Essentials by Ellen August Essentials Challenge--Alcohol Inks

When I saw that the Essentials by Ellen August Challenge was to use alcohol inks,
I couldn't pass up the chance to join the inky fun.

I was inspired by Giovanna's card to heat emboss an image on an alcohol ink background.

Mondo Hydrangea--my favorite mondo bloom--was gold embossed on an alcohol inked
piece, along with leaves on a green alcohol inked piece. I've heard that you shouldn't
heat emboss Yupo paper because of its synthetic properties, and I've heat embossed
sentiments on a card before with no problem.

This time, because of the surface area, there was some warping--especially with the
leaves--even though I was trying to keep the heat gun constantly moving.

At first I thought about doing the leaves again, but decided to leave them because I liked
the way they curled and I don't think I could have done it otherwise.

Thanks for stopping by!

CAS(E) this Sketch #276

Chrissy brings us this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! Here's Sketch #276.

And here's my take on it.

I stamped the Mondo Hydrangea (my favorite mondo bloom!) with Distress inks
and messy watercolored them with Zig markers and a waterbrush. Some extra
blooms were stamped near the main cluster and colored in the same way.

The panel was trimmed and adhered to a gray card base. The stamped sentiment
finished off the card.

Visit CAS(E) this Sketch to see how the rest of the team interpreted the sketch
and join us if you can. Link up your card(s) by Thursday, June 21st and as
the weekly winner, you'll be invited to join us on a future sketch!

2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and Giveaway!

It's time for the winter edition of our favorite blog hop--the 2017 Winter

Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! I believe I missed the last hop--too much traveling!--

but I loved seeing all the coffee, tea, and cocoa inspiration and I managed

to put together a card for this season.

I colored up the Cozy Lady by Brandi Kincaid for Ellen Hutson and decided to
mask off a bunch of take out coffee cups for her to hold. Looks a little dangerous,
I agree, and when I shared a pic on Instagram, some folks offered to help her
hold some! (Thanks, Ivy!)

* * *

And in honor of the hop, I have a small giveaway of coffee related goodies
for one lucky commenter. These are duplicates that I bought and what better
time to share them than with coffee lovin' friends.

(Prize package includes: Lawn Fawn Pumpkin Spice and matching Lawn Cuts, 
Unity Stamps Fall to Go, Neat and Tangled Warm Wishes and Doodlebug Designs
  Latte Love Shape Sprinkles)

Just tell me if you're a coffee, tea, or cocoa lover--or all three! The deadline
to comment is the last day of the hop, December 15th, and I'll announce the
winner a few days after that. One comment per person, please! 😘

I just realized that my card has more of a "fall" theme than a winter one,
probably because I colored her before Thanksgiving. Oopsie!

I'm off to peruse the entries! Big thanks to Amy and her crew for another
successful hop that brings us together, one cup at a time! 🍵☕

(Note: Comments are closed, thank you for stopping by during the hop!)

Ellen Hutson LLC's 11th Anniversary Blog Hop

I'm excited and honored to be part of Ellen Hutson's 11th Anniversary Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from my creative friend Ardyth's blog. If not,
here is the line up of blogs for Day 2 and be sure to start at Carissa's blog because
you won't want to miss an ounce of inspiration! And don't forget to leave comments
along the way because there are prizes galore!

Carissa Wiley
Michele Ferguson
Chari Moss
Ardyth Percy-Robb
Donna Mikasa
 

The theme is "My Favorite Essentials By Ellen" product. Going through my Flickr 

photostream, it was pretty clear that I often reached for the Mondo Hydrangea,
with the Mondo Peony coming in a close second.

I love all of Julie's Mondo blooms, but the Hydrangea, for me, is the "funnest" to color
and can be quite forgiving.

I've always wanted to gold emboss the hydrangea and color it afterwards, so that's
what I did for my card. The hydrangea was gold embossed three times on watercolor
card stock. I used Distress inks and ink daubers to color in each bloom with a
different color.

I went over each bloom with more Distress inks, let them dry, then spattered
water over the piece. I filled in the area around each flower with Peeled Paint
Distress ink, and blended with water up to the edge of each bloom. After the
 entire piece was dried, I trimmed it and adhered it to a black card base
and finished off the card with the die cut Hello.

I'm the last stop on today's hop. Get ready for more inspiration tomorrow on
Day 3 of the Anniversary Hop! And leave comments every day on all designers'
blogs, and link up YOUR favorite Essentials by Ellen product here for a chance
to win a $50 Ellen Hutson LLC gift voucher!

Essentials by Ellen Mondo Hydrangea

Essentials by Ellen Brushstroke Hello Die

CAS(E) this Sketch #245

It's time for a retro sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch!

Here's Sketch #245 which was Sketch #88 from me in August 2014.

Here's my updated take on the sketch using the Mondo Hydrangea.

The Mondo Hydrangea and extra flowers were stamped with purple Distress ink

on watercolor card stock. Using a waterbrush, I colored in all the flowers with

blue and purple Distress inks and let them dry.

The stamen portion of the flowers and the stems were colored in with Copic

markers. After all the images were dry, I re-stamped the image again (leaving

the stamps it in the Misti helped!) with purple Distress ink, then cut them out 

and adhered them to the card. The stamped sentiment finished off the card.

Visit CAS(E) this Sketch to see how the rest of the team interpreted this

retro sketch, and join us if you can! Link up your card(s) by Thursday, Nov 2nd

and as the weekly winner, you'll be invited to guest with us on a future challenge!

Essentials by Ellen Mondo Hydrangea

Essentials by Ellen Mondo Hydrangea Dies

Essentials by Ellen October 2017 Release

The new Essentials by Ellen October 2017 Release went live two days ago and

it's chock full of fun and cuteness from Julie Ebersole and Brandi Kincaid.

I got to play with the Snailed It set, but unfortunately ran out of time (I'm 

currently away on a trip!) to share more than one project with you.

But it's a cute one!

I love the whimsical look of the images and stamping them in unexpected colors

made them look like they came out of a storybook.

Using the Misti, I stamped the images twice with sometimes two colors, then

added the grass with flicks from a Copic YG03 marker. I trimmed out the

panel and adhered it to a kraft card base, then finished off with the super 

cute and punny sentiment.

Stamping solid images with several colors gives the appearance of "no line"

coloring, doesn't it? Stress free no line coloring!

You can find the entire new release here in the Ellen Hutson store. I hope to
share more projects when I return next week! Thanks for stopping by.

CAS(E) this Sketch #242

Leigh brings us this week's CAS(E) this Sketch #242.

And here's my take on it. Big surprise--I didn't use a butterfly!

A Mondo Peony was white embossed and colored with Distress inks, then
fussy trimmed. A strip of striped patterned paper was adhered to the card, and
the flower was popped up over it. A sentiment and sequins finished off the card.

Visit CAS(E) this Sketch to see how the rest of the team interpreted Leigh's
sketch, and join us if you can. Link up your card(s) by Thursday, October 12th
and you could be guesting with us on a future sketch!

Essentials by Ellen Mondo Peony

MFT Essential Sentiments

MFT Gray and White Basics Paper Pack

Essentials by Ellen Hop for Hope

I'm sure you all know someone who has had breast cancer or is currently living
and dealing with the disease, whether it be a relative, friend, or neighbor. Personally, 
my Mom was a breast cancer survivor so I'm well aware of monthly self-checks, 
early detection, and yearly mammograms. 

I'm thrilled to be a part of this surprise Hop for Hope for Ellen Hutson!
You should have arrived here from Carolyn's blog. If not, start at the beginning
at the Ellen Hutson Classroom. And here's a list of the blogs, in case you get lost.

The Classroom 

Ardyth Percy-Robb 

Carissa Wiley

Carly Tee Minner

Carolyn Peeler

Donna Mikasa (you are here!)

Heather Campbell

Heather Meeson

Jennifer McGuire

Kelly Alvarez

Kittie Caracciolo

LauraJane Head

Laurel Beard

Lisa Adametz

Nichol Spohr

Sandy Allnock

Taniesa Vlasak

I was proud to purchase this Courage stamp and die set, knowing that half of the
proceeds from the sale of the set would go towards the Breast Cancer Reasearch
Foundation. Here's my card for the hop, using my favorite sentiment in the set.



After die cutting a bunch of awareness ribbons from watercolor card stock, I ink

distressed them (in pink, of course!) and spattered them with water. Thanks to the
incredible Misti I was able to stamp the sentiment both on the ribbon and the card,
then line them up and adhere the ribbon to the card.

The crown was silver embossed and adhered to the ribbon, and the card was finished off
with some clear rhinestones.

With a stash of pink awareness ribbons, I created two more cards using the same
technique and the Misti.

You can still purchase this amazing Courage set exclusively in the Ellen Hutson store

and know that you're contributing to the BCRF to help further breast cancer research.

 Next on the hop is the awesome Heather Campbell. Let's go and see what she created
with the Courage set--I just know it will be something pink and amazing!

Enjoy the rest of the hop!

CAS(E) this Sketch #238

Teammie Leigh brings us a sweet sketch and you know that flowers will
be involved! Here's CAS(E) this Sketch #238.

And here's my take on it.

Julie Ebersole's Mondo Hydrangea came to the rescue because I knew that I
wanted to use flowers but couldn't decide which ones to use. (Plus this was in
my stash of diecuts--how convenient is that?)

I adhered it to a Stone Gray card base and because it's peeking out from the top
a skosh, I trimmed the bottom of the card so it could still fit in an A2 envie.
Two blooms were added for some dimension. I stamped the sentiment,
rounded off the bottom corner and finished off with sequins.

Visit CAS(E) this Sketch to see how the rest of the team interpreted
Leigh's sketch and join us if you can. Link up your card(s) by Thursday,
September 14th. Hope to see you in the gallery!

Essentials by Ellen Mondo Hydrangea

Essentials by Ellen Mondo Hydrangea Dies

Essentials by Ellen Mondo Magnolia

In the EH Classroom--Hinged Camouflaged Sentiment

I'm delighted to be featured in Ellen Hutson's Classroom today with a project
 using the new Essentials by Ellen Hinged Alphabet Dies by Julie Ebersole.

Here's a peek at my project with a Hinged Camouflaged Sentiment.

I'm also using colors from Laurel's Pin Sights Challenge for June together with the
 Black and White With a Pop of Color trend.

And the generous folks at Ellen Hutson have provided me with a $50 gift voucher
to give to one lucky commenter here on my blog.

If you haven't done so, please visit The Classroom for detailed instructions on how
I created the card, and to see it in its entirety. Leave a comment here by Thursday,
June 22nd, and I'll announce the winner a few days after.

Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks to Ellen Hutson for having me
in the Classroom!

InLinkz.com

CAS(E) this Sketch #217

Are you ready for a fun CAS(E) this Sketch from Chrissy? 

Here's Sketch #217.

I'll admit to being a little intimidated by the sketch, so I brought in some
flowers. And here's my take on it.

I stamped the Mondo Hydrangea near the bottom of a watercolor panel and

colored it quickly with Distress inks and a water brush. The sentiment was

die cut through the flowers, then popped up over a Cement Gray card base.

A sprinkling of sequins finished off the card.

Visit CAS(E) this Sketch to see how the rest of the team interpreted the
sketch, and join us if you can. Link up your card(s) by Thursday, April 20th,
and we hope to see you in the gallery!

InLinkz.com

CAS(E) this Sketch #209

Here's this week's CAS(E) this Sketch #209, compliments of Chrissy.

And here's what I came up with.

 
I've had the Mondo Peony for quite some time now, and finally inked it up

for the sketch. The bloom was white embossed on watercolor card stock

and colored in with Peerless Watercolors and a water brush.

Please excuse the peony coloring. This one looked the most decent after
three tries. I definitely need more practice with the shading of all those petals!
 

The sentiment was stamped with Versafine Onyx on a vellum belly band
and clear embossed. Pink iridescent sequins finished off the card.

Visit CAS(E) this Sketch to see how the rest of the design team interpreted the
sketch, and join us if you can. Link up your card(s) by Thursday, February 23rd.
Hope to see you in the gallery!

InLinkz.com