Lawn Fawn: Whale Love

I found just enough time to make one last card for the year! And, of course, I just had to use the super adorable Lawn Fawn mini stamp set Whale You Be Mine. This cute mini set also has matching dies, which I used to cut out the whales and the dotted water spouts.

I started by stamping the whales and the spouts in Steel Blue hybrid ink. This ink is a soft gray color, and I thought it matched up great with the other colors I chose for the card. Once the whales were stamped out, I colored them with Copics, using just a couple of colors for each of them. I went with a cool gray and peachy pink, and added just a touch of color to the water spouts too. I die-cut them with their matching dies and set them aside.

While I had my Bigshot out, I grabbed the smaller of the Stitched Party Banners dies and die-cut a 4x6 journaling card that happened to have the perfect teal stripes. I also cut a circle from a piece of patterned paper that had a subtle wave pattern. I tied a piece of pale pink satin ribbon around the top of the stitched banner.

For the card base, I created a standard top-folding A2 card base (4 1/4 by 5 1/2") out of medium grey cardstock. I matted it with a piece of patterned paper (measuring 4 x 5 1/4")from Let's Polka petite paper pad. I adhered all the elements using a combination of foam tape and standard adhesive.

For the sentiment, I cut a piece of white cardstock to measure 3/4 by 3 1/2" and stamped the sentiment from Whale You Be Mine in the same steel blue ink. I adhered it to the bottom of the card.

As a last touch, I grabbed a small dark pink heard I'd cut for a previous card and adhered it just over the whales.

Supplies:
Lawn Fawn - Whale You Be Mine stamp set
Lawn Fawn - Whale You Be Mine dies
Lawn Fawn - Stitched Party Banners dies
Lawn Fawn - Let's Polka Petite 6x6 patterned paper pad
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Steel Blue
Simon Says Stamp Heavyweight Cardstock in Smoke Grey
Stampin' Up Project Life - Everyday Adventure 4x6 journaling card
Pink Ribbon, 3/8", satin
Copics (C2, C4, R11, R85, 0)
3M Double-sided Foam Tape
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)
Pink heart

2014- Some Highlights

As the year draws to a close, I thought I'd take the opportunity and reflect on some of my creative endeavors, as well as highlight a few projects I loved. But before I begin, let me just say that it was outright impossible to pick my top favorite cards. I love (nearly) every card I create, and there are just too many of them to put in one post. So, I chose just a few that caught my eye...

Let's start with this card:

You can read the details of this card here, but it's one of the cards I had tremendous fun creating. Not only did it have a fabulous concept (patterned paper sea), but it ended up winning a challenge and a free stamp set. The theme is nautical -- something I am constantly drawn to, especially when it has stripes and fresh colors.

Next is this card:

This was my first experience as a guest with a design team, and it was really enlightening. I got to see some of the planning that goes into releases and DT work, and it's very interesting - echoing a bit to my work, where so much is done behind the scenes that most people aren't truly aware of the effort that goes into it. I now have a new-found appreciation for the amount of work that's put into all of those DT samples - especially when they're made to look completely effortless.

Then, this card:

This was the first card I made with myself in mind. I normally make cards based on what I think the recipient would enjoy, or with a specific color/technique/etc in mind. So, this card is different because it has my own aesthetics and preferences in mind -- the retro feel and the stamp style are all me, and no one else.

And, lastly, this card:

Read about it here. This is one of my most-pinned cards, and a really great one at that. This is one of the cards that started my Stamp Trio challenge and really helped me focus on what I wanted to do in terms of cards. As cards go, it's got some of my very favorite elements (polka dots, Copic coloring, cute stamp and ribbon), and I still think it's fabulous 6 months later.



So, there you have it! A few of my cards from 2014, and also my 200th blog post. It was near impossible to choose just a few cards to highlight, and I hope you'll take a stroll through the blog to see some of my other creations.

Here's to a great new year and many more creative sparks! :D

Monster Love

 Jumping back into that perfect creative zone was a little more challenging than I thought it would be. Although I've focused almost entirely on work, holidays and family over the past few weeks, I had so many creative ideas brewing in the corners of my brain. I thought that getting back into card-making was going to be a breeze, and then I sat down to create...

It felt a little bit like sitting on a bicycle after not riding for years. In theory, you know how to ride, but there's that initial wobble and tipping that makes you second-guess your ability. And that's exactly how it was with cards. Those brilliant ideas were still there and I've still got all of my skill and mastery of different techniques. Yet, I kept second-guessing every creative decision and over-analyzing everything from placement to stamp choice, color combination and more.

This eventually led to me hating the cards so much that I threw two of them straight into the trash bin and started over. The card you see above is my third attempt, and one I'm much happier with. Why do I mention all of this? All too often, we get hit by creative blocks, with being too harsh with ourselves and with feeling that other people seem to just have it together all the time. Then to top it off, we feel like we're the only ones to feel this way. Well, I want to be candid and say that I struggled with this card and that it took extra work to create something I liked. And that's just the reality that happens to all of us. Sometimes cards come easy, other times we just can't seem to pull it together. The important thing is to keep trying and creating until we create something we are happy with. :)

Now onto this card, itself...

I started by creating a standard A2 card base (4 1/4 by 5 1/2) out of Navy cardstock.

I cut a piece of Fog cardstock to measure 4 by 5 1/4". I grabbed the coordinating Fog ink and inked up Wide Stripes background stamp. This gave a subtle tone-on-tone background to the front panel. Simon Says Stamp dye ink is the same formula as the Hero Arts shadow inks - where it will initially stamp splotchy, but even out over time as the ink soaks into the cardstock. So, I set the panel aside to dry and got to work on the rest of the card.

I stamped the adorable big-eyed monster from Monster Hugs and stamped him onto some marker paper. I wanted the monster to look really subtle, so I used the Steel Blue hybrid ink. I quickly colored him in with my Copics, using only one or two colors to show some minimal shading. Although this stamp set has coordinating dies, I did not purchase them, so I cut the monster out using a sharp pair of scissors.

I wanted to add some color, so I die-cut a stitched flag shape out of a Kaisercraft Sprinkles journaling card. While I had my Bigshot out, I also cut a stitched circle out of Mint cardstock, the word "love" and a small heart out of cotton candy cardstock and a slightly larger heart out of doll pink cardstock.

I adhered all the elements using a combination of my standard adhesive and foam squares.

As a last touch, I added a few white enamel dots around the front.

Since the theme of this card is Love, I'm entering it in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Work It challenge.

Supplies:
Simon Says Stamp - Monster Hugs stamp set
Mama Elephant - Type It dies
Simon Says Stamp - Large Holiday Shapes dies
My Favorite Things - Stitched Flag STAX and Stitched Circle STAX dies
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Steel Blue
Simon Says Stamp Dye Inkpad in Fog
Simon Says Stamp Heavyweight Cardstock in Soft Navy, Fog, Mint, Cotton Candy and Doll Pink
Copics (E33, E17, C2, C4, R20, BG18)
Kaisercraft Sprinkles 4x6 Journaling Cards
My Mind's Eye Charmed enamel dots (white)
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam squares
Tombow Craft Adhesive Runner (pink)
EK Success Honey Bee scissors

Party Dress Gwen

Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope you all had a really wonderful time this holiday season, and got a chance to celebrate and enjoy your family and friends. My holiday season was rather busy this year, but things are finally slowing down enough for me to get back into the crafty groove.

For this card, I grabbed Some Odd Girl's Party Girl Gwen stamp set. I stamped Gwen in chocolate brown hybrid ink, and colored her in with my Copics. I went for a purple and peach color combination for her dress, and then added a few polka-dots with a white gel pen.I also gave her eyes a subtle hint of make-up with the BV11 and BV13 Copics.

After Gwen was colored in, I carefully cut around her with a pair of scissors and set her aside to work on the rest of the card.

I tend to almost always use a standard A2 (4 1/4 by 5 1/2") card size, so I thought I'd ho with something slightly different this time around and I cut a piece of Cashmere cardstock to measure 4 1/4 by 8 1/2" - which folded into a square 4 1/2 by 4 1/2" card. This cardstock has a slightly peachy undertone, which went perfectly with the rest of the tones on the card.

I used Bo Bunny's Modern Miss patterned paper for the background. I chose a dark wood-grain as a matting piece, and the lovely orange/red gradient with subtle glow elements as the main background. I adhered the patterned paper to the card front, then adhered Gwen with foam squares.

Lastly, I scattered a few rhinestones and pearls around the card to finish everything off.

Supplies:
Some Odd Girl - Party Girl Gwen stamp 
MFT Hybrid Inkpad in Chocolate Brown
WPlus9 Cashmere Cardstock
Bo Bunny Modern Miss 6x6 patterned paper
Bo Bunny Double-Dot Jewels in Citrus
Stampin' Up Pearls
Copics (E00, E11, E13, E15, R20, V12, V06, V17, BG32, BG18, E23, E57, E59, E79, YR82, Y38, E33, R22, R32, R24, BV11, BV13)
Sakura Gellyroll white gel pen
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares

Beanie Ian - Merriest Christmas

I'm still in the midst of my so-busy-it-hurts time, but I did recently sneak a tiny opportunity to do a little Copic coloring and make a quick card out of it. This card is going to be making its way to a special teacher, along with a small box of chocolate truffles.

I started by stamping The Greeting Farm's exclusive Beanie Ian stamp onto some Copic marker paper, using chocolate brown ink. I colored him in with Copic, going for a mix of classic Christmas colors (red, white, green) and adding a touch of frosty blue. After he was colored in, I added a few details with a white gel pen and carefully cut around him using sharp scissors.

For the card base, I grabbed one of Lawn Fawn's Navy Notecards. What's great about these notecards is that they're a 4-bar size -which is smaller than your standard card, and makes it easier to whip something up quick. And (this is my favorite part) you can use a journaling card to quickly add in a patterned paper background. This means less measuring, less cutting and making good use of the mountains of journaling cards I seem to have accumulated.

I used one of the cards from the Kaisercraft Peppermint Swirl 3x4 journaling card pack, and adhered it straight onto the base. I added Ian on some foam squares.

For the sentiment, I used the Simon Says Stamp Holiday Labels stamp set. This is a slightly older set, but it was new to me this year and I thought it had several fun shapes and sentiments. I used several ink colors to stamp the hexagon border, the sentiment and the little heart. Holiday Labels has a set of coordinating dies, but since the shape is so simple, I just cut it out with my scissors.

I added some silver cord behind the hexagon, all bunched up in a messy way, then adhered the panel to the card front. Lastly, I added 3 enamel dots to the bottom left corner.

Supplies:
The Greeting Farm - Beanie Ian stamp
Simon Says Stamp - Holiday Labels stamp
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink - Chocolate Brown
Stampin' Up Classic Inkpad - Marina Mist and Baked Brown Sugar
Hero Arts Shadow Ink - Soft Cantaloupe
Copic Mini Marker Pad in 70lbs
Lawn Fawn Notecards - Navy
Kaisercraft 3x4 Journaling Cards - Peppermint Swirl
Copic Sketch markers
Studio Calico Enamel Dots - Blues

Update and crafty chat

You may have noticed that there haven't been very many cards lately. And I'm very sorry about that! I've been very busy at work, and it's left me with virtually no time for anything else. I have one more week to go, and then I get a week off to spend time with my family. I'm hoping to go back to a semblance of a regular posting schedule after that.

Even though I haven't done anything particularly crafty lately, I've still been in a bit of a "craft" mindset/mode. So, I did some more planning out on what I'd like to do after the holidays. I actually got this big elaborate plan in my notebook about what to do on a week per week basis, and a ton of fun and exciting new series. I don't know whether I'll be able to keep up with it all, but it was fun to plan.

I've also bought a few supplies to try out new techniques. I got some stencils and some texture paste, and I'm curious to see the kind of thing I can make with them. During the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, I also got some Tombow markers and some Peerless Watercolor sheets. So, I'm very excited to play more with watercolor.

I've started organizing my patterned paper towers. I just love patterned paper, and I have collected a huge variety of it now - something for every occasion. However, I often find myself "saving" the favorites and not using them. But, as I remind myself, they were bought to be used not to collect dust in a closet. So, I'm going to make an effort to create extra things with patterned paper. And maybe get away from only using it as a 4 x 5 1/4" mat.

Lastly, I'm going to be starting a personal challenge for the next year. It will be a 100-card challenge based on a list of words (some of the words are concepts or ideas, others are objects and colors). I'll post the list of words and the details of the challenge very soon. I hope you'll join me. :)

SSS-Flickr Challenge 7

Another quick card post from me. I'm still in the thick of the chaos of the holidays, work and other life things, so I have not had much time to get crafty.

I happened to notice the new Simon Says Stamp Flickr challenge #7 was about stencils, and I've been really itching to try some of the new goodies I got from them. So, I put together this wintery thank-you card.

I used Medium Dot stencil and some Broken China distress ink to create a dotty background on the front panel. I also used Ring Frame wafer die and some cardstock to create a colorful card front.

The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp's Greetings and Succulents stamp set.

Lastly, I added a few sparkling clear sequins to a few of the rings.

Supplies:
Simon Says Stamp Medium Dot stencil
Simon Says Stamp Ring Frame wafer die
Simon Says Stamp Greetings and Succulents
Simon Says Stamp heavyweight cardstock in Sea Glass, Smoke and Soft Navy
Neenah Desert Storm Environmental cardstock in 100#lbs
Neenah Solar White cardstock in 80#lbs
Ranger Distress inkpad in Broken China
Tsukineko Versafine ink in Onyx Black
Pretty Pink Posh Clear Sparkling sequins in 4mm and 6mm
Ranger Studio Multi-Matte glue
3M Double-sided Foam Tape

Winter Bunny

 The last few days have been a total blur. Between holidays and work, I've had absolutely no free time to do anything other than eat and sleep. And things are about to get even more busy! *insert panic mode*

I've also been slacking a bit on sharing some of my cards mainly because I just don't have the time for my usual write up of the process, supply links and so on. So, I'm doing a much quicker version this time around - and hopefully you'll forgive me for not talking you through step-by-step.

This card features the adorable bunny from Lawn Fawn, as well as some great paper, background scene builders and sentiment. I had fun coloring the bunny with my Copics and adding stitched snowflakes as a decoration.

Supplies:
Lawn Fawn Winter Bunny stamp and die
Lawn Fawn Beanie 12x12 patterned paper
Lawn Fawn Snow Day stamp
Lawn Fawn Joy to the Woods stamp
Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes dies
Mama Elephant Type It dies
Avery Elle Heavyweight cardstock in Truffle
Stampin' Up Inkpads in Pear Pizzaz, Soft Sky, Pool Party, Crumb Cake
Stampin' Up cardstock in Pool Party
MFT Hybrid Inkpad in Chocolate Brown
Copics
adhesive
button

Birdie Brown - Cool Day

Today's card features some Copics and a wonderful new stamp set by Birdie Brown called Cool Day. As some of you know, I love seeing Torico's work, and I've bought pretty much every stamp set that MFT has released in the Birdie Brown line. Cool Day is no exception! It's a very fun set with adorable illustrations, and I just had to make a card with it.

I started by stamping the ice-bank and the bear. I tried something a little different and stamped the ice-bank in navy blue, and the bear in chocolate brown. I then colored them in with Copics. I was inspired a lot by this card that Torico shared on the MFT blog during the launch countdown. I loved the idea of a striped sweater and how cozy it looked. Once both were colored in, I got to work on the background.

The sea was colored as my standard water - with some white gel pen to add in extra details. For the top, I just drew in a bunch of circles in varying sizes. I used a light and a medium color and alternated between them. I think it made for a really interesting background.

After the coloring was done, I matted the image with a piece of chocolate brown cardstock. I grabbed one of the teal papers from American Crafts' Holiday 6x6 and die-cut a scalloped border with MFT's Blueprints 14 die and glued it to the left side of the bear panel. While I had my Bigshot out, I also cut a piece of chocolate brown cardstock into a scalloped rectangle and a piece of red patterned paper into a stitched rectangle using Mama Elephant's Femme Frames die.

I adhered all the elements together onto a standard A2 card base made out of speckled cardstock. I used a combination of adhesive and foam tape.

As a last touch, I added 3 sparkly sequins.

Since this fun holiday card fits in with Simon's Work It Wednesday challenge, I'm entering it. :)

Supplies:
MFT Birdie Brown - Cool Day stamp set
MFT Hybrid Ink in Nightshift Blue and Chocolate Brown
Copic Mini Marker pad 70#lbs
Copics (W2, W4, R20, R08, R46, R59, B00, B32, B34, B18, C1, C4, BG11, BG32, BG72, BG49, G24, G67)
American Crafts Holiday 6x6 patterned paper
Stampin' Up Cardstock in Chocolate Chip
Avery Elle Heavyweight cardstock in Speckled
MFT Blueprints 14
Mama Elephant Femme Frames
Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins in 4mm and 6mm
Ranger Studio Multi-Matte glue
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)
3M double-sided foam tape

Holiday Anya 3 - Merry

Since I've already made two cards with Holiday Anya (one and four), I decided I ought to complete the set and create a card with Holiday Anya #3. Since I'm using one of Simon's wonderful dies on the card, I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Flickr challenge #6. Challenge 6 is all about dies, and this card uses plenty of them. :)

I started by stamping Anya in brown hybrid ink and coloring her in with my Copics. There wasn't anything very special about my coloring this time around, though I did go through a few shades until I got her hair colored in a way I liked. I added some sparkly details with a white gel pen on the skirt, and added some Wink of Stella to the star in her hair.

For this card, I wanted to go with some more unusual Christmas colors - such as teal and pink. So, I grabbed the Candy Cane Lane from Bo Bunny. This is a fabulous pack with lots of soft colors, subtle texture and bright images. I grabbed 3 different papers from the pack, then die-cut them with my Bigshot and a variety of dies. While I had my bigshot out, I also cut out a "Merry" sentiment from Simon Says Stamp's Merry Christmas dies.

I layered all the panels together, using my standard adhesive. Then I added Anya on foam squares, then glued on the delicate "Merry" sentiment with Tombow glue.

The card was still missing something, so I added 3 flowers from Prima's Insight: Epiphany pack.

Supplies:
The Greeting Farm Holiday Anya #3 stamp
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Chocolate Brown
Zig Wink of Stella in clear
Copics (E00, E11, E13, E15, R20, Y35, Y38, YR27, E35, E37, E29, R08, R46, R59, B00, B02, B05, B32, C2, C4)
Bo Bunny Candy Cane Lane 6x6 patterned paper
Mama Elephant Femme Frames dies
Mama Elephant Type It dies
My Favorite Things Blueprints 13 die
Simon Says Stamp Merry Christmas craft die
Tombow Mono-multi liquid glue
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive (pink)
Prima Flowers Insight: Epiphany flower pack
Scrapbook Adhesive 3D foam squares

Crafty Thoughts and Goals: Update #2

It's been almost a month since my last crafty goal update, so I figured I should do another one. I've had some challenges, and took the time to revisit and revise some of my goals.

What's working:

- Notepad for sketches, ideas, color combos and card layouts.
 This is working fabulously, and I wish I'd thought of it sooner. Aside from having one central place for my random ideas, it's also been a great place to write down measurements for boxes (and I'm planning on making several boxes to go with the card sets).

- Making Christmas card sets to give away in a few weeks.
I've always only made one-of-a-kind sort of cards, and often taking quite a long time with fancy things like Copic coloring, watercolor and other elaborate techniques. But one-of-a-kind cards were not an option as a gift this year. So, I've found myself making sets where multiple cards have the same layout/stamp/sentiment, etc. And it's been really great! I've started to appreciate some of the simpler things like die-cutting and stamping - things I might have otherwise taken for granted.

- Prismacolor pencils.
I really wish I'd gotten them sooner! They're wonderful to work with and I'm really enjoying coloring with them. I was using your average colored pencil before, and it didn't give the best of results. It was a bit like the difference between using 99c Crayola markers and using Copics. Having a higher-quality pencil set made a huge difference.

What's not working:

- Basket with project for next time I make a card.
 Now, this idea sounded just perfect in theory. It sounded like it would streamline my process and make it so cards come together faster. Except, in practice, it sort of fell flat. I either completely ignored the basket and made what I felt inspired to make. Or I sat to make the project from the basket and hit creative blocks. Plus, there's that slightly obsessive-compulsive part of me that was irritated with all the supplies not being in their place... So, I think I'm going to have to tweak the project basket idea until I find something that works.

- Spending Freeze.
 As in, I've broken it not once, but several times now. The first time was when I saw that MFT was having a major sale and that they were retiring some of the stamps on my lengthy "to-get" list. So, of course, I went totally crazy and bought so many things that I have nowhere to store them anymore. And then I had to make another order because I couldn't resist the new Birdie Brown stamps. Which, in turn, led to another order of some must-have stamps from other companies and I ended up blowing through another ridiculously high figure. The month's not even over yet! *sigh*

New/Updated Goals:

- Sharing more cards created with older stamps.
 One of the things I always find a little frustrating - and hopefully I'm not the only one - is when I see a great stamp only to find out that it's unavailable (whether it's because it's retired or because the company went out of business). So, for quite some time now, I've mainly shared cards that had stamps I could link to. However, this meant that I also had to pretty much always share only the newest stamps and my older stamps sat there collecting dust. And the thing is... a lot of those "older" or retired stamps were actually new to me. I never even got a chance to make something with them before finding out they were retired.

 The other thing that I realized is that there's this fear that if I don't use the latest stuff, I will never get noticed. Which, after thinking about it, is kind of silly. I had to remind myself (several times) that I'm not making cards to get noticed. It's always thrilling when it does happen, mind you, and I am extremely grateful to every person and/or company that's taken the time to let me know what they think of my creations. But card-making is my personal journey into creativity and art. It's helping me feel connected with those parts of myself that like to color, and tinker, and make things. It's not a job, not an obligation or a chore. It's plain fun, and I should take a moment every now and then to appreciate that.

So, I'm going to push myself to make what I feel like making and worry less about whether I can link to it or not. I've learned from the Concept Trio challenge that you can create an amazing card whether you use the best and newest or a much, much older set.

- Exercise/Workout + Crafting = Awesome!
One of my other goals is to get into shape. My current job is a work-from-home kind of job, and usually involves a lot of sitting at the computer - and it's especially bad when I have large-scale projects that require a lot of time and attention. Combine that with my general home-body tendencies and you've got a lady that's completely out of shape.

I've been trying to do the whole regular exercise thing for a while now, but it always ends up going off-track. Kind of like that spending freeze...

But my husband had this brilliant idea of combining exercise with buying crafting supplies. Basically, for every minute of exercising, I would "earn" some money to spend on crafty supplies. It's completely guilt-free and giving me a chance to tackle two of my goals at once. Since I'm so out of shape, I'm sure my initial budget will be really tiny -- that means being careful about spending and saving up for things like new releases and sales. But if I keep it up, the budget will get much bigger.

It'll probably sound silly to most, but I'm pretty excited about it. It won't hurt to try, in any case.

- Create a patterned paper challenge for myself.
I have veritable TOWERS of patterned paper. And since I'm always drawn to paper, I keep finding new must-have sets that I can't resist buying. But the towers of paper are starting to look mighty dangerous, so I need to start using up paper - and fast!

I want to create a challenge that would use up paper pads, but at the same time not turn into a "make this one card with 50 different papers" kind of deal. That sounds like it would be a chore rather than fun, so I'm going to put on my thinking cap and try to think of a good challenge.


And that's it for my as-always-super-lengthy update. Next time, there will be less talking and more card sharing. In the meantime, I leave you with this super quick card sketch I made while trying to figure out if I should make sketches on paper or on the computer:

Paper won out in the end. So, this might be the only digital sketch I share. But feel free to use the layout or the color combination (or both!)

Merry Snowflakes

As I've mentioned previously, I'm making a few sets of cards to give away as a gift to family, and I'm splitting it into 3 funny cards, 3 cute cards and 3 classic cards. Today's card is in the classic category, and it's a simple card that uses silver embossing to make an impact.

I wanted to make a card with a cool palette, but also off-set it with something a little warmer. So, I started by creating my card base from Simon Says Stamp's Khaki cardstock.  I cut the sheet of cardstock in half, and scored it to create a top-folding A2 card (4 1/4 by 5 1/2"). I set that aside and got to work on the rest of the card.

I cut a panel of light blue cardstock to measure 3 3/4 by 5", and a piece of navy cardstock to measure 3 1/2 by 4 3/4". I wanted to have the navy panel on dimensionals, so I cut an inch off in the middle of the panel to leave room for my sentiment.

After prepping the navy cardstock with an embossing magic bag, I stamped several different snowflakes from Simon Says Stamp's Lots of Snowflakes stamp set in Versamark ink. I then coated the paper generously with Simon Says Stamp's Silver fine detail embossing powder and heated it with my heat-gun until it melted.

I adhered the navy panels to the light blue panel temporarily as a placement guide, then stamped the sentiment from Presents and Ornaments in Cobalt archival ink. I adhered the light blue panel to the card base with my standard adhesive, then added the two navy panels on foam tape.

Lastly, I added a few clear sparkling sequins.

Supplies:
Simon Says Stamp Lots of Snowflakes stamp set
Simon Says Stamp Presents and Ornaments stamp set
Simon Says Stamp heavyweight cardstock in Khaki
Versamark embossing inkpad
Simon Says Stamp fine detail embossing powder in Silver
Staimpin' Up cardstock in Pool Party and Night of Navy
Ranger Archival Ink in Cobalt
Tombow Mono Dot Adhesive Runner
3M Double-Sided Foam Tape
Pretty Pink Posh Clear Sparkling sequins in 4mm and 6mm

Super Secret Stamp Club: Lavender

In my crafty closet, I have a box. I call it my lost treasures box, and it has a little bit of everything in it - from die-cuts to embellishments, paper scraps and more. Many things find their way into my lost treasures box, so it's a beautifully, magically, very messy treasure box. This box is where I put things I've found on my floor, things I decided not to use on a card and things I couldn't resist sneaking into my cart in the crafty aisles of department stores.

Why do I mention this box? Because this is where I found all the embellishments for my card. And because they were in my messy box, I can't link to the products. Hopefully that's alright... Now onto the card!

Today's card uses the 2nd stamp in TGF's Super Secret Stamp Club -- the very lovely Lavender. Like Sage, she is an adorable girl with a cute skull bow. After stamping Lavender onto some white cardstock, I used my brand new Prismacolor pencils to color her in. I then carefully fussy-cut her out, leaving a small white border.

Since Lavender has a bit of Gothic feel to her, I decided to make the card base from black cardstock. I created a standard A2 card base (4 1/4 by 5 1/2"). I then pulled out my Bigshot and diecut a piece of Gorjuss patterned paper with MFT's Blueprints 13. I cut out a smaller purple panel with MFT's Blueprints 5.

I used a couple of distress inks around the edges of the purple panel to help it stand out a bit better. I adhered the blue panel to the card base with my standard adhesive, then adhered the purple panel with foam squares. I adhered Lavender to the right side of the purple panel with my standard adhesive.

Lastly, I grabbed a bunch of goodies from my lost treasures box and adhered them to the card.

Also, o-m-gosh! This card was featured on the TGF spot blogpost. I'm beyond thrilled and thankful!! :D

Supplies:
The Greeting Farm - Lavender (Secret Stamp Club) stamp
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Black Licorice
Prismacolor Premier softcore colored pencils
Simon Says Stamp Cardstock in black
Neenah Solar White in 80#lbs
DoCrafts Gorjuss patterned paper 6x6
My Favorite Things Die Namics Blueprints 13 and Blueprints 5
Bigshot
Tombow Mono Dot Adhesive runner
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares

Yeti - I Believe In You

Recently, I got a big set of Prismacolor pencils. I've had a small set for a few weeks now, and really enjoyed coloring with them. So, after seeing that the big set was on sale, I jumped at the opportunity and got it. And, of course, I had to immediately break it in by coloring something fun.

I chose to color Some Odd Girl's Yeti stamp. This stamp features an adorable yeti and several sentiments. I figured fur texture should prove to be a great challenge for my pencils, and I have to say that I'm extremely pleased with the results. The coloring was fantastic -- just as enjoyable as working with Copics, and now I have another great coloring medium I can use for stamps (yay!).

After coloring in the stamp, I carefully fussy-cut around him, leaving a small white border and got to work on the rest of the card. I found a couple of wonderful scraps from Fancy Pants Blissful Blizzard, which I used for last year's Christmas cards. I cut the tree paper into a rectangle measuring 4 by 5 1/4". I then cut out some hills from the blue paisley paper - just free-hand cutting with a pair of scissors.

I wanted the paper to stand out a little better, so I went around the edges with a mini foam tool and some distress ink.

I created a standard A2 card base out of some speckled cardstock (4 1/4 by 5 1/2"). I adhered the tree paper and one of the hills straight to the base with my standard adhesive. I layered the second hill with some foam squares. The yeti stood out too much, so I quickly went around some of the edges with the blending tool and distress ink. I adhered the yeti with a combination of dot adhesive and foam squares.

For the sentiment, I stamped it in black onto some white cardstock. I cut it down to size, leaving one end angled. I adhered it straight to the top paisley panel.

Lastly, I added a few enamel dots.

Supplies:
Some Odd Girl Yeti stamp set
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Black Licorice
Fancy Pants Blissfull Blizzard 6x6
Avery Elle Heavyweight Cardstock in Speckled
Tombow Mono Dot Adhesive Runner
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares
Prismacolor Pencils (72ct)
Ranger Distress Inks in Salty Ocean and Tea Dye
My Mind's Eye Essentials Enamel Dots in Black & Grey

Santa 'stache

I mentioned previously that I really wanted to make a set of cards for a few friends and family members as an early Christmas gift. But I could not decide what kind of cards to make. Do I go with classic designs that can be given to anyone? Or cute designs with adorable critters and sweet patterns? Or do I throw caution to the wind completely and make some funny/amusing ones?

After a much-too-long-and-agonizing internal debate, I decided that I just couldn't settle for one type. So, I'm doing them all! Each gift set will have 3 classic, 3 cute and 3 funny cards, plus 1 unique one-of-a-kind card that's a bit more complex than the other ones. It will be a little extra work, but not so much that I'll stress over and not finish.

I decided to first make the funny cards, and I grabbed the brand new Tis The Season stamp set from Ellen Hutson. This set has several great iconic images and funny sentiments, and it came packaged in a stamp storage pocket- how cool is that?!

I started by creating my card base out of Kraft cardstock by trimming and scoring half a sheet into a standard A2 card base (4 1/4 by 5 1/2"). I then grabbed a background stamp from Impression Obsession called Dotted Argyle.

I first stamped the background in Tsukineko's VersaCraft White Pigment ink. I bought the white pigment ink fairly recently because the only other white ink I have is Hero Arts Unicorn White - which has fantastic coverage, but it takes ages and ages to dry. Since VersaCraft promised that it would dry quicker, I figured I'd give it a try. But after stamping with it, it didn't show up very well on the cardstock.

So, I inked up the background once again, this time in Avery Elle's Cherry pigment ink. I stamped the card front again, making sure that it was offset a little from the white stamp. I think it created a very unique and subtle effect.

I cut a scalloped circle out of green cardstock, then a smaller plain circle out of white cardstock. I stamped the funny Santa face from Tis The Season onto the white circle, and quickly colored him in with my Prismacolor pencils. I adhered the two circles together, then added it to the card front with foam squares.

I created a sentiment panel by matting a piece of white cardstock onto some patterned paper. I stamped the sentiment in navy blue, and adhered it to the card base with foam squares.

Supplies:
Ellen Hutson LLC Tis The Season stamp set
Impression Obsession Dotted Argyle background stamp
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black and Cobalt Blue
Tsukineko Versacraft White pigment Ink
Avery Elle Cherry pigment ink
Sizzix Framelits in Circle and Scalloped Circle
Prismacolor Pencils
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam squares
Tombow Mono Dot Adhesive runner (pink)
Neenah Desert Storm environmental cardstock in 100#lbs
Simon Says Stamp cardstock in Green Leaf
Neenah Solar White cardstock in 80#lbs

Santa's List

This small card was something I created quickly as a template for a possible card set. It features a fantastic Santa stamp from Birdie Brown's Jingle All the Way stamp set. I kept the card simple so it could be easily reproduced.

I started by stamping the Santa from Jingle All the Way onto some Copic marker paper. I colored him in with my Copics, then carefully cut around him.

For the base, I used one of the pre-made card bases from Penny Black's petites pack, which measure 4 3/4 by 3 5/8". This makes them the perfect size to use a 3x4 journaling card with. I grabbed another fun journaling card from Kaisercraft's Peppermint Swirl pack.

I had some copic marker paper left over from the Santa, so I cut them into 2 snowbanks. I colored the in with Copics, and adhered them to the bottom of the card. I added the Santa over it.

For the sentiment, I chose Clearly Besotted's All Occasion Sentiments stamp. I stamped it onto a banner flag I'd previously die-cut. I trimmed it down and adhered it to the card. Since it wasn't standing out quite as well as I wanted it to, I quickly drew a small gray shadow around the edges.

As a last touch, I added a few enamel dots. And voila! Simple card done. :)

Supplies:
My Favorite Things - Birdie Brown Jingle All the Way stamp
Clearly Besotted All Occasion Sentiments stamp
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Black Licorice
My Favorite Things Pierced Fishtail banner STAX
Copic Mini Marker Pad 70lbs
Penny Black Petites in Berrylicious
Kasiercraft Peppermint Swirl 3x4 journaling cards
Tombow Mono Dot Adhesive runner
Studio Calico White and Gray enamel dots
Copics (E00, E11, E13, R20, B000, B00, B32, BG10, C2, C4, BV25, BV29, R08, R46, R59)

Snowman Blessings

Simon Says Stamp Flickr group has launched another challenge. This time, the challenge was to use embossing - whether it be embossing powders, folders or paste. I don't own any embossing paste, but I do have a small variety of embossing folders and some fun embossing powders.

I couldn't decide whether to use an embossing folder or embossing powders, so I decided to use both!

I started by cutting a piece of latte layering paper to measure 4 by 5 1/4". I put it inside a Swiss Dot embossing folder and ran it through my Bigshot. While I had my Bigshot out, I also die-cut a scalloped circle out of navy cardstock and a smaller plain circle out of this white Doodlebug Sprinkles vellum.

I grabbed the Winter Friends stamp set and stamped the adorable snowman in brown hybrid ink. I colored him in with my Copics, keeping the coloring very simple. This stamp set does have coordinating dies, but I don't own them, so I cut carefully around the snowman - leaving a small white border.

I found a scrap 1" wide piece of patterned paper in my stash, and decided to use it as my sentiment panel. After wiping it down with my embossing powder bag, I grabbed the Christmas Blessings sentiment from Simon Says Stamp's Peace on Earth stamp set. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink, then coated it with white embossing powder. After melting the powder with my heat-gun, I trimmed the sentiment panel and cut it at an angle.

I created a standard A2 card base (4 1/4 by 5 1/2") out of Dark Chocolate cardstock. I adhered the latte panel straight to the cardstock, then layered the scalloped circle, the vellum circle and the sentiment to the card front with foam squares. I added the snowman, also on foam squares.

It felt like the card was missing something, so I pulled out my Bigshot and die-cut a small snowflake using Maryanne Snowflake die out of Sea Glass cardstock. I adhered it to the scalloped circle corner and added a small white enamel dot in the center.

Supplies:
Simon Says Stamp (with Clearly Besotted) Winter Friends stamp set
Simon Says Stamp Peace on Earth stamp set
Simon Says Stamp Maryanne Snowflake die
Tsukineko Versamark inkpad
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Chocolate Brown
Inkadinkado Magic Embossing Powder Bag
Hero Arts White Embossing Powder
Simon Says Stamp Heavyweight Cardstock in Dark Chocolate and Sea Glass
Avery Elle Heavy Cardstock in Sapphire
Hero Arts Layering Paper in Latte
Provocraft Cuttlebug A2 Swiss Dot Embossing Folder
Doodlebug Lily White 12x12 Sprinkles Vellum
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)
My Mind's Eye Essentials Black & White enamel dots
Copics

Holiday Anya #4

Today's card features another Holiday Anya -- this time, it's Holiday Anya #4, which was just released this year.

I started by stamping Anya onto some Copic Marker paper with Chocolate Brown hybrid ink. I colored her in with my Copics, and added a few small highlights with a white gel pen. I carefully cut her out with a pair of sharp scissors and set her aside while I worked on the rest of the card.

I created a standard top-folding A2 card base (4 1/4 by 5 1/2") out of kraft cardstock. I grabbed my paper trimmer and cut two panels - one out of brown cardstock and a smaller out of white cardstock. I matted the white cardstock to the brown. I had a thin strip of brown cardstock left over, so I layered it onto the white panel for a bit of extra interest.

I decided to use this set of journaling cards from Kaisercraft as a patterned background. To make it a bit more complex, I also die-cut a stitched scalloped border out of a scrap of red patterned paper and adhered it to the card.

For the sentiment, I cut a 1" strip of white cardstock and stamped Merry Christmas from Simon Says Stamp's Holiday Hellos. I adhered it straight to the top of the journaling card. I added Anya with foam squares.

Lastly, I adhered a few white and brown enamel dots.

Supplies:
The Greeting Farm Holiday Anya 4 stamp
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in chocolate brown
Copic Mini Marker Pad 70#lbs
Neenah Desert Storm Environmental Cardstock in100#lbs
Neenah Solar White cardstock in 80#lbs
Stampin' Up Cardstock in Chocolate Chip
Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Borders I dies
Kaisercraft Peppermint Swirl Captured Moments 3x4 journaling cards
My Mind's Eye Enamel Dots (brown, white)
Copics

Baby's First Christmas

Today's card features a really fabulous digital stamp from Mo Manning called First Christmas. If you're not a fan of digital stamps, Mo also has several of her designs in cling rubber stamps available through Penny Black and through Stamping Bella.

This card is the first in a set I will be giving to my sister-in-law for Christmas. My nephew was born right around Christmas last year. And while it's technically not his very first holiday, it's the first one that will have gifts and treats he can open himself. So, I thought I'd celebrate the occasion with a couple of Christmas-themed baby cards.

After printing out the cute baby stamp, I cut it into a rectangle and colored in with my Copics. Since the image has a wonderful sketchy feeling, I did very little blending on the colors. I colored a simple gray floor to add a bit of shadow, then matted the image onto some red cardstock.

The rest of the card was kept very simple. I cut a panel of patterned paper from Gingerbread Village pad to measure 4 x 2". I also cut a piece of brown cardstock to measure 4 x 5 1/4". I adhered the patterned paper to the bottom of the chocolate cardstock, then added a line of red and white polkadot ribbon.

After adhering the panel to a standard top folding A2 card base, I attached the stamp panel with foam squares. As a last touch, I scattered several sparkling clear sequins around the baby.

Supplies:
Mo Manning First Christmas digital stamp
Copics (E00, E11, E13, R20, B000, B00, B02, B05, B37, R08, R46, R89, Y11, Y38, G67, W2, W4)
Simon Says Stamp cardstock in Lipstick Red
Neenah Desert Storm Environmental Cardstock in 100#lbs
Stampin' Up Cardstock in Chocolate Chip
Webster's Pages Gingerbread Village 8x8 patterned paper
Red grosgrain ribbon with white polkadots
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive runner (pink)
Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins in 4mm and 6mm
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam squares
Ranger Multi-Medium Matte glue

Coffee Holiday

Today's card is a simple card, as I'm hoping to make a set of them for a family member. The card features Lawn Fawn's Love You A Latte stamp set.

I started by creating the card base out of red cardstock. I trimmed and scored the base into a standard top-folding A2 card base (4 1/4 by 5 1/2"). While I had my trimmer out, I also cut a piece of brown cardstock to be slightly smaller than the base (4 by 5 1/4"), and a piece of latte layering paper to measure 3 3/4 by 5". I also grabbed Lawn Fawn's Snow Day Petite paper pad and cut a piece of snowflake paper to measure 3 3/4 by 2 1/2".

I grabbed my Bigshot and die-cut a circle out of white cardstock and a scalloped circle out of brown cardstock. I stamped a cup and plate from Love You A Latte in brown hybrid ink and quickly colored them in with my Copics. I also stamped the sentiment in brown ink. I adhered the two scalloped circles together and set them aside.

I wanted to make my own background paper, so I stamped the coffee bean all over the latte paper. I made sure some of the beans were stamped off the edge, too.

I assembled the card by adhering the panels with my standard adhesive. I added the scalloped circle with foam squares. Lastly, I adhered one of the adorable Snow Day flair to the corner of the card.

Supplies:
Lawn Fawn Love You A Latte stamp set
Lawn Fawn Snow Day Petite 6x6 paper pad
Lawn Fawn Snow Day Flair
Copics (R11, RV42, R85, B00, B02, B32, V12)
Simon Says Stamp cardstock in Lipstick Red
Hero Arts Latte Layering papers 8 1/2 x 11"
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Chocolate Brown
Stampin' Up Classic Inkpad in Soft Suede
Stampin' Up Cardstock in Chocolate Chip
Stampin' Up Dimensionals foam squares
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive (pink)

Holiday Card #1

As I mentioned in a previous entry, I'm starting Holiday/Christmas cards. Some of the cards will be sets I'll give away to friends and family, others will be one-of-a-kind cards that will go with gifts.

For this first card, I decided to make something that would fit in nicely with the latest Simon Says Stamp Flickr group challenge #4 - which is to use watercolors. It's a bit of a last-minute entry, but it took me a while to decide exactly what I wanted to do.

Since the theme for this week's Wednesday Challenge at Simon Says Stamp is anything goes, I'm adding this card there too.

I started by stamping and Copic coloring The Greeting Farm's Holiday Anya stamp. I used brown hybrid ink to stamp her, which softened her look and made the colors look warmer. There isn't anything particularly different I did with the coloring, though I have to say I'm very happy with how the fuzzy fur turned out. After she was colored in, I cut around her carefully and set her aside to work on the rest of the card.

For my watercolor piece, I used some distress inks - in Salty Ocean, Dusty Concord and Chipped Sapphire. I smooshed the inks onto my craft sheet and added some water with a spritzer. I made sure the colors blended well together and weren't too splotchy. Once the panel was completely dry, I die-cut it into a rounded rectangle with Blueprints 5 dies.

I created the white frame to go around the watercolor piece by partially die-cutting the rectangle I used for the watercolor piece. I left the bottom of the panel uncut, so I could use Simon Says Stamp's Village dies to create a little scene. I die-cut one of the buildings and the trees at the bottom of the white frame, and used a craft knife to finish cutting the frame.

The card base I chose is a simple kraft standard A2 base (4 1/4 by 5 1/2"), and I chose a piece of patterned paper from Kaisercraft's North Pole paper pad. Since the paper had lovely embossed silver snowflakes on it, I decided to bring more of this silver sparkle to the framed panel.

After prepping the sky with my embossing bag, I used Versamark to stamp a great swirly stars stamp from the new Card kit set - Be Joyful. I heat-embossed the image with Simon Says Stamp's silver detail embossing powder.

I adhered the elements together to the card base, using a combination of dot adhesive and foam tape. As a last touch, I added a couple of white enamel dots to the bottom right of the panel, and scattered a few Simon Says Stamp Crystal Reflections sequins around the silver stars.

Supplies:
The Greeting Farm Holiday Anya stamp
Simon Says Stamp Be Joyful stamp
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Chocolate brown
Tsukineko Versamark ink
Simon Says Stamp Silver Fine Detail embossing powder
Inkadinkado Embossing Magic Powder bag
My Favorite Things Blueprints 5 dies
Simon Says Stamp Village dies
Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor cardstock
Neenah Desert Storm Environmental cardstock in 100#lbs
Neenah Solar White cardstock in 80#lbs
Ranger Distress Inkpads in Salty Ocean, Dusty Concord and Chipped Sapphire
Kaisercraft North Pole 6.5x6.5 paper pad
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive (pink)
3M Double-sided foam tape
My Mind's Eye Charmed enamel dots
Simon Says Stamp Crystal Reflections sequins
Ranger Studio Multi-Matte glue
Copics: Skin (E00, E11, E13, E15, R20, R22, 0), Hair (YR23, E35, E37, E29), Dress (R08, R46, R59, R89, B000, B00, BR2, 0, Y11, Y38), Leaves (YG23, YG67, YG99)

SOG- Cowboy Adventure

This is my last card as Some Odd Girl's guest designer. It's been an incredible experience, and I enjoyed every second of it. Each card was a blast to create, and this card is no exception.

For this card, I chose the brand new Cowboy Kody digital stamp, along with the Pirate Kaylee digital stamp. I love how the two of them fit together and made for one adventurous duo. It reminded me of Indiana Jones movies (and yes, I was humming the theme as I colored...)

Read more about the card here.

Supplies:
Some Odd Girl Cowboy Kody and Pirate Kaylee digital stamps
Copics
7 Gypsies Maritime 8x8 patterned paper
Kaisercraft Madame Boutique 6.5x6.5 patterned paper
Freckled Fawn Rustic enamel dots

SOG Retro Hello

Later this week, I will be jumping into Christmas cards. I want to gift a few card sets to family, and a couple of them I'll only get a chance to see at Thanksgiving. So, that means I've got just one month to finish those sets - and it's a month that's going to be extremely busy at work.

Since this will have me in "busy-must-create" mode, I wanted to take a little time and make a card just for fun. No special occasion, no specific theme. Just fun. I went with a slightly retro card, something bright and cheerful.

For this card, I'm using two Some Odd Girl digital stamps: 50s Mae and Skipping Tia. I started by printing them onto some cardstock, then coloring them in with my Copics. I then cut them out carefully and set them aside.

I wanted a fun and slightly funky background, so I pulled out My Favorite Things' Blueprints 15 dies. I cut a stitched rectangle out of Some Odd Girl's Sunshine Sorbet paper. I then used the wonky rectangle to cut a panel out of a paper from Lawn Fawn's Pink Lemonade collection. While I had my Bigshot out, I also die-cut a "hello" sentiment out of a scrap of red cardstock.

For the card base, I used Primitive Cream cardstock, cut and folded into a standard A2 card (4 1/4 by 5 1/2"). I adhered the two patterned paper panels to the base with my standard adhesive, then added Mae and Tia with foam squares. I adhered the hello die with Tombow mono-multi liquid glue.

As a last touch, I added 3 hexie dots to the bottom right corner.

Supplies:
Some Odd Girl 50's Mae, and Skipping Tia digital stamps
Some Odd Girl Sunshine Sorbet 6x6 patterned paper
Lawn Fawn Pink Lemonade paper
My Favorite Things Blueprints 15 dies
The Crafter's Workshop Hello die
My Favorite Things Primitive Cream cardstock
Copics (E00, E11, E13, R20, R22, BG32, BG49, B32, B34, B37, BV25, BV29, R08, R46, R59, Y11, Y38, YR15, B000, B00, E51, E84, E44, E47, 0)
Sakura Gellyroll White Gel Pen
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Thin Foam squares
Some Odd Girl Hexie Dots wood veneer

Concept Trio Challenge - Penguin 3

Today I'm sharing the third and final card in my new challenge series - Concept Trio Challenge. This challenge is where I use the same concepts and ideas, but switch out stamps to make 3 different cards.

You can see the first card I created here, and the second card here. 

As a reminder, here are the shared concepts I'm working with:
- skating penguin with pink cheeks
- circle elements
- palette: white, light gray, light blue, navy and dark purple
- same patterned paper


For the third card, I am using an older penguin set from Fiskars called Winter Wishes. This is a rubber cling stamp set that has a few penguins and a snowman, as well as snowflakes and several sentiments.  I got this set a while ago, and never got around to using it.


Since the skating penguin from this set is quite a bit larger than the other penguins, I decided to also make the circle larger - and change the technique from masking and blending with a tool to using watercolor. I used one of the stitched circles STAX dies from My Favorite Things to cut a circle out of regular white cardstock. Now, normally, you'd want to use watercolor paper here to get a smooth result. But I wanted to have a bit of a grittier texture, so I used plain heavyweight cardstock.


I pulled out my craft mat and smooshed the 3 distress inkpads onto it - Broken China, Dusty Concord and Chipped Sapphire. I sprayed it with a fine mist spray, then pressed the circle down, wiggling it a bit so colors would blend in. I turned it over, dabbed the excess with an edge of a paper towel and set it aside to dry completely. Once it dried, I deepened the edges of the circle by blending in a bit of Chipped Sapphire ink. The end result was a circle that looked a bit like a snowglobe - which is very much fun.

While that was drying, I stamped the penguin with black ink, and colored him in with Copics. As with the other cards, I kept the coloring very simple, using just 2 colors per shade and blending them out. I carefully cut around the image, and set it aside.

Since the night sky circle is so much larger on this card, I decided to balance it out by using a navy card base. I cut and scored a piece of navy cardstock into a standard top-folding A2 card. While I had my trimmer out, I also cut a light grey panel that measures 4 by 5 1/4" and a white panel that measures 3 3/4 by 5".

I adhered the patterned paper to the gray panel, then added the white panel on top. I adhered the circle, making sure to use extra adhesive so it would stay flat. Then I added the skating penguin. I adhered the panels to the card base with foam tape.

I stamped one of the sentiments from the Winter Wishes set onto a piece of white cardstock and trimmed it into a fish-tail banner. I adhered it to the card with foam tape.

As a last touch, I adhered 3 purple buttons next to the sentiment with glue dots.

Supplies:
Fiskars Winter Wishes stamp set
MFT Hybrid Ink in Black Licorice
Copic Mini Marker Pad 70#lbs
Copics (100, YR15, YR68, B91, B32, R22, B000, B00)
Ranger Distress Inkpads - Broken China, Dusty Concord and Chipped Sapphire
MFT Stitched Circle STAX dies
Neenah Solar White 80#lbs cardstock
Simon Says Stamp cardstock in Soft Navy, and Fog
Chickaniddy Crafts Jolly Good 6x6 patterned paper
3M Double-Sided Foam Tape
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner
MFT Buttons in Grape Jelly