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« May 2017 | Main | July 2017 »
We are just bananas for the adorable monkeys in the new United We Flourish Love Ya Bunches by Lawn Fawn set and we can't wait to share! Check out these awesome projects by some of our team (just click on the picture to see more):
Thanks for stopping by and hope your day is more fun than a barrel of monkeys!
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We are thrilled to welcome 3 of our amazingly talented friends to The Classroom with their adorable creations using the United We Flourish Love Ya Bunches set by Lawn Fawn!
Check out these awesome cards by Kay Miller, May Sukyong Park & Keeway Tsao (just click on the picture to see more and click here to learn more about United We Flourish).
Thank you so much for stopping by and a HUGE thank you to Kay, Keeway & May for sharing their talent with us!
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Today the amazingly talented Lawn Fawn team is sharing bunches of inspiration for the new United We Flourish Stamp & Die Combo set, Love Ya Bunches! Prepare to oooh and awe!
Stunning right?! See even more over on the Lawn Fawn blog (and you can click on each photo above to see more from each designer)!
In cased you missed it, learn more about United We Flourish & Love Ya Bunches here! And swing by to see an awesome Hello Monday video from Julie here!
Thanks for stopping by and come visit again later this week for even more inspiration!
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(click on the pics to enbiggan)
LINK: Watch in HD on our YouTube Channel HERE, and thanks for watching and giving us a thumbs' up!
This cheeky monkey set, called Love Ya' Bunches by Lawn Fawn has some really fun sentiments to go with--be sure to watch the Facebook Video for the story behind the stamps! :)
You'll notice in the video that I didn't separate the dies to cut out the stamped images--you may find the method to be something you'd like to try. I wasn't going to use the excess card stock from around the stamped images anyway, so it worked great for me!
Happy Mundane!
SUPPLIES:
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Last November we began celebrating our 10th anniversary with our United We Flourish theme. We would not be here without the amazing companies we work with, the designers who create stunning projects showcasing the wonderful products being created AND you, our fabulous customers! YOU are such a vital part of our creative community - you inspire & encourage us! Your response to United We Flourish was overwhelming and heart-warming. We heard repeatedly from you that you appreciate how our little company works together with the other manufacturers we carry to bring you their products and education showing how to use those products. To thank you for your constant support and encouragement, we have something incredibly special we began working on shortly after that anniversary.
We have partnered with some of our friends to offer exclusive limited edition stamp & die sets!!! These sets will be available for a limited time (most likely 3-6 months) after each release, depending on how quickly you snap them up. The theme of these stamps sets are uplifting and fun.
We are thrilled to present the first one to you... Love 'Ya Bunches by Lawn Fawn exclusively for Ellen Hutson LLC.
Lawn Fawn is one of the first companies we began representing years ago - working together with them has been such a pleasure! HUGE THANKS to Kelly, Mike and their whole team! WE LOVE YA' BUNCHES!!
Today Kelly Marie has a wonderful video to share with you on the LawnFawn blog - please join her at this link!
These cute monkeys are swinging by to say hi! Add the extra leaves to the branch to make it look like the monkeys are hanging from the trees. Use a slider channel on your card and let the monkey swing from tree to tree! Combine with other Lawn Fawn critter sets to make a complete jungle scene. The possibilities are endless with this cute set!
This 4 X 6 stamp set includes 22 stamps, 13 images and 9 sentiments and comes with 11 matching dies.
The set is packaged in the Essentials by Ellen durable clear storage envelope with magnetic die sheet for easy storage.
This week our team, together with the Lawn Fawn team and some special guests, will be showing many different ways to use this set! Be sure to come back to the CLASSroom throughout the week for links to all the different spots where you can see these "apeeling" monkeys in action ;).
Our celebration begins with Kelly Marie and Ellen on Facebook Live tomorrow, Monday, June 26th at 10:30am. Leave your questions for them below or just tune in and join in the fun!
ETA:
United We Flourish, because we're better together!
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Hi everyone! Welcome to Satur-YAY! We're celebrating the weekend by getting our craft on. And I'm here with one of my favorite Copic techniques, Copic coloring on vellum.
Today's card features the Oh Hello Friend stamp set from Flora & Fauna. It's a fun, whimsical floral set that can be used for Copic coloring, watercolor, and even for a fun and funky black and white background.
I started by white heat embossing my images on some heavy weight vellum from the Essentials By Ellen line. This is my FAVORITE vellum. I created a grouping of stamped images and masked the images to overlap them.
Once my images were stamped and white heat embossed, I flipped the vellum over to color on the backside using my Copic markers. You'll want to color on the backside of your vellum because the Copic markers can eat away at your heat embossing and leave the tips of your markers in bad shape. Also, by coloring on the backside, the color is defused and helps to disguise the streaky appearance that you can sometimes get when coloring with Copics on vellum.
I'll walk you through the creation of this card in the video tutorial below. Be sure to check that out. I think you'll pick up a few tips along the way AND I know you'll see me mess up a time or two. ;) That's okay. It's the end project that matters, right?
Now that you've seen it, it's your turn to create something. There's not better way to spend your Satur-YAY than by celebrating with a little crafty session. Get your craft on and show me what you made using #EllenHutsonSaturYAY! I can't wait to see what you create.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you've enjoyed this project. Until next time, I hope you have a fabulous day!
You can watch this video in HD on our YouTube channel by clicking HERE. Don't forget to subscribe while you're there so you don't miss any of our video tutorials.
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We are elated to welcome Debbie Olson back to The CLASSroom today! Debbie is a hugely talented designer and Copic certified instructor. She is a CLASSroom alum and we think she's pretty darn amazing! Wait until you see the awesome Copic coloring lesson she has for you today!
You can see more of Debbie's stunning work on her blog, Thinking Inking. And while you are there, make sure to leave her some love by commenting on her blog before June 29th for a chance to win a $50 coupon to use in our store!
Thank for sharing your talent with us Debbie!!!
I am delighted to be a guest today on Ellen Hutson blog. If you have ever sat in one of my Copic Certification classes, you’ve probably already heard that Ellen was the person who introduced me to Copic Markers—something that I still appreciate today! While I enjoy coloring cute stamped images, I am also drawn to rendering realism with my Copic markers. Today I’d like to share three textures found in nature and how to achieve those with your Copics.
We will start with a simple texture: honed marble. Honed marble is marble that has been cut into a smooth slab but not polished to a high sheen. I am including a handout at the end of the post that has printable photographs, as well as simple line work for two of the three textures if you’d like to play along.
I began by loosely scribbling veining lines with my Copic Sketch N4 and darkened up a few places with a Copic Sketch N6. These values were darker than I needed to end with, but I knew that I would be using a generous application of Colorless Blender on top of the veining lines to both soften and lighten them.
Next I used a Copic Wide Marker filled with Colorless Blender to saturate my entire square. TIP: Always keep a blotting paper behind your work; you are pushing ink through the paper with the Colorless Blender, and you need an absorbent surface behind your work to accept that liquid. My veining lines were still quite pronounced after one coat of Colorless Blender, so I repeated the process twice more, and then used a Copic Sketch C00 to add a light gray tint to parts of the marble base color. After it dried, I used the super brush nib on a Copic Sketch Colorless Blender to break up my lines and add more texture.
Are you ready for something more challenging? The picture reference for this wood texture is a piece of the cedar fence surrounding our garden. I love those aged wood tones! I provided a simple line drawing for this one so that you could focus on the marker rendering rather than structure.
Here’s our starting point, unless you prefer not to use the line sketch. (You could simply fill your square with the texture of the wood if you’d rather.)
On the fencepost, I started with blocking in some initial values. (Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color.) Getting the value right is important—more important that getting the color right! The values above aren’t dark enough yet, but I will keep darkening them as I work. Use you flicking stroke—just as you would when rendering hair. Always flick in the same direction as the grain of the wood.
Next I began adding some of the mossy greens as well as darkening my values.
Now we’re back to the warm grays again, adding more texture with our flicking stroles, and continuing to darken crevices and shadows.
The fence was a cool gray, looking almost blue in places. I used my cool grays initially, then decided to deepen and cool the grays further with my Copic B97 and B99.
Here I had added the greenery behind the fence. I kept it loosely focused just the way it was in the photograph, but I didn’t darken it as much as it was in the photo because I didn’t want it to detract from the fencepost by being higher in contrast than the fencepost.
I have one more challenge for you! We have a retaining wall of boulders in back of our house; I am intrigued by the different colors and textures of the rocks, as well as how highlights and shadows play on the rocks.
Here is a basic line sketch if you’d feel more comfortable starting with lines. You can always just pick one rock and work on its texture rather than working on all of them if that many shapes seems overwhelming.
I began with the rock in the lower left corner, working in its peachy tones first and them neutralizing them a bit with neutral grays. (I will add more texture later.)
Fast forwarding here: I worked next on the rocks that had reddish and purplish-brown tones, saving those cooler gray rocks in the center for last. First I blocked in all of the outer left rocks with my Copic E50 to establish a warm base tone, and the outer right rocks with my E70’s. Next I flicked or stippled more colors and values on top of the base tones. It needs a LOT more texture, but just getting some color and value established makes the piece go a bit faster.
Here I have started adding some of those textural details on the center left rock—mossy green tones, color variations, and plenty of stippling for a rough texture.
Here I have added more texture and detail to the rock on the upper left as well.
I have finished the top, adding greenery in the left top corner, and worked my way across to the top right rock, deepening value and adding texture to the rock. Stippling works well for adding texture. If your colors seem to solid, try stippling with your colorless blender—making very small dots.
Here I have added detail to the rest of the rocks on the right, as well as working my cool gray rocks into the center of the pile.
Adding the cool gray rocks really changes the look! I think it was the interplay of the warm tones and cool tones that drew me to this rock pile to begin with.
Look around for interesting textures and try to replicate them with your markers; even if you don’t have the perfect color, you can still create convincing texture. The challenge is to figure out how!
And don't forget to download this handout to practice!
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Hello, Crafters -- Sharon Harnist with you today, to share some tips for coloring an underwater scene with Copic markers! So let's get started . . .
The stamps I'm using today are Essentials by Ellen Otterly Awesome and Otter Ware. I stamped them onto X-Press It Blending Card with Memento Tuxedo Black ink using my Misti, to create this cute underwater scene (the sand was hand drawn with a Copic Black 0.3 Multiliner pen). The top waterline was stamped with Memento Bahama Blue:
Color otter head above the water line with E40 and E41, with a little E42 shading. Color otter body under the water with darker combo of E42, and E43, with E44 shading:
TIPS:
Color shell with E00, E02, E04. Color sand dollar with C0, C2:
TIP:
Color seaweed with G12, G14, G16 and G19. Using the same lighter colors (G12 and G14) color lilypad, adding in some sunny Y15 since it would be reflecting some sunshine:
TIP:
(Below): Color sand with a base coat of E42, then dot E43 along the top portion of the sand, to give it texture. Color more solidly towards the bottom of the sand, to create shadows beneath the otter, waterlily and seaweed since those objects would block the sunrays entering the water:
(Above): Give water a base coat of lightest B0000. I used the chisel tip, for a little quicker and more even coverage. Color directly over the top of the otter's body, giving it the appearance of being under water. Notice the otter's belly, hands and feet now have a bluish tint:
TIP:
Next, use a little darker B000 to flick some shadows downward, directly underneath objects that are on top of the water (otter and waterlily). Again, color directly over the top of the otter's body, giving it the appearance of being under water. I was careful not to take the B000 over too much of the otter's darker shading -- just mostly his belly, hands and feet. Notice the otter's belly, hands, feet, and the shells now have a blue tint:
Use darker B00 to flick color upwards from the sand:
Deepen shadows underneath otter and waterlily with B02 and B04. Deepen area closest to sand with the same colors:
TIP:
Make bubbles using the NEW Copic Sketch Fine Nib Replacement for your Sketch marker! This nib is firmer than the Sketch's brush nib and fits in the chisel end of a Sketch marker, giving you a finer detail option for your Sketch markers! Just hold the 0-Colorless Blender marker tip onto the water coloring for a few seconds. The blender solution will push the Copic color out of the way, revealing the white cardstock underneath, creating the perfect bubble!
TIP:
Add Clear Wink of Stella for shimmery highlights to otter's nose, waterlily, tops of waterline, where sunlight would hit:
Add Copic Opaque White dots/dashes/swoops around and to enhance bubbles, and along the top of the waterline where the water would be disturbed by the otter and waterlily and also be catching the sunlight. Gives water the appearance of movement and sunlight reflection:
TIP:
To finish the card, the colored image was die cut with Lawn Fawn's Large Stitched Rectangle Stackables and clear sequins added around sentiment:
TIP:
I hope you have enjoyed these tips and will give them a try with your watery Summer projects!
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Learn how to use Copic Markers in five easy steps! This week we are featuring Copic Markers once again here in the CLASSroom and on our social media platforms. With so many stampers discovering our site we felt it was time for a little update here in the CLASSroom. Carly is new to coloring with Copic Markers and she is here today to share five tips for getting started, from one newbie to another!
What are Copic Markers?
Copic Markers are very high quality, alcohol ink markers perfect for coloring in stamped images and creating stunning backgrounds. They are permanent, non-toxic and acid-free when dry. Each marker is hand-tested for consistency & quality. As Copics are refillable and the nibs are replaceable, a Copic marker must only be purchased once. My tips below focus on the Copic Sketch Markers which have an oval barrel, feature the super brush nibs and medium broad (chisel), and are compatible with the Copic Air Brush system. Copic recently added the optional Sketch fine nib replacements to easily swap the Medium Broad nib. This slightly firm, thin nib was developed to allow artists to achieve more precision for adding color to the smallest details of an illustration.
Overview of the Copic Color System by Debbie Olson
#1. Taking The First Step
The beautiful rainbow of Copic colors called to me but with 358 colors to choose from and no experience with alcohol ink markers, I was completely overwhelmed. I'm guessing a few of you out there can empathize. But coloring should be fun and I was making it stressful! So to finally get started I purchased just 4 colors, 2 pinks and 2 purples close to each other in number so they would blend well (more on that in a minute) and I colored a flower to see if I liked them. My first flower was super basic, no shading or blending, just coloring. And I loved it! Here's the first card I created coloring with Copics:
#2. Basic Supplies
The first thing I learned about coloring with Copics is that the paper & ink you use are very important! If you are coloring stamped images, make sure to pick a Copic friendly-ink like Memento or Brilliance. If you are coloring a printed image, make sure to use a toner/laser print; and test your drawing pens for compatibility or try the Copic Multiliner. For cardstock, a smooth white cardstock, will be the easiest - we really love Neenah Solar White here at EH. Of course Memento inks & Solar White cardstock are not the only compatible options so testing others is easy...
To test paper/ink combinations...cut 2x2 swtaches of each paper you are testing and label with both ink type and cardstock name. Next stamp the same image in the inks you are testing. Let dry for 10-15 minutes. Color part or all of the shape with a Copic marker, coloring right up to the edge in some places and over the line with a Colorless Blender in others. Let dry and then check the results. Has the color "feathered" out over the line in the area you colored to the edge? If so, that cardstock is not a great choice for Copic coloring. If the stamped images bleed & blur where you covered over the line with your marker and/or Colorless Blender, that ink is not a great choice for Copic coloring.
#3. Basic Coloring Techniques
Tip: to avoid streaking thoroughly saturate paper with alcohol ink.
Single Color Layering - the intensity of your colors will shift as you lay down even a single marker. Test laying down your color covering your entire image once. Then add a second layer of the same color to a portion of that image. Continue adding additional layers of color until you are unable to discern a difference in the tones with each addition. Your paper will be fully saturated at this point and the color will no longer deepen.
Natural Blending Group Layering - natural blending groups consist of Copic markers that have the same letter, same first number, and a few digits difference in the last number, i.e. RV02, RV04, RV09 These combinations are the easiest for beginners to blend.
#4. Blending & Shading
My first attempts to blend and shade were a big 'ol mess - my stamped image bleed even though I used Memento Tuxedo Black, my colors didn't blend nicely despite lots of effort...:(. But I stuck with it and the next attempts were much better. Turns out that the colors I had chosen, didn't really make good blending partners and my vain attempts to make them blend were over-saturating my paper and causing the stamped image to bleed. Sandy Allnock's Copic Blending Groups was super helpful in helping me to chose better colors to blend.
Blending Techniques
Tip: Create a blending chart of your favorite combinations (download this chart here).
Direct to paper blending - use a technique called flicking. Start with lightest tone, leaving a little white space for highlights. Create strokes all in one direction. Add darker color at one edge flicking the color, leaving some of the lightest tone and a little white space revealed. Continue to add colors in layers reducing the size of the flicked area with each additional color. Once complete, color over entire area with the lightest tone.
Transfer technique - tip-to-tip - touch markers tip to tip and then color using flicking technique.
OR scribble color on clear acrylic block with one color and pick up that color with a lighter color, then color using flicking technique.
Feathering - used to blend colors that are from two different color families. Flick color from one end of image, turn image and flick second color towards the first, overlapping in the middle. Suitable for butterflies, birds, and flowers that have two distinct colors in them.
#5. The Next Step
So now you've got markers, paper & ink...oh my! How do you become an awesome with Copics? Practice! I highly, highly recommend taking a class like Sandy Allnock's Copic Jumpstart class or Online Card Classes Copic Markers for Card Makers.
Copic In The Craft Room is also a great resource for additional information.
And here are some awesome techniques from The CLASSroom archives that I can't wait to try out:
Copic Letterpress by Sharon Harnist
Color-Bleed Grid Technique by Julia Stainton
Copic Poppies by Sharon Harnist
Copic Flick Feather Blended Poppy by Sharon Harnist
Happy coloring!
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At Ellen Hutson LLC we are loving bright, popping colors for summer! We are especially inspired by the Pantone palette, Graphic Imprints (see more about that here) and by the amazing June Pin-Sights inspiration piece that Laurel chose. Today we wanted to share a few of the cards we've made (just click on each picture to see more):
Have a great day!
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Hello there everyone! Laurel Beard here today bringing you our next Pin-Sights Challenge!! Before I get on with today's inspirational photo and challenge, please join me in congratulating Vicki Finger. She was randomly selected to receive the $50 gift certificate to the Ellen Hutson Store from our latest Mix It Up Challenge! Congratulations! Please email me at laurelbeard at me dot com to claim your prize!
The Pin-Sights Challenge is an inspirational based challenge held on the 3rd Thursday of each month. The challenge is based on a Pinterest inspired piece hand chosen by me specifically for this challenge to spark your imagination and creativity! A jump start if you will... Let's take a look, shall we?
What are you in inspired by in this photo? The colors? The patterns? The images? The shapes??? Whatever speaks to you in this photo is what we want you to be inspired by!
We have several amazing designers here with us today that created projects based on this inspirational photo! If you click on each of the designer's names, you will be taken directly to their blog where they will have more information and details regarding their designs. All of the supplies the designers used will be listed at the end of this post along with the Challenge Link up so you can play along!
How amazing are these projects? I love the different interpretations taken from the inspiration photo! Each project is a work of art! PIN AWAY as they are definitely pin worthy! Thank you ladies so much for joining us today!
NOW IT'S TIME WHERE WE INVITE YOU TO PLAY ALONG IN OUR CHALLENGE!
Ann's project supplies:
Melania's project supplies:
Taniesa's project supplies:
Laurel's project supplies:
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We are ecstatic to welcome Donna Mikasa to The CLASSroom today! As part of the My Favorite Things design team, Donna is constantly wowing us with her sweet, colorful style! We are lucky enough to have her here to share her bright & fun take on our Black & White with a POP of Color theme this week.
You can see more of Donna's brilliant work on her blog, Three Umbrellas. And while you are at Donna's, show her some love and leave a comment there before June 22nd for a chance to win a $50 coupon to use in our store!
Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us Donna!!!
Hello! I’m super excited to be in the Classroom today, sharing a project with the awesome Hinged Alphabet Dies. Lately I’ve been on a “camo” kick and these dies make it so easy to create a custom made camouflaged sentiment on your card.
For my project, I began by inking the edge of a watercolor card stock panel with two colors of Distress inks, overlapping them slightly to create a third color. I spattered a light mist of water over the surface and after it dried, I stamped the Mondo Hydrangea over it with black ink.
The hinged alphabets were centered over the panel and taped down with removable tape. Since I don’t have a grid mat, a t-square ruler is so helpful to ensure that the letters are straight before cutting.
The “you” from You Rock was cut from black card stock and adhered beneath the LOVE. The panel was adhered to an A2 sized card base and finished off with Sparkling Clear sequins.
I hope you’ll try this camouflage technique and combining the Hinged Alphabet Dies with the Hinged Number Dies for fun, dimensional cards for any occasion!
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How can you incorporate color trends you see into your card making? Each year designers wait in anticipation for Pantone to reveal their Color of the Year, which is a carefully-chosen hue that reflects what is happening in the world. Pantone's 2017 Color of the Year is a "fresh and zesty yellow-green shade. Greenery, "nature's neutral" can be used in a vast variety of color combinations, including neutrals, pastels, deep shades and metallics. You can see the versatility of Greenery when you see the numerous color groupings that Pantone has built around it:
This week we are focusing on the the "Graphic Imprints" color palette, also known as "Rev It Up." For summer, we are loving Greenery paired with bright colors! Our spirits are lifted by the vibrant pinks, striking orange, happy yellow & energetic green, mixed together with a bold black and white! As Vogue says, "Welcome to a season of color confidence...get ready to taste the rainbow"!
So how can you add these fresh and vivacious colors to your cards? Pair them with black & white! Black & white color combos are bold, classic, sophisticated and the perfect backdrop for a bright POP of color! Creating your own color scheme with black & white is a cinch! You just need black, white and a bold color that makes your heart happy! Strong, vibrant colors with names that tell a story themselves - Blazing Yellow, Dazzling Blue, Prism Pink, Fandango Pink, and Orange Popsicle! These are feel-good color combos!!! Here are some tips to get you started:
Here's a card Carly made using black, white, Greenery and Blazing Yellow! She used the EBE Wonky Backdrops & Bohemian Garden sets, Distress Ink Squeezed Lemonade & Twisted Citron (with a little Mowed Lawn mixed in)...
Need more inspiration? Check out our Color Trend - Pantone Graphic Imprints pin board and be certain to follow it as we update it with projects all this week! Stop by the CLASSroom on Thursday to check out the Pin-Sights Challenge & Donna Mikasa's take on a colorful POP and on Friday see our design team share projects using the Graphic Imprints palette!
Carly's Supplies:
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(Click on the pics to enbiggan)
LINK: Watch in HD on our YouTube Channel HERE. Thanks for watching & subscribing!
All this week we'll be sharing information about the color trends for 2017.
One of my favorites--one I've used increasingly over the last year or two--is the combination of black and white with a pop of color. Today, I'm sharing a project that features black and white, along with my all time favorite color, that also happens to be the Pantone Color of the Year 2017: GREENERY
I created a Pinterest board that has some examples of this color trend, which you can view here: Black & White + Greenery Pinterest Board
As you can see on my finished project, while the dominant third color is greenery, I also interjected a little yellow/citron, hints of teal, and a few touches of orange red.
While considered a neutral, greenery conveys a sense of nature and is symbolic of growth, good health and "freshness". Depending on the hue, it can be energetic or calming and soothing and can be partnered with virtually any other color quite successfully!
Black and white, also neutrals, can bring other colors into the forefront, enhancing their vibrancy and visual presence in a unique way. Here are some of my favorite tips for incorporating black and white with a pop of color:
Do you use a lot of black and white in your card designs? What are some of your favorite ways to use these colors?
SUPPLIES:
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We are head over heels for the new Essentials by Ellen Hinged Alphabet & Hinged Numbers die sets! Check out these awesome projects by some of our team (just click on the picture to see more):
Thanks for stopping by & have a great day!
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Did you hear that we have 2 new hinged die sets in the store? Hinged Alphabet and Hinged Numbers have arrived to join Hinged Thanks. We love hinges and we think you will too! Check out this great two minute tip from Heather Campbell on how to use the hinged dies:
Link: Watch in HD on our YouTube Channel HERE! Thanks for sharing some comment love and a thumbs up with Heather there and be certain to subscribe to our channel for other fantastic videos!
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We are seriously just giddy to welcome the amazing Kelly Griglione back to The CLASSroom today! Kelly is constantly knocking us right out of our socks with her clever creations! Wanna see what we mean? Well check out her awesome creations with our Mondo Hydrangea here and wait until you see what she has to share today!
You can see more of Kelly's beautiful & innovative work on her blog, Notable Nest. And while you are there, make sure to leave her some love by commenting on her blog before June 13th for a chance to win a $50 coupon to use in our store!
Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us Kelly!!!
Hello Folks! One of my favorite, personal challenges in card making is trying to figure out how many different ways to use a single stamp set or die. I usually think about this before I even enter the craft room...driving around town, in the shower, at my sons' baseball games...because you never know when your next great idea will come. Today I am super excited to share another "Five Ways" post, only this time I did a lot of thinking and have 7 or 8 ideas, including some that go beyond cards!
In the February release I fell in love with the Hinged Thanks die and came up with Five Ways to use that super-clever die. Well you can imagine my excitement when I found out that the smart folks at Ellen Hutson were coming out with a Hinged Alphabet and Hinged Numbers set ... what?!? Could. Not. Wait. to get that glorious package in the mail!
Here are a few reasons why I've fallen madly in love with these dies, and how they're different than all the other alpha dies I already own:
- They add dimension WITHOUT ANY BULK. Genius.
- They have a peek-a-boo feature, should you choose to use it.
- They are interactive.
Warning: this is a long article with lots of photos and tips, so you may want to pin this for later reference.
Let's take a look!
Before cutting my alpha dies apart, I like to make a few cards using the whole alphabet set. This card uses the alphabet as a background. For this punny sentiment from Oh Deer I inked up all but the first letter of the word I wanted to highlight and then adhered it to the back of the hinged letter.
Between the angle of the hinged letter, and curling the banner with my finger, I get a lot of dimension without adding any bulk at all to the card. Perfect for mailing.
Already we have a bonus card! This one features Spa Day by Brandi Kincaid (that facial mask cracks me up!) This uses the same concept as the first card, but instead of adhering the sentiment to the back of the hinged letter I've adhered it to the base of the card.
I've pushed the thick white cardstock that the sentiment is stamped on as far to the left as possible against the hinged letter. This will help keep the letter hinged open even after it's in an envelope.
One of my favorites, for sure. Can you see the little fella peeking out, trying to find where the rest of his family went? Or maybe he's hiding from them, that little stinker!
This method really highlights the unique nature of these Hinged Alpha dies. You can give a peek to an embellishment, part of a larger image, text inside your card, a shaker element, whatever you'd like to tease your recipient with before they open your card. Keep them guessing a little longer.
Again, before taking apart the new dies, I like to make a few projects with them intact. That gave me the idea for this card ... run the whole set of number dies through with your card base, and then flip up the age of the birthday child. Love this!
I pieced together the sentiment from two different sets, Totally Awesome and Up The Happy. No worries if you need something to finish off the sentiment when combining sets like this, I just used a pen to write the "th" on the 5 and "and."
The best part of this idea is that you can make a bunch of these, and give someone a set of birthday cards that they can personalize on their own! Fill out a few already so they know what to do, include a marker, and then leave the remaining cards blank like the ones lying flat here. When it's time to send the card they can color in the word "amazing" and the number they need. How fun is that? You definitely can't do this with a regular set of alpha dies.
Or, you can just make a ton for yourself! I like doing this when I have a lot of text positioned together on my Misti. The top row of cards is completed, the middle row just needs the number selected, and the bottom row needs embellishments like the balloons. For large sets like this I'll keep them all together in my card box and then note who I gave one to so I don't give the same family two of the same card.
4) Emphasize a word.
This method is featured on the cover of a mini album for my son's tenth birthday, but you could certainly have this be the front of a card as well. I hand wrote "and just like that" on the negative piece of the Swing N Slide die because I thought the curve would be a nice element to start all my text with. The letters for "YOU" still came from the hinged alphas set, I just cut the hinges with my scissors so I could have regular die cut letters (multiple uses!) The remaining stamped text is from Totally Awesome and Mirror Mirror.
I wanted to emphasize the word "TEN" so that's what I used the hinged alphas for. Since these letters would be sticking up on the front of an album, and would need to endure some wear and tear, I backed the paper with my husband's comic book backing board. It's thicker than cardstock but thinner than chipboard, so it die cuts easily, but also offers more support than plain cardstock. Really handy to have around. (P.S. Try the Essentials by Ellen Craft-A-Board for a similar effect!)
Talk about endless possibilities! This would be great for those of you who maintain planners ... you could make a tab with the first letter of each month. In this case I made numeric tabs for each year of my son's childhood through age 9. Just run the die through on the right side of your panel (I used my husband's comic book backing boards again) and then use a paper trimmer to cut the panel away from each number.
I just love how they all look together when the album is closed! So much more interesting and graphic than writing out words on a traditional tab. Plus it's fun to grab an actual number to turn the page.
BONUS PROJECT: Make the Quickest, Easiest, Cheapest Ornament EVER.
This was one of my in-the-shower ideas, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. All you need to do, aside from buying an ornament (bonus points for getting them on major clearance after the holidays) is line up your dies to spell a word, and then run it through your machine on a 1" strip of paper. For this one I also included a 1 1/4" strip of red fun foam to make the negative spaces pop. Then simply hot glue the ends to your ornament.
That's it! Done! Make a dozen or two, because once you have the letters/numbers spaced out and held together with washi tape, all you need to do is keep sending it through the die cutting machine on different strips of paper.
For this ornament I have the name of my youngest son in the front, and then the current year in the back, so the entire strip is used around the ball. If you want a more hardy ornament you could use fun foam or felt instead of paper for your strip. I used paper here because I wanted a little pattern.
So many different gifts possibilities for your list this year. You could give these to a:
1) Newlywed Couple, and have their name and year of their first Christmas together. Or,
2) New baby, with the first name and year of birth. Or,
3) Graduate, with their name and graduation year in their school colors. Or,
4) Sports player, with their name and uniform number in their team colors. Or,
5) Teacher, with their name and grade in school colors. Or,
6) Neighbor, with just their street address (how unexpected!)
What a wonderful, personalized gift any of these special people would treasure each year as they decorate for the holidays.
What makes this unique from other alpha dies is that the hinges make the letters stick out all around the ornament for a really neat effect. And the best part is that you don't have to do anything special or labor-intensive to get this look ... wrapping the paper around the curved ball automatically flips out the letters.
Well, that's a wrap! Thanks for checking out my ideas, and I hope you're excited as I am about all the possibilities these alpha dies and numbers offer. I have a feeling we've only scratched the surface of what these guys can do for us ...
Happy crafting!
Kelly
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We have two brand new Essentials by Ellen die sets now available in the store, Hinged Alphabet and Hinged Numbers!
*edited to add* So it seems you all love hinges as much as we do! We have more sets coming very soon so please sign up for email notification on our store.
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We'll be live-broadcasting some tips & tricks for a brand new product launching today at 10 am PDT over on the Ellen Hutson Facebook Page!
If you aren't able to watch live, no worries! We'll edit this post to share a recording of the broadcast for you to watch at your leisure!
Today's topic: HINGED ALPHA & NUMBER DIES
ETA:
Click on any of the pics below to enbiggan:
LINKS:
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Let's talk specialty inks! It's Julia here today in the CLASSroom and I'm continuing on with the Ink Week theme with some fabulous and unique inks.
These inks were used to make this tropical themed card design and I'll be sharing tips and tricks on how to use them.
So what exactly are the specialty inks that I'm featuring today? They are both fabulous inks from Tsukineko and one of them especially, I'm pretty sure you'll be familiar with. Versamark Ink is an amazing watermark ink and is one of the most used inks that I have in my collection. I have a rather extensive collection of inks so that is really saying something and my Versamark Ink pads is one of the very first ink pads I purchased and is still going strong after 15 years!
The other ink I'm featuring is the Delicata Ink series which is an absolutely gorgeous ink line of metallics. I've tried lots of metallic inks over the years and this is my favorite. And while it's not quite the ink "workhorse" that Versamark is, the beautiful shimmer of these inks is well worth the investment.
So let's get started! I'm using some Robin's Egg Card Stock as the base for the stamped design. Versamark ink is beautiful for creating tone on tone effects with stamped image and using a colored card stock really highlights this feature. For stamps I'm using the Wplus9 Feathers and Florals Stamp Set which you can find linked below.
Versamark is a clear and very sticky ink that is on a foam pad. You stamp with it in exactly the same way you would any other ink. Ink up the stamp and then stamp cleanly onto the card stock.
The first way I am going to show you to do a tone on tone effect with Versamark is with clear embossing powder. After you've stamped some of the images, sprinkle them with the clear embossing powder, remove excess (the powder will stick to the Versamark stamped areas) and then melt with a heat tool.
Once you're done the embossed images will look like this. You'll get a lovely dark tone on tone look that is lovely and shiny.
The raised embossing will catch the light and you can see how pretty that is in the above image.
I do the clear embossing step FIRST so that when you stamp with Versamark the second time, there won't be any embossing to stick to it.
Next stamp the images again with Versamark and just leave them as is. In the above image you can see how you get a lighter tone on tone effect and this ink will dry within minutes on card stock. If you like to rush you can also heat set it with a heat tool.
And that's how you can get two different tone on tone looks just by using the Versamark Ink!
I'm also going to use a layer of stamped image using the Golden Glitz Delicata Ink by Tsukineko. This ink is a gorgeous metallic ink that can be embossed or simply stamped. I'm simply stamping here over and around some of the Versamark image and I love the shimmer that this ink adds!
The gold is so pretty with the turquoise! Once the inks have dried I trimmed this panel to 4" x 5.5" and adhered it to a white card stock card base. I've also stitched around the edges but you can leave them without it if you prefer.
The Be-YOU-tiful Die by Julie Ebersole is so lovely die-cut from gold foil card stock and by using the gold, it ties in well with the gold stamping. To make it pop on the card I've adhered it to a vellum layout die-cut using the Stitched Banner Duo Die from Pretty Pink Posh.
For a fun homespun stitched look I've stitching on the Lawn Fawn Hemp Twine.
And that finishes off the card design.
Thanks so much for joining me today in the CLASSroom!
Julia
Supplies:
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Hello! Hello! Happy Thursday to you all!!!!! Laurel Beard here today bringing you our next Mix It Up Challenge!!!! This month's Mix It Up challenge is very special as we are mixing it up with ourselves! Remember the amazing Courage stamp set and die we launched last month to support the Breast Cancer Research Foundation? We thought now would be a perfect time to show off all those projects you created using the stamp set and die!
Before I share some beautiful inspiration, let's first congratulate the randomly selected participant from our last Pin-Sights Challenge. Remember, YOU could win a $50 gift certificate to the Ellen Hutson store just by playing along. Our randomly selected participant (courtesy of random.org) is: Michele Ferguson! Congratulations! Please email me at laurelbeard at me dot com to claim your prize!
Inspiration time!!! Check out all of these beautiful projects from our design team and some of our very good friends! (To see more info about each card, just click on the image!)
I am also delighted to share a project and video I made using the gorgeous Courage stamp set and die. This stamp is a floral layering stamp set and I'll be honest with you. Most layering sets intimidate me. I feel inadequate using them. But NOT the case with this one. These images are incredibly easy to line up (with or without the MISTI) and the sentiments in this set..... So encouraging and uplifting. I created a cluster of stamped layered floral images underneath the ribbon die and added foiling without using heat.
And the video... You can watch right here on the blog or over on Laurel's youtube channel by clicking HERE.
There are still some Courage stamp/die sets available. $25 of the proceeds goes directly towards the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Just a $25 donation funds half an hour of research as we work to prevent and cure breast cancer. However, there are other ways you can join the cause. To check out the campaign and read more about it, please go HERE!
NOW IT'S TIME WHERE WE INVITE YOU TO PLAY ALONG IN OUR CHALLENGE!
Laurel's project supplies:
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