two cards with essentials by ellen fallish

I'm so excited for fall and the changing of the leaves but it's been 80 degrees at my house so I thought I would make fall cards with pretty leaves. And the perfect stamp set to use? The Essentials by Ellen Fallish set! 

It's such a gorgeous set that I decided to make two cards, one "clean" and one "messy" with the Distress Watercolor Pencils.

For the messy one, I tried to stamp a random background but it's so hard not to overthink it, LOL! Then I use a wet paint brush directly on the watercolor pencil to pick up the color and paint with it. I didn't use watercolor cardstock so I wanted to just lay down a lot of color without moving the water around too much on my paper.

I really like the messy look but maybe I needed to go out of the lines even more so it seems intentional, haha!

And for the cleaner look, I tried to stamp the leaves in horizontal lines across the card front. It's probably not as precise as it could be but not bad for eye balling it!

I used one of my new favorite word dies on top, the Essentials by Ellen Thank You. I love the font so much!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Carly

mft sketch challenge 613

Do you need a little mid-week creative jumpstart? Me too lol, so I suggest the Wednesday Sketch Challenge over on the MFT Stamps blog! 

I love these challenges for making me feel really creative! And when the card design is already done for you, you have the brain space for other things like trying new products. Hello Distress Watercolor Pencils!

Here's the sketch...

And here's what I made...

I started by masking a piece of smooth watercolor cardstock to match the sketch. Then I blended a little light pink ink in the masked rectangle spaces.

After removing the washi tape, I stamped one of the flowers from the Pretty Poinsettias set in a pale ink for no-line coloring.

And then it was time to play with my new Distress Watercolor Pencils!!!

Let me just say that I think I love these pencils but we can talk more about that later, lol! For this card, I used three colors Candied Apple, Kitsch Flamingo and Picked Raspberry. I colored part of each petal and then blended with a wet paint brush.

I probably should have called it after the fist layer of color but I was having so much fun that I did three. Not only are the pencils fab but this was the first time I tried a no-line technique with the Pretty Poinsettias and I.LOVE.IT!

You can learn more about the sketch challenge over on the MFT Stamps blog!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Carly

a simply stitched card with essentials by ellen

I'm over on the Ellen Hutson blog today sharing this card and my tips for creating simple stitched cards designs. I'd love it if you stopped by!

Hugs!

Carly

a latte love card with mft stamps

Do you have a coffee-loving friend who could use a paper hug? I've got just the card to show you! I created it with the MFT Stamps Coffee Shop Card Kit...

To create this card I started with the lovely gray shiplap patterned paper from the Floor To Ceiling Paper Pad and adhered it to my card.

I foam mounted a piece of white cardstock with a stripe of kraft on top to make a "counter". The white counter was the perfect place for the sentiment from Coffee Order stamp set.

The hanging menu is the Coffee Shop stamp embossed with white on black cardstock and die cut with Make A Sign die set. And I used the menu frame die cut to "hang" the sign.

The counter is covered with cups & an espresso machine from the Be Your Own Barista die set.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have time to pop over to the MFT blog to check out more cards made with the kit (and maybe treat yourself to the kit too)!

Hugs!

Carly

coffee shop card kit

Do you love coffee? Do you love cardmaking? Well I've got the card kit for you!

MFT is releasing their latest card kit tomorrow, Coffee Shop! Here's a little peek...

I paired a sentiment from the Coffee Order stamp set with the little to-go cups from Be Your Own Barista die set. 

The card could not be simpler but I love how it turned out and I think it's perfect to give with a gift card!

Stop by again tomorrow to see more!

Hugs!

Carly

diy marbled halloween tags

Are you getting excited for Halloween projects? I'm all about making and giving treats so I need gift tags! I'm sharing some bright & happy marbled tags over on the Ellen Hutson blog today with a video! I'd love for you to come check it out!!!

Hugs!!!

Carly

stenciled fall cards with pretty pink posh

Raise your hand if you are getting excited for fall! I'm assuming you are all raising your hands high so lets talk about creating some fall-ish thank you cards with the latest Pretty Pink Posh stencils! (By the way you are here just in time for day 3 of the PPP September release hop!)

Before I share my card, there's more fun! There are 3 $25 gift certificates to Pretty Pink Posh up for grabs! Enter to win by leaving comments along the hop by 11:59pm PST on September 21st, 2022. The winners will be announced on the PPP blog.

I would love to tell you that I did something really clever to make these cards but honestly the fab stencils, Layered Foliage and Layered Apples, did all the work!

Since both sets are layered stencils its ridiculously easy to use them to create beautiful stenciled card fronts. My only tip is that I find the stencils easier to use with blending brushes instead of foam (but foam still works if that's what you've got).

I used Distress Oxide inks Dried Marigold and Saltwater Taffy with the foliage. And Saltwater Taffy & Festive Berried with the apples.

To finish the cards I used the "thanks" from the Give Thanks Script die and paired it with tiny typed stamped sentiments from Hedgehog Friends and Floral Hearts. I placed both parts on a vellum circle (and my vellum adhesive seems really visible in the pics but you can barely see it in real life.)

Your next stop on the hop is Lisa Mears blog and I'm sure you are going to love it! Here's the whole hop list in case you need it...

Pretty Pink Posh blog 
Amy Rysavy
Dana Kirby
Lindsey Larsen
Melody Rupple
Amanda Wilcox
Carly Minner
Lisa Mears

Thanks so much for hopping with us! Hugs!!!

Carly