PaperFections

Partial Die Cutting: Hot Mess!

By now you've heard the news: There are two new Leading Ladies over at Ellen Hutson LLC! These fabulous Ladies are the awesome creation of Brandi Kincaid, exclusively for the Essentials by Ellen line. Today I have another example of partial die cutting, along the right edge of this card: Here's how she was created: First, I used my Misti to stamp the Hot Mess Lady onto watercolor paper. The rough texture of watercolor paper sometimes prevents a crisp, fully stamped image. If that happens, it is easy to re-stamp the image again using the Misti! I'm loving my new bar magnets (wrapped with glitter tape for easy handling) and easy wipe mouse pad made for the Misti! Next, I placed my top die cutting pad along the right edge of the paper, where I wanted to cut away the area around Hot Mess's hand using her coordinating die. When you run this sandwich through your die cutting machine, it will only cut the paper where the top plate covers it: Next, use your paper trimmer to finish cutting a straight line above and below her arm, trimming away the excess: Here, I placed a piece of bright paper behind... Read more →

Floral Sympathy Card

Sympathy cards can be difficult to make, requiring just the right balance of color and elements to achieve a somber and reverent message. Today I'm using some gorgeous Birch Press handmade papers and tape, combined with beautiful Memory Box dies and stamps that hopefully strike that delicate balance: This card started with a Memory Box Custard notecard with a strip of Birch Press Mineral Green washi tape along the right edge. The next background layer is some beautiful Birch Press Ivory Cabbage Rose handmade paper, matted with gold metallic cardstock. Next is a layer of gorgeous Birch Press Bouquet hand screen printed paper, with a touch of gold metallic outlining -- aren't the colors amazing?!! These amazing papers feel like fabric! The pretty sentiment is from the Memory Box Prayers Sentiments stamp set. It was stamped with Tsukineko Delicata Golden Glitz onto an ivory Memory Box Tree Blossom Stitched Circle Frame. An additional Tree Blossom Stitched Circle Frame was die cut from gold metallic cardstock and glued on top. The ivory flower die cut was colored with Copic BG23 to match the floral paper and washi tape. The circle element was popped up with foam tape. Finally, the elegant Soaring... Read more →

More February Essentials by Ellen Dogs & Cats!

Hello again, Friends! On Sunday I showed you my Cat Lady from the new Essentials by Ellen release of the new Leading Ladies by Brandi Kincaid, so today I'm using the Dog Lady Stamps and coordinating Dog Lady Dies: Although cats were my first love, I eventually found just as much love for dogs, so today I had a ton of fun watercoloring Dog Lady! I stamped her with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Ranger Watercolor Paper, then used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors with a waterbrush. I swiped #34-Dark Pink onto the background, and splattered #91-Bluish Gold all over. I love that her coordinating Dog Lady dies cut out her arm, so she can hold one of the four cute pups included in this set! I used foam tape to pop up and attach the pup in her arms, then also to attach Dog Lady to the background I created. Then I die cut the background with the stitched and scalloped panel from MFT's Blueprints 27. To finish the card, I stamped the sentiment at the end of the leash and scattered a few Pretty Pink Posh 4mm and 6mm Sparkling Clear Sequins. So which is your favorite: So... Read more →

New February Essentials by Ellen Dog & Cat Ladies!

Hello and happy Super Bowl Sunday, Crafty Friends! Are you a dog or cat person? Thankfully, no matter which you are, the new Essentials by Ellen release today has you covered! Introducing the new Leading Ladies by Brandi Kincaid, Dog Lady Stamps and coordinating Dog Lady Dies: And Cat Lady Stamps and coordinating Cat Lady Dies: Since cats were my first love, I've used the Cat Lady today: While recently watercoloring some #90 Gold splatters on another project, I decided to use up the remainder of the gold paint left on my waterbrush and splattered and scribbled the color off the brush and onto a piece of watercolor cardstock ... this background was the result! I simply die cut it using the scalloped stitched panel from MFT's Blueprints 27, then popped it up with foam tape onto a top-folded Solar White 110 Lb. card base. Next, I stamped Cat Lady with her cat and ball of yarn with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto watercolor paper, die cut them with their coordinating Cat Lady dies, then watercolored them with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors: #57 Turquoise Green, #44 Light Brown, #47 Dark Brown, #10 White, and #20 Black. To finish the... Read more →

Ellen Hutson 11th Anniversary Inspiration Hop

I can't believe my dear friend Ellen Hutson has had her wonderful online papercrafting store open for 11 years! I'm so honored and proud to say that I've been designing for her for 10 of those years, this month! Today's project features just a few of my favorite essential papercrafting items you'll find in Ellen's shop, including her fabulous line of Essentials by Ellen stamps and dies, by various designers. One of my favorite lines is Julie Ebersole's Mondo Flower series, which I'm using today! Ooh-la-la, meet Mondo Peony, one of my favorite Essentials by Ellen sets! This is the largest in this 4-bloom set. I allowed it to take center stage, by stamping it in Memento's waterproof Rose Bud and Peanut Brittle inks onto watercolor paper and watercoloring it with Kuretake's Gansai Tambi 36-color set. The colors I used, #34 Dark Pink, #36 Wine Red, and #42 Bright Yellow (for the peony), and #53 Mid Green for the leaves, are all also available individually. After die cutting the peony and leaves with their coordinating Mondo Peony dies, I popped them up over a watercolor cardstock base on which I painted stripes with #90 Gold. To finish the card, I... Read more →

Christmas in July!

Hello and welcome to Christmas in July! There's nothing like thinking about cooler weather and getting a head start on holiday cards than in the middle of the hottest part of the summer -- right?!! :D Plus, a SALE doesn't hurt, either -- Just click the banner above to shop the Christmas category! The Ellen Hutson team has a little blog hop going on today for you, to help get you in the holiday cardmaking spirit! We hope you'll join us -- You can find a list of all those participating today over in the CLASSroom. Here's my project, in a chilly shade of blue! When last year's Essentials by Ellen Holiday 2016 stamp and die release came out, I never got the opportunity to use the beautiful dove from Julie's Bird Shapes die set, so I was elated to get to use it now! Isn't it gorgeous?! More inspiration for #WorldWatercolorMonth -- I created a quick background using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors: #57 Turquoise Green (very watered down). After washing the background with the lighter Turquoise Green wash, I splattered it with a darker/less watered down Turquoise Green and a mixture of both Bluish Gold and Antique Gold,... Read more →

Essentials By Ellen July 2017 Release

As promised earlier this week, here's the card I created with the adorable Mermaid's Tail stamp set from the new Essentials By Ellen July release: In keeping with #WorldWatercolorMonth, today I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, to make this card a breeze to quickly color! After stamping the Mermaid's Tail and heat embossing it with gold detail powder, I colored the "scales" directly with the markers and then used a waterbrush to spread the color over the rest of the image: The colors I used were: Light Green, Light Blue, Cobalt Blue, and Persian Blue. To create the water, I just scribbled more of the same Zig marker colors underneath and around the mermaid's tail, then blended with a waterbrush: To create more of a bubbly underwater ocean feel, I clear heat embossed the dot stamp from the Essentials by Ellen Wonky Backdrops set, on the lower left and mid-to-upper right corners (hopefully you can see those glossy bubbles by clicking on the photo below for a larger view). Then I spread around some Pretty Pink Posh Clear Droplets in 4mm and 6mm size: To finish the card, I die cut the watercolored image with MFT's large... Read more →

#WorldWatercolorMonth with Copic Various Ink Refills

I'm loving #WorldWatercolorMonth -- how about you? I thought my Copics might be getting a little jealous, so I decided to incorporate them into the watercolor mix today and use my Various Ink Refills in one of my favorite ways ... you guessed it -- by "watercoloring" with them! Don't you LOVE that vibrant color?!! "Watercoloring" with your Copic Various Ink Refills is quite simple -- Just squeeze a little of the ink into a palette, fill a waterbrush with Copic Colorless Blender, then pick up your desired Various Ink color with the brush and paint away on watercolor paper! Note: It may take you a bit to get used to the flow of your waterbrush and how much Colorless Blender it dispenses -- if one brush flows a little too much or not enough, try a different brand of brush. I have several different brands and they all flow a little differently. If there is not enough Blender solution on your brush when you pick up the Various Ink color, the resulting color going on your paper will be dryer and may streak and not color smoothly. But, this can sometimes work well to add shading to previously laid-down... Read more →

New Essentials by Ellen Now Available!

It's here and finally available ... New Essentials by Ellen!! <== Just click that link or the graphic below to see all the new stamps and dies! Here's a sneak peek of the project I'll have to show you here on my blog this Friday, July 14, featuring gold heat embossing and watercoloring with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers along with the new Mermaid's Tail stamp set: I hope you'll be back here for all the details on Friday! Read more →

Doily Distress Oxide Cards

It's another fun week over in Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom, using some of my very favorite papercrafting tools, dies! I used my favorite new Distress Oxide inks to create the backgrounds for these cards. I hope you'll join me in the CLASSroom for all the details! I also used some fabulous new-to-me dies from Waffle Flower. And lucky for you, ALL DIES are 15% off this week at Ellen Hutson!! Just click on the graphic below to start shopping. You have until midnight Pacific Sunday, March 19 to take advantage of this sale! Happy shopping! Read more →

More Distress Oxide Watercolor!

Today I have another watercolor project using Tim Holtz's new Distress Oxide inks! I love the soft, yet vibrant color these inks have when watercoloring with them! I also made a shaped die cut card. You can find all the details and instructions for this card over on Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom blog today, HERE. I look forward to seeing you there and hope you have a wonderful weekend! I plan to work on cleaning out my garden and planting bulbs that will hopefully yield a pretty flower garden this summer, much like this card! Has spring sprung yet where you live? What are your plans? Read more →

Thinking of You Distress Oxide Watercolor

This week I've been playing with some new goodies -- Tim Holtz's new Distress Oxide inks! (Ellen Hutson just received a new shipment today, so get them while you can HERE! If they happen to disappear quickly, don't fret -- I hear another shipment should be received next week!) This first offering of 12 colors is a beautiful selection; below I've shown a few of them. (Ink swatches graciously provided by Jennifer McGuire and can be downloaded here.) On the left side of the color swatches, I applied the ink direct-to-paper from the ink pad. On the right side of the swatches, I sponged the color on. As you can see, the sponged color turns out a little lighter (although more color can be built up to achieve the same color as the direct method) and blends BEAUTIFULLY -- so much smoother and effortless than regular Distress Ink! The first thing I wanted to try with these inks was watercolor . . . And it worked beautifully! Since these inks are a hybrid of dye and pigment inks, the resulting color is very nicely opaque, buildable and beautifully soft, resulting in a slight chalky feeling when dry. As the "oxide"... Read more →

Essentials by Ellen February 2017 Release Blog Hop & Giveaway!

Welcome to the February 2017 Essentials by Ellen Release Hop! I’ll be showcasing several of the new products on my post today! Read more below about the giveaway! PROJECTS First up is the Spa Day stamp set and coordinating Spa Day dies by Brandi Kincaid. I also used Brandi's new Mirror Mirror die set: This card started with a watercolor background created with a mixture of Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors in No. 50 Pale Aqua and No. 61 Cornflower Blue on Ranger Watercolor Paper, using a Black Velvet 8 watercolor brush. After the watercolor had dried, I stamped the flower with Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink. The spa girl stamp images were inked with Distress Markers: Cracked Pistachio (towels), Antique Linen (skin), and Spun Sugar (lips), Frayed Burlap (eyes) and stamped onto watercolor paper. The mask and straw were inked with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink, the cucumbers with Lucky Clover, and the glass with Tumbled Glass. After each of the images were stamped, I ran a watercolor brush over them, to spread the ink around the image. All the images were die cut with their coordinating Spa Day dies. The glass was also die cut from Ellen's 40# Vellum and adhered... Read more →

Pantone Color of the Year 2017

Don't you love the new year, full of fresh starts? One of my favorite things to see each year is the new Pantone Color of the Year pick. This year it is Greenery. This fresh mid-toned yellow-green is the color of grass, which goes with anything and brings to mind the first days of Spring, when nature renews. Think about -- grass, leaves and greenery are (just about) everywhere, making it nature's neutral! As I did in 2014, I've prepared a Copic best match to this year's Pantone color selection and prepared this graphic for you. Since digital media differs greatly between monitors and platforms, I've given a range which *I believe could match*. You can find the full range of Copic's Yellow-Green markers available HERE at Imagination International Inc. And here's a project I created, using some of these pretty greens (and blues and pinks!): I thought this adorable Pink Ink Floppy Bunny would look cute sitting in some pretty Spring grass. This is how I colored him: I stamped him in soft Memento Gray Flannel ink (as opposed to black) onto Essentials by Ellen 100 Lb. Smooth Bristol cardstock. To keep him mainly white, I used Copic N0... Read more →

Peony Thanks

Happy Friday, Friends! During and after the holidays we usually need more thank you cards, so today I'm sharing this watercolored and gold metallic cutie over in Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom: It features a beautiful Avery Elle Peonies stamp set by Heather Campbell, which I gold heat embossed and watercolored! You can find all of Avery Elle's products ON SALE over at EllenHutson.com until this Sunday, January 8th. Just click the graphic below to start shopping! Happy shopping and happy weekend! Read more →