Hi everyone!

I’m very excited to participate in the August Essentials by Ellen Pin-Sights challenge.

The Pin-Sights Challenge is held monthly. Each month a new Pinterest inspired photo is provided as inspiration for the challenge. This month’s inspiration photo is shown below.

The requirement for the challenge is that you use the inspiration photo as a jumping point and any Essentials by Ellen product to create a project. The project is not limited to handmade cards. Any papercrafting project can be submitted.

The best part about the challenge other than flexing your creative muscles is that your project submission makes you eligible to win a $50 gift certificate to the Ellen Hutson store!  There are lots of goodies at the Ellen Hutson store to feed any crafty person’s addiction. For more information, details and how to submit your project please go to the Ellen Hutson Classroom blog’s August Pin-Sights Challenge page.

For my project, I was inspired by the bright shades of pinks in the photo along with the contrasting green. I pictured rows of blooming flowers in varying shades of pink, nestled against green grass.

I used several Essentials by Ellen stamps sets to create my project:

• Essentials by Ellen: Wonky Backdrops (grass)
• Essentials by Ellen: Bold Blooms (flower image)
• Essentials by Ellen Courage Stamp Set (flower centers)
• Essentials by Ellen Lovely Stamp Set (sentiment)
• Essentials by Ellen Autumn Acorns Stamp Set (3 dots)

Hope you liked my project. Please enter this month’s challenge. It’s fun and I’d like to see all the different projects that people create!

Ellen Hutson’s August Mix It Up Challenge is underway currently. This month’s Mix It Up Challenge involves using and Ellen Hutson product with any Avery Elle product.

For my project, I’m incorporating the G’Day Mate stamp set made exclusively for Ellen Hutson by Avery Elle. I guess you could call it a two for one stamp since it counts both as an Ellen Hutson and Avery Elle product.  When you buy the stamp set, you also get coordinating dies for the stamp set! This is great for me since I’m addicted to stamp sets that have coordinating dies.

Since one of my cousins is expecting a new addition to their family, I thought I’d create a card to celebrate that. My mama kangaroo is carrying a new baby kangaroo also known as a joey.  In Australia, a young child or baby animal is referred to as a joey. I really don’t know how that term came about, but I think it’s kind of a cute nickname anyway!

Anyway the mama kangaroo wants the baby to know that he will be loved just like all of her other children. A mother’s unconditional love is forever!

How I made this project:

1. Using a cloud stencil, apply Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink onto an A2-sized piece of white cardstock. Move the stencil around to create and blend until you get the desired effect. Set this piece aside.
2. Die-cut a piece of A2 embossed woodgrain cardstock with an arch-shaped die to create an arched opening. (Note: you can same the arch, the positive piece that was cut out for another project.). Put this piece aside.
3. Stamp the kangaroo and butterfly images from the stamp set onto white cardstock with Memento black Ink. I stamped 1 kangaroo and 3 butterfly images for this project. I used Memento ink because I will color the images with Copic Markers and Memento ink is alcohol marker friendly.
4. Color your images and die cut them using the coordinating dies. You could also fussy-cut the images if you are good at fussy-cutting (I am not).
5. Stamp the sentiment in black ink onto a blue-colored cardstock that complements the clouds and sky. Cut out the sentiment with scissors into a rectangle. Adhere one of the butterflies to the sentiment piece.
6. For the final assembly:
   • Glue the die-cut kangaroo piece to the woodgrain cardstock piece as you see in the photo. I centered the kangaroo in front of the arch opening so that the bottom half of the kangaroo’s body was on the woodgrain cardstock, and the top half was hanging off the open arch.
   • Apply pieces of foam tape liberally to the back of the woodgrain cardstock piece and the back of the top half of the kangaroo. This is to raise the entire card front for added dimension.
   • Remove the backing from the foam tape and place the woodgrain card piece over the stenciled cloud piece. The clouds should be visible through the arch opening.
   • Glue the 2 remaining butterflies to the stenciled cloud piece.
   • Place and adhere the sentiment below the kangaroo image.
   • Mount the entire card front onto an A2 top-folding card base.

Supplies used in making this project:

Supplies used in making this project:

1. Stamps:
   • G’Day, Mate stamp set made by Avery Elle for Ellen Hutson (kangaroo and butterfly images)
   • Simply Said: You stamp set made by Avery Elle (sentiment)
2. Dies:
   • G’Day, Mate coordinating dies to the G’Day, Mate stamp set (kangaroo and butterfly images)
   • Die-namics Stitched Arch STAX dies by My Favorite Things (second largest die used to cut out opening)
3. Stencils:
   • My Favorite Things: Mini Clouds Stencil
4. Inks:
   • Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink in Peacock Feathers
   • Tsukineko Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black
5. Copic Markers: RV13, Y13, Y38 for the 3 butterflies; E21, E33, E55 for the kangaroos.
6. Cardstock:
   • Ellen Hutson: Embossed Woodgrain cardstock
   • Turquoise blue cardstock from my cardstock remnant stash (for the sentiment piece)
   • Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock for cloud piece and kangaroo and butterfly images
   • Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock for card base