GOOD MORNING FRIENDS! As you can see, I’m still in holiday card mode. I recently placed an order with My Favorite Things and decided to put some of those goodies to use.

Supplies for today’s project are linked to multiple sources at the end of this post. Product links may also be displayed in the brackets following the product name. Where available, I use compensated affiliate links at no cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Today’s project features:

• Christmas sELFies by My Favorite Things
• Birdie Brown Greetings Galore by My Favorite Things
• Brush Splatter Background By My Favorite Things
• Copic coloring (see video and marker list below)
• Additional supplies listed in the thumbnails below.

Coloring the Image

To start, I stamped the image on X-Press It Blending Card using Nuvo Hybrid Ink in Shadow Black [AZ]. I’ve been experimenting with different black inks that are Copic compatible and I like this hybrid ink (I also like Gina K. Designs Amalgam Ink and Hero Arts Intense Black). All three are much crisper than Memento Ink (the old standby). I still prefer Versafine for stamping sentiments, but I find these inks to be perfectly acceptable for that purpose as well.

I’ve got a coloring video for you today. So sit back with your favorite beverage and take a look!

To be honest, I may have made the coloring look a little harder than it really is. I got hung up on blending the scarf, but I left it all in the video because I think it’s important to show that even Copic instructors don’t always get it right on the first try. But with a little patience, it came out right in the end.

After coloring the image, I trimmed the paper down to the black border around the image. I used the Polaroid Shaker Frame Die-namics [MFT] to cut out the photo frame from white cardstock and adhered it to the image. Afterwards, I backed the combined image and frame with a piece of craft foam [AZ] for dimension and set it aside.

Creating the Background

For the background, I cut a sheet of Grout Gray Card Stock [MFT] from My Favorite Things to 4.25 inches by 5.5 inches. The solid background looked too plain so I decided to create a subtle pattern using the Brush Splatter Background [MFT] by My Favorite Things. I couldn’t decide whether to use white or silver embossing powder so I ended up using both. I stamped the image with Versamark and heat embossed the image using Nuvo Embossing Powder in Glazier White [AZ]. The background was still too plain so I turned the cardstock upside down and heat embossed it a second time using Brutus Monroe’s Ultra Fine Embossing Powder in Sterling [BM]. This not only added interest to the background, but some shine as well.

I selected various prints from the Sweet Celebration 6×6 Paper Pack [MFT] by My Favorite Things to arrange behind the focal image. As you can probably tell, I based my marker selection on the color scheme of this paper pack. It’s one of the few times that I actually had the forethought to pick out my design papers first so that I wasn’t scrambling to find something to match after I had already coloring the image!

That’s it for today – hope you found some inspiration! See you soon.

SUPPLIES

Copics: W0, W1, W3, W8, E30, RV11 (bear); RV04, RV09, RV59 (hat); RV04, RV09, RV59, BG09, BG32, BG15 (scarf); Y15, Y19, YR04 (ribbon); BG09, BG78 (background)

Below I’ve listed the products used for today’s project. Compensated affiliate links used at no cost to you (see disclosure). I pay out of pocket for the majority of the products — papers, inks, dies, embellishments, etc. —  that you see in my projects with the exception of the handful of products that I receive for design team work or guest posts. I only use products that I love. If you like my projects, please consider supporting me by clicking through these links when you shop. Thanks so much!