanset ut bokstavene i navnet hans og tallene med dies fra Scrapmagasinet og satte det på en billett stanset ut med en Xcut-die. Jeg la noen hvite blomter og en bit twillbånd i en pose med BG75-refill blandet med vann. Da det var tørt hadde jeg bånd og blomster som matchet motivet mitt. Jeg har lagt perler fra FabScraps i midten av noen av blomstene, og jeg har også limt på grønne biter av en grenkvast fra Kort & Godt her og der rundt blomstene.

I diecut the letters in his name and the numers using dies from Scrapmagasinet and glued them to a ticket diecut using an Xcut die. I put some white flowers and a bit of twill in a bag with BG75 refill mixed with water. When dry, I had flowers and a ribbon that matched the colors in my image. I put FabScraps pearls in the centers of some of the flowers, and also glued some green bits of a Kort & Godt branch here and there around the flowers. 

Mo Manning Gardener Guy Potters Bench Arild 70 innsidePå innsidene har jeg stemplet noen poststempler langs kantene av tekstpanelene mine med Spring Rain blekk fra Papertrey Ink. Poststemplene er en blanding av Marianne Design og Basic Grey. Teksten, som er fra Norsk Stempelblad AS, er stemplet med Blueberry Sky blekk, også fra PTI.

On the insides I stamped som post stamps along the edges of my panels using Papertrey Ink Sprin Rain ink. The Post stamps are a mix of Marianne Design stamps and Basic Grey stamps. The sentiment, which is from Norsk Stempelblad AS, is stamped using Blueberry Sky ink, also from PTI. 

Mo Manning Gardener Guy Potters Bench Arild 70 baksidePå baksiden har jeg gjort det samme som inni. Kantstempling med poststempler i lyseblått, og tekst fra Norsk Stempelblad AS stemplet med en mørkere blåfarge.

I did the same on the back as on the insides. Edge stamping with post stamps in pale blue, and sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS stamped in a darker blue.