Alex Syberia Designs - Spring Meadow Release Blog Hop & Giveaway

Hello everyone!  Welcome to my blog, where I hope you are hopping along with the Alex Syberia Designs brand new 'Spring Meadow' Release which is available NOW!  This link will take you to the company's blog hop post for this release and it is where you'll find tons of information and inspiration from the Design Team.

Alex Syberia Designs is giving away a £30 (or $30 for US winners) gift certificate to one winner and three other lucky winners will win a £15 (or $15 for US entrants).  The giveaway is open internationally.  Prizes will be awarded in GBP (£) for non-US winners and USD ($) for US winners.

All four winners will be drawn from participants who enter this Blog Hop by midnight BST April 27th, 2025.

Winners will be announced on the Alex Syberia Designs blog 'Giveaway Winners' page on April, 28th, 2025.

One final bit of useful information - the US Alex Syberia Designs shop can be found HERE and the UK/International Alex Syberia Designs Shop HERE.

Now please read on to learn how I made this card.

My first card for this release features the new Julian Charlton illustrated stamp set called Hoppy Easter.  Easter may be in the name but this stamp has flexibility well beyond Easter as I'll demonstrate in a card to be shared on Sunday, so look out for that.

I started by ink blending a smaller white panel of cardstock using Fresh Pink and Matcha inks by The Stamp Market.  I spattered on some white acrylic paint, backed the panel with white craft foam and adhered it to an A2 white panel of cardstock and then to my card base.

I stamped the Hoppy Easter images in black ink and coloured with the following Copic marker combinations:-

Bunnies - E31, E42, E41, E40

Large Eggs - E0, E000, E0000, C3, C1, C0

Mint - BG32, BG11, G0000

Pink - RV02, R21, R00, RV0000

Damselflies - W3, BG11, G0000

I added one or two highlights with a white gel pen than die cut using the coordinating Hoppy Easter dies, backed each image with dimensional foam tape and adhered to the ink blended background.

To complete the card, I also stamped and die cut the sentiment (one of many included in the stamp set) and I used fine tipped felt pens to add in a little interest to the grass and with that this card was done!

Please continue to hop along with the other designers using the hand list of links I have provided below and don't forget to enter the giveaway.  Thanks and good luck!

Alex Syberia Designs

• Amanda

• Bobbi

• Brenda

• Carly

• Colleen

• Emelie

• Erin

• Lien

• Nicoletta

• Nicky (you are here)

• Sandi

• Sylvie

 

Lottie's Gang - Flower Friends - Purple Onion Designs

My third card for Purple Onion Designs this month is another Julian Charlton illustrated Lottie's Gang image called Flower Friends.

To create this card I first ink blended the cloudy pink background using a cloud stencil in my stash.  I then grabbed the Birch Tree Background stamp from the 'A Beautiful Day' collection by Stacey Yacula and stamped and fussy cut the trees, adhering directly to the background panel.

I used a cloud die from my stash for the tree tops and ink blended them and a grassy edge die also from my stash for the lower grass panel which I also ink blended.  I stamped the sentiment.

I die cut the Mama Elephant scalloped frame and then glued the cloud/treetops to the inside, backed the frame with foam tape and applied it to the panel and then adhered the grass panel directly over the top of the frame at the bottom.

On Copic friendly cardstock I stamped my Flower Friends image using Memento Ink in Rich Cocoa.   I Copic coloured the images.  Pigs RV0000, RV000, RV00, RV10 with W1 and W2 for shading.  Skin E0000, E21 and E04.   Fox E13, E15 and E37 with W1 and W2 for shading.   Dress FRV1 and RV04.  All images were fussy cut and applied with foam tape. Flowers were glued directly.

To finish I grabbed W2 and W3 and shaded in under the characters to ground them and I used gel pens to dot in some interest around them.   The whole panel was applied to the card base and then was complete.

Happy crafting!

Lottie's Gang - Squad Hug - Purple Onion Designs

I'm back with another card featuring a Julian Charlton illustrated image called Lottie's Gang - Squad Hug for Purple Onion Designs.

I grabbed a panel of grey cardstock and first ink blended a focal point using white pigment ink followed by Distress Oxide Ink in Spun Sugar.  The white base allows for the pink to really look pink which it wouldn't so much do if it went down directly on the grey.

I stamped the image using Memento Ink in Rich Cocoa and coloured the image using Copic markers. Pigs are RV0000, RV000, RV00 and RV10 with W1, W2 for shading.  Skin is E000, E21 and E11.  Fox is E13, E15 and E37 with W1 and W2 for shading.   Lottie's dress is B41 and B12.   I then fussy cut the image carefully and used a sharp craft knife to remove cardstock in the spaces.

I backed the image with foam tape and applied it to the focal point I'd created.

I stamped the sentiment and again used foam tape to apply it and then I found some little heart dies from my Hello Bluebird stash and I die cut white cardstock over and over again and then glued these little hearts in stacks of about 4 or 5 so I got these lovely dimensional hearts as a result.   I arranged and glued these to the scene floating around the group hug image.

Finally, I used the Gallery Frame #4 die from Hello Bluebird Stamps to create a white frame which again was added with foam tape.   The entire panel was adhered to a card base and with that the card was completed.

Happy crafting!

Lottie's Gang - Purple Onion Designs

Hello all!  Today I'm playing with the Julian Charlton illustrated stamp called Lottie's Gang for Purple Onion Designs.

To create this card I first ink blended a panel of cardstock using various Distress Oxide inks in pastel hues.  I just made circular blending motions and as I switched to another colour I overlapped the previous one for a soft overlap.  To add more interest I used a stencil in my stash that is great for doing bokeh designs and uses white pigment ink and blended on the subtle white bokeh affect which is more noticeable when the card is handled since it has a subtle sheen.

I die cut the frame using the Gallery Frame #2 die by Hello Bluebird Stamps, backing it with foam tape for dimension and sticking it down on the pastel panel which in turn was adhered to a card base.

On Copic friendly cardstock I stamped the image using Memento Ink in Rich Cocoa and coloured the image using Copic markers.   Pigs RV0000, RV000, RV00 and RV10 and shading W1 and W2.  Skin E0000, E21 and E04.  Fox E13, E15 and E37.  Balloon BV0000, B60, BV31 and V22.  The image was very carefully fussy cut, backed with foam tape and applied.

For the sentiment I stamped using Versamark Ink and then heat embossed in superfine gold embossing powder, this was also applied with foam tape and finally a few teeny tiny gold star embellishment were applied for a little festive twinkle.

Happy crafting!

Snowfetti - Illustrated by Julian Charlton for Purple Onion Design's Winter Release

Hello!  Today I have a CAS card for the brand new Winter release by Julian Charlton illustrating for Purple Onion Designs.   This card features Elliot and Marcel and the image is one of four for this release and this one is called 'Snowfetti'.   Release goes live Black Friday the 27th November along with Purple Onion's big sale.

This simple card started with stamping the Snowfetti image using Memento Ink in Rich Cocoa on to kraft cardstock.  I used Prismacolor colouring pencils to colour the images giving them a lovely soft appearance and I made the elephant character a little 'hairy' since I think elephants that are hairy are so cute with their fuzz!

Points were highlighted with a white gel pen and the panel was stamped with the sentiment using Versamark Ink and heat embossed in white.

I then trimmed the panel and layered it over a red panel of cardstock and attached this to a white cardstock base.

To finish up I used Nuvo Stone Drops in Chalk White for my lovely 'snowfetti' which is super dimensional and has a slight granular appearance rather than being glossy, just a for a nice change.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Elliot & Marcel - Holiday Shopping - Illustrated by Julian Charlton for Purple Onion Designs

Hi and welcome to my blog where today I'm featuring a new stamp image featuring those fun buddies Elliot and Marcel illustrated by Julian Charlton for Purple Onion Designs. The image I've used in this card today is called 'Holiday Shopping' and Purple Onion are releasing 4 stamp images designed by Julian this Friday 27th in conjunction with their Black Friday sale!!!

To create this card I used Distress Oxide Ink in Speckled Egg to softly ink blend a background and I used Dr. Ph.Martin's. Bleed Proof White paint to add snow.  This panel was adhered to some tiny gingham cardstock and I die cut a snowy hill for the ground and layered that over.   Using Copic markers in BG90, BG70 and BG0000 I added a little colour to the snow.

I die cut a cheerful red frame, backed it with foam tape and applied it over the blended panel which in turn was all mounted to a cardstock base.

On Copic friendly cardstock I used Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black to stamp the image and I used Copic markers to colour in rich tones to match with the frame.  I carefully fussy cut the image and backed it with foam tape and applied it.  I used a white gel pen to highlight some points.

I popped the card in my Misti and stamped the sentiment and the final touch was to glue some wooden stars to complete the scene.

Such a cute duo!  Happy crafting everyone!

Harvest Friends - Winslow and Rusty - Julian Charlton for Purple Onion Designs

This is my third card featuring these sweet buddies Winslow and Rusty illustrated by Julian Charlton for Purple Onion Designs.  This stamp image is called Harvest Friends.

To create this card I first used a cloud stencil in my stash to create the soft background sky.    I used a cloud edge die and grass edge die to create clouds and grass.   Clouds were directly attached and the grass was softly ink blended and splattered and the sentiment stamped at an angle before that too was attached.  For dimension the top layer of grass has foam tape behind it.  The panel was attached to a card base.

On Copic friendly paper I stamped my image of Winslow and Rusty pulling their wagon of gourds using Memento Ink in Rich Cocoa.   I used a variety of Copic markers to colour the image but as I have with my previous two Winslow and Rusty cards for this release I used the following colours for the critters.  The fox character was E11, E33 and E35 and I used W3 and W5 to add shadow.   The bear character uses Y26, YR24 and YR27 and again W3 and W5 for shadow.

The image was fussy cut, backed with a double layer of foam tape and applied to the scene.  I then considered finishing touches and decided to add a few blowing leaves from a 4th image in this release from Julian Charlton which you'll find in the link given above and I highlighted a few points with a white gel pen.

Happy crafting!

Halloween Friends - Winslow and Rusty - Julian Charlton for Purple Onion Designs

 Today's card is another for the release of illustrator Julian Charlton's Winslow and Rusty designs for Purple Onion Designs.  This stamp is called Halloween Friends.

This is a simple Halloween/friendship card that started with an ink blended A2 panel of cardstock that I also splattered pretty well with an old toothbrush but I did it with the gradient of the colouring so that where the colouring was the deepest I did more splatter,  decreasing to very little at the top.   This panel was trimmed and was layered over a panel of cardstock which in turn was adhered to a purple panel that I attached to the card base.   I die cut the snowy ground (winter came early!) and stamped the sentiment and attached it to the top panel.

Winslow and Rusty are a lot of fun to colour and for this release I've always used the same colour palette using Copic markers for consistency.  The fox character was E11, E33 and E35 and I used W3 and W5 to add shadow.   The bear character uses Y26, YR24 and YR27 and again W3 and W5 for shadow.  Please see my last card featuring these cuties and I've got another Autumnal one coming in a few days.  Images were stamped with Memento Ink in Rich Cocoa.

I fussy cut the image, it was a pretty easy one to do and backed it with foam tape and applied it.   The final touch was to add white gel pen to highlight certain points and I used a metallic gel pen to dot in a little glimmer around them so that you get a little added interest when the card is handled ... I love movement!

This stamp can be reimagined so many times with so many backgrounds and I absolutely adore it.

Happy crafting! 

Campfire Friends - Winslow and Rusty by Julian Charlton - Purple Onion Designs

Hi!  Today I'm revealing part of a new release by the illustrator Julian Charlton for Purple Onion Designs featuring the adorable Winslow and Rusty.  This is a one layer Copic coloured card and the stamp is called Campfire Friends.

It wasn't necessary to do any masking since the image with the duo huddled around their campfire nicely tucks underneath the separate tree image.   With those two images stamped on to Copic friendly cardstock I was quickly turning my attention to a couple of hours of colouring.

I started my colouring with the campfire and then the halo of blue surrounding it and rising up and up into the deeper BG shades.   I then turned my attention to producing a halo affect under the campfire using increasingly darker YG shades.   The tree trunk is E31, E55 and E27.

The fox (Rusty) was E11, E33 and E35 and I used W3 and W5 to add shadow.   The bear (Winslow) uses Y26, YR24 and YR27 and again W3 and W5 for shadow.  I finished by colouring the other tiny elements which give some nice pop of colour here and there and then I stamped the sentiment.  Finishing touch was to grab my white gel pen and draw in 4 point stars and some more dotted ones and add some highlighting to the characters and ground beneath them.

Finally I just die cut the scene to provide the simple faux stitched edge and with that the card was finished.

I will be back very soon with another card using these cuties in a different setting but the whole release is Fall and Halloween themed.

Happy crafting!

 

Elliot and Marcel - Hugs - Purple Onion Designs

Hello!  Elliot and Marcel are back again today in this new card I have for Purple Onion Designs featuring the stamp image called 'Hugs' illustrated by Julian Charlton.



The card features and ink blended background done with Distress Inks in Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio and I also used some ink to splatter the background.   I added a die cut frame with foam tape to the background.



On Copic friendly cardstock I stamped the Hugs image using Memento Ink in Rich Cocoa.  I used Copic markers to colour the images (borrowing some flowers from one of the Lottie's Gang stamp images), I fussy cut them and applied them with foam tape.



I highlighted a few points with a white gel pen and stamped the sentiment to a die cut cloud and this was also applied with foam tape.

The finishing touch was one simple little heart embellishment, I like these images kept simple!

Happy crafting!

Nicky x

Elliot and Marcel - Feeling Blue? - Purple Onion Designs

Welcome back to my blog.  I have a new card for Purple Onion Designs today featuring the image called 'Feeling Blue?' and those cuties Elliot and Marcel, illustrated by Julian Charlton.



My card starts with a faintly stamped checked background from my stash of background stamps and an ink blended die cut grass panel that was adhered to this background.   I added a die cut white frame backed with foam tape.



On Copic friendly cardstock I stamped my image with Memento Ink and coloured it with Copic markers finishing with a few highlighted point done with a white gel pen.  The image was fussy cut, backed with foam tape and applied to the scene.



To finish the card I stamped the sentiment in blue on a strip of cardstock and applied it with foam tape and also added two simple die cut clouds that I softly ink blended the edge with Distress Ink to fit with the blue theme.

Happy crafting!

Nicky x

Lottie's Gang - Flower Friends - Purple Onion Designs

Hello!

I'm continuing to share cards using the new Lottie's Gang stamp images illustrated by Julian Charlton for Purple Onion Designs.   This particular and very sweet image is called Flower Friends.



The card features a pale peach panel of cardstock that I stamped and heat embossed to give it the plaid look.  This was applied to a card base.  On a strip of white cardstock the image was stamped and I coloured it with Copic markers.



I backed it with another piece of pale peach cardstock and attached this to the panel.  I tucked a die cut cloud in the top for some interest and stamped and applied the sentiment.



I kept the embellishments minimal with a couple of toning green crystals applied to the cloud.

Appreciate you stopping by to read today.  Happy crafting!

Nicky x

Lottie's Gang - Squad Hug - Purple Onion Designs

Hi!  I'm back with a new card in the CAS (Clean and Simple) design featuring Lottie's Gang and this image is called Squad Hug and illustrated by Julian Charlton for Purple Onion Designs.



The card features a white panel that I stamped with the image, I coloured it with Copic markers and stamped the sentiment beneath.



I then flipped the panel over and scored the edges to make a frame around them.  The panel was backed with white craft foam and applied to the card base.  A few toning purple heart embellishments finish out the scene.



I picked a gorgeous purple envelope to pair with this card to tone with Lottie's dress.

Happy crafting!  Nicky x

Lottie's Gang - Birthday Squad - Purple Onion Design

Hello!

This is Lottie's Gang illustrated by Julian Charlton for Purple Onion Design.  This stamp image is called Birthday Squad and I just adore it!




The card features a stencil ink blended panel (from my stash) and a faux stitched edge, finishing the panel a little smaller than A2.  I layered this over a similarly die cut A2 pink panel, popped up on white craft foam.



The sentiment was stamped and then on Copic friendly paper I stamped the image and coloured it, then fussy cut the image, backed it with dimensional foam tape and applied it.  A few points were highlighted with a white gel pen and a few hearts were glued in place to finish the happy scene.



Thanks for stopping by, I'll be back soon with another project featuring this new collection.

Nicky x

Oh Poop! by Julian Charlton for Purple Onion Designs

Hello Friends!   Purple Onion Designs has a new release of fun designs by Julian Charlton and I think you will find many of them so useful for the times we find ourselves in, not only for the images but they come with fabulous sentiments too!  The new release is available to buy TODAY!




I have several cards to share from the new release over the coming days but today's card uses the stamp set Oh Poop! and is so cute and funny you might actually want to be late with your birthday wishes for someone JUST so you can justify using it!  Check out the little puppy in the bottom right of the picture!  



This card was made by ink blending a background panel.   I then die cut the white frame from a die in my stash, backed it with foam tape and applied it at a fun angle.  I stamped the sentiments using a stamp positioner and added two white die cut clouds.  I stamped and coloured the images with Copic markers then fussy cut, backed them with foam tape and applied them within the frame.   Using gel pens I dotted in some grass and flowers and a few sparkling clear flat cup sequins finish the scene.




Thank you for stopping by to enjoy these sweet new stamps, I hope you found some inspiration along the way and I've got a great deal more of this release coming your way.  Happy crafting!

Nicky x

Silhouettes - Purple Onion Designs

Hello, welcome to my blog and thank you for stopping by to read about this card for Purple Onion Designs that features the new Silhouette stamps illustrated by Julian Charlton.  You can find Julian's collection HERE including the stamps that I've used in this project of course.



I wanted a slightly masculine feel to this card (it's all relative compared to my other cards lol).  To that end I took a panel of super smooth white cardstock and ink blended using Distress Oxides and Inks in Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot.



I popped the panel in my Misti and inked up the rooftop stamp with Ranger Archival Ink in Black.  I repeat stamped for the perfect solid image and used my heat tool to speed up the drying process.  I snipped apart the stamp of Santa in his sleigh with one reindeer.  Using a stamp positioner (so that I could both see where I was stamping and could repeat stamp) I stamped the reindeer making sure I left room for Santa in his sleigh.  Each image was stamped twice for the solid black silhouette I was looking for.



I used a fine tipped white gel pen to dot in the stars (or is that snowfall .... you decide) and to highlight their fun eyes.  I even applied the tiniest amount of white gel to the cat's eyes.

The panel was adhered to a black cardstock base and I made a nice writing insert inside using quality 80lb weight paper and I also stamped a sentiment in there.

I hope you have fun creating with these fun Silhouette stamps, happy crafting!

Nicky x

Happy Winter Forest Friends by Julian Charlton Card for Purple Onion Designs

Hello!  A new card - a purple card for Purple Onion Designs to launch the new collection by Julian Charlton.  This is my second card that features the new Happy Winter Forest Friends collection.  



This slimline card with finished dimensions of 3 1/2 inches by 8 1/2 inches has a panel that I ink blended with Distress Oxide Inks then splashed up with white acrylic paint and set it aside to dry.



The new images were stamped with Memento Ink in Rich Cocoa on to Copic friendly cardstock and then fussy cut, backed with foam tape and applied to the scene.  Some of the trees were applied directly to bring more dimension.



The sentiment was stamped with the same Memento Ink to a strip of cardstock and similarly applied.



To finish the scene I highlighted a few points with a white gel pen and I applied toning flat cup sequins for a dimensional flourish.  The panel was applied to a sturdy 110lb white cardstock card base.



Really appreciate you stopping by to take a closer look at this card.

Happy crafting!

Nicky x