5 ways to use essentials by ellen modern graphics

Is your desk ever covered in beautiful crafty things but you have no creative mojo to your name? Yup, me too. My favorite way to break out a creative "dry spell" is to challenge myself to use one supply as many ways as I can think of, like 3 cards with the same stamp set or a die two ways. This weekend I challenged myself to use the new Essentials by Ellen Modern Graphics patterned paper with all my favorite techniques.

The result? I'm smitten with this paper and have 5 fun ideas on how to use it.

use it as a background: These patterns are perfection all on their own! Neutral black & white goes with anything and the papers are scaled perfectly for A2 cards. So use them just as they are for backgrounds (or maybe on my card it might be considered the foreground, LOL).

stamp on it: The smooth surface is perfect for stamping so try your favorite ink. I have already tried (and loved the results of) Distress Oxide, VersaFine and Memento.

ink it up: The papers are also perfect for ink blending, which is probably my favorite way to add color. I have found it easier to apply Distress Inks to the Modern Graphics than Solar White, though it is not quite as seamless as my BFF Bristol. And even using pigment inks, like the Distress Oxides I used on this card, the pattern is still crisp & strong.

foil it: The patterns are toner so they foil beautifully and I love foil. 'nuf said.

color it with copics: Another bonus of the toner, you can add color with Copic markers which makes it even more customizable.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!
Carly

supplies:
Essentials by Ellen Modern Graphics Paper Pack
Essentials by Ellen Stamps Plant Ladies Say
Essentials by Ellen Stamps Rustic Botanicals
Essentials by Ellen Dies Rustic Botanicals
Essentials by Ellen Dies Many Thanks
Essentials by Ellen Dies Holiday Words
Distress Oxide Inks Cracked Pistachio, Worn Lipstick & Picked Raspberry

faux watercolor with plant lady + rustic botanicals

One of the first stamping techniques I learned back in day, a million years ago, was faux watercoloring with rubber stamps and a spray bottle. The technique is so fun and can produce really stunning results.

The new Essentials by Ellen Rustic Botanicals by Julie Ebersole is perfect for this technique! See what I mean? (This is when you tell me how pretty my card is, LOL!)

In case you haven't tried this faux watercolor technique yet, the basic idea is to apply color(s) to your stamp with water-reactive markers or ink pads, then mist and stamp. So easy right?!

A few keys to this technique...
-Always start by applying the lightest color of ink first. This keeps markers and ink pads from being "contaminated" by darker ink colors.
-Practice misting once or twice to get the hang of how much water you want to use. For my card, I used more mist on the background for a more abstract look and less on the flower for my Plant Lady to hold.
-Not all spray bottles are created equal so test a few until you find one that works for you. I love the super fine mist of the Nuvo Spray bottles but they aren't very sturdy (or I might be freakish strong) because I've bent/broken 2 in just a few months. The Hero mister isn't as fine of a mist but I've had mine 10+ years and its still going strong.

Hugs & happy Friday!
Carly

supplies:
Essentials by Ellen Stamps Leading Ladies - Plant Lady
Essentials by Ellen Stamps Plant Ladies Say
Essentials by Ellen Stamps Rustic Botanicals
Essentials by Ellen Dies Rustic Botanicals
Distress Ink Worn Lipstick, Abandoned Coral, Wild Honey, Cracked Pistachio, Lucky Clover, Spiced Marmalade & Tattered Rose
Nuvo Light Spray Bottle
Hero Arts Water Mist Bottle

3 floral backgrounds for plant lady

Have you seen the new Leading Lady - Plant Lady by Brandi Kincaid? Brandi's adorable Leading Ladies are quickly becoming favorites in my craft room! I love that they are perfect for practicing my Copic coloring skills (and goodness knows I need practice) and they are also really versatile! Today I have 3 floral backgrounds to share that are perfect for Plant Ladies!

#1. Stamped

Plant Lady looks pretty with just a few daisies stamped around her. I used the same daisy she's holding but just masked it so the stem would not stamp. When I accidentally did stamp part of the stem, I used a black pen to create another petal.

And my favorite color of Nuvo Jewel Strawberry Coulis drops made the perfect daisy centers and confetti.

#2. Die Cut

Inspired by the gorgeous stitching of Jill Dewey Hawkins (if you haven't seen her work, run to her blog Fastest Turtle as soon as you're finished here, LOL), I stitched glassine flowers to my background. I used the flower die from the new Rustic Botanicals set and the die comes with a smaller circle flower nested inside so I used them together for a daisy-type flower. I die cut the flower again from cardstock, leaving the middle intact. I colored it with Copics and added the sentiment.

#3. Painted

This inked and stamped background was inspired by the stunning art of Alisa Burke (check her out too). I painted first with Distress Oxide inks and then stamped over the top. Any watercolors or even acrylic paint would work nicely. It's a super easy and striking background. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Hugs!
Carly

P.S. Stop by on Friday for one more floral background!

supplies:
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Leading Ladies Plant Lady
Essentials by Ellen Dies, Leading Ladies Plant Lady
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Plant Ladies Say
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Mondo Peony
Essentials by Ellen Dies, Rustic Botanicals
Distress Oxide Inks Worn Lipstick, Wild Honey, Lucky Clover & Salty Ocean

new essentials by ellen!

The new Essentials by Ellen release is available NOW and I'm so excited for you to see it!!! As a EH staff and DT member, I'm lucky enough to get the special perk of having the release early and I've been spending lots of time creating with these awesome sets! I have so much to share with you!

Here's one of the first cards I created...

This Rustic Botanicals set by Julie is so beautiful! I just couldn't wait to stamp it out so I paired it with a Distress-Ink-watercolored-background (did you know that was one word? LOL). I stamped the flowers in coordinating Distress Oxide (Worn Lipstick), added a sentiment from Brandi's Plant Ladies Say and some black splatter. And the centers of the flowers are my fav color of Nuvo Jewel drops, Strawberry Coulis. It's the perfect pinky-red, complimenting pinks and my go-to color of ink, Distress Abandoned Coral.

So run over and get your Rustic Botanicals & Plant Lady and then stop by later this week to see more (and hopefully get inspired)!

Hugs & Happy Sunday!
Carly

uwf g'day mate + stamping with distress oxide

The second United We Flourish stamp & die combo set premieres today, YAY!

The second set is a collaboration with Avery Elle and was designed by my super talented friend, Heather Campbell. It is called G'Day Mate and isn't it adorable?

G'Day Mate is a limited edition 4x6 clear stamp set with coordinating dies and it is exclusively available at Ellen Hutson LLC (you can see more here). I've had such a blast playing with this set and I've also been experimenting with using Distress Oxides to stamp & create backgrounds...

I love the colors and versatility of traditional Distress Inks and I've been having a blast creating messy inky backgrounds with the new Distress Oxides. And now I love them for stamping too!

It's fun to have all the Distress colors I love with the easy, solid coverage of a pigment.

G'Day Date pairs amazingly well with Avery Elle's Tropics stamp set

To create my border, I stamped the leaves first in Twisted Citron with my MISTI, leaving the leaf I wanted to overlap with black for last. Leaving the stamp on my MISTI, I stamped the leaf again on another piece of cardstock  but this time in black. Then I just trimmed a 1 inch piece from the cardstock with the black leaf and adhered that onto the Citron leaves piece.

Hope your weekend is awesome!

Hugs,
Carly

supplies:
United We Flourish G'Day Mate
Avery Elle Tropics
Avery Elle Woodland Wonders (for the cute banner)
Distress Oxide Twisted Citron & Cracked Pistachio
Distress Markers Spun Sugar, Abandoned Coral, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Pumice Stone, Frayed Burlap & Antique Linen
Glassine (for the hearts)

a little christmas sparkle in july!

We have been having fun thinking about the holidays at EH this week! And today our whole EH design team is celebrating with Christmas in July cards! 

I love creating holiday cards but somehow I have a hard time getting them done to actually send at Christmas! Maybe starting in July is the answer, what do you think?

This card was super simple to create! I started by stamping snowflakes, stars & part of the sentiment from the Essentials by Ellen Season to Sparkle set, in Versamark on white cardstock. I embossed them with clear powder (white would have worked too).

Over the embossed images, I applied Indian Gold Nuvo Mousse. I love the rich metallic finish of the Nuvo Mousse. And when the mousse was dry (only about a minute), I used a very dry baby wipe to buff the excess mousse off of the embossed images.

The pictures hardly do it justice so if you haven't used it yet, just know that it is a showstopper!

The "sparkle" is a die cut word, layered and covered in Pink Flambe Nuvo Mousse.

That's it, so easy! I planning to create a bunch to at least jumpstart my Christmas card stash, LOL!

Happy Saturday!
Carly

P.S. Ellen Hutson has a smokin' good sale on Christmas stuff! You can get the Season To Sparkle set (or something else cool) for 40%. Check out all the cool stuff here!

distress oxide resist

What started as just enjoying the messy, inky process of Distress Oxide ink pads, turned into a technique and some cards I really love! My fingers were blue for the next 24 hours but it was totally worth it!

I started by smooshing Distress Oxide Abandoned Coral, Worn Lipstick & Wild Honey onto my craft mat, misting and pulling my paper through the ink.

I repeated as necessary until I loved it, then I stamped the popsicle from the Concord & 9th Sweet & Cool set in Versamark and embossed with clear powder. "Sweet" was stamped in Versamark and embossed with clear as well, while the popsicle stick was stamped with Distress Oxide Antique Linen and embossed in clear.

For the next layer, I smooshed Distress Oxide Salty Ocean and Peacock feathers, misted and placed my panel in the inky puddles until I was happy with the color and coverage. 

I finished by stamping "have a" & "birthday" in VersaFine Onyx and adding black and white splatters.

And then I repeated the process, adding Distress Oxide Twisted Citron. Look how different the colors are?

Friday Hugs!
Carly

supplies:
Concord & 9th Sweet and Cool
Distress Oxide Ink Pads Abandoned Coral, Worn Lipstick, Wild Honey, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron & Antique Linen