new essentials by ellen!

Do you ever have those days (or weeks) that are just YUCK and you aren't sure if you need a hug, a brownie, a nap or to sit & color? Yeah, me too. And last week was one of those weeks. To make myself feel better, I wore my pjs all day yesterday, ate 2 brownies and colored a whole bunch of minty puppies using the brand new Leading Ladies Dog Lady set...

Why mint pups? Well why not?! And after I colored quite a bunch of puppies, I actually made a couple of cards...

And thanks to a pj day, lots of sugar and probably most of all - the crafting, I'm feeling much better! And I can't wait to create more with the awesome new Leading Ladies sets!

Have a great day and if you aren't, I highly recommend brownies & coloring! Hugs!
Carly

supplies:
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Leading Ladies - Dog Lady
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Totally Awesome
Essentials by Ellen Dies, Leading Ladies - Dog Lady 
Essentials by Ellen Dies, Holiday Words 
Distress Oxides Abandoned Coral, Worn Lipstick, Cracked Pistachio & Salty Ocean
Copics BG0000, BG10, BG11, V05 & Y35

hopping with ellen hutson!

I love this time of the month - new Essentials by Ellen! It's like a little bit of Christmas at the beginning of each month!!!

And I love that I get to join some super talented ladies to hop in celebration of this release! Before you hop on to my friend Carolyn's blog, I just want to share a quick way that I used all three new EBE sets together and with some of the past Leading Ladies...

I love how the ladies look so sweet together and how when stamped off the edge, it's like they are leaning in to say hi and remind you that "you are loved". Photo Lady, Cozy Lady and Crafty Lady make great buddies!

And Julie's new Abstract Paint Strokes is the perfect background for a sweet sentiment like this one from the new Totally Random Sayings Vol. 1. I think "you are loved" will be appearing on a lot of my upcoming projects. We all need a little more love right?!

Ok, I'll stop chattering. You're next stop if Carolyn's blog. Have fun hopping along!

Happy Friday!
Carly

supplies:
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Leading Ladies - Photo Lady
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Leading Ladies - Cozy Lady
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Leading Ladies - Crafty Lady
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Abstract Paint Strokes
Essentials by Ellen Stamps, Totally Random Sayings Vol. 1
Hero Arts Tide Pool
Avery Elle New Moon
Copics: skin E000, E01 & E02; hair Y21, Y35, YR30, E11, E13, E33 & E37; clothes BG10, BG11, BG32, BG34, T1, T2 & T4

no peeking shaker card

I adore the sassy "It's Coal" from the new No Peeking set! I like sass and I had these adorable little charcoal sequins from Pretty Pink Posh just begging to be made into a shaker card!

I started with the rectangle from the Essentials by Ellen Mini Windows die set to create a flap on an A2 panel of smooth bristol cardstock.

I masked around the window flap and inked it with Distress Ink Spun Sugar & Worn Lipstick.

Then I added polka dots because they are my favorite "color", haha!

I inked the front of my card with the same pinks and the back of the window flap so everything would be PINK!

Next I added the sentiments, "No Peeking" under the window flap and "It's Coal" on the card front where the window will open.

Acetate and foam tape behind the window flap created the shaker and a little rectangle & bow on the front turned the flap into a gift. And I love it!

If you haven't picked up the No Peeking set for yourself, I suggest you go right now! And fair warning, I'm about to be a big time enabler...

This weekend is the perfect time to treat yourself because there is a 20% stamp sale at EH...

Hugs!

Carly

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

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

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, R05, G02, BG11, BG13
Distress Oxide Abandoned Coral & Salty Ocean
WOW Embossing Powder Primary Pixie