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Monday, October 31, 2022

new essentials by ellen for the holidays

Have you heard that there is an Essentials by Ellen release hitting the Ellen Hutson shop this Friday? It's a beautiful collection of stamps and dies, perfect for holiday cardmaking!

Do you want a little sneak peek?

This card uses the new Snow Much Fun paired with the Oh What Fun sentiment. To put them together into one-layer card I used some easy masking.

I stamped and masked the sled and skater before stamped "oh what fun". Then I masked the "oh" before stamping the snowman. 

I finished with some super easy Copic coloring (no shading, just solid coverage).

And this card is scored a little differently to create matchbook-style card that holds a treat (hot cocoa & marshmallows)! 

You can see more about this one on my Instagram later today!

Pop over to the EH blog when you have time to see more!

Thanks for stopping by!
Carly

Sunday, October 30, 2022

fall cards with essentials by ellen fallish

Halloween is tomorrow and I know it marks the unofficial start to the holiday season...at least for commercials, LOL...but I'm not quite ready to stop creating fall cards.

I've been having so much fun with the Essentials by Ellen Fallish set...
For this clean & simple, one-layer card I stamped the leaves in a swoop across the card front.

I used a fall rainbow of Copic markers to color the leaves, just blending two colors together on each leaf and not worrying about adding shadows. And I added in a pink Sketchmarker. It was a seamless addition! The Sketchmarkers are great and I'm excited to add more to my collection.

I curved the sentiment stamp gently before putting it my acrylic block. And I added a little black splatter. 
I love how simple and colorful the card turned out! 

Thanks for stopping by!
Carly

supplies:
affiliate links may be used at no additional cost to you. thank you!
Copic Markers R02, R22, R14, RV55 & V05

P.S. Want to see more cards with the Fallish set? Check out this post and this one!

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

mft home for the holidays

Would you agree that there is no place like home for the holidays? Me too and I've got a card for you! I created it with the MFT Stamps Home For The Holidays Card Kit... 


I couldn't resist making the house a little bit like Barbie's Christmas dream house, LOL! I die cut the house from white cardstock but then inked it pink and used a glue pen to cover it with glitter.

I actually cut all the house pieces from white cardstock and used ink & Copic markers to color them. I find it much easier to do that then to try to find all the little scraps on colored cardstock.

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!

Hugs!
Carly

Monday, October 24, 2022

watercolor trees with mft & distress watercolor pencils

Holiday crafting is definitely in full swing at my house and I'm excited to share my latest card using the new MFT card kit and gorgeous Distress Watercolor Pencils!

Here's a little peek...

This card was super easy and fun to make! The sweet little tree dies are from the new MFT Stamps card kit that comes out tomorrow, Home for the Holidays. I die cut them from watercolor cardstock, then used a wet paintbrush to pick up color from the Distress Watercolor Pencils and paint. I love the saturated color from the pencils!

A stamped sentiment, some faux splatter and ta-da!

See more on the MFT blog and stop by again tomorrow to see more!

Hugs!
Carly

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

mft sketch challenge 616

Happy Sketch Challenge Day, also known as Wednesday, LOL! I love MFT's sketch challenge because it's a fab mid-week creativity boost so let's talk cardmaking! 

Here's this week's sketch...

And here's the card I created...

I love the swoops in the sketch and I thought they would be fun as abstract ice & snow for the penguins from the Chill Holiday set to play on. I've been having so much fun with these critters!

To create the background I used the Ride The Wave die set to make a DIY stencil for ink blending. I just cut one of the waves from a scrap of cardstock and used the negative as a stencil with Distress Oxide ink.

I stamped, cut and colored the penguins to go on top of the waves. Here are the colors I used...

And to curve the sentiment from Cool Christmas Greetings, I placed a piece of acetate over my card in the MISTI. Then I was able to shape the sentiment because the acetate grips the stamp until I can close the MISTI lid and "pick up" the stamp. 


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

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Carly

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

pine tree shaker cards + pretty pink posh blog hop day 2

I'm not trying to rush through fall but I am very excited about creating winter & holiday cards like these pine tree shaker cards using some of the latest & greatest Pretty Pink Posh! (By the way, you are just in time for day 2 of the PPP October release hop!)

Before I share my cards, 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 of October 24th, 2022. The winners will be announced on the PPP blog.

Now let's talk shaker cards...
The new PPP Pine Tree dies make beautiful shaker windows! The shape of the trees feels so elegant that I wanted to keep the rest of the card clean and simple with just white cardstock, black stamped sentiments and faux black splatter with a pen.

The shaker backgrounds are pastel cardstock scraps (light green on the left and light blue on the right above) that I added a little Distress Oxide Salvaged Patina to with a blending brush. Then I topped them with some DIY glitter paste.
The DIY glitter paste is just Glossy Accents (or other clear glue) mixed with enough glitter to get the right consistency. For this I used ice white glitter and it gives everything a wintery frost. I love it!
Your next stop on the hop is Mindy Eggen's blog and I know she's going to make something fabulous!!! And here's the whole hop list if you need it...


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

supplies:
affiliate links may be used at no additional cost to you. thank you!
Pretty Pink Posh Happy Santa stamps (for "merry christmas")

Friday, October 14, 2022

mft sketch challenge 615

There's a new sketch challenge happening over on the MFT Stamps blog and I love joining in the fun! I think having a card sketch is such a great creativity boost because knowing the card design gives your brain space to do other things like try new mediums or techniques! 

For example I adore patterned paper but I just collect it and never use it. With the help of this sketch, I actually used it! 

Here's this week's sketch...

And here's the card I created...

The card design seemed perfect for the Snow Buddy die set. To make it easy, I die cut the snowman from white cardstock and colored the individual pieces with Copic markers.



I like to put a loop of low-tack tape on an acrylic block and use it to hold the small pieces while I color.
The rectangle background is a leftover piece of DIY glitter paper (from this project) and the card front is covered with the Christmas Text patterned paper.
You can learn more about the sketch challenge over on the MFT Stamps blog!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Carly

Thursday, October 13, 2022

3 ways to add glitter to a stamped card

It is no secret that I love adding glitter to my stamped cards and I'm over on the MFT YouTube sharing three ways I like to do it. I would be so happy if you popped over to watch the video.

Thanks & Hugs!
Carly

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

easy emboss resist with mft stamps

The MFT Stamps October release is available now and packed with holiday cuteness! The release includes this Mod & Merry set that I'm absolutely smitten with...

And the set is perfect for an easy emboss resist card like this...
I started by stamping & embossing everything in white on white cardstock.

Then I used some low-tack tape to mask & ink blend sections, allowing the colors to overlap in a few places. I love how bold & graphic the result is! And it was easy peasy to do! You can see the steps in action on my Instagram today.
If you haven't had a chance, I highly recommend popping over to the MFT blog to see more of the new release!

Thanks for stopping by!
Carly

Monday, October 10, 2022

mft stamps october release countdown day 1

It's time to set an alarm for the MFT Stamps October release because it is happening tomorrow, yay!!! 

You know I love adding glitter to my cards, especially for the holidays so I created this...

A sparkly, glitter paste pool seemed perfect for the adorable walrus from the new MFT Chill Holiday set so I used the Pastures, Ponds & Pools stencil with some DIY glitter paste. 

The Cool Christmas Greetings stamp set was the perfect sentiment to add.

I'm sharing more about this card tomorrow on the MFT YT channel and I hope you'll stop by!

Don't forget that you can find more October release reveals on the MFT blog.

Have a great day!
Carly

Sunday, October 9, 2022

mft stamps october release countdown day 2

The MFT Stamps October release is almost here!!! Today I get to share with you a peek of one of the cutest Santa stamps EVER!

Check out Santa from the new Holly Jolly Santa set. I mean how cute is he?!

I spent a ton of time coloring him with Copic markers and I was pretty happy with how he turned out so I wanted to keep the background simple. I die cut "ho ho ho" with the Modern Serif Alphabet and colored the letters light pink. And of course now I wish I had used the alpha to make shaker windows...but maybe next time. LOL!


Thanks for stopping by! You can find more peeks at the MFT October release on their blog.

Have a great day!
Carly

Saturday, October 8, 2022

mft stamps october release countdown day 3

We're halfway to the MFT October release and I'm so excited for you guys to see it! Today I've got a card to show you with the new Tree-mendous Friends set.

I used one of the tree stamps to create a simple repeating background using a MISTI (and thank you MISTI for making it so easy).

Then I stamped, cut and colored the sweet little bear to go on top. Simple & easy!


Thanks for stopping by! You can find more peeks at the MFT October release on their blog.

Have a great day!
Carly

Friday, October 7, 2022

mft stamps october release countdown day 4

We are counting down to the MFT Stamps October release and I have a card to share with you today that might be the simplest card I've ever made. And I love it because I'm super smitten with the new Mod & Merry stamp set!

I'm almost embarrassed at how simple this card is - just the tree stamped in black with the sentiment & star stamped in Salvaged Patina - but I love how bold & graphic it is!

And in case you love this set too, I've got another card to show you in just a few days! 

Pop over to the MFT blog when you have a minute to see more of the October release.

Thanks for stopping by!
Carly

pumpkin garland with essentials by ellen

Look what I made!!! Stitching a little on my cards lately might have convinced me to make these pumpkins with the Essentials by Ellen Essential Ovals. I'm sharing more about it on the EH blog today and I would love it if you stopped by to see more!

Hugs!
Carly

Thursday, October 6, 2022

countdown to the mft october 2022 release

The MFT Stamps October release is just around the corner and it's fantastic! Let's kickoff the countdown with a little reveal!


The Holiday Hello stamp set is full of sweet & classic Christmas images! And I love the addition of a mailbox and mail! I can never resist happy mail stamps!!!

I created a super clean & simple card with a circle window revealing the holiday mailbox. The mailbox and background are colored simply with Copic markers and then I dotted a white pen over everything to create "snow".


Thanks for stopping by! You can find more peeks at the MFT October release on their blog.

Have a great day!
Carly