watercolor christmas cards with the new essentials by ellen!

The newest Essentials by Ellen is available today and we are hopping to celebrate! You should be arriving here from Amy Yang's awesome blog! Isn't her coloring perfect?! I love her work so much!

Today I have some watercolor holiday cards to share with you, using the new No Peeking stamp set by Brandi Kincaid...

I love this set - the sentiments are adorable and Brandi's lettering is perfection! I suspect this set will feature heavily in my holiday crafting!

I paired the No Peeking sentiments with the new Modern Christmas stamps & dies by Julie Ebersole and apparently I was in a dreamy, watercolor mood when I made these cards. All mint and pink!

For the watercolor trees I used a MISTI technique by Lydia Fiedler that she calls marbling with the MISTI. You stamp the base color and then use plastic (food wrap, gloves, etc) to add more colors of ink to the stamp and stamp again. I'm totally digging this technique (see this post for more).

I also made my own mint green & pink glitter papers because I didn't have any on hand, shameful I know. For the diy glitter paper, I gave a piece of white cardstock good coat colored pigment ink, topped with WOW Clear Sparkle embossing powder and ta-da!

I know my pictures don't do it justice but its such a yummy sparkle!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Head over to Lisa Spangler's blog next and prepare to be knocked out of your socks! Lisa's tags are so beautiful, bright & happy!

xo,
Carly

supplies:
Essentials by Ellen Stamps No Peeking
Essentials by Ellen Stamps Mod Christmas
Essentials by Ellen Dies Mod Christmas
Distress Inks Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Cracked Pistachio & Lucky Clover
WOW Clear Sparkle Embossing Powder 

today...

I'm over in The Classroom at Ellen Hutson LLC talking about the easiest DIY treat box ever and sharing a little Essentials by Ellen sneak peek. The release is tomorrow...YAY!

Check it out and come back tomorrow for more!

Happy Saturday!
Carly

right at home + so many reasons to love the MISTI!

Happy Tuesday friends! I'm thrilled to be included in today's hop with the My Sweet Petunia and Right At Home teams, basically a bunch of crazy talented people! You should be arriving here from Chris Dayton's blog.

The MISTI has really changed my card-making life! I strive to be clean and precise in my crafty efforts but at heart, I'm really more of a messy-bessy type...think accidental smudges, lots of mis-stamped images and so much wasted cardstock. The MISTI has really helped me and I use it almost exclusively to stamp(my acrylic blocks are getting dusty).

With the MISTI I get perfectly stamped images because I can re-ink and stamp again. It's also much easier to evenly space images & sentiments, use layering stamps and more. The MISTI is the most used tool in my craft room by far!

Today I was inspired to create using an idea from the amazing Lydia Fiedler, marbling with the MISTI. I was going for a tie dyed look and if you let your eyes go fuzzy for a minute, I nailed it, LOL!

One more thing before I tell you a little bit more about my "tie dye", there are prizes today! Two commenters will win their choice of a MISTI or Mini MISTI AND a prize package from Right At Home! So make sure to leave comments at each stop on the hop before September 8th at noon CST.

Ok, now let's talk tie dye...

The key to this technique really is the MISTI and the ability to layer color. The Right At Home Abstract Florals is perfect for this technique because it has great solid floral stamps and also a playful design. I started by choosing 3 colors of pigment ink, a light purple for the base, a darker purple & a blue for accents.

Stamp the first layer.

Leaving your stamp & cardstock in the same place (this is the magic of the MISTI), add the next color of ink directly to your stamp with plastic of some kind. I used a little piece of plastic wrap. The crinkles of the plastic help create texture.

Add a third color and continue to add ink and stamp until you are happy with the results.

I think this technique is so pretty and fun! And it's a little like tie dye right? Haha! I might need more practice but I love it as background and to create a floral coffee cup (with a little masking) using the Right At Home Cup Of Joy and How Have You Bean sets.

I also tested it with other colors of pigment ink...

top left: Avery Elle Orchid, Mama Elephant Pacific Blue & Mama Elephant Tutti Frutti
top right: Mama Elephant, Avery Elle Orchid & Mama Elephant Tutti Frutti
middle left: Mama Elephant Piggy Bank, Mama Elephant Apricot & Avery Elle Strawberry
middle right: Avery Elle Mimosa, Mama Elephant Apricot & Avery Elle Strawberry
bottom left: Mama Elephant Rainwater, Avery Elle Mint To Be & Mama Elephant Sweet Lilac
bottom right: Mama Elephant Apricot, Avery Elle Strawberry & Mama Elephant Tutti Frutti

Thanks so much for stopping by and keep hoping over at Stephanie Severin's blog.

Below is the complete list in case you get lost & have a great day! 
Carly

Nicole Baez

Ilina Crouse

Holly Endress

Jeanne Streiff

Amy Kolling

Kia Gibson-Clapper

Laurie Schmidlin

Ceal Pritchett

Jill Hawkins

Maria Sabina

Stephanie Gold

Giovana Smith

Michelle Murray

Chris Dayton

Carly Minner

Stephanie Severin

Christy Reuling

My Sweet Petunia

hopping with Honey Bee Stamps!

Today we getting together with our sweet friends at Honey Bee Stamps to hop around and celebrate the release of the United We Flourish Sending Sunshine Stamp & Die Combo by Honey Bee.

I've been having a blast with this set, including creating these cards that I'm calling the "summer sunrise" trio...

These cards take my love of Glossy Accents and Nuvo Drops to a whole new place! Making glossy, layered die cut words is already one of my very favorite things but now I'm excited to use Accents & Nuvo Drops with my stencils too. Here's what I did...

The first step is to mask off a section to apply ink to. I used Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral and Wild Honey Distress Inks.

Tack stencil over inked panel.

Apply a gloss medium like Nuvo Drops Morning Dew or Glossy Accents.

Smooth medium with a squeegee. 

A few things to note...Distress Oxides are water-reactive so the gloss medium will effect the ink. Work quickly and apply to smaller areas. 

To complete my card, I "built" sentiments with the UWF Sending Sunshine set. I layered 3 sunshine die cuts, applied Oxide ink and topped with Glossy Accents.

Thanks for stopping by! Your next stop is Miss Carolyn's blog and make sure to swing by the Classroom at some point because there are PRIZES (gift certificates to EH baby)!

Have a great day! XO!
Carly

supplies:
UWF Sending Sunshine
Honey Bee Sunburst Layering Stencils
Distress Oxide Inks Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral & Wild Honey
Glossy Accents

uwf sending sunshine

I am NOT a summer girl. I don't like to be hot, I hate to sweat and at best, I'm ambivalent about the sun. I'm a true PNW girl, I love the gray skies and constant drizzle of fall, winter and spring. However I do think we all need a little more sunny things in our every day life. That's what handmade cards are all about right? Sending a bit of sunshine to those we love. 

I'm so excited that the latest United We Flourish set is available today! This collaboration from Essentials by Ellen & Honey Bee is full of sun and happiness...

I have been having tons of fun with this set! The sentiments pair so well with so many things, including something I consider sunny - citrus!

I used the Honey Bee Sunburst Stencils to achieve my mod & graphic lemons, limes and oranges. Here's how:

A ring of masking paper to a circle die cut from white cardstock.

Low-tack tape to tack down my folded circle notecard and stencil on top.

Avery Elle Daisy yellow pigment ink applied first.

A second color (Distress Oxide Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade or Twisted Citron) applied and blended.

Removed stencil and inked the remaining edge to create rind.

Removed the ring of masking paper and stamp sentiment inside.

For the card I used the same technique for the smaller orange slice. 

I created the dotted background paper by using a ink blended tool pushed straight down. 

Happy Sunday!

xo,
Carly

supplies:
United We Flourish Stamp & Die Combo Set, Sending Sunshine
Lawn Fawn Circle Stackables
Distress Oxide Inks Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey & Twisted Citron
Avery Elle Ink Daisy
Honey Bee Sunburst Layering Stencils

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