Copic Coloring:
The birds and the branch doodled in with a 0.1 pt Copic Multiliner Pen are colored using the following Copics:
Birds: G14, G17, E51 and E53
Branch with leaves and ground: E13, B14 and G17; W3
The cutsie bees were simply colored with these Copics: Y13, Y08, C7, B00 and B01
The scene for the “Hopping by with a Spring hello card is colored with the following Copic markers:
Frog: G00, G02 and G05 with R21 blush and belly
Lilly Pad: G02 and Go5; Reeds: G02, G05, and E57; Water: B00, B01, B21 and B24

For each of the Spring Critter focal point images, I crafted cards to complement around them. The birds were accompanied by the sentiment “So glad you’re in my flock” from the Scrapping for Less Banana Split add-on collection stamp set. I used an oval die (hand fussy cutting around the areas that went beyond the oval) and inked the edges and a soft background with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Chipped Sapphire. I actually followed one of the sketches included in this month’s kit and used the patterned papers from the Spring Birds collection (along with some green card stock from my scrap box) to quickly pull together the first card. The inside liner is more of the patterned paper scraps along with a “hello” ephemera piece, all from the same collection.

For the adorable bumble bee shaker card, I used the bright and cheerful patterned papers from the Spring Bees collection. I used a circle die to cut out an opening for an Impression Obsession Shake It Shaker Card Pouch (these are discontinued, but these Hampton Arts shaker pouches are similar), a Jolee’s Boutique 3D bee sticker and half of the sequin mix from the collection as fun-filled perfectly coordinated shaker. The sentiment I stamped out 3 times and coated with clear embossing powder to set and pop from the polka dot print paper, which was the reverse side of the springy floral used on the card front.

The inside liner was stamped with the “just bee-cause” sentiment and flight lines from the Sunny Studios stamp set and embellished with 2 more Jolee’s Boutique 3D bee stickers. Lastly, the 3 Copic colored bees were easily and permanently adhered onto the plastic shaker pouch using Ranger Multi Medium Matte Adhesive.

The third and last card was really designed on the fly inspired by the soft minty and sunny “Spring Fever” patterned papers from the Spring Frogs collection. I covered the card front with a graphic floral patterned paper then crafted a belly band look with 2 more patterned papers. I also used one of those smaller print papers to create a mat behind the Copic colored frog scene. To add interest, I die cut out using an oval die, but added an extra lily pad and reed plants to take the scene off the edge of the oval. Softness and a little sparkle were added by cutting one of the paper flowers from the kit in half, adding fancy floral sequin centers from the sequin mix for this collection, and tucking the partial dimensional flowers behind the scene.

The inside for this card is a brighter lemon yellow floral paper framing a simple white card stock liner sheet. The liner sheet is stamped with the versatile sentiment: “Hopping by with a Spring hello!” so this card can be sent to anyone for any spring time occasion.

CLICK the following picture to watch the detailed process video of crafting these 3 cards:

Make sure you check out the Scrapping for Less BLOG HOP so you can join in our Rafflecopter giveaway. Next on the hop is JACKIE! All winners are announced each month in the Teresa Talks post on the blog on the first of the month.

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!

These Spring Cards are being entered into the following challenges:
Penny Black and More Spring in Full Swing Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday Pets Challenge – Birds Card
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
613 Avenue Create Anything Goes with Optional Wedding/Anniversary Challenge
The Male Room Challenge Anything Goes with Optional One Layer Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes Challenge with Optional Black and White and One Color

I decided to combine the adorable little hamster peeking out from an ornament from the “Hammie Holiday Fun” stamp set with the Pine Branch Die and the Swirly Flourish Die from Diemond Dies to create mini close-up scenes of Christmas tree boughs with an ornament. For the tree boughs, I first added some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Mowed Lawn and Pine Needles to give the green card stock scraps I had a bit more interest and color variation. Then I used the dies and arranged the die cuts from the upper right or upper left sides of the card front. For the faux loops from which the ornaments would hang, I used a thick embroidery needle to punch holes in the card fronts so that the baker’s twine I looped through the front of the card front would look straight and taut. I added bows to the hangers for a decorative touch.

For the Hammies in the ornaments I used the following Copic colors along with highlights added with a Uniball Signo White Gel Pen and shimmer with Clear Wink of Stella:
Ornament hangers: YR31 and YR24
Blue ornament: B01, B12, B04, B16 and N3
Brown spotted Hammie: W0, E33, and R20
Red ornament: R22, R24, R27, R29 and N3
Black spotted Hammie: W0, R20 and W5

Then because I thought the card front was looking too plain, I attempted to use dies to trim down the sides. However, because I had already added the ornaments and baker’s twine, there was too much dimension to safely run the dies through my die cutting machine. I decided to try a Martha Stewart Aspen Snowflake Punch Around the Page (retired) to trim up the sides of the card front; however, due to the various layers of the die cuts I had trouble punching through the card front and bough dies. I ended up mangling a bit of the card front, but luckily I was able to trim off the troublesome areas and make non-standard sized cards. To layer behind the card fronts, I used some patterned papers from the “Moments” My Mind’s Eye paper pad for the blue plaid and “The Doodlin’ Around” stack from DCWV for the glittered green diamond paper. Then I mounted both onto navy and green card stock card bases.

I kept the insides of the cards simple. I just lined them with white card stock and used some of the scrap patterned papers from the front of the card to either make little banners or a pocket for a gift card. The sentiment is from the Hammie Holiday Fun stamp set and is stamped with VersaFine Black Onyx Ink (my favorite ink for crisp clear sentiments).

The following is a process video sharing how I made the cards:

Discount for My Readers: If you are making a purchase at Diemond Dies (for whom I’m a Design Team Member) you can get a 10% discount and free worldwide shipping on all orders of $35 or more by using the coupon code: thankskristina. 

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!

These cards are being entered into the following challenges:
Your Next Stamp Color Challenge #78 – red, blue, greens, grey

Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Crafts Galore Encore Anything Goes Challenge
613 Avenue Create Anything Goes Challenge with Optional Christmas or Winter
Crafty Gals Corner Anything Goes Challenge
Not Just Cards Anything Goes Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
CAS-ual Fridays Winter Blues Challenge – blue ornament card
Creatalicious Anything Goes With Optional Flourishes Challenge – blue ornament card with flourish tree branch
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge

I stamped out the outline sweater stamp 3 times and was able to create 3 distinct sweater designs by combining this stamp with others. For the first sweater, I stamped out the deer head from the “Ugly Sweater Weather” stamp set and added even more “ugly” patterns from the stamp set to make the sweater super busy. I did take care to mask off the ribbed areas so that I didn’t over-stamp them with the snowflake and checkerboard patterns. Then I colored it up with the following Copic colors, adding a fun boucle texture to the background:

Red: R24, 27 and 29
Blue background: B000, 00, 02
Teal stripes: BG32 and 23
Deer head and antlers: E31 and W1

For the second sweater, I used the super cute penguin from the Joy Clair “Christmas Penguins” stamp set and stamped it onto the sweater as if it was peering into the body of the sweater from the lower right. I kept it simple and colored up all the holiday lights in the following rainbow of colors and the sweater in neutral grays:
R27, YR15, Y08, G08, B06, V17 and N1, 3, 5, 7 and 9

For the third sweater, I stamped out the itty bitty penguin from the Joy Clair “Christmas Penguins” stamp set over and over in a helter skelter random pattern. Again, I took care to do a little masking around the edges of the sweater and the cuffs and neck areas so that the penguins would not over-stamp the ribbing of the sweater or go off the edge of the sweater body and also simultaneously stamp over the arm areas. Again this Copic coloring was super simple; since the images were small, I could almost skip the shading on them and could focus on just coloring up the background for the nubby sweater texture: Hats: R27 and 29; Belt and belt buckle: N7 and YR16; Penguin beaks: YR15

After prepping all the sweaters, I fussy cut them out and inked the white cut edges with a Tsukineko Tuxedo Black Marker. Then it was a matter of using up scrap papers from my scrap box and adding some interesting, but not too distracting horizontal, top-folding card bases. I started with a background card front with rounded edges and added a strip of a different colored or patterned (and sometimes glittered) paper along the left side. To add some textural interest, I used the two embossing folders from the We R Memory Keepers Next Level Quilted Set (I thought the idea of quilting would go nicely with the sweater theme) for some of the plain papers as well.

For the inside sentiments, I used the “Don we now our ugly sweater” and the “Get Your Tacky On!” from the “Ugly Sweater Weather” stamp set for two of the cards. For the third card, I combined the “sweater weather” sentiment from the “Ugly Sweater Weather” stamp set with some of the text from a Hero Arts Merry Stamp & Cut set to make the inside sentiment say, “wishing you merry sweater weather”!

The following is a process video sharing how I made these sweater designs:

These cards are being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Add a Sentiment Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes with Optional Glitter/Bling Challenge
Penny Black and More All Creatures Great and Small Challenge – small and large penguins
Crafts Galore Encore Anything Goes Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Fab ‘n’ Funky Anything Goes Challenge
MFT Sketch Challenge #346

I used 4 of the penguins from the super cute Joy Clair Christmas Penguins stamp set, and made them into front and back images. For the penguins that were not symmetrical (like the ones with the ornaments or Christmas lights on the antlers), I first did some mirror stamping (there are mirroring stamp sets like the Paper Smooches Mirror Block Stamp Set, but I used the smooth side of the very full wood grain stamp from the Lawn Fawn “Woodgrain Backdrops” set) using Momento Tuxedo Black Ink (the start-to-finish video below shows the details of how to do this). Then I crisped up the lines/details and filled in the faces with a Momento Tuxedo Black Dual Marker to make the back sides of the penguins.

For the perfectly symmetrical penguins like the ones with the Christmas sweaters, I simply stamped them out twice and filled in the faces of one of each penguin with the Momento Tuxedo Black Dual Marker to make the back side images. A little simple Copic coloring (for a rainbow of ornaments and lights: R27, YR04, Y15, YG09, B06, V06 and pink and aqua sweaters: RV52, RV55, BG32) and fussy cutting and these front-and-back penguin images were ready to sandwich a little thread to become spinners!

For the card bases, I actually used two card bases for each card. The papers, which are all in dusty blue shades with white splatters that look like snowflakes, are from an old 2013 Recollections Christmas Watercolors paper stack. There is an outer card base that measures 4.25″ x 11″ and is scored at 5.5″.  This card base card front is decorated with various Diemond Dies snowflake die cuts (Icy Snowflake Die Set, Snowflake #1, and Winter Snowflake Die Set) using blue metallic card stock and white card stock with Nuvo Glitter Drops in Midnight Sky for extra shine and textural interest.

For the sentiment on the card front, I used the Hero Arts Merry Stamp & Cuts on top of a Diemond Dies Labels 1 die cut base. I had just enough blue metallic card stock to cut a couple of label frames and a handful of the snowflakes for bright shiny pops of color. All the delicate die cuts were glued on with my favorite wet glue: Art Glitter Glue with a fine metal tip nozzle. The sentiment, which I stamped using a MISTI around the die cut “MERRY,” reads, “HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS.”

There is also an inside liner card base that measures 4″ x 10.75″ and is scored at 5 3/8″. These are simply decorated with a single large white die cut snowflake (Icy Snowflake Die Set, Snowflake #1, and Winter Snowflake Die Set) in the lower left or right corner of the top-folding card.

To attach the spinner mechanism to this inside liner, I cut a small slit in the middle of the card (through both layers) with an X-Acto knife and threaded through the slits a thin thread; mine was DMC gold metallic thread, but you could use a fishing line or clear line for a more invisible magic look. When the thread could span the card open to about 90 degrees, then I secured the thread on the back side of the card liner with 5mm adhesive sticky tape. I then sandwiched the front and back of a penguin around the middle of that thread to make the spinner.

The last step was to position the inside card base inside the outside card base and adhering everything securing into place with more 5mm adhesive sticky tape. The inside liner card base is about 1/8″ smaller on all sides from the outside card base so there is a nice matted look to the card interior.

This is the start-to-finish process video for creating these cards:

These spinner cards are being entered into the following challenges:
Joy Clair Anything Goes with Optional Layers Challenge – WINNER
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday Add Sparkle Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Splatter It Challenge
Card Mania Party Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Not Just Cards Anything Goes Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge

Since these cards are going to be for seniors, I wanted to have an elegant traditional look so I thought about using white poinsettia flowers as the main focal point. I found an image of one online that I printed out and fussy cut out. I bordered half of the petals with Champagne Stickles and used an embossing tool to give the flowers some sparkle, texture and dimension. I layered these on top of gold foil paper doilies and layered one of these flower-doily combos on top of embossed textured card stock that I inked with Hickory Smoke Tim Holtz Distress Ink. I layered the other on top of polka dot vellum that I adhered onto a corrugated kraft card base.  All this layering was great and gave a nice finished look, but I thought they were a little too predictable.

So to add a little whimsy, I decided to use the Essentials by Ellen “ELF’D” stamp set that I fell in love with but only got to use once last year. I stamped out a couple of them and colored them up with the following Copic colors:
Skin: E51, E53 and BV000 (for shadow); Hair: E55 and Y35; Red elf: R14, 17 and 37; Coral elf: R21, 22 and 24; and Black boots: 100
I fussy cut them both out and inked the edges so you can’t see the white edge of the paper. Then for the fluffy white parts of their hats, I used DecoArt Snow Writer to add some dimension and texture.

Oh yes, these little cuties–one popping up from behind a flower and the other sitting in the center of a flower–added just the right touch of fun. I heat embossed the “Embrace Your Inner Elf” sentiment with Ranger Queen’s Gold embossing powder and hand cut these sentiments into a fishtail banner. I popped these up on foam dots and added them to the lower left of the card fronts. I kept the insides of the cards simple, simply matting white card stock with some gold foil patterned paper scraps and stamping out another sentiment from the stamp set: “Have Yours-Elf A Merry Little Christmas.”

These Christmas cards are going to be entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Make for the Border Challenge
CAS-ual Fridays Time to Color Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Fab ‘n’ Funky Anything Goes Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes Challenge
Craft Your Passion Anything Goes Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner Any Holiday Challenge
Addicted to Stamps and More Make Your Mark Challenge
Essentials by Ellen August Pin-Sights Challenge – white flower, coral color (popping up elf)

I chose some simple ginko leaf stamps that were part of a Martha Stewart stamp set gifted to me three years ago when I first started crafting on YoutTube from a sweet and encouraging crafter/friend, Elaine Rico. I put them on an acrylic block facing in different directions and started stamping them with Tsukineko Brilliance Moonlight White pigment ink. Because I had chosen a medium green textured card stock for the card bases, it took a couple of impressions to get decent coverage, but uneven coverage seemed okay for this loose, more artsy technique anyway. I heat set all the white ink because I didn’t want smearing before moving on to the next stamp layer. Then I took the stamps in the same positions and inked them up with Ranger Adirondack Stream pigment ink (this is a dark green). Being careful to offset the stamping in the same direction, I stamped out all the ginko leaves again.

For the sentiment, I had picked up a freebie at the Scrapbook Expo from Richard Garay that said “Enjoy the Journey” in a loose script that seemed perfect for these note cards. I inked these up with Momento Luxe Tuxedo Black ink and used my MISTI to stamp the sentiment (again, the heavy texture of the green card stock made repeated stamping a must for adequate coverage).Then I used some clear embossing powder to heat emboss the sentiment, giving it a nice finished shiny look.

The cards were looking a little too plain so I decided to doodle some zig zaggy borders (reminiscent of heart monitor lines) around each card with a white gelly roll pen. Oh I liked them much better now; it’s amazing what adding something as simple as a doodled border can do! 🙂 I also decided to doodle on some black dots around the sentiment with a black uniball pen, each of which I topped with a dot of Glossy Accents to match the shine of the heat embossed sentiment (I suspect if I had a black Glaze pen I could have skipped this step).

Usually making a card takes me a full day, but I made a set of these note cards and matching envelopes in under two hours! I was floored by how quick and easy this was. If you’re ever in a jam to make a card fast, I highly recommend shadow stamping.

These cards are being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Make for the Border Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes with Optional Black and White and One Color Challenge – Green
MFT Camp Create Stunning Shadow Stamping Challenge

I want to say a special THANK YOU to My Favorite Things for their wonderful Camp Create series. I learned so many wonderful techniques and the three, week-long series kept me motivated all summer long (even when my crafty mojo seemed to take a vacation).  I participated in each and every camp lesson (yes, all 15 plus the bonus camp fire one too), and I feel so accomplished! LOL 🙂