Truly, I can't believe I never thought of using sprinkles in a shaker card before! Did you get to hop with us yesterday and see the first one I made?
Well I loved it so very much, I made two more...
I used the same design as my first card but instead of adding pink to the card front as frosting, I used watercolor cardstock for the front panel and painted a loose pink watercolor wash.
One of my favorite things about working at Ellen Hutson LLC is working with awesome people. And not just my amazing co-workers but also the wonderful people at awesome companies like Concord & 9th. I've been lucky enough to meet Angie & Greg and they are as wonderful as their stamps & dies! They are caring & kind and they design fabulous products, including this new Sweet Sprinkles set!
When I saw this stamp set I knew I had to make a shaker and I had to use real sprinkles! Here are my tips...
stamp the bottom of the cupcake and sentiment before die cutting.
add some color to the card front where the shaker opening will be for "frosting".
jimmie-type sprinkles are easier to use than nonpareils. The nonpareils slip out of the card if your shaker has any "weak spots" in the construction. Ask me how I know! haha!
make sure you have dry hands when handling sprinkles or they will bleed color and get sticky. Again, ask me how I know!
In addition to this adorable set, there are also prizes!!! Two randomly selected commenters will win a$30 gift certificate to the Ellen Hutson shop and two commenters will win a $30 gift certificate to the Concord & 9th shop! To enter just leave a comment on the Ellen Hutson Classroom blog, the Concord blog or the Where Creativity Meets C9 blog by 12pm PST on December 26th. Make sure you hope over to Jessica's blog and have fun! Thanks for stopping by!
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?
Alright, I give up, I give in, I can't resist any longer! I tried but they are just so pretty and colorful...so I'm finally going to learn how to use Copics! I'm totally intimidated by the vast rainbow of colors and all of the amazing techniques I see in this talented community of makers so I'm starting super small, with 10 colors and just basic coloring. Here it is...
Here's what I have learned so far from my wonderful team at Ellen Hutson and other makers...
paper is super important! Solar White is an EH fav so I started with that. To test paper compatibilty, draw a line with a Copic. If the line feathers, look for another paper.
stamping ink must be Copic friendly! I used Memento Paris Dusk. To test ink compatibility, stamp onto Copic-friendly cardstock and color over line to check for smudging.
for some super basic coloring, start with the lightest color first. I colored the flowers completely with V000 and then added the other colors a stripe at a time.
you can use Copics to color silver foil paper (though some papers will yield more even results). I gave my die cut sentiment just the light tint of pink.
you can also use Copics to color sequins. The result is like a pretty watercolor wash that coordinates perfectly with your project.
Is there anyone else out there like me, just starting out? Join me and we will figure it out together. And not to an enabler BUT markers are on sale this week at Ellen Hutson LLC which means Copics are an even better deal than normal! 10% off and no code needed! Here's a link to EH, marker sale. xo,
Welcome everyone! You should be arriving here from the amazing Caryn Davies blog (if you've gotten lost just head back to Sandy Allnock and make sure you scroll all the way down on this post to read about prizes...) I was so honored when Sandy invited me to be a part of this amazing hop she was putting together! Encouraging us cardmakers to use our talents for good? What an amazing idea! My mother-in-law has the biggest heart of anyone I know so it was easy to decide that I wanted to do something in her honor. The hardest part of this project was choosing a charity to donate to. There are so many wonderful and deserving causes! With help from my husband, we settled on one that we knew my mother-in-law would love, PAWS, a wonderful organization that advocates for the rights of animals. Their motto is people helping animals and my mother-in-law has rescued two abandoned puppies! I know she would adopt more if she had room! We donated to PAWS in her honor and decided to create a little gift basket for her dogs, including treats, toys & a little card. And I decided to go purple because my mother-in-law LOVES purple. And p.s. PAWS did send us a sweet card to give to my mother-in-law but it didn't match my purple theme, LOL!
To create this card, I started by stamping the pup on Smooth Bristol cardstock and again on masking paper.
With the pup masked, I stamped the flower repeatedly to create a background, using Distress ink.
Next I created another mask by die cutting a heart from masking paper sized to fit my card front. After applying the mask, I applied a messy watercolor to the flowers withing the heart (with the puppy still masked too).
Then I removed all the masks and colored the pup with Clean Color markers. The finishing touches were to die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle, stamp a sentiment next to the heart like a tag and mount to a purple card.
And remember I said there were prizes? Well there are some awesome companies helping inspire you to hop along and leave comments on all the blogs - Altenew ($30), Lawn Fawn ($50), My Favorite Things ($25), and Ellen Hutson ($25)! Be sure to go say thanks to them on their social media for helping get the word out about giving…and leave comments by Wednesday March 22. Winners will be announced on Sandy’s blog on Thursday March 23, along with a total amount we’ve raised together!
Last month I was lucky enough to attend CHA and take Tim Holtz's Distress class. In class Tim introduced us to the new Distress Oxide inks. I love my Distress inks and I was thrilled for more! And I couldn't wait to play...
I used the ink-to-mat technique we used in Tim's class to create a Cracked Pistachio background, stamping in Wilted Violet over the top. Here's quick video of the process:
I also followed the same steps with original Distress inks to compare (original Distress on the left and Oxide on the right)...
Thanks for stopping by! xo, Carly P.S. Make sure you stop by tomorrow for the awesome new Essentials By Ellen release hop! supplies:
Today I have one more project to share using some of the Concord & 9th January release! I love this release, well I really love all their stuff, but the January release is super fun! And I have loved, loved, LOVED getting to guest design for them! They are one of my favorite stamps companies and some of the coolest, nicest people too! (Angie, Greg & Amy - love you guys!) So I have seen stamped cookies around Pinterest and I've been dying to try it...
And don't you love when those Pinterest projects actually work?! My icing skills could use some fine tuning but the stamping part is pretty easy! I made a super quick video for you on how to stamp on cookies...
Here what's you need:
sugar cookies with completely dry royal icing
liquid food coloring (I used black for a bold graphic look)
clean clear stamps (I used Concord & 9th's beautiful Love Notes and Best Banners stamp sets)
acrylic block
food coloring marker (optional)
And a few tips from my experience:
when I say the icing should be dry, I mean like 24 hours dry
here are the awesome recipes I used for the sugar cookies & icing. (Thank you Bridget from bake at 350!)
wash your clear stamps with dish soap first to prevent any germ-ies from getting on your cookies and wash again with soap after to remove the food coloring.
you can use cling stamps but clear are the easiest to wash and the easiest to position.
small stamps are the easiest to get a clean, clear image but if you are like me and REALLY want to use a large, gorgeous Concord & 9th sentiment, a black food coloring marker helps fill in any missed spots because even flat cookies are a little uneven, LOL!
Thank you for stopping by!
xo,
Carly
P.S. Wouldn't stamped cookies be a great way to shower someone with love?
I'm super excited to be guest designing again for Concord & 9th today! I was lucky enough to meet Angie, Greg & Amy in real-life at CHA last weekend and I love them even more now! Some people really get how crafting is a way to create happiness and the Concord team really gets it. They rock! Today I've created a card with the new Best Banners stamp & die sets.
This card was totally inspired by an amazing card that JJ Bolton created last year. I've been wanting to copyrecreateLOL, but never had the right dies to play with. The Concord & 9th Best Banner dies are just perfect for delicate little shakers. I {heart} them!
To start, I die cut the "best" banner 4 times. Then I used a glue pen to adhere 3 of the die cuts together.
I used the fourth "best" banner die as a guide to cut a piece of acetate to match. Then I set both pieces aside for later.
Next, I stamped a 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 white panel with the words to complete the sentiment.
I used the glue pen again to adhere the triple-layered "best" to the stamped panel. Then I set it aside to dry completely (very important when using glitter in the shaker).
For the glitter I wanted a very subtle ombre effect so I colored my clear glitter with alcohol ink. In a plastic bag, I added a few spoonfuls of glitter. First I added one drop of ink, squished the bag around to blend and then removed 1/3 of the glitter. To the remaining glitter I added 2 more drops of ink, blended again and removed another 1/3. To the final 1/3 of glitter, I added 3 more drops of ink.
Once the glitter and the layered "best" (on the stamped panel) were dry, I used a spoon to add the glitter into the "best", lightest to darkest.
Over the glitter, I adhered the acetate piece and then finished it with the last "best" banner die cut.
I can't wait to make bunches more of these sweet little shakers, especially because I have lots of colored glitter left! Thank you for inviting me to play Concord & 9th! xo, Carly
I used the same design as my first card but instead of adding pink to the card front as frosting, I used watercolor cardstock for the front panel and painted a loose pink watercolor wash.
