Purple Onion Designs 20th Anniversary

 

Happy Friday!  Today I'm helping to celebrate 20 years of Purple Onion Designs.  Michelle is treating folks to just over a week of a great sale too, 25% off in the store!

Today's cards feature a few older images from POD.  First up is the adorable Story Time image.

I started by stamping the image with Gina K Black Amalgam ink and then colored it with Copics.  

The image was then fussy cut and popped up over a patterned paper/cardstock background that mimics t room with wallpaper.

I popped up an arched frame over top, and then added a simple sentiment which was also popped up.

Next up, the Together stamp. set  I absolutely love this image because it is 1) adorable, and 2) fills up your card and doesn't require much else.  The image is the focus of the card and really stands on its own.

The image was again stamped with Gina K Black Amalgam ink and colored with Copics.  I tried to keep the colors very light and bright on this one.

To add a little oomph, without taking away from the image itself, I added photo corners.

The sentiment, also from the set, was white embossed on a black strip and popped up with foam tape.

Thanks for stopping by, and congrats to Michelle on 20 years in the industry!  Be sure to stop by the Purple Onion store and take a look around.  She's works with some really amazing artists.  Clearly my favorite is Stacey Yacula, bui I also really love the Julian Charlton collection.

Purple Onion Designs, Charmed by the Sea Collection by Stacey Yacula - Tweet and Chirp

 

I've got one last card to share today using another new image from Stacey Yacula's new Charmed by the Sea Collection for Purple Onion Designs.

This card features these cute little birds Tweet and Chirp.

I stamped the birds in the center of a panel, and colored them using B00, B01, and B02, with R20 for their cheeks and Y18 for the beaks.

Then I created a simple background.  I die cut a dome shape, using the negative cut as a mask to create the little hill they are standing on, and inked some clouds using an older cloud stencil.  I used Simon Says Stamp Morning for the clouds and Fawn for the hill.

The sentiment is an older discontinued sentiment from Purple Onion Designs.

The kraft frame was created by combining a couple older dies, and it was popped up with foam tape.

To finish things off, I die cut that little heart, colored it with Copics - R20 and R22, and adhered it directly to my colored/inked panel.

I hope you've enjoyed my cards featuring the Charmed by the Sea Collection, I had so much fun playing with these images!

Purple Onion Designs, Stacey Yacula Charmed by the Sea Collection - Iris

I've got a couple more cards to share today featuring the new Charmed by the Sea Collection by Stacey Yacula for Purple Onion Designs.  This little mouse Iris was the second image from the collection that really caught my eye.  

This is a little stamp/image, but she just has so much life and motion in her that I really wanted to show her off all on her own.

For this first card I stamped Iris onto a panel with Gina K Black Amalgam ink.  I then placed a strip of post it tape over her and inked a light ground line using Simon Says Stamp Fawn ink.  Iris was then colored using N0, N1, N3, and N5 and a bit of R00 for a soft highlight in her ear.  For her outfit I used RV11, RV13, and RV14.

The front panel was created similarly to the one I made last week for my Thaddeus card except this time I used Simon Says Blush ink and used a scrap of cardstock as my mask/stencil, inking and moving it down the panel varying the angles to create a patterned paper.  I die cut a hexagon from the center to frame Iris, and he popped the sentiment, from the Seaside Sentiments set, up over he opening.  

This next card is even simpler.

Iris was stamped on my panel as well as onto masking paper.  The mask was placed that over her, and then used Post It tape as a mask, I inked the sky and then the ground (Simon Says Stamp Morning ink for the sky and Fawn for the ground).

For my coloring, I used warm grays this time for Iris, W0, W1, W2, and W3 with that bit of R00 so warm up her ear, and then B00, B01, and B02 for her outfit.

I added another sentiment from the Seaside Sentiments set, a soft gray mat, and a few clear sequins.

Doesn't she just exude so much fun and joy?

I'll be back tomorrow with one last Charmed by the Sea Collection card to share.

Purple Onion Designs, Stacey Yacula Charmed by the Sea Collection

 

Hi friends!  I'm excited to be sharing a couple cards today featuring the new Charmed by the Sea Collection by Stacey Yacula for Purple Onion Designs.

I'm a huge Stacey Yacula fan.  Her images are just so sweet.  Her collections really shine for folks who are good at creating scenes.  Me, I'm not so good at scenes, but I love her images because they make the perfect little vignettes.  I really think her individual images stand alone and can carry a card.

My first card today features Thaddeus.  He's the first image from the collection that I picked, I was just smitten with him.

He was stamped with Gina K Black Amalgam ink and then colored with Copics.  I used C0, C1, C2, and C3 for Thaddeus himself, B00, B01, B02 and R22 and R24 for his shorts, and G00, G02, and G03 for the bucket.  For the sand I used E40, E41, and E42.  Finally, to give a little hint of background/sky, I used BG70.

I did extend the sand around Thaddeus just a bit to better fill my frame.  

For the mat, I used an older wave stencil and one color of ink (Simon Says Stamp Morning), inking and moving the stencil down along the panel to create the background.  I die cut an oval from the center of the panel, and then popped the panel up over my colored image.

The sentiment is from the Seaside Sentiments set.

This next card is probably as close as I get to scene building.

This card features Taylor, the little bear playing in the sand, as well as one of the fences from the Beach Fences & Boardwalk set and another of the Seaside Sentiments.

The images were once again stamped with Gina K Black Amalgam ink and colored with Copics.  I used R22, R24, and R29 for Taylor's outfit, and he was colored with E23, E25, and E27.  I stuck with E40, E41, and E42 for the sand, and the fence was colored with E42, E43, and E44.  The sea/sky were colored with BG10 and BG11.

I added a bit of sand, trying to mimic the lines/dots that are part of the images themself to ground the sentiment.

That's all for me today.  Be sure to head over to Purple Onion Designs to check out the entire release, you are going to love all the cute image.  I'll have some more cards to share featuring this release next week.

Another Christmas Card featuring Purple Onion Designs

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

I've got another Christmas card to share today.  This time I'm using an image from Purple Onion Designs illustrated by Stacey Yacula called Snow Crooners.

This is such a cute image and gave me another opportunity to do some more coloring.

I use Gina K Black Amalgam ink when I color with Copics.  I tried to keep the coloring pretty light with some bolder pops of red and green.

To frame my image, I die cut a domed opening using an old MFT die from a panel of kraft cardstock.  Then I added a bit of texture using the Snowfall and Banks stencil and some embossing paste.

Once dry, this panel was popped up over my image with foam tape.

For the sentiment, I used an older set from Hello Bluebird called Typed Christmas.  The sentiment was embossed in white on a skinny pennant cut using an old Neat & Tangled die.  This was also popped up with foam tape.

I love this cute little trio don't you?

More Oldies but Goodies

As promised, I've got a couple more Oldies but Goodies Christmas cards to share today.  This time I'm mixing and matching products from a bunch of different companies, but I've again stuck with the same basic formula for each of the cards.

I started by stamping my images on Neenah Solar White cardstock and coloring them with Copics.  Then I fussy cut around the top of the images, but left the bottom of the stamped image attached to the panel, kind of like faux partial die cutting.  Once that was done, I was ready to put together cards.

This first card features the Walter image from Purple Onion Designs.  He was colored with Cool Grays, and I used my trusty red combination (R22, R24, R29, and R39).  

I cut an arched frame from a piece of patterned paper using an MFT STAX die for the front of the card, and stamped/embossed some snowflakes on a panel of light blue cardstock using a stamp from Ellen Hutson's Abstract Paint Strokes stamp set.

The sentiment, from Neat & Tangled's Scandinavian Prints Christmas set was embossed on a banner from the Scalloped dies set.

The snowflake piece was adhered directly to my card base as was the little penguin, and the patterned paper frame and sentiment strip were popped up with foam tape.

The second card follows the same formula, but this one features an owl, Flora, also from Purple Onion Designs.  The owl was colored with Warm Grays and I used B32, B34, and B37 for the scarf, and E70, E74, E77, and E79 for the tree stump.

The snowflake were embossed on a piece of grout gray cardstock and instead of using patterned paper, I stamped a panel of kraft cardstock with The Stamp Market's Jumbo Plaid background using white pigment ink.

The sentiment for this one is from Neat & Tangled's Nativity Play set, and I used another of the banners from the Scalloped die set for it.

I still need a few more cards for the season, but I'm getting close to being done.  Still have lots of goodies in that stack of Christmas products that I pulled to work with and am looking forward to getting some more stamping done this weekend!

I'm Here for You

I was reminded the other day (when Sandy Allnock created this card) that I had purchased this set, Elliot & Marcel - Feeling Blue? from Purple Onion Designs a while back and hadn't yet used it.

I love this image and wanted to try creating a very dramatic one layer card.

I started by stamping the image on a panel of Neenah Solar White cardstock.  I then stamped the image on some Inkadinkadoo Masking Paper, fussy cut it, and placed it over my image.  I also used some Post It tape to create a ground line, masking off the bottom of my stamped panel.

Then I used blending brushes to ink the background.  I started by adding just a bit of yellow behind the monkey using Citrus Twist from Altenew.  For the majority of the background, I started with just Black Soot Distress Ink, but I wanted a richer, deeper  black, so I also used liberal amounts of Dusty Concord.

Once I was happy with the background, I removed the Post It tape and shifted it to cover the top portion of my card which I had just inked.  I added a second strip for good measure, and then inked the botto of the card using just the Black Soot Distress Ink using a lighter hand than for the top of the card.

Then it was time to color my image.  

I used Neutral Grays for the elephant (N1, N3, N5, and N7), and the E20s (E21, E23, E25, E27, and E29) for the monkey.  

I had not masked off the little bow on the monkey's tail since I knew the inking would be lighter there, and that was colored with R89, R24, and R22.

The sentiment is from the same set.  

I don't do one layer cards very often (mostly because I don't like to mask), but there was minimal masking required for this one, and I love the big impact you get from both the background and that large image itself.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Friend Like You

Hi friends!  Today's card started out with this adorable little lamb called Wooley by Stacey Yacula for Purple Onion Designs.  I originally had him stamped dead center on a panel, but then I decided I wanted to do something less boring.

So, I colored him in (white animals might just be my favorite thing to color) using Copics: N0, N1, N5, and R11 for his cheeks.  Then, to mimic partial die cutting, I cut my panel using my paper trimmer to either side of where his feet hit the ground line, using detail scissors to trim around him.  

The background was created using Paper Smooches Power Rays die.  I inked a piece of white cardstock with Scattered Straw and then Mustard Seed Distress Ink, and then die cut.  This was adhered to a piece of light blue cardstock that I inked with a bit of Faded Jeans and then Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink.

I cut a piece of dark blue cardstock and adhered it over the bottom of the faux partially die cut/stamped image, and added a sentiment from a retired My Favorite Things set.  This was then popped up over the Power Rays die cut piece.

To finish things off, I added a little red die cut heart, also from Paper Smooches.

It's always kind of ufn to see where creating takes you when, and I love being able to mix and match old and new products.

Hope you are having a lovely week!

Letters are Better with Purple Onion Designs

I'm slowly but surely working my way through all the images I picked up from Purple Onion Designs recently.  This one from Stacey Yacula called Nora & Butter was just too cute to pass on, and I knew exactly what sentiment I was going to use with it.

The image was stamped with Gina K Amalgam ink and then colored with Copics.  

When I'm coloring in neutrals, I try and mix up the families to create more of a contrast.  I used Warm Grays for the mouse (at least I think he's a mouse) W0, W1, and W2, Cool Grays for the mailbox C0, C1, C3, C5, and C7, and Neutral Grays for the ground N0, N1, N2.

The little bird was colored with E42, E43, and E44, and I used E21, E23, and E25 for the wood elements.

The hats and gloves were done with B000, B32, B34, and B37, and I used R22, and R29 for the red elements.

The sentiment is from my retired Typed Sentiments set for Neat & Tangled.  It's a perfect match with the image don't you think?

This is such a fun image, and I think it would be perfect for decorating an envelope too, especially one of those new slimline ones! 

Purple Onion Designs, Easiest Card Set Ever

One of the images I purchased during Purple Onion Designs Anniversary sale was this one from Julian Charlton called Frederick. 

Frederick is part of a holiday series from Charlton with a bunch of silhouette images.  I love this image because he works for so many emotions - hope (he's supposed to be looking for Santa), feeling lost, forlorn, contrite, etc.

Because he's a silhouette there's really not much you need to do with him other than stamp him.  I chose to go bold and graphic and keep things black and white.

I stamped him on four panels, and then picked out some sentiments that I thought worked well with the image.  These are all from older retired sets in my collection.  My favorite is the 'It seemed like a good idea at the time' sentiment.

These were so quick and easy to put together!

Purple Onion Designs Marigold Thank Yous

Hi everyone!  Today I'm sharing the thank you cards for my older daughter's birthday get together this weekend.  She's turning thirteen.  We stop having big birthday parties at ten, but she still gets to have friends over to hang our or go to the movies, or whatnot.  

This year she wanted to have friends over to hang out and have an ice cream sundae bar, but given the current environment that didn't seem like the greatest idea.  So. instead. her friends are coming over and will each get their own personal pint of Ben & Jerry's and the girls will play some games and just hang out outside on the deck.

Anyway, when I saw this adorable Marigold image from Purple Onion Designs I thought it would be the perfect image for her thank you notes.

Super quick and easy.  She was colored with Copics: N0, N1, and N3 along with Rll for the cheeks and YR000 for some warmth in her ears; Y00, Y13, G000, G02, B0000, B00, E11, and E35 were used for the ice cream and cones.

The sentiment is from an older Hero Arts set.

Normally I don't get around to making the thank you notes until after the party is over, but I'm ahead of the game this year!  

These are all done and ready to go!

You've Got a Friend in Me

I inked this sweet VW Bus image by Stacey Yacula for Purple Onion Designs up ages ago, and then set it aside without coloring it.  I just found it and decided now was the time.  

I colored it with Copics, keeping the color scheme very basic, I really think the image stands on it's own and doesn't need a ton.  

Once the coloring was done, I fussy cut the image and adhered it to a Studio Calico journaling card.  The sentiment is from my Clearly Canine set for Neat & Tangled.

I added a patterned paper mat from an old BasicGrey 6x6 pad to finish things off.

Short and sweet today.  Hope you are all staying safe and  healthy!

One for the Books

I colored a couple more of my Purple Onion Designs images this week.  I've had these for a while, but am only now getting around to inking them up.

These are Zoey and Mia from Stacey Yacula's Once Upon A Time release.

Once I had them stamped and colored, I decided that this journaling card and stamp set from Feed Your Craft's Mark Your Place Kit, which was released a couple years ago, were the perfect complement for my images.

I wanted the bookcase to be a bit more muted, so I inked it with Versafine and stamped it on a scrap piece of cardstock first, so this was second generation stamping.

The sentiment was made up from two of the sentiments from the set, stamped in first generation.

I added a patterned paper background and a black mat, and then adhered my little critters, popping up the bunny for some extra dimension.

That's all for today.  Thanks for visiting!

Us

Hi friends!  It's been quiet here on the blog lately.  We've got a lot going on at home in terms of the kids school/sports schedules, so crafting time has been hard to find, but I managed to get a little bit of coloring done over the weekend.

This cute little pair, Rory & Noelle, is from Stacey Yakula's most recent Purple Onion Designs release.

They were stamped on Neenah Solar White with Gina K Black Amalgam ink, colored with Copics, and then fussy cut.

I added them to a journaling card from Studio Calico.  I really enjoy using journaling cards on my actual cards because it often saves me a bit of type in composing/laying out my card.  For this card, I added just a hint of inking to the journaling card using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to create a ground line.

The sentiment is one of my favorites from the Typed Sentiments set I designed for Neat & Tangled.

I added a panel of white cardstock that I rounded the corners on, but it was a little too stark, so using the same ground line I created on the journaling card, I added some inking to the white panel.

Hope 2020 is treating you well!

POD Merry Christmas Hockey Critters

I was so excited when I saw the latest Pine Cone Trail release from Stacey Yakula for Purple Onion Designs (POD).  As you might know, we are a big hockey family, we all play some form of the sport including our girls who both play ice hockey.

These little critters playing hockey were must haves for me.

I have several stamps from POD, but I admit I don't use them as often as I should because they are unmounted rubber, and in the past I have used my tape runner to adhere them to my clear blocks which works just fine, but then I have to clean the blocks off to remove the adhesive.

Enter a new product!  POD is now selling large solid clear stamps, not for stamping, but to act as a mount.  There are two sizes available, I picked up the 4" x 6" stamp.

The rubber stamps just stick right to the clear stamp.  You can either mount the clear stamp to a block, or use a MISTI with the foam mat removed.

It makes stamping with these images so easy, I'm excited because I'm quite sure I'll be using my POD images more now.

So back to the card, the critters (Storm and Iclyn) were stamped with Gina K Black Amalgam ink, colored with Copics, and then fussy cut.

The Frozen Pond Background was also stamped with Gina K and colored with Copics.  I added a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp's Holiday Greetings 1 set, and the critters were adhered to the panel. 

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Birthday Birdie

There's a birthday challenge going on over at Purple Onion Designs, so I decided to ink up some adorable Stacey Yacula stamps and play along.  Neither of them is overtly birthday, but really you could use this sweet bird for pretty much everything.

The alphas were cut with Lawn Fawn dies and the papers are from an old MME pad.  The letters were getting a little lost against the background so after running them through my Xyron, I used a blending tool and some Antique Linen distress ink to give them a little more tint.

The bird and branch were stamped on white cardstock and colored using distress inks and a waterbrush and then fussy cut.  Then I stamped the bird onto the patterned paper.  This always makes me a little nervous because I don't have a stamp positioned, so I'm always just eyeballing it, but it worked out pretty well.  I adhered the bird and then placed the letters around it.  Then I added the branch, only adhering the branch part so that the leaves provide some dimension.



I really love these sweet images from Stacey and you'll definitely be seeing some more of them!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  MME:  Lost & Found Two (Sunshine) 6x6 pad; PTI - Kraft cardstock; CTMH - White cardstock
Stamps:  Purple Onion Design - Sweet Offerings Set
Ink:  Versafine; Ranger - Antique Linen, Iced Spruce, Salty Ocean, Evergreen Bough, and Vintage Photo Distress Inks
Other:  Lawn Fawn - Cole's ABC Dies; Xyron - 1 1/2" Sticker Maker; Ranger - Waterbrush; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Kuretake - Glue Pen