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Sunday, July 23, 2017

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)

Saturday, July 22, 2017

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!

Friday, July 21, 2017

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

Saturday, July 15, 2017

crafty sale!

I hate to be an enabler...wait scratch that, no I don't! I love to been an enabler of fun things and I am easily influenced myself. No one eats french fries alone in my presence, haha!

So back to my point, I'm popping in to tell you there is a big crafty sale at Ellen Hutson LLC this weekend so maybe you can pick up something fun like my new obsession favorite set Essentials By Ellen Leading Ladies - Crafty Lady by Brandi Kincaid.
Ok, go shop and have a fabulous Saturday!

xo,
Carly

Friday, July 14, 2017

Pretty Pink Posh July Release Blog Hop + 3 Ways To Use A Circle Die


I'm so excited to be joining in the fun today, celebrating the July release from Pretty Pink Posh! (And by-the-way, did you see I have 2 posts in 1 day? I feel like a rockstar, LOL!) PPP is one of my favs because sequins are always a good idea, am I right?! Working at Ellen Hutson, I've gotten to know the amazing lady behind PPP and Paulina is even sweeter than her sequins! And PPP also makes the cutest stamps sets! 

Today I have 3 cards to share with you using some of the adorable Pretty Pink Posh July release and 3 ways to use a circle die.

#1. Create a mask.

Using your favorite masking paper, die cut a circle and use the negative piece to create a circular scene on the card front. I inked my circle with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I stamped the adorable fluffy clouds from the new Fly A Kite set, along with a kite string & sentiment. To create a shaker kite, I used the smallest Stitched Diamond cut from cardstock and the medium Stitched Diamond cut from acetate.
I used small scissors to cut tabs in the acetate, wrapped it around the cardstock and adhered.

Before adhering the last side, I filled it with sequins, the gorgeous new Mermaid Mix...trust me, you need this mix!

#2. Create a shaker window.
For this card, I actually created a faux shaker, a flat pocket filled with the cheerful new Sunny Days sequin mix. I sandwiched the pocket between my card and a panel with a circle cut from the side.

#3. Create a spinner.
Inspired by a birthday card from my sister, I thought a spinner would be fun. I masked off sections of a circle, inked and added summer images from the Fly A Kite and Summer Friends sets in coordinating ink colors. And I added a few sequins too because as I might have said earlier, sequins are always a good idea!

I used a black pen to define each summer wedge and attached the spinner with a big brad.

Thanks so much for coming by and keep hopping along to Shannon's blog. And here's the whole list in case you get lost:
Wanna see the whole Pretty Pink Posh release? You know you do :) so click here!

And don't forget that there are four $25 gift certificates up for grabs (two winners each day)! Winners will be picked randomly along the blog hop so make sure to leave comments along the way. (Comments must be left by 11:59pm PST on July 18th and winners will be announced on the PPP blog.)

Hugs!
Carly

so much love for this crafty lady!

First of all, can I just say that Brandi Kincaid is such a cool girl! I love her words, I love her style and I love her art! Her latest Essentials by Ellen sets make me so happy, Leading Ladies - Crafty Lady and Crafty Ladies Say.

I love that Brandi is celebrating the cool things us ladies do with her new Leading Ladies series. And how perfect is Crafty Lady! I often say that coloring isn't really my thing but Crafty Lady is fun to color and I've been putting in a lot of practice, LOL! Here's a few...
For this card, I used all of the crafty supply stamps to create a "halo" around my Crafty Lady. I paired "awesome" from the Essentials by Ellen Positive Word dies and "you are" from Totally Awesome. I colored the awesome word and Crafty Lady with Copics.


Did you know that WOW! Embossing Powder in Primary Pixie matches Copic G02 pretty much perfectly? I was tickled that the sentiment matched Crafty Lady's cardigan.

For this last card, I created a background with Distress Oxides just because it's fun and it makes me feel artistic. The background was the perfect canvas for the super-sized sentiment from Crafty Ladies Say. And it seemed appropriate that Crafty Lady should be popping for that high five.

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy Friday!

xo,
Carly

P.S. Are you wondering why all my Crafty Ladies are blonde and pale? Well my Copic marker collection is ever-growing but so far lacks options for coloring people, LOL!

supplies:
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Leading Ladies - Crafty Lady
Essentials by Ellen Dies, Leading Ladies - Crafty Lady
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Crafty Ladies Say
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Totally Awesome
Essentials by Ellen Dies, Positive Words
Copic Markers E11, E51, R05G02, BG11, BG13
Distress Oxide Abandoned Coral & Salty Ocean
WOW Embossing Powder Primary Pixie

Monday, July 10, 2017

Monday Mermaid Tails!

Have you seen the latest Essentials By Ellen release? I'm pretty in love with all of it and I've been crafting my little heart out! 

Julie's new set, Mermaid's Tail has some really cute sentiments and the tail is so beautiful but the die is also fun to use by itself. And of course, I had to make it a shaker card with the new Pretty Pink Posh Mermaid Mix.

I cut the tail from a 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 piece of solar white and the front of an A2 card at the same time using a metal adaptor plate. I cut them at the same time as an easy way to put them in the exact same place so my shimmery tail would show on the card front and inside. Then I made a "faux" shaker by creating a pocket from a page protector.
I made a second card, using silver glitter paper to fill the tail. I *gently* colored the silver glitter paper with 2 BG shades of Copic markers to create an ombre effect.

To make the glitter paper really sparkle, I covered it with Nuvo Drops. The card front (which the tail was cut from), helped create a "dam" and made it easy to fill the tail with the drops.
Hope you're week is off to a nice start!

xo,
Carly

supplies:
Essentials By Ellen Mermaid's Tail stamp & die
Hero Arts Tide Pool ink
Copic Markers BG11 Moon White & BG13 Mint Green
Pretty Pink Posh Mermaid Mix

Sunday, July 9, 2017

New Essentials By Ellen!

The new Essentials By Ellen release is available now!!! As you can see from the photo below, I'm all heart-eyes about it and I have lots of projects to share this week. 

So run over and get your new Essentials sets and then come back tomorrow and let's talk mermaids and crafty girls!

Happy Sunday!
Carly

Friday, July 7, 2017

5 Ways To Use Glimmer Paste

Glimmer Paste is one of my favorite new products and today I'm over in The Classroom at Ellen Hutson LLC with 5 Ways To Use Tonic Nuvo Glimmer Paste. 

Come on over!
Carly