Category Archives: Challenges

You Really Are Extraordinary

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I love hydrangeas and have been waiting to do my take on a hydrangea plant. I was intimidated by the cluster of small perfect flowers and how to color and shade them for variation. So here is my result.

This project was also inspired by the current Ellen Hutson Pin-Sights Challenge.

I took my inspiration from the flowers and the color palette. I chose the light purples (lavenders), soft yellow, soft green and a light touch of pale lilac to color the hydrangeas. All coloring was done using Copic markers.  To make the flowers pop, I adhered them to a rich navy-colored piece of cardstock. I think the navy brought out the blues and made the pale color of the flowers pop.

How I made this project:

  • Stamped the hydrangea flowers and the cluster onto white cardstock using a Copic-friendly ink (Memento Tuxedo Black).
  • Colored the flowers using the selected Copic marker colors (listed below in the supplies). Blending was very important since I wanted a soft look for the flowers. I started with the lightest BV0000, coloring each petal with this color to wet the flower and then added the other darker shades of the BV family for shading. I also added a little V12 (Pale Lilac) for a pinker, yet subtle, more vibrant look. I used BV01 and BV0000 for blending the colors together as well.
  • Die-cut the colored flowers.
  • Arranged the die-cut flowers onto the A2 navy cardstock. Let flowers overhang the A2 navy card front and trim them later, once the flower placement is the way you want it. Make sure to leave adequate room for the placement of a sentiment.
  • Heat embossed the sentiment using gold embossing powder BEFORE you adhere the flowers to the card front.
  • Placedfoam squares on the back of the flowers and place them on the navy card front in the placement that you’ve determined.
  • Adhered the completed card front to a card base.

Supplies used in making this project:

  • Stamps: (all stamps by Ellen Hutson’s Essentials by Ellen stamp line): Mondo Hydrangea (flower images), Totally Random Sayings Vol. 2 (sentiment: ‘you really are’), Mondo Sakura (sentiment: ‘extraordinary’).
  • Dies: Essentials by Ellen coordinating die set to Mondo Hydrangea stamp set.
  • Inks: Versamark; Memento Tuxedo Black ink.
  • Copic Markers: BV0000 (Pale Thistle), BV01 (Viola); BV13 (Hydrangea Blue), V12 (Pale Lilac) for flower petals; Y02 (Canary Yellow) for flower centers; YG11 (Mignonette) for flower stems.
  • Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 80# (for stamping flower images); Papertrey Ink: Dark Indigo cardstock for card front mat; Neenah Solar White 110# for card base.
  • Other: Brutus Monroe Metallic Embossing Powder in Gilded.

Hope you like this project. Have a great day!

Kindness Begins With Love

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The Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #98 requires using any kind of embossing on your project.

I employed an emboss resist technique, with ink blending using Distress Oxide Inks. My aim was to create a bright, but soft look.

How I made this project:

  • Prep a piece of A2 Distress Watercolor Cardstock with anti-static powder (e.g. Embossing Buddy bag).
  • Stamp the floral images onto the watercolor card stock using Versamark ink.
  • Cover the stamped images with white embossing powder, tapping the paper to remove any excess, and heat emboss with a heat tool.
  • Blend Distress Oxide inks over the embossed images, making sure that there is a slight blending between the colors.
  • Use a sponge dauber to color and blend the center of the floral images with a slightly darker ink in the same color family as the colored flower.
  • Blend light ink in the middle of the cardstock where the sentiment will be stamped.
  • After blending the colors, sprinkle water drops onto the card front and blot excess water with a paper towel.
  • Dry the entire card front with a heat tool.
  • Trim the card front to 4” x 5.25”.
  • Stamp the sentiment onto the card front.
  • Adhere crystal heart drops to the card front.
  • Adhere a piece of fun foam to the back of the card front.
  • Mount card front onto an A2 portrait-oriented, top-folding, black card base.

Supplies used to make this project:

  • Stamps: Simon Says Stamp: Look for the Miracles stamp set (flowers; Simon Says Stamp: Kind Flowers stamp set (sentiment).
  • Distress Oxide Inks: Worn Lipstick, Abandoned Coral, Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, Broken China, and Mermaid Lagoon.
  • Other Inks: Versamark (for embossing); Versafine Pigment Ink in Onyx Black (sentiment).
  • Other Supplies: Studio Katia: Clear Hearts; Hero Arts White embossing powder.
  • Cardstock: Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Cardstock (card front); Papertrey Ink: True Black cardstock (card base).

For this project, I cut up a sentiment from the Kind Flowers stamp set so that the words ‘begins with love’ could be stamped alone.

Hope you like this project. Have a great day!

Hello–Thistle Flowers

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The inspiration for my card shown above, is the picture board for the January Ellen Huston Pin-Sights Challenge show below. I love the understated tones of blues, purples and a touch of green for a color palette. The field of flowers in those shades was another image from the inspiration board that I was attracted to as well. The scene is one of beauty and serenity. This was the feeling I wanted to capture.

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The supplies I used and how I created and assembled the card are listed as the bottom of the blog post.

Hope you like the card! Have a great day!

Supplies used in making this project:

  • Stamps
  1. Essentials by Ellen: Thistle stamp set (flowers & stems).
  2. Essentials by Ellen: Lovely stamp set (sentiment)
  • Dies
  1. Essentials by Ellen: Thistle dies (coordinates with the Thistle stamp set).
  • Inks
  1. Papertrey Ink: Winter Wisteria (flower) and Amethyst Allure (background)
  2. Catherine Pooler Inks: Royal Treatment (flower), Juniper Mist (flower), Green Tea (stems)
  • Cardstock
  1. Strathmore Bristol Vellum (front flower panel)
  2. Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock (flowers & stems)
  3. Papertrey Ink 110# cardstock in Royal Velvet (a deep purple) for the mat
  4. Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock (card base)
  • Other
  1. White Fun Foam
  2. Wink of Stella Glitter Brush Pen in clear

 

How I made this card:

  • Starting with a 4.25” x 5.5” piece of Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper, I ink-blended a pale amethyst background using a foam ink blending tool. I applied the color starting from the lower left-hand corner and worked upward and out. I gradually lightened the color as I moved outward for a soft fade. I then added a few water droplets to the blended background and blotted them off with a paper towel. I did this to add more texture to the background
  • I stamped and die-cut three flowers in different colors, using the colors from the inspiration board. I also stamped and die-cut three of the flower stems in the same green-tea shade and from the same flower stamp set. All flowers and stems were stamped onto Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock
  • I mounted the flowers and stems onto fun foam (I die cut the fun foam pieces using the same dies from the die set and the arranged them on the front of the blended background.
  • When I arranged the assembled flowers, I noticed that for better placement, the flowers had to run off the edge on the left side.
  • Since they ran of the side, I trimmed down the Bristol panel on the right and top sides so that the total panel was 4” x 5.25”.
  • The flower panel was mounted onto a full-sized A2 (4.25” x 5.5”) deep purple mat. Note: I mounted the panel so that it was flush to the mat on the bottom right corner.
  • A simple, small “Hello” was stamped onto the card front so it wouldn’t distract from the flowers.
  • A little shimmer was added to the flowers with a clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen.
  • The entire card front was adhered to an A2 top-folding card base.

 

 

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.

Seas the Day!

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Seas-the-Day

Hello everyone,

I love puns and was able to incorporate a punny sentiment in my project for the latest Ellen Hutson Mix It Up Challenge. This particular challenge is all about pairing any Essentials by Ellen products with Lawn Fawn products. I was able to combine several stamp sets together to create a whimsical ocean scene. I thought the lines of the images and sentiments were all quite similar and went well together.

I took the sentiment from a stamp set from Ellen Hutson’s latest release named Mermaid’s Tail and some cute critter images and coordinating dies from Lawn Fawn to create this card. Other images from other Essentials by Ellen stamp sets were also added to complete the project.

I had fun constructing the layout and hope you find it fun as well. Seas the Day or should I say Carp-a-Diem? LOL!

How I made this project:

  • Using a 4”x 5.25” panel of watercolor cardstock, I blended 2 shades of blue Distress Oxide Inks to create the underwater background. I let the background dry. Once dry, I stamped the seaweed (using another shade of Distress Oxide Ink). I stamped the sentiment and the ocean waves in black ink.
  • Several critter images from Lawn Fawn’s Critters of the Sea stamp set were stamped onto some Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock. I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink to do this because the sea critters were going to be colored using Copic markers and Memento Ink does not bleed or smear when you use them with Copics.
  • After coloring the critters, I die-cut them using the coordinating dies for the stamp set. The sea creatures were mounted onto the card front using foam tape.
  • I add some splash drops around the dolphin to emphasize the dolphin jumping up out of the water. I used Distress Oxide Ink for this as well.
  • The finished card front was adhered to an A2-sized mat in turquoise colored cardstock from my stash and then mounted onto a top-folding A2 card base.

Supplies used in making this project:

Stamps and Dies:

  • Essentials by Ellen Mermaid’s Tail stamp set (sentiment)
  • Essentials by Ellen: Otter Ware stamp set (seaweed, waves, water splashes)
  • Lawn Fawn: Critters of the Sea stamp set and coordinating die set (sold separately).

Inks and Markers:

  • Distress Oxide Inks in: Salty Ocean, Broken China, Peeled Paint
  • Copic Makers: C1, C2, C3, R20, Y38
  • Versamark Ink in Onyx Black
  • Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black

Cardstock:

  • Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor cardstock
  • Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock (for sea critters)
  • Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock (card base)
  • Turquoise blue cardstock from my stash (mat for card front)

A Day Bursting with Joy

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Hello everyone,

The inspiration photos shown below for the June Ellen Hutson Pin-Sights Challenge is filled with bright summer floral colors.

My project incorporates these beautiful colors in the peonies. I’ve also added a touch of gold around the edges. For information on how I made this project and the supplies I used, read on below.

Pin-Sights-June-2017-Inspiration

How I made this project:

I blended three of the colors (Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade, and Fossilized Amber) from the Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks line onto an A2-sized piece of hot press watercolor paper. A mini ink blending tool was used for this. The Distress Oxides blend so smoothly!

After getting the colors blended like I wanted, I stamped three peony flower images onto the blended background. I used a black archival ink that would not bleed if I decided to add water splatters to the background. Ultimately I didn’t use water splatters because I thought it might distract from the large blooms and the softly blended, bright background. I wanted the colors to pop so I decided to adhere the card front against an A2-sized black mat. To do this, I had to cut the card front down to 4″ x 5.25″.

The flowers against the black mat were striking, but to further emphasize this, I smudged Nuvo Embellishment Mousse in Indian Gold around the edges of the card front. This was done before I adhered the card front to the black mat. The entire front was adhered to an A2 card base.

I stamped the sentiment onto a black strip of cardstock using gold ink. The strip was mounted onto the card using foam tape.

Supplies used in making this project:

Stamps: Ellen Hutson Essentials by Ellen: Mondo Peony stamp set; Essentials by Ellen: Lovely stamps set (sentiment).

Inks:  Distress Oxide Inks: Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade, and Fossilized Amber; Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black; Tsukineko Delicata Ink in Golden Glitz.

Cardstock: Hot press water color paper; Bazzill Cardstock: Licorice Twist.

Other: Nuvo Embellishment Mousse in Indian Gold; Misti Stamping Tool.

 

 

Smile–The Sun is Out

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Simon Says Stamp’s Flickr Challenge #72 is all about summer and what it means to you!

A bright sun and the clear blue water of a lake would make anyone smile during the summer. This is the second of two submission to SSS’s Flickr challenge. If you want to see my first interpretation of this challenge please go to my post Hello Summer.

How I made the “Smile—the Sun is Out” project:

  1. The wave background was stamped onto A2-sized white cardstock with Versamark ink and then heat embossed using white embossing powder, after prepping the cardstock with an embossing bag.
  2. Then the embossed wave background was colored using three different colors of blue Distress inks to create an ombre effect.
  3. The sun was stamped onto yellow-orange cardstock and then die-cut using a coordinating die and orange enamel dots were added to the sun’s cheeks.
  4. The sun was mounted onto the card front with foam tape.
  5. An oval die was used to cut an oval from vellum cardstock for the sentiment.
  6. Then sentiment was stamped in a black ink compatible with vellum.
  7. Sequins were then adhered around the sentiment using glue dots.
  8. Glue dots were adhered to the back of the sentiment behind the sequins and the entire piece adhered to the card front.
  9. The card front was cut down to 4” x 5.25” and mounted onto an A2-sized piece of cardstock.
  10. The entire piece was then mounted onto an A2 top-folding, portrait-oriented card base.

Supplies used in making this project:

Stamps:

  • SSS: Happy Days (sun image)
  • SSS: Happy and Smile (sentiment)
  • Hero Arts: Wave Background

Dies:

  • SSS: Happy Days (coordinating die set – for sun)
  • My Favorite Things: Wonky Stitched Oval STAX Die-namics

Inks:

  • Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, and Mermaid Lagoon.
  • Versamark
  • Versafine Ink in Onyx Black (sun)
  • Tsukineko Brilliance Ink in Graphite Black (sentiment on vellum)

Cardstock:

  • Neenah Solar White 80# (card front)
  • Papertrey Ink: Summer Sunrise (sun)
  • Stampin’ Up: Tempting Turquoise (card mat)
  • Neenah Solar White 110# (card base)

Other:

  • Hero Arts White Embossing Powder
  • SSS: Crystal Reflections Sequins
  • Pinkfresh Enamel Dots

Hello Summer

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Simon Says Stamp’s Flickr Challenge #72 is all about summer and what it means to you!

Whenever I think of summer, I think of the sun and puffy white clouds against a bright blue sky. This card is a representation of all of that. This is one of two of my submissions for this challenge. For the other submission, please go to my post: Smile: The Sun is Out.

How I made the “Hello Summer” project:

  1. Using watercolor cardstock, I used Distress Oxide inks to create a yellow/orange back ground using plenty of water. I did this by smooshing (a very technical term) Fossilized Amber and Spiced Marmalade oxide inkpads onto a craft mat and spritzed water on the craft sheet until the colors beaded up. I then swiped the cardstock face down onto the colors, moving the cardstock until the cardstock was full covered with ink. I dried the cardstock with a heat gun and then swiped it onto the inked craft mat again, and dried the cardstock again. I repeated this process until I got the desired result. I added more ink or water as needed after each swipe.
  2. The cardstock was then die cut using SSS’s Full Card Sunshine craft die. I saved the die-cut pieces and the negative space for the final assembly of the card.
  3. Using another piece of watercolor cardstock and a cloud stencil, I colored the cardstock using a blending tool and Distress Oxide ink in Broken China to create clouds.
  4. After the cloud background was finished, I laid the negative die cut piece from step #2 over the background and used it as a guide to properly place the sun and the sun rays onto the cloud background. I glued down each piece with a glue pen and lifted off the negative guide piece after everything was glue into place.
  5. Next, the hello and summer dies were die-cut from turquoise cardstock.
  6. The puffy cloud was cut from vellum using one of the dies from a nesting clouds die set.
  7. For the assembly:
  • The sun and sun rays were already adhered to the cloud background in step #4. This assembled piece was then cut down to around 1/8-inch on all sides.
  • The die-cut “hello” and “summer” were glued to the vellum cloud using a glue pen.
  • Sequins were adhered to the cloud using mini glue dots.
  • Glue dots were adhered to the back of the vellum cloud behind the sequins and then the entire cloud piece was adhered to the card front.
  • An A2-sized turquoise piece of cardstock was used as a mat.
  • The mat and card front were adhered to an A2-sized, top folding, portrait-oriented  card base.

Supplies used in making this project:

Dies:

  • SSS: Full Card Sunshine craft die; Painted Hello wafer die; Painted Summer wafer die.
  • Hero Arts: Nesting Clouds Infinity dies.

Stencils:

  • My Favorite Things: Stencil Clouds

Inks:

  • Distress Oxide Inks in Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, and Broken China

Cardstock:

  • Tim Holtz Watercolor Cardstock (card front)
  • Stampin’ Up cardstock in Tempting Turquoise (mat)
  • Neenah Solar White 110# (card base)

Floral Background Birthday Wishes

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B-Day-Flowers

 

This card represents some of my favorite go-to techniques. I made this card for the SSS Flickr Challenge #71 which requires you to make a project using your favorite technique(s).

I’m not really a heavy user of a lot of different tehnqiues. I love what others can do with the latest techniques, but I’m usually slow to adapt to the latest cardmaking trends. Some of these trends such as watercoloring take a lot of time to master and do effectively. I love watercolor techniques, but I’m still trying to develop my eye for watercoloring.

Several of the techniques I rely on often are represented in the card above. I love the emboss resist technique and die-cuts!

Details of this project:

Stamps:

  • My Favorite Things (MFT) Bundles of Blossoms Background stamp
  • Simon Says Stamp (SSS) Birthday Bits stamp set (sentiment)

Dies:

• MFT Die-namics: Stitched Flowers
• PTI Limitless Layers 2.5” Circle Die Collection

Inks:

• Versamark Ink
• SSS Rose Apple Dye Ink

Cardstock

• Neenah Solar White 110# card base
• Rose/Coral cardstock (from stash) for mat
• Papertrey Ink (PTI): Rustic Cream cardstock (die-cut flowers)
• Ranger 8.5×11 Mixed Media Cardstock (card front)
• Bazzill 40lb Vellum cardstock

Other:

• Hero Arts white embossing powder
• WOW Embossing Powder in Gold Rich Pale
• Pretty Pink Posh: Metallic Gold Sequins (4mm and 6mm)

How I Made this Project:

1. Using an A2 sized piece of Ranger Mixed Media cardstock, I stamped the card with MFT’s Bundles of Blossoms background stamp with Versamark ink and then heat embossed the image with Hero Arts white embossing powser.
2. I then used the embossed-resist technique to color the background using SSS Rose Apple dye ink. The ink was applied lightly to the center of the background, and then more heavily moving outward to the edges.
3. Using a die from the PTI Limitless Layers Circle die collection, I die-cut the circle piece from vellum and heat embossed the sentiment onto it using WOW gold embossing powder
4. Three dies from the MFT Die-namics Stitched Flower die set were used to cut out flowers from PTI Rustic Cream cardstock. These flowers were adhered onto the vellum sentiment circle using micro glue dots.
5. For assembly of the final card:
• I cut down the A2 embossed-resist card panel to around ¼ inch on all sides.
• Matted this to full A2-sized card panel in a rose-coral piece of cardstock from my stash.
• The center sentiment piece was adhered to the card front using micro glue dots placed behind the small die-cut flowers.
• Gold sequins were adhered to the centers of the die-cut flowers.
• The entire finished card front was adhered to a top-folding, portrait-oriented card base.

Cheers 2017! Ellen Hutson Pin-Sights Challenge Jan. 2017

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The Ellen Hutson Pin-Sights Challenge for January, 2017 came from the inspiration photo below:

ellen-hutson-pins-sights-inspiration-photo-201701

I was inspired by the gold lettering against the black background, the oval wreath and “year” themes.

I love metallic colors against black, especially gold against black. Metallic colors really seem to pop against a black background. The “this year” sentiment also made me think about the coming New Year. We’ve almost finished the first month of the New Year, and I only just made a card to celebrate it. Maybe one of my resolutions should be not to procrastinate.

I know one of my resolutions should include posting the cards I make more often on my blog. I make more cards than I actually post. However, by the time I’m finished with a card design (and I really agonize over the designs), I’m exhausted. So the idea of writing about the card sometimes becomes overwhelming. But I really need to do more posting. I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll do more postings.

Anyway, back to my project. I ran with the theme of black and gold and found a 6×6 cardstock pad that had all black and gold and cream designs. I’ve been hoarding this pad for a long time. (Note to self: Stop hoarding supplies and use them! This is another new year’s resolution.)

I cut a piece of A2-sized black cardstock along the diagonal. Then, I chose a complimentary pattern from my cardstock pad (gold dots against a cream-colored background); cut an A2-sized piece of the patterned paper along the diagonal as well. I now had 2-pieces of cardstock that I could mount onto an A2-sized mat.

After mounting the two diagonally-cut pieces together, I die-cut a wreath in gold foil cardstock and mounted it against the patterned side of the card front. I then stamped the word “cheers” from the Essentials by Ellen Advent stamp set onto the black side of the card front using Delicata Golden Glitz ink. I had to stamp the word several times to get the impression I wanted (thank God for my MISTI!).

I also stamped the numbers 2, 0, 1, and 7 from the same stamp set onto a scrap piece of black card stock in the same gold ink. Again, I had to stamp the number several times with my MISTI to get the proper coverage.

I die cut the stamped numbers using the coordinating dies for the Advent stamp set. The numbers were adhered underneath the “CHEERS” sentiment with tiny black foam adhesive pieces.

The entire card front was mounted onto an A2 top-folding card base.

So there you have it! An almost-one-month-old New Year’s greeting card! Better late than never.

But sincerely, to everyone reading this post, I wish you a very happy, healthy, exciting New Year brimming with creativity.

 

Supplies used in creating this project:

Stamps: Essentials by Ellen Advent stamp set.

Dies: Essentials by Ellen Advent coordinating dies.

Cardstock: My Mind’s Eye: Yes, Please 6×6 cardstock pad; DCWV: gold foil cardstock from foil pack; Papertrey Ink: True Black (100#); Neenah Solar White cardstock (110#).

Ink: Tsukineko: Delicata Ink in Golden Glitz.

EEK Ghosts! – Ellen Hutson Pin-Sights Challenge

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EEK-Ghosts

This month’s Ellen Hutson Pin-Sights Challenge inspiration plays tribute to Fall and all its trappings from pumpkins, leaves, Halloween parties, treats and the color orange.

Here is the inspiration photo:

Halloween-party-inspiration-board-camille-styles-events2

My interpretation of the images is a pumpkin patch late on Halloween night. Ghosts float eerily above the pumpkins in the field and a bat flies menacingly overhead.

For this haunting scene (pun intended), I used the Essentials by Ellen stamp set, Got Candy and its matching dies. I stamped all the images on white cardstock in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I knew I was going to color the pumpkins with Copic markers and Memento Ink is Copic-friendly. The pumpkins were colored in three shades of Copics from the YR family and blended. I die cut all the images using the coordinating dies for the stamp set.

To create my background, I used black cardstock for my A2-sized card front. I then die cut an arch out of the card front. I used a die from a set of nesting dies by My Favorite things to do this. I used the same die to cut out an arch from deep purple cardstock for my night sky. The purple piece was inserted into the negative area of my card front.

I proceeded with assembling all my die-cut images. The ghosts and pumpkins were all glued together, after arranging them the way you see here. I then raised the entire piece with foam tape and the pied was adhered at the bottom of the arch. The bat was mounted with foam tape as well and adhered onto the night sky up to the left. The entire card front was then adhered to an A2 top-folding, portrait-oriented card base.

The sentiment is from the same Got Candy stamp set. I die-cut a banner with irregular edges from the same purple cardstock and embossed the sentiment onto it with white embossing powder. The sentiment was mounted on foam tape and adhered just below the arch.

The end result isn’t scary at all, but rather cute and fun. Hope you like the card and have a fun, not scary, Halloween.

Supplies used in making this project:

Stamps:  Ellen Hutson’s Essentials by Ellen: Got Candy stamp set.

Dies: Ellen Hutson’s Essentials by Ellen coordinating dies for Got Candy stamp set; Simon Says Stamp: Sketchy Banners dies set (smaller banner); My Favorite Things Die-namics: Stitched Arch STAX die set (largest die).

Ink & Markers: Memento Tuxedo Black dye ink; Versamark Ink; Copic Markers: YR08, YR16, YR18.

Other: Hero Arts: White embossing powder.