I Copic colored these cuties with just some blues and some warm and whites/greys to keep the scene looking cool:
Bear fur: W0 and W1 with a hint of blush to the cheeks and inside ears with E000
Fur trim on coat: C00 and C0
Dark blue: B24 and B28
Light blue: B00 and B01
I also used a Copic Multiliner Black Pen in 0.05 pt to doodle on skates onto the bear with the coat and stripes onto the scarf of the other bear just to make them coordinate better together. Lastly to add a bit of shine, I used a Sakura Black Glaze Pen on the noses and eyes.

For the “scene” I used some shimmery silver or cool grey and white card stock and die cut “snow banks” with Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Dies. The sky is just some scrap pale blue card stock. The sentiment on the front is a simple “Holiday Greetings”, and the inside sentiment is the longer, perfectly coordinated sentiment, “Just Skatin’ By with a Very Merry Christmas”, both from the same Sugar Pea Designs “Eskimo Kisses” stamp set.

For some added sparkle, I added 7 (I love adding embellishments in odd numbers) sequins of different sizes to the card front. I used glitter glue to adhere them, adding even more shine.

CLICK on the following picture to watch the process video:

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
MFT Stamps Sketch Challenge 521

MFT Stamps Color Challenge 156

Simon Says Stamp Monday Celebrate Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Sparkle and Shine Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes with Optional Christmas Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Crafts Galore Encore Anything Goes Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner Tis the Season Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge

I used the following Copic colors to keep the card soft and sweet:
Rabbit: E51, E53, E55 and R20 and R30 for blush and inside of ears
Sign: R20 and R30
Toilet paper rolls stamped with Simon Says Stamp Smoke Dye Ink: N1
I also added a bit of shine with a Sakura black glaze pen and highlights with a Signo Uniball White Gel Pen for the nose and eyes.

For the peekaboo window, I used the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Squares Die Set. I estimated the size and positioning I would need for the peekaboo window for the bunny, and luckily it turned out pretty good. However, a better process order would have been to die cut the opening first and then stamping the image in the open window. 🙂 Also, because the Copic ink bled through the card stock, I did line the back side of the card front as well as the back of the card for a clean look.

CLICK on the following picture to watch the whole process video, including the Copic coloring:

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Layer It Up Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes with Optional Halloween Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge

I’m using 3 stamps from this It’s Snome Time collection “Robin Mishchief” stamp set that I got from LoveCrafts.com (by the way, they’re having a 15% off all their paper pads at present and there are some adorable It’s Snome Time pads).  I used the largest image on some card stock for the main card image and I used two smaller stamps to decorate a coordinated envelope. These are the Copic colors I used:
Red areas: R27, R29 and R39
White areas (beard, fur on hat): N0 and N1
Orange areas: YR01, YR04 and YR07
Brown areas: E21, E31 and E23
Peach areas (nose, mushroom house, package): R11, R12, E21 and E31
Blue areas: B24, B26 and B28
Green areas: G14, YG09 and G17
I also added some highlight marks and cleaned up the white spots that I had accidentally colored into with a Uniball Signo White Gel Pen.

I fussy cut the main image with my Fiskars Reverse Spring Loaded Scissors and then popped up the main image with foam dots onto a craft and silver foiled polka dot card front. I also glued on a thin fun foam sheet under that card front so that I could add a little dimension from the card base. For the card liner, I used a scrap of light blue craft paper and simply added a left over strip of the craft and silver foiled polka dot paper. The wonderful sentiment, “Christmas Isn’t Just a Day. It’s a State of Mind. – Kris Kringle” from The Project Bin’s “Maybe Christmas” stamp set.

Lastly, as a finishing touch, I used craft paint to color white some wood veneer snowflakes and stars from my stash, which I layered onto the card front for some added interest. I love the dimension and the cozy feel that is created with the craft paper and the wood embellishments.

CLICK on the following picture to watch the process video:

This card and matching envelope are being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Layer It Up Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes with Optional Halloween Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Fab ‘n’ Funky Christmas Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Crafts Galore Encore Anything Goes Challenge

To color the images, I kept the black areas of the penguins light enough to not lose detail and effect the look of chubbiness, and I added pale blues and light greys to the white parts for dimension and interest. These might not be the typical colors one uses to color “white” and “black”, but these are the Copic colors I used:
Black parts of penguins: C3, C4, C6 and C8
White parts of penguins: 0, B000, B32, C0, C1, C2 and R00
Beaks and feet: Y21, YR24 and YR27
Bow: R22, R24, R29 and R39

I fussy cut out the images with my favorite Fiskars Spring Loaded Scissors and inked the edges of the images to hide the white cut edges with a Memento Tuxedo Black Marker. I then glued the bow onto the girl penguin using my favorite Art Glitter Glue with Fine Tip Nozzle to make her extra feminine. 🙂

For the card front I used an old patterned paper that has been languishing in my scrap box for years (yes, years!) that had “love” repeated over and over in reds and pinks on a white and pale green background. I also used scrap red cardstock to add a “ground” and visually weight the bottom 1/3 of the card. Where the background papers meet, I used a Lawn Fawn Fancy Scalloped Rectangle die and flipped it to create a fancy scalloped border. And a small strip of red cardstock through the middle of the border added a nice crispness.

To set off the penguin couple, I used a Lawn Fawn Fancy Scalloped Circle Die and the Gina K Designs Stitched Circle Die with pink and white cardstock. Then to really bring out the penguins, I popped them up on foam dots. As a finishing touch, I die cut a tiny heart using the Lawn Fawn Happy Hello coordinating die set and placed it in the male penguin’s fin so that it would look like he was giving his mate a heart. A thick coating of Hibiscus Pink Stickles over the red heart both softened the color and added sparkle.

CLICK on the following picture to watch the process video of crafting this card:

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Crafty Gals Corner Winter Fun Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Fab ‘n’ Funky In the Pink Challenge
Stamping Sensations Feminine Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Penny Black and More Animals, Birds and Butterfly Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday with Love Challenge

Creatalicious Anything Goes with Optional Hearts Challenge
MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #475

Because I wanted to really keep the focus on the beautiful image, I decided to keep the background simple. I used a Cuttlebug Argyle Embossing Folder on some white and aqua colored cardstock, matching the patterns when joining them together at an angle.  Following the rule of thirds, I kept the top 2/3 of the card front white, and the bottom 1/3 aqua.  But something seemed missing, until I added a darker blue strip where the two backgrounds met to add a crisp accent.

To color up the image (to look like me), I used the following Copic colors:
Hair: B00, C4, C6 and C8
Cup: C1 and C3
Skin: E50. E51, C53, E11, and R20
Lips: R24
Sweater: B21, B45, and B37
Scarf and mittens: RV52, RV55, RV66 and RV69
I also emphasized her eyes and added lashes with 0.5 pt Copic Multi-liner Pen and added highlights with Uniball Signo White Gel Pen.

I cut out the image with an Oval Die and backed it with some fun foam glued on (I couldn’t find my double sided foam adhesive, but this was a great, inexpensive alternative) so that it could be uplifted from the background. Then for the inside of the card, I printed out in blue ink from my computer the following saying: “I love hot coffee, sweater weather and YOU!” This is going to be a Valentine’s Day card for Mr. CraftyPaws, and I know he’ll appreciate the clean design (he’s a CAS kind of guy!).

CLICK on the following picture to watch the Copic coloring tutorial:

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Fab ‘n’ Funky In the Pink Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes with Optional Hearts Challenge
Stamping Sensations Feminine Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner Winter Fun Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday With Love Challenge

MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #475

The drawing of the stamp is very artistic, and I thought coloring it up with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and Pentel water brush would be a great way to dip my toe back into watercoloring. I stamped out the image onto Strathmore Watercolor Paper using VersaFine Onyx Black Ink and used the following Zig colors:
Puppy: Light gray (091); Light Brown (061); Brown (060); Mid Brown (065)
Girl’s hair: Light Blue (036); Black (010)
Girl’s skin: Flesh (071); Pale Pink (028)
Girl’s shirt: Yellow (050); Persian Blue (032)
Floor: Brown (060); Dark Brown (062)

I then stamped the sentiment, “I Just Love You So Very, Very Much.” centered above the image. Then to keep it simple, I used a Lawn Fawn Fancy Scalloped Rectangle Stackables Die to cut out the image and mounted it on a shimmery dark blue card base. I like how the die cut has the tiny cut out circles to let through the blue color and shimmer of the card base.

For the inside liner, I used the other sentiment from the stamp set, “Together is a beautiful place to be” in the lower right corner. I really love the font of this sentiment and I liked it off centered like this. To add a delicate finishing touch, I colored in the tiny heart at the end of the sentiment with a Carmine Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker.

Please CLICK on the following picture to watch the process video of crafting this card:

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes Challenge with Optional no rectangle or square cards
Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday Pet Project Challenge
Crafting by Design Anything Goes Challenge
Penny Black and More All Things Feminine Challenge
Crafts Galore Encore Anything Goes Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge

I stamped and Copic colored the three main characters: Harry, Hermoine and Ron. I gave Harry his signature round glasses (coated with Ranger Glossy Accents for shine), a flying broom, and doodled in his lightning bolt scar. Hermoine is holding potions bottles that are topped with Ranger Glossy Accents for a glass-like shine. Ron is holding his wand and is summoning his patronis, which is a Jack Russell Terrier (you knew I’d try to squeeze in a dog if I could, right?! LOL ). I doodled in the Jack Russell patronis using a Cool Gray Copic Multiliner Pen, a Uniball Signo White Gel Pen, and Copic Markers in B00 and B24. I also coated it with Clear Wink of Stella to add a magical shimmer.  I fussy cut out all three characters as well as the patronis with my trusty Fiskars spring loaded scissors, and I inked the edges with a Momento Tuxedo Black Marker for a finished look.

Now to make this extra special … hmmm. I didn’t have all the stamps I would need to replicate the Gryffindor common room so I decided to take a shot at drawing all the scenes with a Black Uniball Ink Roller Pen. I looked at lots of pictures on the Internet and just went for it. I drew the big couch they often sat in first. Then I drew in the staircase that led up to the boys’ quarters in the background. I also drew in a side club chair, portrait paintings, a cabinet, tabletop accessories, etc. I kept the drawing style loose and sketchy, which I think helped me get down the general look and feel without getting too caught up in the details.

Then for the card front, I thought about creating a scene of the Fat Lady painting who guarded the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. After a lot of Googling, I found a great picture of Dawn French as the Fat Lady, that I thought I could download from the Internet and manipulate to look like a sketch. I used the free paint.net software program to take the color image, make it black and white, alter it to look like a pen drawing, and have it fit into a frame that I stamped out from the Santoro Gorgeous Girl Toadstools Stamp Set (which I sized down to fit on an A2 card (5.5″ x 4.25″)).

I printed out the Fat Lady portrait, doodled over top to make the image look more sketchy to better match the interior scene sketching I did, and fussy cut out the intricate frame. I popped up the portrait on double sided foam adhesive to give her a little dimension from the background stone wall that I doodled in along the edges of the card front base.

As I positioned Harry, Hermoine and Ron on each panel of the card, I made sure I left room to add sentiments that I printed from my computer using a free Harry Potter font. I printed out “Password?” for the Fat Lady; “Felix Natalis!” (happy birthday in Latin) for Harry; “Felix Felicis!” (the liquid luck potion from “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”) for Hermoine; and “Expecto Patronum” for Ron and his Jack Russell Terrier patronis. As all the sentiments say, I want to wish my friend, Sue, a happy birthday, a day filled with all good luck, and protection from bad things.

The following is a video share of this card:

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Crafter’s Castle Anything Goes with Optional Dimensional Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday A Trio of Something Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Happy Birthday Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes Challenge with Optional Friends/Friendship Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Crafts Galore Encore Anything Goes Challenge
613 Avenue Create Anything Goes with Optional Use Vellum Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner Anything Goes Challenge

I also got a chance to re-evaluate some more Arteza products (I’ll be sharing a full separate video review of these in a following post). In short, I LOVE the Arteza Fineliner Pens. To color up this image, I used 8 of them: brown, tan, yellow, red, black and three greys and a fine point Arteza water brush to blend out the inks for a watercolored look. Getting into tiny nooks and crannies of the image was so easy with these fineliner pens!

I also used the Arteza Arctic Blue (117) Real Brush Pen and a water brush to create a soft blue haloing background. For some highlighting details, I used a Uniball Signo White Gel Pen on the sun glasses, noses, hooves, boots and gloves; and I added some magical shimmer to the antlers and Santa’s white fur trim with a Clear Wink of Stella Pen.

For the card front, I used scraps from my scrap box from a 2012 Recollections Christmas paper pad called “Memories Never Melt” and inked the edges with some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Faded Jeans. For a little sparkle, I added a thin strip of silver glitter washi tape on one side. To add the look of a film strip cell (like this was a pic from a music video – hahaha), I used one of the Neat & Tangled Tiny Cuts border dies on the two sides of the image, again inking the edges with more Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Faded Jeans to maintain a cohesive look.

Inside the card, I used the remaining scraps of the Recollections patterned paper from my scrap box. To make it a little more festive, I doodled some bursting stars with the Arteza Black Fineliner Pen. Then to drive home the fun Gangnam Style theme, I used Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder on a scrap of dark blue card stock to heat emboss the sentiment from the stamp set. I cut it into a simple banner shape and added that as the final touch on the card liner.

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

Arteza Coupon: If by chance you want to purchase any Arteza products, you can use the COUPON CODE (BOE-TOZ-460) for 10% off.

The following is a video sharing the coloring of this image:

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes Challenge with Optional Birthday
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
613 Avenue Create Anything Goes with Optional Reuse/Upcycle Challenge
Art Impressions Water Color Wonders Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Card Mania Embossing Challenge
Penny Black and More Feature a Creature Challenge
Stamp Sensations Forest Friends Challenge
MFT Sketch 376 Card Challenge

I used the following Copic colors to color up this cutie and her balloon:
Skin: E000, E00, E01, E21 and R20
Blue black hair: B000, B00, C7, C8 and C9
Dress: RV00, RV02, R22, R24 and R29
Balloon: R22, R24 and R29
Shadow on ground: C1 and C2
I used Clear Wink of Stella to add shimmer to both the balloon and the heart on the little girl’s dress, and added a coating of Ranger Glossy Accents on the Balloon for high shine.

I first stamped out the sentiment in the upper left, but ended up getting stray ink marks so I had to figure out how to hide that. I ended up stamping out the sentiment with VersaMark Ink on a scrap of black card stock and used Super Fine White Ranger Embossing Powder to heat emboss it. I popped this sentiment piece on double sided foam adhesive to add a little dimension, and I think it looks much better this way than how I had originally stamped out the sentiment just directly on the card front.

For a little extra visual texture, I added gun metal glitter washi tape to both sides of the card front and also backed the whole piece with some fun pink and red chevron patterned paper from the Doodlebug Design “Lovebirds” 6 x 6 paper pad (retired). For a sparkly finishing touch I added a handful of sequins in various sizes to the lower right and upper left of the card front.

It’s one of my goals this year to focus a bit more on the insides of my cards, so for this one I trimmed the sides of the card liner with scraps of the same Doodlebug chevron patterned paper. I also decided to stamp out from the stamp set, the large quilt heart and the heart balloon again.

Unfortunately, I smeared the heart balloon a little bit, but I ended up camouflaging that with little eyelash lines that I doodled all around the hearts with a 0.03 pt. Copic Multi-liner Pen. Again, having to address a little mistake I think made the card better! 🙂

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

The following is a start to finish process video of crafting this card:

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes with Optional Girly Challenge
Card Mania Embossing Challenge – WINNER
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
613 Avenue Create Anything Goes with Optional Love Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner Anything Goes Challenge
MFT Color Challenge #88

I Copic colored up this cutie and her kitty from the Santoro Gorjuss Girl “Purrrrrfect Love” stamp set with the following colors:
Heart: V04, V06 and RV66
Skin: E50, E51, E21 and R20
Hair: B01, C4, C6, C8
Boots and wrist warmers: C00, C2, C4, C6 and C8
Green parts of dress and hat: YG01, YG25, G14
Blue parts of tights and dress: B21, B32, B41, B24
Stars on tights and kitty: Y17, YR15, YR24 and R20
I also added white highlights and detail dotting on the dress, boots, hat, bow tie, and heart with a Uniball Signo White Gel Pen.

You’ll notice that I switched out the kitty’s head for a rounder, more chubby kitty from the Pretty Pink Posh “Holiday Pals” stamp set to make it look more like my one of my friend’s cat. I also added a bow tie from that set since my friend dresses her cats (lol), and I colored it to match the little girl’s dress. I fussy cut out the whole image, including using an X-Acto blade to get in the nooks and crannies by the cat’s tail and the girl’s hair, and I inked all the edges of the cut image with a Momento Tuxedo Black Marker for a finished look.

I layered her on top of a plain white card stock card front that I dry embossed with hearts using the We R Memory Keepers Next Level Dotted embossing folder. I chose a sentiment from the Avery Elle Polar Pals stamp set that I thought combined the wintery feel of Christmas with the heart reference for Valentines. I used black card stock, VersaMark Ink and Ranger Super Fine White Embossing Powder for a crisp and clear sentiment strip on which the little girl and her kitten could stand.

For finishing touches I painstakingly selected 7 tiny star confetti from the Unicorn Sparkle Blends by Doodles Paper Playground. I arranged them in 3 clusters and think they add a nice little accents. I also spotted a super cute heart in the Unicorn Sparkle Blends so I added that on the Gorjuss Girl’s hat.

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
CASology Late Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner Anything Goes Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Layer It Up Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes with Optional Cute Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
MFT Sketch Challenge #369

MFT Color Challenge #86