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Tim Holtz

May 26, 2017

Distress Ink Spray Stain by Sharon Harnist

It's been a long time since I worked with ink sprays and boy did I have fun with this week's project!  

5-26 DistressSprayTag-SH

My tag was created with Distress Spray Stains and Tim Holtz Stencils to achieve this look!  But yet it looks stamped, doesn't it?!

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TIPS FOR WORKING WITH DISTRESS SPRAY STAINS:

  • Very concentrated/highly pigmented color. Spray paper with water first, for a more diluted/lighter look (this is what I did with the first background ink layer on my tag, detailed below).
  • Same Distress INK attributes -- color will lift when water is applied, even with the metallic colors.
  • Great to use with stencils, either by itself, or to color freshly applied stencil/texture paste.
  • Watercolor with the ink, either with a watercolor brush dipped directly in the ink, or fill a water reservoir brush with the ink and dilute it with water to your liking.
  • Use the spray stain like a dauber, by applying it with a sponge applicator.

Here's how my tag came together:

To contain the spray and make sure I didn't get it everywhere, I placed a #8 Manila Tag into an old used shipping box lined with packing paper, lightly sprayed the tag with water, then sprayed the tag with Peacock Feathers Distress Spray Stain. Let dry:

5-26 DistressSprayTag-1-SH

Next, I took the sprayer out of Abandoned Coral Distress Spray Stain and tapped the nozzle onto my plastic paint palette (shown in the center of my palette below). 

5-26 DistressSprayTag-1-SH

Then I tapped my 1" Round Ink Blending Tool into the ink and sponged the ink only onto the flowers of Tim Holtz's Mini Stencil Set 10 floral stencil (the stencil is wash-taped to my work surface, to help prevent bleeding) -- thus, creating my own "dauber"!

5-26 DistressSprayTag-1-SH

Next, I dipped my watercolor brush directly into Twisted Citron Distress Spray Stain and painted the leaves and stems through the stencil:

5-26 DistressSprayTag-1-SH

To enhance the upper part of the tag's background, I masked off the lower stamped part of the tag using a sticky note and washi tape ...

5-26 DistressSprayTag-1-SH

Then I sprayed Tarnished Brass Distress Spray Stain through the flourish stencil from the same Tim Holtz Mini Stencil Set 10 set -- Isn't that a gorgeous golden color?!!:

5-26 DistressSprayTag-6-SH

I also used the flourish stencil and 1" Round Ink Blending Tool on other parts of the tag, just by placing the stencil and only inking on the blue background, avoiding the flowers:

5-26 DistressSprayTag-6-SH

This awesome sentiment is from Concord & 9th's Butterfly Beauty set. I stamped it with Jet Black Archival Ink, using my Misti Stamping Tool so I could double-stamp and get a very bold black impression:

5-26 DistressSprayTag-6-SH

 

5-26 DistressSprayTag-CU-SHTo finish the tag, I colored wide white silk ribbon with the Tarnished Brass Distress Spray Stain (just spray and let dry):

5-26 DistressSprayTag-6-SH

Next, I wanted to give a little more definition to the citron leaves and flowers (they seemed to blend into the aqua background a little too much), so I lightly outlined them with Twisted Citron Distress Marker:

5-26 DistressSprayTag-6-SH

Finally, I used Concord & 9th's Butterfly Card dies to create the half butterfly strip from Ellen's 40# Vellum. The butterfly body was die cut from paper sprayed with the Tarnished Brass Distress Spray Stain. The butterfly strip was attached to the tag using Tim's Tiny Attacher, but the butterfly wing was left unattached so it can flap up:

5-26 DistressSprayTag-CU2-SH

The golden ribbon was tied through the tag hole and secured with metallic gold string:

5-26 DistressSprayTag-CU2-SH

I hope you've learned some wonderful tips for working with ink sprays this week and will give them a try!

Sharon-A-Black

  - supplies

Posted at 12:00 AM in Concord & 9th, Tim Holtz | | Comments (2)

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May 19, 2017

Wow! Bonding Powder Pizazz with Julia Stainton

Welcome to the CLASSroom! I'm Julia Stainton and today I'm sharing a few fun and cool (but really hot) ideas on how to use Wow!  Bonding Powder. It's Wow! week here at Ellen Hutson LLC and it's been fun with all the wonderful techniques.

Hello-wow-bonding-powder-card

The Wow! Bonding Powder is a really cool product that turns an embossing-type powder into a heat activated adhesive. It's great for stamping with and today I'm sharing two great ways to use it.

Wow-bonding-powder-and-glitter

First of all here's a look at the Bonding Powder and a couple Wow! glitter colors that I'm using today. They are Seahorse and Peachy Keen.

Dies

And while you can use these techniques paired up with stamping images, today I'm adding the bonding powder to some die cuts. I love this beautiful set of Sizziz Thinlet's Dies. They are the Tim Holtz Wildflowers 2 set and the come with this great pouch to keep them in for easy storage.

Ink-die-cut

To start my project I die-cut the wildflower dies from Neenah Solar White Card Stock and then inked up the surface with Versamark Watermark Ink. This ink is my favorite for embossing with as I find powders stick really well to it.

Bonding-powder

Once the die cut is inked, I then sprinkled the Wow! Bonding Powder on top of it over a scrap of paper to hold the excess. Now the glitter part is very quick so I didn't get a photo of the next couple steps but you heat the powder with a heat tool, just like normal embossing. The bonding powder will melt and become sticky. The trick is to work quickly and sprinkle on the glitter while the powder is still warm so that it sticks well to the bonding agent.

Glitter-bonded

I sprinkled my wildflowers with the two colors of glitter to add a defined look for the flowers and the leaves. Allow to cool, then shake off excess glitter before using your glittered die-cut.

Bonding-powder-before-foil

The next thing I tried with the wildflowers and the bonding powder was to add foil instead of glitter. The process is very similar. Apply Versamark, cover with bonding powder, remove excess, then heat.

Foil-press

This time once the bonding powder is hot and melted, I overlaid it with a piece of Gold DecoFoil Transfer Sheet. Press and smooth the foil into the bonding powder with a Bone Folder, then carefully peel up the foil sheet.

Foil

The gold foil should be transferred to the die-cut for a beautiful rich and shimmery look.

Layout-design

To put my card design together, I laid out the patterned paper from Pink Paislee, grouped my wildflowers and decided on the final details.

Hello-ig

The white notched layer is a pennant shape from MFT Stamps, Blueprints 13 and I've placed it horizontally in the design and then trimmed off some from the left side of the design to make it fit.

Wow-card-promo-two-julia

Finally, a big bold Hello is die-cut from black card stock using the Essentials by Ellen Brushstroke Hello Die by Julie Ebersole.

Thanks so much for joining me! I hope you're inspired to find some time to get creative!

Supplies:

 

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Posted at 12:00 AM in Adhesives, Cards, Dies, Essentials by Ellen, Glitter, Tim Holtz | | Comments (3)

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April 18, 2017

Look like you know what you're doing with Art Impressions

AI week Bloom card by Carolyn Peeler

Hi friends! Carolyn Peeler with you today... As I was trying to come up with a snazzy title for today's post, I decided that I would simply let the title tell you why I think the Art Impressions line of stamps is so special. I kid you not, these stamps totally make you look like you're all that and a bag of chips when it comes to your artistic abilites. We've all been there, had times when you are pressed for time, but want to make something special for a friend, or had days when your artistic inspiration is just. not. flowing. That's where these stamps come in to save the day. Today's project was the first time I have used Art Impressions, and I am a believer.

Something that is totally awesome is that Art Impressions cares that you get a good result using their watercolor stamp sets. On the packaging they have an enlarged image of the stamp once colored in so that you can see the detail and how you could shade it. Then (this is the good part), on the back of the packaging they have numbered steps that you can follow to help you easily figure out how to make your masterpiece. (Please note: Instructions are not provided for every Art Impressions stamp set, they are limited to the watercolor stamps. If instructions are included, you will see it noted on the packaging, and/or in the description of the item in the Ellen Hutson store.)

If you purchase a set with instructions, it will look a little something like this:

AI week packaging

As you'll note, I used a different color palette than the packaging. I changed it up as I felt the colors on the packaging were to Autumnal for this time of year. So instead of coloring it to make the pot clay, I colored it in grey to mimic a galvanized metal milk can. Let's jump in, shall we?

First, stamp the pot, using Pumice Stone Distress ink (you can color directly onto the stamp with a marker or ink it with the large or small ink pad), onto watercolor paper. Notice how the bottom left corner of the stamp is not there. That is because, by following the instructions, I learned that I should wipe the ink off that area before stamping onto the paper in order to give me space to add grass to that corner. 

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Now it's time to add some grass, while you can do this with the AI Foliage Set, I simply used markers and hand drew the grass. I started with using the Brush end of the Bundled Sage Distress marker. As you draw with the marker, try to use upward strokes that taper at the ends - even if not all your strokes are done that way (mine aren't), if the majority are, it will look more like grass.

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Your next layer of grass is to use the fine tip of the Mowed Lawn Distress marker and add more blade of grass, like so:

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Now we use water and a fine or medium tipped paintbrush to help the two greens blend together a bit. Be careful not to over blend. You still want to see the individual blades, you just want to soften things a bit.

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After you've  blended the grass it's time to color the can. I used Distress ink in Pumice Stone and Hickory Smoke. I dabbed them onto my Ranger Craft Sheet with the darker color on the top (Hickory Smoke) and the lighter color (Pumice Stone) below. I then sprayed a bit of water beside the ink in order to mix and create my watercolors. Here's a time lapse of the coloring process.

Allow the image to air dry, or speed up the process by heating with a heat tool. After it dries, it will look a little something like this:

IMG_8542

Our next steps are for adding the branches and flowers to the top of the pot. Let's start with the branches, which I stamped with Brushed Corduroy, once again you can color directly onto the stamp with a marker or ink it with the large or small ink pad. Don't worry if your branches are hovering a little above the top of the can (like one of mine is) once we add grass you won't really be able to notice. Additionally, you'll notice my branches are not all the same height - even though both were stamped with the same stamp. I achieved this by using a paper towel to wipe the ink off the bottom of the branch on the right before I stamped it, effectively shortening it :)

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Now for some color! I used Shabby Shutters and Picked Raspberry Distress markers to add the flower to the top of the can. For ink application I colored directly onto the stamp with the markers, then stamped them.

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Next we'll add one more branch using Gathered Twig ink to bring a secondary brown into the piece. And we'll stamp the berry branch that is on the left of my piece using the Bundled sage and Picked Raspberry markers. To finish off the greenery, we'll add grass at the top using the same colors and technique that we did for the grass at the bottom of the pot.

IMG_8545

Just like we did to the grass at the bottom of the pot, we'll now use a fine or medium tipped paintbrush to help soften things a bit. You are not trying to blend the lines out, just give them a wee bit of a fuzzy edge. Basically, this means if you simply trace each branch or flower once, that will most likely be the perfect amount.

IMG_8546

And with that, your watercolor image is ready to be added to a card!

Most of the assembly is pretty intuitive. The grey striped paper is made by stamping the AWESOME Concord & 9th Stripe Builder background stamp, which I stamped using the same Pumice Stone ink used for the can, onto white cardstock. The greeting is from the "Lovely" Essentials by Ellen stamp set and was stamped onto Taylored Expressions Lollipop cardstock with Versamark ink, then heat embossed with Ranger White Embossing powder. 

IMG_8547

After the greeting is embossed use a circle die to cut it out.

Finally, It's time to pull it all together. I used Licorice cardstock to ground the card, then mounted it all on a white cardstock that was folded into a card.

AI week Bloom card view 2 by Carolyn Peeler

Thanks for joining me for today's fun project in the CLASSroom. If you have any questions, be sure to let me know in the comments. In the meantime, here are the links to the products used to make this card:

Posted at 06:00 AM in Cards, Concord & 9th, Tim Holtz, Watercolor | | Comments (10)

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April 14, 2017

Lacy Celebration by Sharon Harnist

Hello and happy Friday, crafters!  As we wrap up Reverse Confetti week here in the CLASSroom, I have a celebration card to share with you today:

4-14 RCcelebrate-SH

I used Reverse Confetti's Circle Wishes stamp set and Lacy Scallop Circles dies to create this card.  I always like to look for different ways to use stamps and dies, other than how they were originally intended. So for these dies that most people would use to frame a main focal image, I used them to create a cheerful and fun background for this celebration card.  I love versatility!

4-14 RCcelebrate-2-SH

I didn't have an exact design worked out for this card from the beginning but knew I wanted to give the background some added interest, so I embossed the plain circle die from the Lacy Scallop Circles set onto an A2 (4.25" x 5.50") piece of Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White cardstock. To emboss in my Big Shot, I used a tan Embossing Pad and the Sizzix embossing sandwich I found on Ellen's blog:

4-14 RCcelebrate-2-SH

As I said, it's not really noticeable on the finished card so you could skip this step if you wanted.

The colored paper I used to die cut the Lacy Scallops was left over from this paper-making session and project, using Distress Oxide inks. I die cut different colors of the papers with the Lacy Scallop Circles dies and started arranging them onto a Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White card base:

4-14 RCcelebrate-2-SH

Next, I gold heat embossed one of the Circle Wishes sentiments onto one of the scallop circles:  

4-14 RCcelebrate-2-SH

They fit the smallest scallop circle perfectly!

4-14 RCcelebrate-2-SH

I adhered the scallop circles to the card base, letting some of the circles hang off the edges. After trimming off the overhang, I splattered metallic Gold Wink of Stella onto the background and circles.  To do that, just give your Wink of Stella marker barrel a good squeeze until you see the ink start to run out of the brush, then start tapping the pen against your hand/finger to splatter it:

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I finished the card by stamping the star, flower and heart that are included in the Circle Wishes stamp set with Delicata Golden Glitz ink onto the background and scallop circles. Finally, the sentiment and lower left heart circle were popped up with X-Press It High Tack Double-Sided Foam Mounting Tape:

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Just think of all the different shapes of dies you could use with this background technique!  Have fun creating!

Sharon-A-Black

- supplies 

Posted at 12:00 AM in Ink Pads, Ranger Techniques, Reverse Confetti, Tim Holtz, Watercolor | | Comments (3)

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March 17, 2017

Doily Cards by Sharon Harnist

It's another fun week here in the CLASSroom, using some of my very favorite papercrafting tools, dies!

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The beautiful dies I used to create these cards are Waffle Flower's Doily Circle and Lacy Layers 5x7 (I have the two largest dies of this set stored on the back side of the right card below)

3-17 WFDoilyCards-SH

I used Distress Oxide Inks to create the backgrounds, which I think turned out to resemble a soft faux watercolor look!  Here's how I created them:

Let's start with my first blue notecard, which measures 3-1/2" x 5". I decided to keep this one simple, without a greeting, so it could be used for anything. It's the perfect size to present a gift card!

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To create the background for the blue card, I pressed these Distress Oxide Inks onto my Non-Stick Craft Sheet: Cracked Pistachio, Broken China, and Faded Jeans, then spritzed them with water:

3-17 WFDoilyCards-SH

Next, I took a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" panel of Neenah Solar White 110 Lb. cardstock and dipped it into the ink. I prefer a heavier weight cardstock when using a water technique such as this. For this particular panel I didn't have as much water on the ink, so the colors didn't move around as much and sank into the cardstock quickly, which resulted in a more separated look to the colors:

3-17 WFDoilyCards-SH

If you want to add more color in spots, just dip the paper into the remaining inks again, until you are satisfied with the results. Dry the panel with your heat tool between dippings, to achieve different looks. I love that this technique always creates such different and varying results! After I finished with the first panel, I was able to spritz the remaining ink on my craft sheet two more times, to create two more backgrounds! The more water you add, the lighter the results will be:

3-17 WFDoilyCards-SH

I chose the center panel above because I wanted softer muted colors. I die cut it with the second largest Lacy Layers 5x7 die, which is a beautiful scallop edge with pierced holes all along the edges. I adhered the blue panel to a notecard I created with the largest stitched Lacy Layers 5x7 die, which measures a generous 5" x 7", and scored it in half:

3-17 WFDoilyCardBlue2-SH

I used my favorite new tape runner to adhere the panel to the card base, X-Press It's Tape Runner.  I know many of you were equally as distraught as I was when Tombow's Stamp Runner was discontinued ... I have found this tape to have a fantastic hold, even with this warped background I created!

After assembling the background, I die cut the Doily Circle from Neenah Solar White cardstock. Do yourself a huge favor and use a lighter 80 Lb. weight cardstock with this intricate die and you'll achieve a nice cut.  I would also suggest using a layer of wax paper between the die and cardstock and using a Metal Adaptor Plate in your die cutting sandwich, until you find out how your die cutting machine's pressure interacts. 

3-17 WFDoilyCardBlue2-SH

My next card uses the die cut negative, to create a mosaic look!

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For this card, I started the same way I did with the blue background, using these Distress Oxide Inks (I apologize for not getting a photo of the inking process): Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, and Fossilized Amber. Then I die cut the inked panel with the Doily die. This was actually the first time I had used the Doily die, used 110 Lb. cardstock and did not use the wax paper or metal adaptor, so all the pieces lifted out of the die together. This was both a good and slightly bad outcome -- a few of the pieces were not cut all the way through, which I decided to make work in my favor. 

GladPressNSealI placed the die cut right side down onto some Glad Press 'N Seal wrap (found at your local grocery store). This wrap has a tacky surface, yet removes from paper easily!  Then I slowly and gently removed the die cut (shown on the right below) from its negative space on the Glad wrap (on the left below), finishing the cuts with a craft knife on a few pieces as needed: 

3-17 WFDoilyCardOrange2-SH
Next, I applied Matte Multi Medium onto the back side of the die negative pieces (still attached to the Glad wrap), then turned the wrap and die cut pieces over and positioned them on my scalloped die cut background (made from the second largest Lacy Layers 5x7 scalloped die). 

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I let the adhesive dry a few minutes, then gently and carefully removed the wrap:

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I love the raised mosaic effect!  The Congratulations sentiment is from Julie's 12 Days Companion Greetings. It was gold heat embossed. The scalloped panel was adhered to a Neenah Solar White card base.

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Since I wanted to use this as a wedding card, inside I adhered the leftover white doily from my first project and stamped a Mr. & Mrs. sentiment (also from the 12 Days Companion Greetings stamp set) in Delicata Gold ink:

3-17 WFDoilyCardOrange3-SH

And there you have two totally different looks from the same two die sets -- I love versatility!

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I think this Distress Oxide background technique lends itself very well to all types of Spring and Easter cards, don't you?  (I apologize -- As of this writing, some of the Distress Oxide inks are currently out of stock, but more are expected soon. So please click the "Notify Me" button on the product page and you'll receive an email as soon as more are received in the store! Meanwhile, you could achieve similar results with your regular Distress Inks or Refills!). 

Happy stamping!  :)

Sharon-A-Black

- supplies 

Posted at 12:00 AM in Dies, Easter, Ink Pads, Ranger Techniques, Tim Holtz, Watercolor, Wedding | | Comments (8)

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March 03, 2017

Distress Oxide Watercolored Shaped Card by Sharon Harnist

Hello, Crafters!  Spring is in the air in my southern part of the U.S. -- How about in yours?  All the budding flowers and beautiful greenery helped to inspire today's card:

3-3 DO Watercolor-BGardenT-SH

A new arrival in the store also contributed to my inspiration ... all of the beautiful new Springy colors of Distress Oxide Inks!!  
(Please don't fret if these sell out of the store again quickly this week, as I hear another shipment is expected next week!  Just click on the "Notify Me" button on the product page and you'll be emailed when they are back in stock.)

3-3 DO WatercolorWM-SH

I adore shaped cards, so today I'm using the generously-sized Stitched Party Banners from Lawn Fawn, along with their Milo's ABC's alphabet stamp set to create my custom greeting:

3-3 DO WatercolorWM-SH

The floral stamp set I used is Julie's Bohemian Garden:

3-3 DO WatercolorWM-SH

To start, I die cut Ranger Watercolor paper with the largest Stitched Party Banner die, then positioned the die cut in my Misti. Then I started arranging the floral stamps on the paper:

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Some of the stamps were easy enough to ink two colors at once -- I just placed a sticky note over the surrounding stamps:

3-3 DO Watercolor-BGardenStamps2-SH
One advantage of the Misti is that once a stamp (and in this case a particular color) has been inked and stamped, you can remove it and move on to inking the next stamp in a different color. This just makes it a little easier to mask off a few stamps that you don't want inked with that particular color.  Once all the stamping was done, I went back with a waterbrush and lightly moved each color around within each flower, to lightly color them. In some spots, I added a little more ink by just picking up additional color directly from the ink pad with my waterbrush.  Be sure to clean off your waterbrush between colors. Below, I've just started coloring the pink flowers on the left:

3-3 DO Watercolor-Cut-SH

 I love that the watered version of these Oxide inks is a lighter, softer hue than the original, just stamped, version!  In particular, Spiced Marmalade watercolors more golden yellow than the vibrant orange it stamps and Fossilized Amber watercolors a pretty, soft yellow!  For the flower stems, I just selectively inked the length of stem I wanted and carefully stamped around the existing flowers (because I don't like making and cutting masks!), but you could easily mask if you wanted.

Next, to make the shaped card base I die cut a folded Neenah Solar White (lighter 80 Lb. weight) card base with the largest Stitched Party Banners die.  Just place the folded edge of the cardstock slightly below the cutting edge of the die, so the folded edge is not cut:

3-3 DO Watercolor-Cut-SH

I could have made this card one layer by just die cutting folded watercolor paper in the beginning and using that to watercolor on. But since just about any watercolored paper will have some warping, I like to be able to put lots of adhesive on the back of a watercolor piece and adhere it to a card base, to help combat the warping.  My favorite adhesive to use for this purpose is X-Press It High Tack Double-Sided 1/2-inch Tape.

3-3 DO Watercolor-Cut-SH

Once the watercolor piece was adhered to the shaped card base, I tied Lawn Fawn's Black Hemp Cord through the die cut holes on the card front ...

3-3 DO Watercolor-Cut-SH

... and accented four of the flowers/flower centers with Pretty Pink Posh 4 mm Clear Droplets, using Glossy Accents, as this is a nice strong clear adhesive:

3-3 DO Watercolor-Cut-SH
To finish the card, I made a custom "HELLO" greeting using Lawn Fawn's Milo's ABC's and stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black.

What dies do you have in your stash that could be used to make a shaped card?  Look for larger (about 4 inches plus) dies.  I like that this particular banner can be used nicely in either orientation!

Sharon-A-Black

- supplies 

Posted at 12:00 AM in Essentials by Ellen, Lawn Fawn, Tim Holtz, Watercolor | | Comments (4)

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January 20, 2017

Rosy Thanks by Sharon Harnist

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Thanks so much for joining us this week as we explore different inks and their uses here in the CLASSroom. Today I will using Taylored Expressions Inks.

Taylored Expressions Inks are custom formulated to match coordinating Taylored Expressions Cardstock. They come in a multitude of colors with names that will make your mouth water!  They are a fast drying dye-based ink (with the exceptions noted* below), which is acid-free and archival.  They give superior coverage and are fade resistant.  The ink pads have a raised 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" pad surface, for easy use with any size stamp. Ink refills are available and they are all made in the USA!

*Exceptions: The Taylored Expressions Oreo (black) and Chocolate Truffle (dark brown) inks are hybrid inks, which are waterproof and ideal for use with alcohol based markers!  Currently there is one pigment ink pad, Sugar Cube (white), available. It also has superior coverage for both solid and fine details and is ideal for adding embossing powder.

All of the ink colors are also available in 1-inch mini ink pad cubes. These happen to be my current favorite, as the size makes them easy to store and transport.  I store them in Tim Holtz's Mini Ink Storage Tin: 

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For today's card, I used one of my favorite inking techniques: 2 and 3-step stamping, with Taylored Expressions Simply Stamped-Roses. Each step, or layer, of stamping is done with a different stamp and ink color, to create beautifully layered and dimensional images:

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I used the ink colors above for the roses: Strawberry Milkshake, Lollipop, then Cherry Pop.  See how smoothly and evenly the images stamped onto Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White, giving wonderful solid coverage ... Beautiful!

The ink colors I used for the leaves were: Granny Smith and Peapod:

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I used TE's coordinating Simply Stamped Roses dies to cut out the stamped images.

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For the card's background, I used Taylored Expressions Lollipop cardstock (which coordinates with the middle ink color of the stamped roses), and TE's Sugar Cube pigment ink to stamp MFT's Roses All Over background.  See how nicely the pigment ink stamps, keeping all the fine details of the stamp:

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To finish the card, I cut layers of Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White cardstock and Essentials by Ellen 40 Lb. Vellum with TE's Stitched Rectangle Stacklets dies and arranged the die cut roses and leaves on the corners of the rectangle. The two larger roses were popped up with X-Press It 1/2-inch foam mounting tape.

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The pretty "Thanks" sentiment is also from the Simply Stamped-Roses stamp set.  I gold heat embossed it onto more Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White cardstock and hand trimmed it, then popped it up on foam tape.

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Thanks so much for joining me today, to explore Taylored Expressions inks!

Sharon-A-Black

- supplies

Posted at 12:00 AM in Ink Pads, My Favorite Things, Taylored Expressions, Tim Holtz | | Comments (4)

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January 17, 2017

#TexturalTuesdays and Using Distress Inks by Lisa

Hey everyone!! It's Lisa with you today and we're celebrating Ink Week here in the CLASSroom. Each one of the team members this week will be featuring a different brand of ink and showing how we used it. Cool, huh? AND through January 22nd you can snag 20% off in-stock items in the ink-promo category!! 

I have the pleasure of featuring Distress Inks. Yay me! So here is what I created for all of you lovelies today.

LisaAdametz-distressink-1-01172017

Making this card was such a labor of love. The colors make me happy and so does the sort of abstract quality of it.

Let me show (and tell) you how this card came together:

I used a piece of Ranger watercolor paper and used the smooth side. I'll cut this down to the size I need later on.

I stamped pieces of the Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Mondo Peony by Julie Ebersole set using Versamark Ink onto the paper using the MISTI.

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Then everything was heat set using the Wow! Embossing Powder, Super Fine in Metallic Gold Rich.

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Then the FUN begins! I use the Ranger Distress Mini Ink Pads for this, but you could also use the full size Distress pads. And any color palette that is pleasing to YOUR eye. (Don't feel obligated to use the colors I did.) 

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Blend using a mini-blending tool. The embossing resists the dye ink, so if you wish to see more of the embossing you can always use a damp paper towel or baby wipe to reveal more of the embossing. (I didn't.)

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My next step was to add more texture. Since I already used a gold embossing ink, I stayed with gold for for the texture, too. I used a hexagon patterned stencil from Faber-Castell Mixed Media Stencils, 101 Collection. Using the stencil I worked with the Faber-Castell Texture Luxe Paste in Gold and applied it through the stencil with a palette knife.

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Once the Texture Luxe is dry I knew I wanted to give my panel a watercolor look. I smooshed the 2 darkest opposing colors onto my work surface and spritzed with water. Then, using my Black Velvet #2 Watercolor brush, I dipped the brush into the smooshed ink and went around some of the edges of the flowers, pulling the color out. Add more water, if necessary. I did not go around all the edges. I thought it would look more organic not to do that. I also used a white gel pen with my watercolor brush (and water) to add additional accents.

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And this is when I decided to flip my panel and make a VERTICAL card!! I die cut the panel, and using thin foam squares, adhered it to another die-cut piece with scalloped edges. Then the whole thing got adhered to my card base. 

My final embellishments are some sequins, a sentiment from the Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Lovely by Julie Ebersole, and a little gold thread.

Here are a few more close-ups for you, too!

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And one more!

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I hope that you'll consider using your Distress Inks a little differently, blend non-traditional colors or use them as watercolors! And most of all...have fun!

Ellen-Supplies

Lisa Sig

Posted at 12:01 AM in #TexturalTuesdays, Cards, Dies, Essentials by Ellen, Faber-Castell, Ink Pads, Lawn Fawn, My Favorite Things, Ranger Techniques, Tim Holtz, Zig | | Comments (6)

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December 28, 2016

Many Thanks by Kittie Caracciolo

Good Wednesday morning and welcome to the CLASSroom. Time just seems to pass by so quickly and I can hardly believe Christmas has already come and gone.  I need to make a few Christmas  thank you cards and although I want them to represent the holiday I want to make them more generic. I decided to make a sparkly winter scene using the Sizzix Tree Line and Essentials by Ellen Many Thanks made using Craft-a-Board.

KC Craft-a-Board right

I like the extra thickness and stability of Craft-a-Board.  It is like chipboard yet thin enough to be cut with most low profile dies. I used my Memory Box Metal Adaptor Plate to cut both the tree line and sentiment since both have detailed cutting lines. Hint: Always run your die through your machine lengthwise to get the best cut. 

Die Cut

This picture shows how much thicker Craft-a-Board is than regular cardstock. I use my paper piercer to help remove the tree line image from the negative piece.

1

Lightly mist the Craft-a-Board images with water to prepare for applying ink.

2

Apply the Shabby Shutters ink by swiping the pad directly to the Tree Line and Many Thanks images.

3

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Heat dry both images.

4

Apply Cosmic Glitter Glue and spread over the image using your finger. Be sure to have a baby wipe or damp cloth available.  Smile 

4 b

Apply clear Rock Candy Glitter to the images.

4c

Place small pieces of mounting tape to the back of the tree tops and a piece of 1/4” double stick tape to the bottom edge of the tree line and attach to the card base.

6

7

Attach mounting tape to the back of the snow layer and attach to the card base.

8

Create a thin strand of adhesive to use to attach the sentiment to the card. Attach a length of double stick tape to a clean surface. I used the 1/8” for this project.

rolled double stick tape 1

Remove the paper backing and use your finger to roll the strip into around strand of adhesive.

rolled double stick tape 2

Apply pieces of the adhesive strand to key sections of the sentiment.

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Attach the sentiment to the card front.  I think the popped up sentiment looks much prettier than being attached flat to the card surface.  12

Sadly the pictures do not show how pretty and sparkly the trees are.  It’s so much prettier in person.

KC Craft-a-Board left

This is my last CLASSroom post for 2016 so I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Happy, Healthy and Creative New Year! 

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Posted at 12:00 AM in Cards, Christmas Inspiration, Essentials by Ellen, Sizzix, Tim Holtz | | Comments (11)

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November 29, 2016

Noline watercolor with Honey Bee Stamps

Tis the season no line watercolor promo image

Hi there! Carolyn Peeler here today to share a step by step walk through of this no line watercolor pickup truck. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure to be invited to participate in a blog hop with the team from Honey Bee Stamps and I had so much fun so I thought I would recreate the card, using different colors and papers, for today's CLASSroom post. I'm a huge fan of the no line watercolor technique. I love that the finished project ends up looking very organic and freehand. And it actually very easy to do, with little practice needed in order to get fantastic results.

Honey Bee Truck copy

This aqua pickup truck was the card I made for the hop with Honey Bee. If you'd like to see the supply list, it can be found here. The painting technique for the two cards is identical.

Let's jump into today's Pink Pickup card project. 

Tis the season Honey Bee by carolyn peeler

To start, you'll want to put the (AWESOME) Honey Bee Stamps "Little Pickup" truck onto an acrylic block and color it with Distress Markers. For successful no-line watercolor you will want to stamp the image using a light shade from the same color family that you will be using to paint the interior of the stamped image. For my card, I colored the stamp using Distress Markers in Spun Sugar and Pumice Stone.

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If you are coloring a large stamp it is possible that as you finish coloring, the ink from the first part of the stamp that you colored may dry before you are ready to stamp. So, in order to combat that, I usually spray one pump from a water sprayer to lay a light mist of water over the image in order to reactivate the ink. Once you stamp, onto watercolor paper, it will look something like this. Don't worry if you didn't get a perfect impression, you just need to see enough of the image to use as a guide for your watercoloring.

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Next you will get your ink set up to watercolor. For the body of my truck I used the following colors of Distress ink: Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick and Tea Dye. I smooshed the ink pad onto my Ranger Craft Sheet which I used as my painting palette. I then sprayed a few squirts of water below the ink. I mix this water with the inks in order to make my watercolors.

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To start, I began with the Spun Sugar (lightest pink) ink and painted over the entire body of the truck. I made sure to paint over the stamped lines in order to blend them out so that they were no longer harsh. Sometimes this requires adding a bit of extra water (not too much mind you) and rubbing with your paint brush to blend the line out.

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Next, I added the Worn Lipstick and painted some areas deeper pink. Notice that I did not paint the entire truck with this darker paint, you want it to be a bit splotchy so that the truck has both highlights and lowlights.

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For the next step I added some of the Tea Dye into the mix. I used the Tea Dye to simulate a bit of rust on the body of the truck. In my mind's eye this is a vintage truck that had been kept out in a farmers field for a while, so it is "farm fresh" (as the boys on "American Pickers" would say). I also watercolored the tires using Pumice Stone and a dirt ground using Tea Dye and Vintage Photo.

You will also notice that in between the last photo and the two below I used the Worn Lipstick ink to reintroduce some of the lines back into the image - for instance those of the door, and along the bed of the truck. 

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Next I picked the patterned paper that I wanted to use on the card. The one I chose was from the On Trend 2 6x6 paper pad by My Mind's Eye and it is the front and backside of the same sheet of paper!

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I glued a strip of the lighter paper above the truck and the darker paper below the truck....and, it was then that I realized that I forgot to load the bed of the pickup truck - oops! So, I took the Christmas tree from the "Little Pickup" stamp set and colored directly onto the stamp with the following Distress ink marker colors: Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint and Forest Moss. After coloring, I used a water sprayer to lightly mist the stamp a few times so that the tree would not be super defined, but instead be watercolorish.

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Now, stamp the tree into the bed of the truck. BUT - do a better job than I did!! In the image below you can see that I messed up the positioning of the stamp and ended up with a gap between the edge of the truck and the tree. Obviously, not the look I was after. 

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So, I used Peeled Paint ink as a watercolor to extend the bottom of my tree so that it touched the truck.

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After doing that, I took a strip of vellum and sewed it across the bottom of the dark pink patterned paper. The vellum is only attached using the stitches, not with any glue.

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Next I mounted the card front onto Bazzill Peanut Cluster cardstock leaving a little border of the dark tan showing around all four sides of the card.

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It's time to add the greeting to the card! The "Tis the Season" is from the "Tis the Season" Essentials by Ellen stamp set. After stamping it with Memento ink in Tuxedo Black, I took the card back to my sewing machine to stitch a straight line across the light pink patterned paper.

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The final step was to mount the card front onto a white cardstock fully functioning card once again allowing for a narrow border around all four sides of the card.

And there you have it! Your card is done! Thanks for taking the time to read through today's tutorial and please let me know if you have any questions.

(PS - you will notice that before I called this card finished, I decided to use the Worn Lipstick ink one final time to watercolor in the lines defining the front and back wheel wells. I think adding them back in gave just the right amount of definition to the design of the truck.)

Tis the season by Carolyn Peeler view 2

Here are the links to today's products in the Ellen Hutson shop. 

Posted at 06:00 AM in Cards, Christmas Inspiration, Essentials by Ellen, Tim Holtz, Watercolor | | Comments (35)

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November 22, 2016

#TexturalTuesdays - Mixed Media Mini Canvas Featuring Ranger by Lisa

Hey everyone! It's Lisa back with another really fun project for you today. I'm featuring Ranger products on my post today for a Mixed Media Mini Canvas that I've turned into a wall hanging.  It's a long post today, but well worth it!

 

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This little wall hanging is just a neat, creative way to get your groove on and get ready for the holidays. No sentiment necessary. Heck, if you use the right patterned paper? The sentiments are all over it! But, you can always stamp something on this canvas, too.

To start with, I'm using a 4 x 6" flat back canvas board that you can get in an assortment pack by Dina Wakley. These boards are perfect for small to medium sized projects. They are already primed so you won't need to do that part...YAY!

I stamped three of the ornaments from the Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Fat Pants, by Julie Ebersole in Versamark ink and heat embossed them in a variety of metallic embossing powders onto patterned paper. The ornaments were then die-cut using the matching die set, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Fat Pants by Julie Ebersole.

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The ornaments are then set aside for much, much...much later. ;) Just don't forget where you put them.

Decide which orientation you'd like to work with your panel. It WILL matter and it is important. So this is the time to make that decision. Then tear out some strips of patterned paper from a paper pad. It's usually a good idea not to go too crazy (so you can add some color in between the open spaces), but far be it from me to tell someone not to try something. I usually like to tear the strips. But this time I didn't. Lay the strips down, get a good idea how you like them, take a photo so you don't forget, THEN using a collage glue (I used Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium, Matte) adhere your pieces back where you want them.

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* Remember! It's important to add the collage medium under the paper and on top. *

Next, I wanted to add more color. To make that white space go away. Far, far away. So for that, I used the Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium in Vintage. I probably should have used a paintbrush for this, but I thought a make up sponge would enable me to smooth the medium into the areas the way that I wanted. I'll have to give this product another try, honestly, because it was kinda goopy right out of the jar.  It does give a brown-ish tint, though. So there's that!

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After I dried the Vintage Medium I went in with a few color of Distress Inks: Candied Apple, Barn Door, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Evergreen Bough, and Ground Espresso. As I was adding the color one of my paper strips started to come up, so I "helped" it along. I like the roughed up look of torn edges in collage. What can I say?

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Once this was dry I used a snow stencil and the Ranger Texture Paste with a palette knife to create a snow-like effect. Before the Texture Paste could dry, Ranger Distress Stickles Dry Glitter in Clear Rock Candy was sprinkled on top. Tap the excess off and put back in the jar. This is the BEST glitter. ♥ So versatile!!

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Next up, I cut out some random images from the patterned paper that i have (the Tim Holtz Mini Stash, Tidings). I adhered these using the Distress Collage Medium in Matte and then on top I added the Ranger Distress Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium, Crazing. I used a brush for this one. (See? I got smart!) This medium is very thin in viscosity (or so it seemed to me.) And I applied it in a few thin layers first in one direction and then in another on top of the paper image. It can be heat set with a heat tool or air dried. This product leaves tiny little cracks when dry.

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I cut a few thin strips from each color of Tim Holtz Deco Sheets, Holiday 2016 which are adhesive backed. The green was added to the left side and a little notched banner was added near the top right side.

Using the tip of a sharp pair of scissors or another sharp tool, punch a small hole at the top of each ornament. Add foam squares to the backs of the and put into place where you'd like them onto the canvas being careful not to cover the hole. Thread the ornaments with gold thread and tie with a bow. Bring the edges of the excess thread over the back of the canvas board and secure. I secured each bow with Ranger Multi Medium, Matte. After this I filled the open areas of each ornament with Ranger Glossy Accents. I wanted them to look more ornament-y, for a lack of better terms.

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I then took a length of the Tim Holtz Crinkle Ribbon and trimmed to size. Using the Distress Inks again I simply rubbed the inks onto my work surface, spritzed with water, and rubbed the ribbon into the ink. Crinkling it to make sure of an even coating. Dry the ribbon with a heat tool, continue to crinkle as it dries. Punch two holes and thread the ribbon through. Attach the Tim Holtz Jingle Brads to one side.

Last, but not least? A few simple pearls and rhinestones were added. Very simple, but just the right touch.

Whew!! And here are a few cloe-ups for your viewing pleasure.

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I think you can see the crackles in the December 25 from the Crazing. Yeah! And aren't those Jingle Brads the cutest?

And this next one really shows the embossing of Julie's Ornaments!

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I hope you enjoyed today's #TexturalTuesdays and that it inspired you to create.

Ellen-Supplies

Lisa Sig

Posted at 06:00 AM in #TexturalTuesdays, Essentials by Ellen, Mixed Media, Ranger Techniques, Tim Holtz | | Comments (17)

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August 11, 2016

Burnished Velvet Love Wedding Tag by Julia Stainton

Ready for some more glitter? Today I'm finishing up the week with one more Burnished Velvet Technique. I love the look of glitter but am the first to admit I don't use it often enough. It's so lovely and shiny and really amps up the elegance factor on any project.

  Tag-2

I decided to think outside the box on this project but couldn't quite decide what to create for this theme. The idea didn't actually come until I was sitting in my craft room looking through my stash. I find that if it isn't in view I often forget to use things and so I use a lot of open shelving. I decided to pair up the Burnished Velvet Technique with some of my favorite patterned paper and then a fun little twist came to mind.

Stencils.

Would they work with the adhesive and the Burnished Velvet Technique? I've never seen it done before. As you've already seen the finished project, I'll leave you to answer that and I'm really excited with the result. Here's how to do it...

Tag-layers

First of all I gathered my basic supplies that I wanted to use. I decided a tag would make a great addition to a wedding gift that I'll be giving and chose the largest tag die from the MFT Stamps Tag STAX die set. I've listed three different sets at the bottom of this post. Traditional, Pierced or Stitched edge, it really doesn't matter on this project. The patterned paper is from the Pink Paislee C'est la Vie 6x6 paper pack and is soooo lovely.

Tag-dies

The adhesive that works best with the Burnished Velvet Technique is the Be Creative Tape Sheets. Before cutting out my tag, I trimmed a panel of adhesive to a size that is slightly larger than my tag shape. Before cutting out the tag with the die-cut machine, I removed one piece of backing from this double sided adhesive and adhered it to the patterned paper. Then lay the tag die onto the paper/adhesive combo and die-cut.

Tag-adhesive

You are left with a tag shape once it's been run through the machine. Carefully remove the adhesive backing from the patterned paper to expose the adhesive. Be careful not to touch the adhesive or get it dirty.

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Now the FUN PART! Lay a clean plastic stencil over the adhesive and press down well on the surface of the tag. I've used the Tim Holtz Lace Stencil but any pretty stencil would look lovely.

Glitter-stencil

Cover the exposed adhesive areas with clear transparent glitter and press into the adhesive. Carefully removed excess glitter and place back into container to reuse. Remove the stencil slowly from the adhesive being careful not to smudge the glitter pattern.

Glitter-pattern

I'm not sure how well you'll be able to see it in this image but the glitter has only adhered to the areas where the stencil was not.

Gold-glitter-layer

Then place the fine gold glitter over top of the adhesive tag. Press gold glitter over the entire surface of the tag. It will only adhere in the areas where the transparent glitter did NOT coat the tag. As before, carefully remove excess glitter and put away into container.

Burnished-velvet-stencil-technique

The stencil pattern is now very visible and adds another beautiful layer of sparkly pattern. Burnish the glitter into the adhesive with a bone folder and then your finger to get a beautiful soft velvet-like finish.

Craftaboard-tag

Backing the tag makes it stronger and more durable. I love the Craft-a-Board product from Ellen Hutson LLC. I've used it for years and years. It can be used just like chipboard and the lighter color is much prettier. I die-cut the tag die from Craft-a-Board and then adhered it to the back of the technique tag.

Heart-charm

Adding in the embellishments is always a finishing touch. I love this sweet Tim Holtz Heart Charm. It comes with sticker hearts to choose from. Adhere it to the center of the charm and then finish off with the heart epoxy sticker.

Sponge-sentiment

I've clipped it and the sweet white Maya Road tassle to the project with Bronze Mini Safety Pins.

To create the love sentiment I've die-cut the Brushstroke Love Die from Essentials by Ellen from Solar White Cardstock. After adhering it to the front bottom, I lightly sponged the die cut with Magenta Pigment Ink and the Jumbo Dauber. I just can't get enough of these daubers and add a few more to each order I place. Having a wide range of them to use with different colored inks is a great way to stencil or add subtle color.

Love-tag-detail

 As others this week have already said, the photos just don't do the projects justice with how beautiful the sparkle is on these projects. I hope you'll be inspired to give one of the variations of this technique a whirl! I know you'll love it!

Glitter-love-tag

Thanks so much for joining me today in the CLASSroom!

Julia

Supplies:

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Posted at 09:00 PM in Adhesives, Craft-a-Board, Dies, Embellishments, Essentials by Ellen, Glitter, Maya Road, My Favorite Things, Tim Holtz, Valentines, Wedding | | Comments (5)

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July 15, 2016

Mini Pallet Mixed Media Art by Julia Stainton

How about a little mixed media art? Today I'm excited to share an altered mini wood pallet that I've created with lots of beautiful layers of crafting products. Mixed media is all about layering, texture and making use of this and that. This project has a fun and unique look as it alters a wood pallet to create the art piece.

Pallet-art

I'm loving the new Maya Road wood pallets and they are perfect for altering and home dec projects as well as mixed media. I love using them just like I would a canvas. The pallets come in two sizes: 4" x 4" and 6" x 6". I've used the larger size here but the smaller size makes a darling project as well.

Painted-pallet

To start off with, I've primed the wood surfaces with a light coat of gesso. I wanted the wood texture to show through into the final design. Gesso seals the wood and allows it to easily take paint or other textures or pigments.

Texture-paste

Next step is to add in some texture. I love this Mesh Stencil by Tim Holtz and I've used a palette knife to apply the Whipped Spackle through the stencil.  Remove the stencil and allow to dry.

Stamping-on-pallet

I love creativity quotes and I've stamped one here from the Tim Holtz Perspectives Stamp Set. This set also includes a huge gorgeous butterfly that I've stamped onto the pallet and texture.

Gelatos-on-pallet

I turned to Gelatos to add color to this design. I love the pastel colors. You just scribble them on and then work into the gesso with your finger or a paper towel to blend them.

More-texture-paste

Add in another layer of texture paste using the Tim Holtz Bubbles Stencil. This one is one of my faves as it's soooo versatile. Once again, allow to dry.

Paint-on-metal

The Quote Bands are metal charms that have really fab quotes on them. To make it more shabby chic like my project and to help the sentiment stand out, I painted the entire face of the charm with Gesso. While it was still wet, I wiped away the gesso from the surface, leaving it in the depressions of the text.

 

Dream-pallet

Adding a little gold to the design makes it shine and I simply dry brushed on a few areas with the Dina Wakley Gilt Paint.

Pallet-details

One all the background layers were done, I added in the embellishments. The quote band was adhere and tied on with twine. You'll also see vintage buttons, some sweet Maya Road butterfly transparencies and vintage paper flowers. There's also some leaves I die-cut from the Bold Blossoms Stand Alone Die Set from Essentials by Ellen.

Paintbrush

Lastly, check out this SWEET charm from Ken Oliver Crafts. It's so lovely and is perfect for creativity projects! It's called Vintage Art Supplies and please forgive me, I missed linking it below but you can click on it here. And just so you know, if you're looking for more detail...click on the first or last images and they'll enlarge!

Pallet-mixed-media
Thanks so much for joining me today in the CLASSroom! Have a fabulous weekend and make it creative!

Julia

Supplies:

Posted at 11:58 AM in Altered Items, Backgrounds, Dies, Embellishments, Essentials by Ellen, Faber-Castell, Maya Road, Mixed Media, Paper Blossoms, Tim Holtz | | Comments (3)

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July 08, 2016

Bear Hugs by Sharon Harnist

I have been wanting to use this A-DORABLE Concord & 9th Hugs stamp set and coordinating Hugs die for quite some time now, but you all must have loved it as much as I did and scooped it up ... it had been out-of-stock in the store for a while!  As soon as it came back in stock, I whipped up this sweet card (click on any photo for a larger view):

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It is a tri-fold card that locks together in front using the die cut "hugs" word!!  Here's what it looks like open:

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Here are the steps to create it:
(All bold supplies are linked below in the supply section):

*The dimensions I will give you create a finished card measuring 3-3/4 inches wide x 5-1/2 inches tall, made from a standard piece of 8-1/2 x 11-inch cardstock (although I trimmed my card down to be 4-3/4 tall).  Many thanks to Jennifer McGuire, who figured out these dimensions!

**There is a very helpful video on the Hugs die product page in Ellen's store, which details how to create a standard 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" card made from a 12-inch piece of cardstock. You can find the video at the bottom of this page.

1. Cut a card base 5-1/2 inches tall x 11 inches wide. I used 110 Lb. Neenah Solar White because I knew I wanted to do some ink blending on the front involving water, so I wanted the base to be as sturdy as possible.  
Note: While the heavier cardstock held up to my technique very well, if I weren't doing this type of technique I would probably use a regular 80'ish Lb. cardstock, to make it a little easier to fold.

2. Next, cut a piece of scrap cardstock that is 7-1/2 inches wide x at least 5-1/2 inches tall to use as a spacer (again, many thanks to Jennifer for these dimensions!):

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Place the spacer cardstock on top of your card base, centered. Place the "hu" half of the die along the left side of your card base, leaving just a little space to the left of the die. Make sure the die's cutting blade is butted up against the spacer.  Then position the "gs" half of the die along the right side of the spacer. Adjust the dies accordingly, so they are evenly space top to bottom and on the card front. Temporarily tape in place and run through your die cut machine. If you don't have an 11-inch wide die cutting machine like the Big Shot Plus or extended platform, just run each side of the die through your machine separately (two passes).

With the adorable bear positioned on my cardfront, I thought he would look better and less like he were floating in space if the card were a little shorter, so I trimmed off 3/4-inch from the bottom.  That measurement was based solely on the fact that was as much of the card I could get into my trimmer before the "hu" hit an edge (and I didn't trust myself to try and hold the heavyweight card at straight enough of an angle, up off the cutting ledge and get a straight cut)!  This made my card 4-3/4" tall.

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3. Next, score 1-7/8" from the "hu" side of the card -- I do this in my Trimmer's cutting channel, using a Teflon Bone Folder (and evidently I technically use my Trimmer upside down!).

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Then fold the right "hu" side inward:
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And bend the left "gs" side of the card inward:

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Match up the slit at the top of the "g" with the slit at the bottom of the "u":

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Push the pieces together until they "lock":

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Then slowly press the left side of the card down onto your work surface, to flatten out the card and create the crease on the left side of the card:

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Crease the left side of the card with your Teflon Bone Folder:

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4. Next, I got inky!  Using a 1-inch Round Ink Blending Tool with Tumbled Glass Distress ink at the top and Broken China Distress Ink at the bottom, I created a gradient ombre effect on the cardfronts.  Mask off the back of the card, to keep it pristine white. I didn't worry about masking off the "hugs" word, since I knew I would be covering it up later with additional cardstock.

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Then spray a little water onto your hand and flick/drop/drip it onto the blended Distress Inks (I never get tired of that cool watery effect!):

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5. Next, I stamped the adorable Hugs bear with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto X-Press It Blending Card and colored him/her with these Copic Sketch Markers: 1-Base coat E41, 2-shade with E42, 3-shadows with E43 and E44 (also nose); ears R11:

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Isn't she the sweetest?!!  I cut her out and adhered her to the left side of the cardfront. I grounded her by creating a shadow under her feet with Copic BG45 and BG57:

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Here's a look at the card fully open ... tons of space for stamping or writing your personalized sentiment, message, or even a gift card!

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6. To finish the card, I cut another "hugs" word from Galvanized (silver) Metallic cardstock and adhered it over the original "hugs" word.  I stamped the "enclosed" word (also from the Hugs stamp set) with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then added a few 6mm and 4mm Clear Pretty Pink Posh sequins:

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Now isn't that the sweetest way to send a big bear hug through the mail?!!  Happy weekend!

~ Sharon

- supplies

Posted at 12:32 AM in Cards, Concord & 9th, Copic Markers, Tim Holtz | | Comments (4)

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June 16, 2016

Wanderer Vignette Panel by Julia Stainton

Anyone feeling the travel bug right about now? It's summer-time and while I can't go wandering right yet, I thought I'd take a little creative journey instead. I love creating altered projects and things besides cards. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE cards but it's great to stretch your creative wings now and then and try something unique and fun. So while this project may be card-shaped, it is definitely NOT A CARD.

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So what is it? It's a Vignette Panel from Tim Holtz and I've created it as a gift as a little wall or desk accent. Don't be afraid to create on things that aren't paper. You can take those same supplies and make so many unique projects with them!

Wood-panels

I love these new Tim Holtz Vignette Panels. They are real wood and pre-finished so you can get right to making something awesome. Of course, you can change them up a little and paint them for different effects but this beautiful wood grain is so natural and lovely that it makes a great base! The package comes with three sizes of panels and I chose the largest one to create on today.

Layers

The new Authentique Explore line is absolutely gorgeous and perfect for travel themed or masculine designed projects. I've chosen a few unique papers to use in this project. Two of them are shown above. One (the map) was trimmed and then the edges and surface sanded for a distressed look. The striped paper was die cut with the Stitched Banner Duo Die Set from Pretty Pink Posh.

Panel

I adhered these papers to the panel with Distress Collage Medium. It adheres the paper to wood remarkably well and very quickly. I was thrilled that no buckling occurred with this product.

Adhere-layers

On top of these layers I added in a Twinchie covered with more patterned paper from the pack. Using the chipboard thickness helps give visual weight to a smaller layer and also makes things a little more dimensional and interesting.

Pocket-watch-detail

The main embellishment on this creation is the Tim Holtz Watch Cameo. I really loved the map print and used it again to line the inside of the cameo. To do this, I adhered the epoxy clear beveled sticker to the paper and then trimmed carefully around it. This makes it easy to get the perfect size to fit in the cameo.

Embellishments

I love layering embellishments and here I've added in a strip of red washi tape, leaves, a flower and a Tim Holtz Quote Band. Around the edges of the design I added in sweet little word accent using the Chit Chat Stickers.

Wanderer-top

To finish it all off a flicked the final design with some brown watercolor paint to add a distressed look.

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The Vignette Panels can stand alone, be placed in a frame or in a Vignette Box.

Wanderer-closeup

Thanks so much for joining me today in the CLASSroom! Have a fabulous weekend and don't forget to take your own creative journey!

Supplies:

 

Posted at 09:00 PM in Adhesives, Dies, Embellishments, Maya Road, Tim Holtz | | Comments (3)

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May 27, 2016

Have a Little Fun by Sharon Harnist

Happy Friday (and holiday weekend), everyone!  Today I was in the mood to get out my Distress Inks and get a little inky!  Here are the results:

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I can't believe I hadn't inked up most of the stamps in this adorable Up the Happy stamp set yet ... It's just SO sweet and happy ... I thought it would make a great teen girl's birthday card!

Here are the easy steps to create this card (bold products are linked below in the supply section):

Stamp clouds, balloon and string with Versamark ink onto a 110 lb. Neenah Solar White card front panel.  Heat emboss with clear powder:

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Next, start applying Distress Ink to the balloons.  I found Ranger's 1-inch Round Ink Blending Tool is just about the perfect size to fit the balloon image!  I just inked it up well, placed the sponge over the balloon and twisted in place!

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I used Twisted Citron, Wilted Violet, and Picked Raspberry on the balloons.  Then I used Tumbled Glass to ink the rest of the background of the panel ... darker towards the top and a little lighter towards the bottom of the panel.  I love how the embossed images resist the ink, creating a soft, dreamy look!

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After the panel is fully inked, use a tissue to wipe any ink off the embossed images.

Next, I used my Misti to stamp the sentiment with Jet Black Archival ink ... just in case I messed it up or it didn't stamp very well!

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To finish the card:
-Trim about 1/8-inch from one side of the stamped panel.
-Adhere 1/2-inch strip of Bazzill Licorice Twist cardstock to the left side of a 110 lb. Neenah Solar White card base.
-Adhere stamped panel with X-Press It Foam Tape to the card base.
-Adhere clear sequins to card using Matte Multi Medium.

Thank you so much for joining me today ... I hope you get a chance to get inky and have a little fun over the long holiday weekend!

~ Sharon

- supplies

Posted at 08:42 PM in Essentials by Ellen, Ink Pads, Tim Holtz | | Comments (2)

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May 24, 2016

Hello, bright & fresh watercolor greeting card

Yellow hello card

Hello! Carolyn Peeler with you today to share a card tutorial. When I saw this beautiful Wildflower stamp set by Concord & 9th, I immediately had a project in mind for them. So into my shopping cart they flew and I excitedly waited for them to arrive. Once they were in my hands, it was time to put the idea I had in my head onto paper. I invite you to join me for a short tutorial walking you through the creation of this card.

Yellow hello card view 2

First, cut watercolor paper 4.25" x 5.5". Then start stamping the flower designs you would like onto the watercolor paper. All inks used on today's project are Distress Ink pads by Ranger.

I began with the ferns. I wanted the ink to be a bit variegated, so first I inked the stamp with Bundled Sage, then I inked just part of the stamp with Forest Moss. Once both colors were on the stamp, I stamped the image onto the watercolor paper.

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We will repeat the same step using one of the flower stamps and Worn Lipstick and Victorian Velvet. Keep in mind that if you are stamping a stamp with multiple inks, you will want to start with the lightest ink before inking with the darker color.

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Finally, stamp the final flower with Fossilized Amber ink.

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Now that all the images are stamped, it's time to fill them in with color!

Painting

You will use the same colors to fill in each flower or bloom as you did to stamp the outlines.

Once I finished coloring the images in, I glued a white strip of cardstock across the bottom of the card and placed the greeting in its prospective place without attaching it yet. Looking over my project, I felt like the card was missing something on the upper left side. (see below) So, I ended up stamping one more fern in that area.

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Ok, so now I' happier :) 

To finish off, we need to attach the Pinkfresh Studio acetate greeting. To do that, I used the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.

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So, there you have it! I love how fresh and summery this card is and hope you do too!

Here are the direct links to the products used in today's tutorial:

Posted at 06:00 AM in Cards, Concord & 9th, Tim Holtz, Watercolor | | Comments (10)

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April 01, 2016

Blueprints Baby by Sharon Harnist

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There's nothing like the need for a specific card for a little motivation!  My youngest daughter's choir teacher for the past two years and his wife just had their first baby (a girl!), so we wanted to give them a little something special.  I've had my eye on Tim Holtz's blueprint series of stamps for quite some time, and this mini set of four baby stamps was just perfect for today's card!  Here's how it came together:

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After stamping two of the four Mini Blueprints Baby images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Neenah Solar White 110 Lb. Cardstock, I colored them with these Copic Sketch markers:

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Next I die cut Taylored Expressions Frame in Frame from Tim Holtz Deco Sheets (silver glitter paper). This paper is backed with adhesive already, so I die cut another frame from Solar White cardstock and adhered the glitter paper to the cardstock frame to give it more stability. The frame was adhered over the trimmed image piece and the two popped up with X-Press It Foam Tape on a Neenah Solar White 110 Lb. Cardstock base.

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To finish the card, I die cut the Congrats sentiment from the Essentials by Ellen Zipper Panel die set from Solar White cardstock and colored it with the same Copic RV63 marker I used on the images. The final touch is Glossy Accents covering the pink heart on the stroller!

Thank you so much for joining me today!  ~ Sharon

- supplies

Posted at 12:00 AM in Cards, Copic Markers, Essentials by Ellen, Taylored Expressions, Tim Holtz | | Comments (3)

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February 20, 2016

Envelope Hello by Sharon Harnist

Happy weekend, crafters, Sharon here with you today in the CLASSroom today!  I have a sweet little thank you card to share -- Let me tell you how it came together . . .

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The pink background is one that I actually had laying around from a watercolor background making session!  Whenever I have the supplies out, I will usually go ahead and make up a few extras to have on hand ... you never know when they will come in handy for quick projects!  This one was created with my favorite pink Distress Ink -- Picked Raspberry.  I just tapped the ink pad around on my Non-Stick Craft Sheet, spritzed it with water, then dipped watercolor paper into the ink.  Allow the paper to dry naturally, or speed up the process with a heat tool (which is my preference, because I'm impatient!).  

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To achieve the water droplette look, lay the dried watercolor paper back onto the beads of ink that will probably still be present on your craft sheet (if there aren't any left, just spritz with more water), then dry the paper again.  You can keep adding depth of color this way, on whatever part of the paper you wish.

Next, I die cut the pink paper with MFT's Zig Zag Stitched Rectangle STAX and adhered that to a Neenah Solar White panel die cut with Avery Elle's Wonky Stitches die.  The two background panels were adhered to a Bazzill Licorice Twist card.  The awesome "thanks" sentiment is from Julie's Essentials by Ellen Hello Gorgeous stamp set.  It was stamped with Onyx Black Versafine on the pink panel.

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Now for the bling!  I die cut Julie's Brushstroke Hello and hearts from All Inside from American Crafts Gold Glitter cardstock. The hearts were scattered on the cardfront and the Hello was adhered with Copic Foam Tape to the sweet little envelope created with Julie's largest Envelope Slider die.  I find it easier to work Neenah's lighter 80 lb. weight cardstock when working with smaller die cuts like this, that need to be folded.

Inside, I stamped the sentiment from the Hello Gorgeous stamp set, along with two of the gems, and added a glitter heart die cut:

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And that's it ... quick and easy and this thank you card is in the mail!  Thanks so much for joining me today!  ~Sharon

- supplies

Posted at 08:13 AM in Avery Elle, Backgrounds, Dies, Essentials by Ellen, My Favorite Things, Sizzix, Tim Holtz, Watercolor | | Comments (2)

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December 15, 2015

Merry Christmas Fast & Easy Card Tutorial with Carolyn Peeler

Christmas card video tutorial

Hi Friends, Carolyn Peeler with you on this Tuesday morning. Today is my last visit in the CLASSroom before Christmas, so I want to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very merry Christmas & holiday season. May your holidays be filled with memorable moments and meaningful times with the ones you love.

With Christmas coming in a few short weeks, the most pressing thing on my crafting agenda is to make more Christmas cards to give to family and friends. So I wanted to design something that was pretty and simple, yet still had a homespun, shabby-chic touch. I put together a short tutorial to walk you through the process for this easy (and mass produceable!) design. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments field and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. 

Please note, in the video I mention Aqua cardstock, then immediately correct to indicate that the background for my card front is Aqua patterned paper from the Juniper Berry 6x6 Basic Grey paper pad. I don't want anyone to be confused. The only cardstock I used is the white cardstock that I used for my card base, the banner and  the tree die cut :)

Merry Christmas!

Ellen Hutson Merry Christmas Insta preview

Here is a link to the products used in today's project in the Ellen Hutson store:

Posted at 06:00 AM in Basic Grey, Clearly Besotted, Dies, Tim Holtz, Video | | Comments (2)

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November 20, 2015

Golden Christmas by Julia Stainton

Christmas crafting season is in full swing. It's time to deck the halls, create the cards and enjoy every crafty minute of the most wonderful time of the year. Today I'm sharing a holiday card with lots of gold glam touches and some beautiful four step stamping. What's four step stamping? Well, it's just like two or three step stamping only there are four impressions to get the full image. It's a whole lot easier than you might think and the added dimension this type of stamping adds is seriously amazing.

Happy-Christmas

Today I'm using the new Taylored Expressions Simply Stamped Pinecones stamp set and die set. Some of the images such as the sentiments and the greenery are a single image but the gorgeous pinecone images are seriously stunning by adding in four layers of color.

Pinecone-layers

Here's a little sample to show you how it works. The bottom (and most solid image) is the base and where you start. I've used four different inks. First impression is Antique Linen, second impression is in Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink, third impression is in Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and the final highlights are stamped in a gorgeous gold ink, the Golden Glitz Delicata Pad. This is one of the most beautiful gold inks ever! You can see how adding in each impression adds more detail and depth to the pinecones.

Gold-shine

If you turn the paper to catch the light that gold layer really sparkles and adds a great festive touch.

Pinecone-die-cut

Once all the pinecones are stamped, I cut apart the pinecone dies and individually die cut each stamped images from the Solard White cardstock sheet.

Background-stamping

To create the background I started off with a white cardstock layer. Distress Inks make gorgeous background and this one was created by...

  1. Stamping the greenery in shades of Crushed Olive, Mowed Lawn and Peeled Paint Distress Inks.
  2. Sponging in ink starting from the outside and working inwards in Tumbled Glass. I finished up with a tiny bit of Broken China along the edges.
  3. Using the Speckles Stencil from Tim Holtz, sponge background with Crushed Olive. Move stencil slightly and sponge again with Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink.
  4. Flip the stencil and then sponge with Golden Glitz to add in the gold highlights.

Happy-christmas-detail

Once the background was finished I adhered it to make background layers and then added in the stamped pinecone die cuts with 3D foam squares. I absolutely adore the Merry and Bright Dies from the Essentials by Ellen collection. It's a gorgeous font of fine script and die cut from gold glitter cardstock makes a quick wow statement.

Happy-christmas-top-view

Thanks for joining me today in the CLASSroom. Enjoy your holiday crafting and don't forget to try something new!

Julia

 

Supplies:

 

Posted at 08:30 AM in Christmas Inspiration, Dies, Essentials by Ellen, Glitter, Taylored Expressions, Tim Holtz | | Comments (9)

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November 03, 2015

The holidays are coming! Joy to the World card

Holiday card tutorial

Hi everyone! Carolyn Peeler here. I don't know about you, but I love the Christmas season. I'm a fan of the music, the decor, and the crafts - oh, yes, I love Christmas crafting products. In order to indulge in my favorite season for as long as possible, I'm breaking out the holiday crafting projects early and sharing a holiday card with you today. We're going to combine one of the Essentials by Ellen stamp sets by Julie Ebersol with Avery Elle and some patterned paper. The complete supply list, and a link to the products in the Ellen Hutson store, is provided at the bottom of this post.

The Lord is Come

Let's start by gathering our stamps and dies. We are going to use the "Joy to the World" coordinating stamp and die set by Avery Elle. To create the globe base, I colored the stamp with "Brushed Corduroy" and "Gathered Twigs" Distress markers, then stamped it onto white cardstock. Using the coordinating die, cut the image out from the paper.

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For the globe itself, I was going for a graphic feel with an homage to the chalkboard trend that is so huge across the visual arts fields at the moment. Using Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink, I stamped the globe onto white cardstock and then cut it out once again using the Avery Elle coordinating die.

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Next, we're going to shine this baby up! Using the ever popular Glossy Accents, cover the globe with the product. (Quick tip: The easiest way to be sure that your glossy accents stays where you want it is to first outline the circle with the product, then fill it in with the glossy accents.) Now, set the globe aside so that it can dry (this will take several hours).

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(Note, as seen in this photo, Glossy Accents will look cloudy when you first apply it, but will clear as it dries.)

Next it's time to build our card base. We're going to use 2 papers from the Basic Grey "Evergreen" paper pack (the red ones), 1 paper from "The Archivist" pad by Prima Marketing (the black one), and we are also going to make our own background using the evergreen boughs from the "Christmas Scribbles" stamp set by Essentials by Ellen Hutson.

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To create the custom bough paper, we will use the "Christmas Scribbles" stamp, a water spray bottle, watercolor paper, "Bundled Sage" Distress ink pad and "Mowed Lawn" Distress marker. First, press the stamp onto the "Bundled Sage" ink pad, then using the "Mowed Lawn" marker, randomly add a few hits of this brighter green to the stamp. Holding the stamp approximately 6 inches from a water spray bottle, mist about 2-4 times with water in order to get a lovely soft watercolor look. (The more water you add/spray, the softer the stamped impression will be with less detail.) Randomly stamp the boughs onto a strip of watercolor paper 5.5" high and 2" wide.

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Now that your papers are prepped, glue them onto a 4.25" wide x 5.5" high piece of cardstock (any color). First, glue the custom bough paper we just made onto the right side of the cardstock. If you want the same dimensions as my sample, the red watercolor paper on the top left of the card is 2 6/8" wide x 3.5" high.  The bottom portion of the card is the red and white floral pattern. The black paper from "The Archivist" paper pad is 5.5" high x 1/2" wide, and before gluing it down, you will want to cut a decorative scalloped edge using the "Blueprints 23" die by My Favorite Things.

Next, we're going to add some holiday pizzazz to the Basic Grey red watercolor paper. Using the snowflakes from the same "Christmas Scribbles" set by Essentials by Ellen, and white ink, stamp snowflakes onto the paper. Once the ink is dry, apply "Star Dust" Stickles overtop of the stamped images. Oh, so PRETTY!!

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Using your sewing machine, sew a zig zag stitch vertically down the front of the card where the black paper and red papers meet.

Take a small strip of white cardstock and Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink and stamp the "The Lord is Come" onto it. 

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Using "Brushed Corduroy" ink, lightly distress the edge of the strip of paper.

Using the "My Favorite Things" tag die, cut a tag out of white cardstock. Glue it front and center onto the red patterned papers on the left side of the card front. Take a small remnant of ribbon and tie it into a bow. Tie a button onto the front of the bow. Then, using a glue dot, stick the bow to the front of the tag. 

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Using a dimensional adhesive (pop dots), stick your "The Lord has Come" strip centred across the bottom of the tag, as shown.

Glue the base of the globe onto the paper then, using dimensional adhesive (pop dots) glue the globe in position. Finally, to help the globe pop off the background a bit, use a "Pumice Stone" Distress Marker and draw a very thin line to add a bit of a shadow on the left side of the globe.

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Finally, cut a piece of white cardstock 8.5" wide x 5.5" high. Fold in half to make a card base, and then glue the card front, which we just made, onto the front of this card. By building our card this way, we hide the tell-tale sewing lines so that the inside of the card is perfectly clean and does not have stitching lines through it.

Thanks for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this project. I can't wait to see the holiday projects that my fellow CLASSroom instructors share over the next 2 months!

The lord has come 3

Posted at 06:00 AM in Avery Elle, Basic Grey, Essentials by Ellen, Prima Marketing, Tim Holtz | | Comments (5)

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October 31, 2015

Satur-YAY! 10.31.15 Gourd-jus For Fall

Hey everyone!  It's Carissa and I'm so excited to be here for another Satur-YAY!  Satur-YAY is all about celebrating the weekend by getting our craft on.  And today we're going to get gourd-jus for fall!  I have a couple of projects that are quick and easy and will be perfect for Thanksgiving or any fall celebration.  Let's get going...I have a lot to show you!  I'll walk you through both of these projects in the video tutorial below, so be sure to check it out!

COVER1 (1 of 1)

I'm starting with the Essentials By Ellen Gourd-jus die set.  I love the hand sketched feel of these dies.  The images are perfect for fall, but I also spy some images that can be used year round.  I think the pumpkin is my favorite.

I used the Gourd-jus dies to cut some watercolor card stock.  When I was cutting, I was careful to allow the die cut to remain within the negative space of the paper.  This makes it easier to quickly watercolor all of the images at once using some Distress Stains.

 

Once the images were cut, I used some clean water to wet the entire surface of the watercolor paper with the images in the negative space.  Then comes the fun part!  I dabbed some Distress Stains right on the paper.  I used several colors in fall tones to create some beautiful watercolor pieces for the front of my card.  I used Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint and Frayed Burlap.  The damp surface of the card stock allows the colors to mix and blend as you dab them on to the paper.  If you want to soften any areas, you can go over those areas with your damp paint brush.  To intensify areas, just add more stain.

You can either allow your die cuts to air dry or hit them with a heat tool.  Let's be honest, I'm a busy girl AND I'm inpatient.  I hit those babies with my heat tool to speed the process along.  I've got places to go and people to see. ;)

SaturYAY October (24 of 60)

To add a touch of elegance and shine to my die cut pieces, I edged them with some gold embossing powder.  To do this, you can dab the edge of your Versamark ink pad directly to the edge of the die cut pieces.  If you prefer a little more control, or if you really want to get in every nook and cranny, you can use a makeup sponge to dab the Versamark ink on to the die cuts.  I then sprinkled on the Ranger Super Fine Detail Embossing Powder in gold and heat set it.  This adds a a bit of glam to these very organic images and dresses them up for the holiday.

SaturYAY October (9 of 60)

To create my sentiment, I used the Thankful stamp set.  I chose to cut the sentiment stamp so I could just use the thankful part.  However, if you're not crazy about cutting your stamps, you could always mask the stamp instead.  I stamped the greeting on some Essentials By Ellen vellum in Versamark ink.  I added the same Ranger Gold embossing powder and heat set it.  I love that repeating the same gold on the sentiment and the die cut images really pulls them together.

For both of my projects today, I used the Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Rectangle Dies.  These dies are so versatile and the stitched detail really adds just the right touch to any card.  I used the largest rectangle in the die set to cut my card front.  I used the second largest rectangle to cut my place cards.  To add even more detail to my card front, and to give my grouping a grounding point, I de-bossed a label shape on to the card front.

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Finishing the card was easy from there.  I attached my leaves to the card front using some liquid glue.  I attached the punkins using some foam adhesive.  To attach the vellum sentiment, I used a tiny bit of Multi Medium Matte behind the embossed greeting where the adhesive would be disguised.  I embellished with some sequins from Pretty Pink Posh...and voila!  A quick, easy, Gourd-jus card for fall.

I hadn't originally intended to make place cards, but I had to make use of the leftover shapes I had.  The Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies were still laying on my desk and the idea hit me like lightning.  

SaturYAY October (54 of 60)I cut five of the second to the largest rectangles in the die set for the place card base. Luckily, I listened in math...and I was able to divide 2 3/4 inches by 2.  If math wasn't your forte, no worries...I've already done the work for you!  Just score these rectangles at 1 3/8 inch to create your place card.  And don't forget to tell your kids to listen up in math class!  One day they may be making place cards and need to divide fractions!  ;)

SaturYAY October (17 of 60)

Now, I'll admit, I tried really hard to hand write the names on these place cards...but I'm just not crazy about my handwriting.  So I cheated.  I printed the names on some vellum using my laser printer.  I used the Euphoria Script font, in case you're wondering.  I then used my Minc Mini to apply some Rose Gold Deco Foil.  The slightly muted gold was a beautiful addition to the place cards.  I didn't walk you through the entire Minc process in the video below...but you can check out this previous SaturYAY to see exactly how to use the Minc.

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To finish the place card, I slid the name banners right underneath the grouping of die cuts and attached them with some Multi Medium Matte.  Then, just like the card above, I finished the place cards off with some Pretty Pink Posh sequins.  And I just LOVE the hint of sparkle these will add to my Thanksgiving table.  I may have to make these for the Christmas table using the Poinsettia and Pine Die set too!

SaturYAY October (53 of 60)

Don't forget to check out the video tutorial below.  I'll walk you through these projects and give you some extra tips and tricks along the way!  I've also linked the supplies below so you can quickly find them in the Ellen Hutson store!

So there you have it...some Gourd-jus fall projects, just in time for Thanksgiving.  These projects came together quickly and could easily be replicated over and over again!

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Now it's your turn to get YOUR craft on!  Put on your stretchy pants, grab a cup of coffee and dig in your stash and start creating!  I'd love to see what you're making this weekend.  Be sure you snap a quick pic and share on social media using the hashtag #EllenHutsonSaturYAY so I can check them out!  I can't wait to see what you're making!

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you've been inspired to create something...anything...this weekend.  I'll see you next month for another SaturYAY.  Until then, I hope you have a fabulous day!  

XOXO
Carissa

You can watch this video in HD on our YouTube channel by clicking HERE.  Don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss any of our fab tutorials.

Supplies

Posted at 12:01 AM in Cards, Dies, Essentials by Ellen, Fall, Halloween, Home Decor, Lawn Fawn, Lifestyle Crafts, Pretty Pink Posh, Ranger Techniques, Sizzix, Tim Holtz, Video, Watercolor | | Comments (15)

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October 23, 2015

Distress Ink Watercolor by Sharon Harnist

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Watercolor has always been one of my favorite coloring techniques and my favorite "watercolors" to use are Tim Holtz Distress Inks, as evidenced by this article I wrote here in the CLASSroom back in 2009:  Watercoloring with Distress Inks.  << Please visit this link to see a different type of defined flower watercolor image than today's background watercolor project.

It's very easy to use either the ink pad or reinker -- here's how I normally use each of them (bold products are linked below in the supply section):

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In the photo above, on the left is the full-sized Twisted Citron ink pad and I used the lid in which to place a few drops of Twisted Citron reinker.  Then I used a waterbrush to pick up the ink from the lid.  On the right in the photo above I simply tapped the Picked Raspberry Mini Ink Pad onto my Non-Stick Craft Sheet, then used the waterbrush to pick up the ink from the craft sheet.

To create this card, first I stamped this pretty new Wonderful sentiment from Julie's Holly Jolly stamp set onto a 4.25" x 5.50" piece of watercolor paper with Versamark ink.  Next, I clear heat embossed it:

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To color the background, I spread clean water fairly liberally along the bottom of the card, creating the area I wanted to paint first with the Twisted Citron ink. You want the paper to remain wet for the next step:

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Next, I dipped my waterbrush into the Twisted Citron ink and placed the ink onto the wet area of the paper:

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The color will begin wicking and migrating only where there is water!  Keep adding ink until the space is filled with color:

10-HollyJollyWC-3-SH

Next, I dried the green area with my heat tool (or you could let it dry naturally), and repeated the process with each of my other colors, first adding clean water wherever I wanted the next area of color and drying each color before moving on to the next:  Festive Berries in the middle, then Picked Raspberry on top:

10-HollyJollyWC-3-SH

To finish the card, I die cut Bazzill Licorice Twist cardstock with Taylored Expressions Picture Perfect-Vertical die and glued it to the watercolored panel. The panel was attached to a Neenah 110 lb. Solar White card base.

I love the versatility of Distress Inks and hope you will give them a try as your watercoloring medium, too!

SH-JandaElegant-BlueSlant

- supplies

Posted at 06:45 AM in Cards, Christmas Inspiration, Essentials by Ellen, Ink Pads, Taylored Expressions, Tim Holtz, Watercolor | | Comments (10)

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October 13, 2015

Grateful Me Video Tutorial

Grateful me card square

Hi everyone! Carolyn Peeler here with a Tuesday tutorial for you! We celebrated Thanksgiving here in Canada this weekend, therefore as I was designing a project for this week's post, I was heavily inspired by the colors of Autumn and the sentiment of the season.

Today's video proves that we don't always get it right the first time! When I initially stamped the lovely Avery Elle Ikat border stamp (which you can see on the left side of the card) onto my watercolor paper I was not happy with the outcome. Watch the video to see the easy way I fixed my mistake and turned something that I was dissatisfied with into something that matched my original vision.

Thanks for joining me today. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions in the comments.

And here is a direct link to the products used in today's video:

Posted at 06:00 AM in Avery Elle, Cards, Essentials by Ellen, Tim Holtz, Video, Watercolor | | Comments (15)

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September 25, 2015

Fall Stenciling by Julia Stainton

Fall is such an amazing season. One last burst of glory because the cold of winter sets in. There are so many wonderful things to celebrate in autumn. I especially love Thanksgiving and the changing of the leaves. Today I'd like to share a card I created to celebrate this special season and also create with some fun products and see how they can work together.

Happy-fall-card

I always adore working with stencils and resists so I decided to try them both together for a beautiful multi-dimensional look to a background. If you look at the above project, I've created the trees using a stencil but there is also lots of other interest going on it that background. The first thing you might notice is the script on the inked background.

Tim-holtz-paper

This script is part of the resist technique in this card. I love resists and they can be created with stamping and embossing paper but I love it even more when there's paper that is already pre-embossed for you. The new Tim Holtz Paper Stash Resist Motif is a beautiful paper pad of resist designs. There are 12x12 sheet patterns and there are also full sheets of mixed patterns in various sizes. This makes it a great pad for all manner of projects. Pick the scale of print you want for the design you want to create. There's also an equal mix of kraft and white embossed papers making your creative possibilities almost endless.

Sponged-background

I tried to take a picture of the white embossing on the white paper but my camera just wouldn't pick it up. It's very subtle and lovely. By layering the stencil over this embossed paper you get lots of interesting variation. As you sponge on ink t