Ahoy Scene

Can't do a mermaid card without also having some pirate fun. I played with making my own water texture on simple colored cardstock with a Copic marker and a white gel pen. I think it turned out pretty good and really makes the cute Pirate stamp shine.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Mission Control: Birthday

Today's card features a super cute astronaut stamp from the Birdie Brown line. I bought this stamp set in 2017, and never got around to inking it up. My big goal in 2020 is to use as many of the stamps I already own as possible. So, I decided to use a playful starry patterned paper and pair it with a simple scene.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Sending hugs scene

As you may have noticed, there wasn't much crafty activity on the blog over the past couple of months. I had a very busy holiday season, and then I took a creative break in early January. A portion of my break was spent organizing supplies and getting ready for a creative new year. The rest was just giving myself a break after a frenzy of Christmas crafting.

I'm finally ready to slowly get back into crafting again and thought I'd make a scene card as the big comeback. This particular scene has been percolating in my brain for a little while now, and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Lotus Thanks

It's been a busy time around here, and with the holidays just around the corner, it might stay busy for a few weeks. I've been working on a few cards in my spare time, but it's just about time to get started on Christmas projects.

I've scheduled a few blog posts in advance with cards I've made but did not have a chance to share. There might not be much of a description under each card, but I'm hoping the activity will motivate me to keep sharing as we get through the winter season.

Thank you for reading!
~Elle~

Hello Books!

Getting back into the swing of things with a digital stamp today. I used a soft pastel palette and some fun doodlebug paper to bring everything together. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Rainy Day

After a busy (but relaxing!) family vacation, I'm back to sharing some projects!

For today's card, I used the Rainy Day Stamp from Hello Bluebird. I've had my eye on Hello Bluebird stamps pretty much since they launched. But since I've been on a spending freeze, I never got a chance to get any.

Since March is my birthday month and I had received a generous gift card, I did treat myself to a small crafty order that included a few Hello Bluebird stamps. I was drawn to this lovely rainy day set both for the images and the sentiments - they're just so fun and sweet!.

I kept my card very simple by pairing copic-colored images with a striped patterned paper and some gray cardstock. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

I Vike You

It's time to get some Valentine's ready, and I thought I'd start with this super fun Viking stamp from Birdie Brown. I really enjoyed coloring the Viking - from choosing the colors to getting the textures just right. I'm very happy with how the fur overcoat turned. I brought in some colored pencils to my Copic coloring to get the texture just right.

I kept the rest of the card very simple, adding a sentiment and a blended background. I used a few distress oxide inks for the blending and a hexagon die to make my mask. It's a pretty simple card, but I really like how it turned out.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Tulip Birthday

A quick birthday card share today with some tulips. I used some very quick Copic flat coloring, then added details with my Prismacolor pencils. It's a technique I enjoy, but have not done for some time. I'll have to pull out my pencils more often!

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Nurses make a difference

The Greeting Farm - Cheeky Nurse (retired), Simon Says Stamp - Stripe Greetings

I really enjoyed coloring the cheeky nurse for my previous project, so I thought I'd ink her up again and make another encouraging card. As with the other card, I combined a neutral color (grey) with a pop of white and red. I kept the layout very simple, as it highlights the stamp better.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

CAS - Ruby

The Greeting Farm - Ruby (retired), Hero Arts - Written in the Stars (retired)

A very clean-and-simple quick card for today. I used a cute retro stamp called Ruby and a hand-sketched border around the card to add a bit of whimsy.

Thanks for taking a look~
~Elle~

Gimme Coffee

 Simon Says Stamp - Coffee and Tea stamp

I drink coffee-  not too much, only a cup in the morning and a cup in the evening. But it's enough to make appreciate this amazing drink and to agree with the sentiment on today's card. With enough coffee, anything IS possible - including a mad crafty dash to compensate for life putting a full stop to crafting. I've had a very difficult and busy week, but I still managed to stay true to my goal of making and sharing a card every day in 2018. Coffee helped. A lot. :)

Thanks for reading.
~Elle~ 

(SCS) Play Hard

This is the final and my personal favorite card for the Fun & Games theme from August 2016. When I think of fun and games, the first thing that pops into my head is video games. As a child (and later a teen), I spent *many* hours glued to the TV, trying to finish one more level or beat just one more boss. I still love playing video games - and I'm still just as passionate about it as I was as a child.

I wanted to illustrate this passion and joy, so I grabbed my Copics to create a unique background. I layered several shades together to create a fiery backdrop that lets the controller shine.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

SOG - Sorceress and Ghost

Day 3 of Some Odd Girl release brings us an adorable Sorceress in Training, and an equally cute masked Ghost.

One of my favorite things about Some Odd Girl stamps is how fun they look when they're colored in bright shades. They take on a whimsical cartoon-y look and they feel like they could pop straight off the page and into a children's movie or book. And this adorable sorceress is no exception! With her wide-eyed look of amazement, she was just perfect to color in with purples, pinks, yellows and teal.

For my background, I wanted to go with something fun and abstract, and that's where my huge stash of patterned paper came in handy. I found this mixed media background and loved how it made the sorceress pop.

I added a sentiment from Fairy Magic and a little chipboard heart.

The second digi released today is a cute little masked ghost. I love the idea of one creature being costumed as another, so this double-costume ghost is just adorable!

Since I kept the coloring monochromatic, I found a fun ghost paper to pair it with and added a bit of orange vellum to bring in more color. My sentiment was spelled out of whimsical foam alpha stickers, and I popped up the ghost on some foam squares.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

SOG - Shark & Dino

Shark Cat is another fab digi that was suggested to Kristy and everything about it is perfect - from the annoyed look on the poor cat's face to the floppy fins and teeth on the shark costume. If you haven't seen the glorious shark cat videos, you ought to. Sittin' on a roomba, this awesome cat is a force to be reckoned with!

I didn't have a roomba for my card, but I did have the fabulous sentiment from Steampunk Kaylee that seemed to fit just perfectly. A lime ribbon, a doodad and some enamel dots got it all wrapped up.

T-Rex Dog digi is another new release and a perfect companion to our costumed feline. My favorite part of this stamp is the little paws. So cute!

For this card, I played with stripes and some sparkly sequins. I picked my sentiment from a die and a sticker - don't they go so well together?

Be sure to check Some Odd Girl's blog for more amazing inspiration!

Thanks for reading.
~Elle~

Stash Kit - KKS Love Bug!

Just a couple of posts ago, I shared my September Stash Kit- where I chose a selection of supplies to use for cards throughout the month. I've taken a couple of weeks to make some cards, and now it's time to start sharing them!

For today's card, I used Let the Good Times Roll stamp set from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps. I also used the sketch that was provided for the month of August.

To make my card a bit more interesting, I angled the patterned paper and die-cut it with a stitched rectangle die. I think this added a bit of extra interest to the background and kept it from looking too straight.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Welcome Fox

I still had the Woodland Cuties stamp set out on my desk, so I decided to whip up another card. This time, I went with a baby card, as I didn't have any of them left in my card stash. I stamped the fox out and colored it in bright oranges with my Copics, then carefully cut it out with a pair of sharp scissors. This particular set has a matching die set as well, but I did not pick it up - so, fussy cutting was needed.

I made a cute little front panel using the scalloped rectangle from Tag Builder Blueprints 3 and a banner for my sentiment from Blueprints 20. I adhered the sentiment strip to the bottom of the rectangle and layered the fox over it.

For my background, I chose the purple and orange plaid paper from Plaid Patterns 6x6. The addition of purple complemented great with the orange and really made the little fox pop. I tied on the rest of the colors with a few enamel dots. I didn't try to match the colors perfectly, just using what I had on hand.

I added everything to a top-folding A2-sized card (4¼x5½") made from purple cardstock.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

(New) Gnome Town

I think we've saved the best for the last, with the incredible Gnome Town stamp from Some Odd Girl!

Now, a big stamp might be intimidating, but Gnome Town is so charming that I jumped straight into coloring. I used only Copics and tried my hand at some reflective lighting to complement my night-time scene.

Since the stamp was so large and detailed, I simply adhered it to a wood-grain patterned paper. I decided not to add any sentiments or embellishments to not detract from the awesome image.

See how the rest of the Odd Girls used this stamp on Some Odd Girl's Blog!
~Elle~

(SSS) Purple Florals

Today's card features a lovely stamp called Friendship Blooms. It features some lovely flowers along with great sentiments. For this card, I just used the flowers and leaves. Friendship Blooms also has a matching die set, but I didn't pick it up (I just fussy-cut my images).

I wanted to go with an unexpected palette, so I colored the flowers in shades of purple. I used a bright green for the leaves and added a few highlights with a white gel pen. I adhered the flowers to a piece of white cardstock that was die-cut into a circle and matted with a purple scalloped circle.

I kept the background of the card neutral, adding a strip of bright chartreuse leaf pattern to a simple gray paper. I happened to have the sentiment from Mama Elephant's Carried Away set on my desk, so I adhered it to the card.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Copic 101 - Which colors to buy?

One of the questions I see most often when it comes to Copics is what colors to start with -- what are the must-have colors, and what else is absolutely necessary for starting out with Copics. And it's a really tough question to answer because it depends on a lot of things -- what's being colored, whether you prefer a bright palette or a more subdued one, whether you have other coloring supplies, and so on.

But Copics have 358 colors and it's pretty overwhelming to go through all the colors and decide which ones work best. One of the things I usually recommend is keeping track of color combos that other artists and crafters use (Pintrest is great for this), but that can take quite a long time and some of you might want to jump into coloring sooner.

So, I'm going to share a list of 50 Copic marker colors and go over some possible uses for the colors. I tried to build a list that lets you build several palettes - ex. taking a pink and adding it to the reds for a lighter red combo, etc. - in addition to the basic 3-color palette. So, if you just want to get a yellow, you can go with a 3 yellow marker choice and build your collection by color type.

My list was built around coloring cute people and critters, with a few colors for backgrounds. I love bright, saturated colors, so that's what my palettes are composed of. If you're looking into coloring nature or more realistic images, you'll want to tweak the list and substitute some of the brighter tones with more natural colors.

Note that these are colors that I use most often and that it's not an absolute must-have list. I like having a lot of contrast between my colors and I don't work too hard on blending them together absolutely perfectly. I tend to work in 3s (light, medium, dark) and color relatively quickly.

You can make beautiful things with fewer colors or with completely different marker combinations. So, do continue to experiment and find colors that will best work for you. :)

-E (Earth colors- browns)-
Skin tones: E00, E11, E13, E15
With these colors, you can build a light skin tone (E00, E11, E13) or a darker skin tone (E11, E13, E15). You can also use the darker colors for environment such as wood.

E50, E53, E33, E57, E59, E79
These colors cover the blond (E50, E53, E33, E57) and brown (E33, E57, E59, E79) hairstyles. They can also be used for environments like sand (E53, E33, E13) or for clothing and fur (ex. cream color E50, E53; medium brown E57, E59, etc).

-R (reds/pinks)-
Pink: R11, R20, R22
This is a light and bright pink palette that can also be added to the skin tones for blush or used as a gentle baby girl color.

Red: R08, R46, R59
This is a bright and true red palette that's very vibrant. You can tone down this palette by adding a gray undertone.

-RV (pinks)-
RV11, RV34, RV66
This is a darker pink and works great for floral images or combined with a cooler palette.

-V (violets)-
V12, V06, V17
This is my go-to combination for purple, so I actually haven't got many more Violet markers beyond that.

-BV (blue violets)-
BV11, BV13, BV17
These colors give a much more desaturated/blue tone, but they also work great to add extra dimension to your shading or to use as a blue undertone for dark/black hair.

- Y (yellows)-
Y11, Y15, Y35
This is also my standard yellow palette. I prefer my yellows to be warm, so these colors are more on the orange side and work great with the YR markers.

-YR (orange)-
YR21, YR14, YR68
I don't use orange a whole lot, but it's useful to have a few colors that you can add into your other palettes. YR21, for example, can be used with pinks to add a peachy undertone. Or you can use E15 with YR68 for a darker orange.

- YG (yellow greens)-
YG13, YG17, YG67
These are mainly grassy greens and what I gravitate toward with green. I don't use green too often, so I mainly stick to things that help with environments (ex. folliage, grass,etc).

- G (greens)-
G21, G46, G29
These are darker pine greens that work well for environments especially.

-BG (blue greens)-
BG11, BG32, BG49
This is a good aqua/teal combination. You can also use BG11 to do subtle shading on white - it brings extra depth and makes white look whiter (ex. snow).

- B (blues)-
Light: B00, B02, B05
I use these colors a lot, especially for sky and water. They are bright and saturated, so they fit in great with other bright combinations. I also use this for baby boy colors.
Dark: B41, B45, B37
This is a darker combination you might want to use with clothing like jeans. I also use B41 and B45 on white clothing to add extra depth.

-W (warm greys)-
W2, W4, W6, W8
You can use these for coloring light gray (ex. elephant W2, W4, W6) or a darker color that's closer to black (W4, W6, W8). The warmth of these can also be comforting if it's used on sympathy cards.

Grays are especially great to start with because you can use them to practice shading and as an undertone for other colors. So, if you're missing a rich red, you can color your image in gray and add a bright red over the top (see here). If your budget only allows for a few colors at a time, start with the grays and then add middle colors of each 3-marker set on the list. This will let you build up your shading, but still have more than just a monochromatic look.


And there you have it. I hope this list is helpful to some of you out there.
Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Snuggly thanks

Today is a snuggle-with-blankets-and-a-cup-of-coffee kind of day, and what better way to illustrate it than with The Greeting Farm's Snuddle Anya? How about being thankful for it with a cute thanks die?

With this card, I did something a little different -- I used patterned paper as an accents instead of having it be a background. It was fun and it makes the card look different and unexpected. I chose to go with a rainbow stripe and dug into my scraps pile for a simple stripe.

I also added a few signature enamel dots to bring out the colors I used on Anya.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~