Monthly Archives: October 2017

Fall Hello

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Fall-Hello_0469

For this fall card, I created my own autumn-themed patterned paper using the Essentials by Ellen Rustic Botanicals stamp set. The pattern was created using stamps from this set and inks in burgundy, oranges, green and browns. The inks reflect and autumn palette.

I die cut the word FALL from the Hinged Alphabet die set also from Essentials by Ellen. While these dies leave a hinge (uncut) edge on the left side of the alphabet letter, I cut the hinge using a craft knife so that I would have an un-hinged alphabet letter. The letters were cut from a bronze colored metallic cardstock and give the card a rich look. I’m sorry that it doesn’t show up as well as it does in real life. I also used the bronze metallic cardstock as an A2-sized mat for the background. I had to cut down the patterned piece to 4”x5.25” so the matting would show.

Since the patterned background was busy, I muted the pattern with a piece of vellum the exact size as the pattern. The “FALL” letters were. I stamped a hello in brown ink on white cardstock using a stamp set from Altenew.

All elements were arranged as you see in the photo. One note, the letter “A” on the hinged side cuts bluntly, so to hide this, I added a punched leaf from a leaf border punch to hide the blunted edge of the “A” and added two more leaves to make the them look like a part of the design, rather than a way to cover the left bottom edge of the “A”. The leaves were raised with foam tape for interest and dimension. The entire card front was mounted onto an A2 top-folding card base of Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock.

Hope you like the card. Have a great Autumn day!

 

Supplies:

Stamps:

  • Essentials by Ellen: Rustic Botanicals
  • Altenew: Label Love clear stamp set (word “HELLO”)

Dies:

  • Essentials by Ellen: Hinged Alphabet die set

Punch:

  • EK Tools Paper Punch: Falling Leaves border punch

Cardstock

  • Bronze Metallic cardstock (from my stash) – for die-cut letters and mat for card front
  • Neenah Solar White 80# (card front)
  • Neenah Solar White 110# (card base)
  • Papertrey Ink: Terracotta Tile (for punched out leaves)

Inks:

  • Papertrey Inks in Terracotta Tile, Canyon Clay, Harvest Gold, Simply Chartreuse, Dark Chocolate
  • Hero Arts: Hybrid Bold Ink in Caramel

Hello Friend – A Graphic-Styled Card

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Hello-Friend

I am SO behind in posting the cards that I have made.  I made this card in early September, when I purchased the new Ellen Hutson’s Essentials by Ellen Paper Pack, Modern Graphics.

I’m a sucker for anything that is graphic in design. This is partly because, I envy those craft product designers who can come up with the most eye-catching designs in patterned paper and stamps. Their patterns and designs always leave me awestruck. I’m always amazed at how different elements that don’t look coordinated can look so interesting and cohesive together.

This is my attempt to imitate those wonderful graphic designers.

This project is a combination of stamping, die-cutting and layering cardstock.

·        I cut the animal-dotted patterned paper from the patterned paper pack down to an A2-sized mat piece.

·        Next, I die-cut a piece of white cardstock using Papertrey Ink’s Brushed Off Rectangle die. I love this die because of the unusual brushed-cut edges. Love the textured edges!

·        I then stamped a graphic leaf image from the Essentials by Ellen Rustic Botanicals stamp set. I chose an olive colored ink from Papertrey Ink and my favorite black ink from Tsukineko. The leaf was stamped several times and I alternated the stamping as well as the two different colored ink.

·        I cut a black piece of cardstock slightly larger than the Brushed Off rectangle to frame the stamped center rectangle, so that it’s edges didn’t get lost against the dotted pattern mat background.

·        I added a small sentiment that was heat embossed with white embossing powder onto black cardstock. The sentiment was raised using foam tape.

·        The entire card front was mounted onto an A2 card base.

Hope you like the look! Have a great day!

 

Supplies used in making this card:

·        Stamps:

o   Essentials by Ellen Rustic Botanicals stamp set.

o   My Favorite Things: Simply Said stamp set (sadly no longer available—set has tiny sentiments in a simple font)

·        Inks:

o   Papertrey Dye Ink in Ripe Avocado

o   Tsukineko Versafine Ink in Onyx Black

·        Cardstock:

o   Neenah Solar White 80# for the center focal panel

o   Bazzill Cardstock in Licorice Twist

o   Essentials by Ellen Modern Graphics cardstock (4 different patterns, this one is the animal dots pattern).

o   Neenah Solar White 110# for the card base

·        Other:

o   Hero Arts White Embossing Powder

Ellen Hutson/Altenew Pin-Sights Challenge: Have a Fabulous Birthday

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Have-a-Fabulous-Birthday

Ellen Hutson’s October Mix It Up Challenge incorporates products from Essentials by Ellen and Altenew.

I decided to use the Floral Shadow stamp set from Altenew. It features large, solid floral and foliage images.  I chose two ot the floral and leaf images as my focal point and stamped them in a bold, deep raspberry ink. I used my MISTI stamping tool when I inked and stamped them a couple of times. I wanted to insure that I had good, solid impressions.

The color of the flowers is rich and bold, so I decide not to add other colors or things that might detract from the design. I wanted the flowers to really pop against the front of the card, so I emphasized this by matting the card front against black cardstock.

I love the sophisticated look of the handwritten “fabulous” sentiment die. I die-cut the word three times from the same black cardstock and glued all three pieces on top of each other for more dimension before adding it to card. I also added 2 small label sentiments, stamped in black, to complete my sentiment.

A few clear, sparkling sequins were added for a slight bit of shimmer and I “colored” the flowers using a clear, Wink of Stella glitter brush pen to up the glitz a little more.

I’m really happy with the results, my project is bold and striking and uses a minimum amount of color and fuss.

Hope you like this project. Have a great day!

Stamps:

  • Altenew: Floral Shadow Stamp
  • The Ton: Basic Labels (sentiment)

Dies:

  • Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies: Totally Fabulous

Inks:

  • Hero Arts: Raspberry Jam Mid-Tone Shadow Ink
  • Tsukineko: Versafine Ink: Onyx Black

Cardstock:

  • Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock (card front)
  • Bazzill: Licorice Twist (black) cardstock (mat)
  • Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock (card base)

Other:

  • Wink of Stella Glitter Brush in Clear.
  • Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Sequins (assortment).

Hello and Stars and Dots!

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The September Pin-Sights inspiration images feature lots of complementary colors—various shades of blue and orange. So, I decided to focus on the colors and the small picture of a beautiful pattern of little shapes outlined in gold.

EH-201709-Pinsights-Inpsiration-Photo

I don’t know about you, but sometimes the smaller images in a stamp set can go unnoticed and unused. In particular, I’m referring to those tiny embellishment images like little stars, dots, hearts and clusters of the same that come with the set. I honestly love and am fond of these small stamps, so I decide to use them in a more prominent way on a card.

Here is my project:

Hello-Dot-and-Stars

How I made this project:

I chose small stamp images from 3 Essentials by Ellen Hutson stamp sets and arranged them onto a round acrylic block in a cluster as shown below.

Star-Dot-Cluster

The stamp sets from which these small stamp images came are described below in my supply list.

Before stamping this image cluster on my A2 card front, I created an ombre background for front of the card by blending Distress Oxide Inks in shades of yellow-orange, orange and brick. Once the ombre background was dried with my heat tool, I proceeded to stamp the image cluster onto the card front using three shades of blue. I rotated the acrylic block in different ways as I stamped the image cluster.

I made sure that I left some open spaces to stamp single star images. I stamped these single images in Versamark ink because I was going to heat emboss the stars using gold embossing powder. (Note: I made sure that the card front was properly prepped with an embossing powder bag before stamping in Versamark.). After applying the gold embossing powder, I removed any stray embossing powder with a small brush before heat embossing.

The gold stars really popped against the bright background and the star and dot background.

Since the overall background is busy, I used a single, simple die-cut word as a greeting. The hello die is also from Essentials by Ellen and it was die-cut 3 times in dark blue cardstock and glued together for added dimension. The hello was matted onto some vellum cardstock so that it would stand out from the background and then the entire sentiment piece was adhered to the card.

I trimmed down the A2 card front to 4” x 5.25” and mounted it onto a mat in the same dark blue cardstock as the sentiment. This was then adhered to a top-folding A2 card base.

Hope you like the project. Have a great day!

Supplies used in making this project:

  • Stamps (and the small images used from each set):
  1. Essentials by Ellen Brushstroke Christmas (individual stars and small dot cluster).
  2. Essentials by Ellen Bokeh Dots (large dot cluster)
  3. Essentials by Ellen Wonky Backdrops (star cluster)
  • Inks:
    1. Hero Arts Bold Hybrid inks in: Indigo, Aquatic, and Summer Sky
    2. Distress Oxide Inks in: Wild Honey, Abandoned Coral, and Fired Brick
    3. Tsukineko Versamark Ink
  • Dies:
  1. Essentials by Ellen: Brushstroke Hello die
  2. My Favorite Things Die-namics: Double-stitched Rectangle STAX (smallest size)
  • Cardstock:
  1. Neenah Solar White 80# for card front
  2. PapertreyInk: Enchanted Evening cardstock (for die-cut sentiment and card mat)
  3. Neenah Solar With 110# for card base
  • Other: WOW Embossing Powder in Gold Rich Pale.