C.C. Blog — DT Rick Adkins

Christmas cards are even more fun when you can combine playful stamped characters with festive patterned paper and a little creative coloring! This Christmas Vacation-inspired card brings together a surprised character, a colorful holiday background, and layered details for a design full of personality. Rick is back with another project to share on the C. C. Designs Blog, featuring the RV Stamp Set and Christmas Vacation 6x6 Paper Pack. In this tutorial, we'll explore how watercolor pencils, fussy cutting, die-cut sentiment banners, and vellum can work together to create a festive handmade card without requiring complicated techniques. Project Overview This card...

Friendship cards are a wonderful way to let someone know you are thinking about them, and this design combines cheerful pattern paper with a sweet stamped focal image for a card that feels both playful and polished. Rick is back with another project to share with everyone, featuring the Stars Hollow Clear Stamp Set, pattern paper and Tombow Dual Brush Pens. Along the way, we'll look at how stamping, coloring, fussy cutting, and thoughtful layering can work together to create a balanced handmade card. Project Overview This friendship card starts with a simple layered layout and lets the patterned paper add...

An encouragement card can be a wonderful way to remind someone that they are stronger and more capable than they may realize. This project combines stamped images, alcohol marker coloring, ink blending, and stenciling to create a bright, playful scene with plenty of personality. Rick is back with another card tutorial for C.C. Designs, this time featuring the Sword Master Stamp Set and a design built around the encouraging sentiment “Stay Mighty!” Project Overview This card uses a simple scene-building approach that makes the stamped characters the star of the design. The two sword-wielding characters and their companion create a...

There's something special about creating a friendship card that feels bright, cheerful, and full of personality. Today, we're sharing a playful design that combines stamping, alcohol marker coloring, ink blending, and layered backgrounds to create a card that's both eye-catching and approachable. Rick is back with another project to share, featuring the Strawberry Delight Stamp Set from C. C. Designs, along with a few simple design ideas that can help you build confidence as you create your own handmade cards. This project is a wonderful example of how a handful of classic cardmaking techniques can work together to create a...

A handmade thank you card is a thoughtful way to brighten someone's day, and today's slimline design is full of cheerful color and sweet details. Rick is back to share another card tutorial featuring the Strawberry Delight Stamp Set and Fruity Friends Stamp Set from C. C. Designs. In this project, you'll see how combining stamped images, pattern paper, alcohol markers, die cutting, and fussy cutting creates a fun, balanced slimline card that's approachable for beginner and intermediate cardmakers alike. Project Overview This slimline thank you card brings together several adorable stamped images to create one cohesive scene. Instead of...

Encouragement cards are a wonderful way to brighten someone's day, and today's collection shows how simple stamping techniques, alcohol marker coloring, pattern paper, and fussy cutting can work together to create cheerful handmade cards. Rick is back sharing a new project featuring the Down On The Farm Clear Stamp Set, Farm Life Clear Stamp Set, and Platypus Stamp Set from C. C. Designs. These four cards use playful imagery and approachable techniques to create designs that are full of personality while remaining easy to recreate for a variety of occasions. The combination of farm-themed scenes and whimsical animal characters creates...

Today’s friendship card combines soft watercolor-style coloring, simple layering, and playful pattern paper for a clean and approachable design. Rick is back on the YouTube Channel and Blog today to share a fun technique using the Honey Bear Stamp Set from C. C. Designs along with Crayola Markers and a watercolor brush to create a beautiful painted effect on stamped images. This project is a great reminder that eye-catching card designs can come from simple supplies and easy-to-learn techniques. The focal image takes center stage on this card, framed with layered panels and soft patterned paper that help guide the...

Hey crafty friends it's Rick here today to share a quick and easy clean and simple card project, along with a step-by-step video tutorial to guide you through the process. In this post, you’ll learn how to combine stamping and ink blending to create a polished, professional-looking card with minimal supplies. Featuring the More Pals Stamp Set from C. C. Designs, this design focuses on keeping things simple while still achieving a fun and eye-catching result. Project Overview This card design uses a clean and simple layout that places the focus on a horizontal panel featuring stamped images and a...

Hello crafty friends it's Rick back with you again on the C. C. Designs Blog; today I wanted to share with you some simple and easy tips for creating a one layer clean and simple thanks card using the brand new Sticky Notes Sayings Stamp Set and the Animal Notes Stamp Set.  Clean & Simple Doesn't Have to be boring!  You can create some fun looks even with one layer cards with a little thought about what techniques you want to use to make them stand out.  When I looked at the both the Sticky Notes Sayings Stamp Set; I...

Creating beautiful cards doesn’t have to take hours, and it definitely doesn’t have to feel complicated. In today’s project, we’re exploring how to make four clean and simple watercolor cards using the Pink Cuties Stamp Set from C. C. Designs. You’ll learn how to use easy watercolor techniques to create soft, colorful backgrounds and pair them with adorable stamped images for quick, polished results. Project Overview These cards are designed with simplicity in mind, making them perfect for both beginners and those looking to create multiple cards in one sitting. Each design features a clean white card base with a...

Hello crafty friends, it's Rick back with you again this week to share a clean and simple card design using the brand new Shamy Stamp Set from the March 2026 Release.  For this card I wanted to keep things clean simple and easy.  I matched the coloring of the image from the Shamy Stamp Set to a piece of pattern paper from my stash. This is one of my favorite ways to come up with color combos.   By picking your pattern paper before you start coloring you can match your copics or other alcohol markers to your pattern paper for...

Hello crafty friends it's Rick back with today to share another card tutorial.  Today's card features the new Pink Green Stamp Set from the latest release from C. C. Designs.  If you like quick easy card designs then this one will be for you.   This card is a super easy layout.  It features a main image from the Pink Green Stamp Set, colored with alcohol markers, and is placed on a background of pattern paper.  I stamped the sentiment onto a large pink circle and placed the stamped and colored image to the left of the sentiment.  I added a...