Happy Birthday | AALL & Create/Simon Says Stamp/My Favorite Things

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing a colorful birthday card featuring products from AALL & Create, My Favorite Things, Hero Arts, and Simon Says Stamp.  The My Favorite Things die is an older one, but a much loved one.

The supplies used:

     AALL & Create – Clown Around Stamp

     Simon Says Stamp – Scripty Birthday Background Stamp

     My Favorite Things – Happy Birthday Circle Frame

     Hero Arts Baloon Bunch Die Set

     Spellbinders – Precision Layering A2 A Die Set

     X-Press It Blending Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Breeze Cardstock

     Heavyweight White Cardstock (any brand)

     Copic Alcohol Markers – RV17, RV06, RV13, YR07, YR04, YR01, Y38,

          Y18, Y13, G12, G05, G16, B16, B14, B02, E11, E01, E000, C02, C00

          R29, R24, R20, 100 (Black)

     Simon Says Stamp – Ink Pads – Carnation, Peachy, Lemonade, Spring, Marine

     Lawn Fawn – Jet Black Ink Pad

     Winsor & Newton White Designers Gouache

     Ranger Ink – Glossy Accents

Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     Scor-Tape Double Sided Adhesive

     My Sweet Petunia - MISTI Stamping Tool

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

I die cut a piece of Spellbinders Breeze cardstock using the second largest die in the Spellbinders Precision Layering A2 A die set which cuts the panel to be approximately 4” x 5-1/4.  I placed the blue cardstock panel into my MISTI stamping tool and using the Simon Says Stamp Scripty Birthday Background stamp, I stamped the background using Simon Says Stamp’s inks in the colors Carnation, Peachy, Lemonade, Spring, and Marine in a gradient down the surface of the panel.  Using an ink blending tool, I lightly blended the Marine ink around the outer edges of the inked panel for interest.  I mixed a couple drops of water with Winsor and Newton White Designers Gouache and applied spatter across the panel using a small paint brush.

Creating the Focal Point

Using the My Favorite Things Happy Birthday Circle Frame die, I die cut it four times from white cardstock (saving the negative circle portion from one of the die cuts).  I used Bearly Art Precision Glue to glue three of the die cuts together and placed them under an acrylic block until the glue dried.  For the fourth layer, I used Copic alcohol marker 100 (black) to carefully color only the words from the die cut then glued it to the rest of the stack and set aside to dry.  I lightly blended Simon Says Stamp Marine ink onto the one negative circle I saved from the die cutting – this will serve as a background for the clown image that gets created in the next step.

I stamped one of the clown images from the ALL & Create Clown Around stamp set onto a scrap piece of X-Press It Blending Cardstock using Lawn Fawn Jet Black Ink.  After the ink dried, I began coloring it using Copic alcohol markers in the following colors:

     Hair:  YR07, YR04, YR01

     Flesh:  E11, E01, E000

     Eyes:  G16, G05 (white gel pen accents), C02, C00

     Nose:  R29, R24, R20

     Shoes:  RV17, RV06, RV13, YR07, YR04, YR01

     Hat:  B16, B14, B02, RV17, RV06, RV13

     Trousers:  B16, B14, B02 (gold gel pen buttons)

     Shirt:  G16, G05, G12, Y38, Y18, Y13

Once the Copic coloring was completed, I fussy cut the clown image with a pair of fine tip scissors and used Copic's 100 (black) marker to go around the edges of the die cut to hide any white paper from showing.

My last touch for the focal point was to pull a scrap of red and silver from my scrap bin to die cut the single balloon and string from the Hero Arts Balloon Bunch die set.

Assembling the Card Front

I started by utilizing Scor-Tape to adhere the background panel to the white A2 card base.  I glued the balloon where I thought it looked best and added liquid glue to the back side of the happy birthday, stacked die cut and placed it onto the center of the lower portion of the card front followed by gluing the ink blended circle into the center of the stacked die cuts.  I glued a few scraps of white cardstock behind the center portion of the clown to bring him level to the sentiment circle die cuts and glued the clown to the center of the sentiment circle.  Lastly, I applied a thin layer of Glossy Accents to the balloon to give it shine.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it.  Until next time, happy crafting!

2025 Holiday Card Series #10 | Warm Winter Hugs

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing a card featuring a sweet snowman trio from a Gina K. Designs stamp set called Snowflake Kisses.  I love everything about this stamp set – the images, the sentiments, all of it!  Let’s get started.

The supplies used:

Gina K. Designs – Snowflake Kisses Stamp Set

     Spellbinders – Everlasting Squares

     Spellbinders – Perfect Touch Rectangles and Tag Die Set

     X-Press It Blending Cardstock

     Matte Silver Metallic Cardstock

     Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad

     Copic Alcohol Markers:  B000, R20, YR15, YR21, G19, YG09, G12,

          YG17, YG03, YG01, RV19, RV25, RV21, C3, C1, C0, R85, R81, RV00

     Sakura Black Glaze Pen

     Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen

     Scor-Tape Double Sided Adhesive

Simon Says Stamp - Big Momma Foam Tape

     Altenew – 1” Instant Dimension Foam Tape – 1/16”

     My Sweet Petunia - MISTI Stamping Tool

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Card Front Panels

Using the Spellbinders Everlasting Squares die set, I selected the fifth largest die to cut a piece of matte silver metallic cardstock which ends up being 3.25” x 3.25” for my matting layer, then using the sixth largest die from this set I die cut a piece of white X-Press It cardstock (this will be the panel I stamp my images on).  Lastly, I used the second largest die from Spellbinders’ Perfect Touch Rectangles and Tag die set and die cut another piece of the white X-Press It cardstock for the panel that will be adhered directly to the A2 card base.  Normally, I don’t use X-Press It for matting layers; however, since I will be Copic coloring the images on X-Press It cardstock I needed my white cardstocks to match.

Creating the Focal Point

For my focal image, I used the snowman trio from Gina K. Designs’ Snowflake Kisses stamp set and Memento Tuxedo Black ink to stamp the image onto the square piece of X-Press It cardstock I cut in the step listed above.  These are the Copic alcohol marker color combinations I used:

     Snowman Bodies & Snow on Ground:  B000

     Snowman Noses:  YR15, YR21

     Blush on Cheeks:  R20 w/ white gel pen accents

     Green Scarf & Hat:  G19, YG09, G12, YG17, YG03, YG01

     Dark Pink Scarf & Hat:  RV19, RV25, RV21, C3, C1

     Light Pink Scarf & Hat:  R85, R81, RV00, C3, C0

Building the Sentiment

I used the “Sending Warm Winter Hugs” sentiment from the Gina K. Design’s Snowflake Kisses stamp set and stamped it to the lower center of the card.

Finishing the Design

To complete the card, I added Scor-Tape to the back side of the stamped/colored panel and adhered it to the matte silver metallic cardstock layer.  Next, I added Simon Says Stamp’s Big Momma Foam Tape to the back side of the silver metallic cardstock and adhered it to the largest white cardstock panel.  I added Altenew 1” x 1/16” Instant Dimension Foam Tape to the back of the card’s focal image “stack” and adhered it to the front of a light blue, side-folding, A2 card base.  My final touches were to add some white gel pen highlights here and there and added black Sakura Glaze to the eyes and buttons of the snowmen.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it. Until next time, happy crafting!

2025 Holiday Card Series #8 | Merry Little Things

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing another tag that could also be made into a card featuring some humorous and delightful stamps from AALL & Create.  This company makes some of the most adorable, whimsical stamps that I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with.   I put my fate once again in the Sarah Renae Clark’s Color Cubes and a random number generator to pick my color scheme and today Color Cube card was #641.  Again, this one didn’t yell Christmas in the traditional sense, but I think we can make it work.

The supplies used:

AALL & Create – Hexalove Die Set

AALL & Create – The North Pole Stamp Set

AALL & Create – Merry Little Things Stamp Set

AALL & Create – Lil Elf Stamp Set

Technique Junkies – Birch Tree Border

X-Press It Blending Cardstock

Simon Says Stamp – So Very Black Cardstock

Copic Alcohol Markers – E04, E11, E00, E19, E15, E13, RV34, RV63, RV52, RV17, RV14, RV13, RV11, V17, V15, V12, BG78, BG72, BG11, N3, N1, N0

Ranger/Tim Holtz – Distress Oxide Ink Pads – Spun Sugar, Kitsch Flamingo

Lawn Fawn – Jet Black Premium Ink Pad

Sakura Gelly Roll Metallic Gold

Sakura Gelly Roll White 10

Scrapbook Adhesives Thin 3D Foam Squares

Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

Winsor & Newton White Designers Gouache

Krylon Workable Fixatif Spray

Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Card Front Background

I cut a piece of white cardstock to measure 4” x 6-1/2” to give me plenty of space for ink blending and to allow room to use the AALL & Create Hexalove die to cut the card front.  Next, I used the inner tag die from the Hexalove die set, placed it on the white cardstock, and traced loosely around it with a pencil to show me where my actual cutting boundaries will be when I place the tree background stamp and do the ink blending for the background.  After that, I used the Technique Junkies Birch Tree Border stamp and stamped it on the left end of the tag using Copic friendly ink and stamped it a second time onto Altenew Masking Paper.  I fussy cut the image that I stamped onto the masking paper and used Copic markers N3, N1, and N0 to color the tree image stamped onto the white cardstock.  Once the alcohol marker ink dried, I peeled the backing from the masking paper tree image and placed it over the Copic-colored one on the cardstock.

For the sky, I used Distress Oxide inks in the colors Kitsch Flamingo and Sun Sugar.  I started ink blending at the top of the cardstock using Kitsch Flamingo and blended toward the bottom with the Spun Sugar.  Once the ink had a chance to dry, I die cut the ink blended cardstock panel with the tag front die from the Hexalove die set.  To set the colors and help them to not bleed when I spatter with white gouache, I went outside and lightly sprayed the inky tag panel using Krylon Workable Fixatif spray (you want to do this outside with lots of air flow!).  The Fixatif spray will also add a satin sheen to the cardstock versus the chalky finish you would get with the Distress Oxide inks… just in case you were wondering.  I allowed the Fixatif coating to completely dry then mixed a couple drops of water with some Winsor & Newton white gouache and spattered it across the tag background. 

I die cut a piece of Simon Says Stamp So Very Black cardstock using the decorative tag die in the Hexalove die set to frame the tag front.  I glued the inked front panel to the decorative tag panel and set aside to dry.

Creating the Focal Point

My focal point for this card was the elf from the AALL & Create The North Pole stamp set, the present from ALL & Create’s Lil Elf stamp set, and a tree from AALL & Create’s Merry Little Things stamp set.   I’ll list the Copic markers used for each element below:

     Elf Skin:  E04, E11, E00

     Elf Eyes:   E15, E13

     Elf Clothing:  BF78, BG72, BG11 (Teal)

         RV17, RV14, RV13, RV11 (Pink)

         V17, V15, V12 (Purple)

         Buttons and Bell – Sakura Gelly Roll Metallic Gold

     Tree Trunks:  E19, E15, E13

     Tree Flower Petals:  RV34, RV63, RV52 (Pink)

     Tree Flower Centers:  E19, E15, E13

     Tree Body:  BF78, BG72, BG11 (Teal)

         RV34, RV63, RV52 (Flower Petals)

         E15, E13 (Flower Centers)

     Present:  V17, V15, V12, E19, E15, E13

     Star on Tree:  Sakura Gold Metallic Gelly Roll

Once the coloring was completed, I added some white highlights here and there to the images just for fun and added interest using a white, size 10 Gelly Roll pen.  Once the white highlights dried, I fussy cut the images and added foam squares to the backs for adhering to the tag front later in the process.

Building the Sentiment

Utilizing the “merry little things” sentiment from AALL & Create’s Merry Little Things stamp set, I stamped the sentiment onto the tag’s background using Altenew Obsidian Pigment Ink. 

Finishing the Design

To complete the card, I removed the backing paper from the adhesive squares on all the elements and adhered them to the card front.  Using a ¼” hole punch, I punched a hole at the top of the tag so it could be placed on a gift more easily.  My final touch was to add a bit of mauve and white ribbon to the top to finish off the festive design and then sprinkled some glitter at the center of the bow. 

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it.  Until next time, happy crafting!