card making

BIRCH TREES FOR HALLOWEEN

I really love Halloween—besides being the Mister’s birthday, it’s just one of the most fun holidays to celebrate! When my kids were little, carving jack o’ lanterns was something they so looked forward to, along with hay rides at the pumpkin patch, trying to find our way through the corn mazes, sipping apple cider, and ultimately putting on their costumes (I used to make them, which was fun for me, too!) and heading out to trick or treat. GOOD TIMES!!!

How ‘bout that Birch Trees Cover Die in black for Halloween??? PERFECTION!!! Stickles on pumpkins for sparkle, and a few of those HAI Supply sequins in black (love.those.things.) Oh, and that moon behind the trees? Well, when I was die cutting a bunch of Shaker Globes, these leftover circles were put to use! •BOOM• (Hey, it’s the little things, #amirite ?) BTW, the Super Silver Shine Stars I used as props for my photo are pretty doggone sparkly and I love using them for my shakers . . . just sayin’ . . .

Modern Graphics Vol. 2 paper pack has been updated—you can see it peeking out on the left side of this card. I adore black and white patterned paper because it’s so versatile, but these papers come with an extra benefit—they can be foiled! •fist pump•

I wish you could see the shimmer on the owl—used that Tonic Clear Aqua Shimmer pen and IRL it is such a gorgeous effect.

Halloween will be different this year, with the Pandemic and all . . . but, we’ll be keepin’ the fun going


Stay safe out there!


SUPPLIES:

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links; if you see something you like, want or need, and purchase via my links, I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, which I use to buy coffee, which fuels my creativity and provides energy to make more card ideas. And, pay the rent.

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PINKFRESH STUDIOS DECEMBER ESSENTIALS 3

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How about some Pinkfresh Studio eye candy? I’m hopping along with the Pinkfresh gang today and have some samples I created with a few dies from their Essentials 3 release!

At the bottom of my post you’ll find details about Pinkfresh Studio’s giveaway and promo so be sure to read the details after checking out these creations:

Feat. Fancy diagonal stripes (PFS) | Other: Essentials: Classic Words Set, Pinkfresh Studio Dies (PFS / EHLLC*)

Feat. Fancy diagonal stripes (PFS) | Other: Essentials: Classic Words Set, Pinkfresh Studio Dies (PFS / EHLLC*)

Need a sweet thank-you for those lovely holiday gifts you received? You can ink blend any color you like onto card stock prior to die cutting, but a lovely shade of red reminds me of candy canes, LOL!

The branch die I used as an accent is retired, but a similar one here would also work well!

Feat. Radiating background 1 (PFS) | Other: Essentials: Classic Words Set, Pinkfresh Studio Dies (PFS / EHLLC*)

This radiating background die is SO fun—with a circle in the center, you can use the opening to create a shaker! Filled mine with teeny star confettis—Gold (similar HERE), Clear Iridescent*, Rainbow Iridescent*

Feat. Teardrop tag with fillable elements (PFS) | Other: Aviary, PinkFresh Studio Clear Stamps (Retiring) (PFS / EHLLC*) ; Aviary, Pinkfresh Studio Dies (Retiring) (PFS / EHLLC*)

This tag die has a sweet teardrop shape and different semi-circle designs you can inset—for this card, I just used one of the semi-circle designs to knock out a window style backdrop behind the birdies. (Finished card is a 4-bar and measures 3.5 x 5”)

Feat. Diagonal Stitched squares (PFS) ; Fillable tag with pocket (PFS) | Other: Fruitastic, PinkFresh Studio Clear Stamps (Retiring) (PFS / EHLLC*) / Fruitastic, PinkFresh Studio Dies (Retiring) (PFS)

With little eyelet/lace pattern options, a pocket and peek-a-boo opening, you can make all kinds of darling tags! I think the diagonal stitched square layer compliments it well and gives this card such a fresh look!

••• PRIZE INFO •••

Pinkfresh is giving away the full Essentials 3 Release on the Pinkfresh blog and on their IG feed

And, they’re giving me a $25 gift card to give away to one of you lucky devils! The winner will be chosen from the comments on this post, so please leave some love! (grin)—and don’t forget to visit the hoppers on the roster below for more opportunities to win.

Winners will be posted on Monday, Dec 16th on the Pinkfresh Studio GIVEAWAY PAGE. Please check that page and claim your prize within 2 weeks.

TODAY’S HOP ROSTER:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks for stopping by and may the odds be ever in your favour! (wink!)

*Affiliate links within this post are marked with an asterisk; when you shop via my links, I receive a small commission.

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NEW EBE JULY 2019 RELEASE HOP

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Ellen Hutson has a new release for the summer, with some super cute stamp sets by Brandi Kincaid and fun new dies! We’re hoppin’ to share it! My project features a fun window design with an aquatic theme, using Subbing In

Used one of the Waves Dies to create a mask and blend ink over to create my ocean on my base card—the sub was stamped and white embossed on sunny yellow card stock and then die cut out—windows were die cut separately from the sub and then I traced the windows from the sub onto the front of the card so I’d know where to put the dies to cut

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After gluing the sub in place, I lightly traced the window openings again, so I’d know where to stamp Jelly inside the card—so cute to have her peeking through the window! Erased the pencil lines before I started coloring.

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Sea critters get me every time . . .

So, here’s more details about the hop!

PRIZES:

We've got super fun prizes!!! One random & lucky commenter will win $25 to the EH shop and one will win the whole July Essentials by Ellen release!!! To enter for a chance to win, make sure to leave comments at each stop along the hop! Comment before Thursday, July 18th at 11:59pm PST. Winners will be notified by email.

So, hop along and check out the creations of this talented roster:


Enjoy the hop and thanks for leaving some love at all the stops—may the odds be ever in your favour! (grin)

I’ll have another card (heck, maybe two!) from this release to share tomorrow—I actually got to stamp a little one day this week—GO ME!!! (chortle)

3 CARDS USING SQUEEZE THE DAY

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I was having a hellacious time trying to shoot these against a white backdrop (bright sunny days are an exposure nightmare for me when I need to photograph something. Of course, so are dreary rainy days, too. Whenever I have to shoot something, I hope it will be a cloudy day; no such luck since last Friday. LOL!).

After a lot of frustration, I tossed aside all the white backdrops I had on hand and grabbed this lovely, minimalist woodgrain tray I found at Nitori while I was in Japan. I love woodgrain, and when I spied these trays that came in different wood finishes and a ton of different sizes, I had to bring at least two home with me. I mean, c’mon—something utilitarian that can also do double duty as a photography backdrop? No brainer. •fist pump• And I love the contrast they provide to my typical mostly-white cards!

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So. How ‘bout those limes? I love having a citrusy rainbow of color behind them and used that fun background from Wonky Backdrops—it’s so good for so many things!

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I taped together two Hero Arts Infinity Circle dies to make a die cut ring to cluster my lemons, etc. into. I was having trouble clustering all the elements how I wanted them and corralling them like this led me to a pleasing arrangement. Before I mounted them, I scored a trio of lines across my card front just for a little added texture and interest—gave it just enough without going over the top or cluttering things up.

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When life hands ya’ lemons, just remember . . . •chortle•

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I cut the sentiment apart before popping it up—Hey, Mikey! I likey!

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It’s hard to tell in the first photo, but I put a layer of Clear Pico Embellisher by Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts over the top of the lemons to make ‘em all juicy and what not. Hopefully, this angle shows it off much better. You could use Glossy Accents or NUVO Clear Drops, of course, if that’s what you have on hand.

All of today’s designs were stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento and colored in with Copics (specific colors I used are listed down below in the supplies).

Are you a fan of citrus? I love it. And margaritas. Shaken, not frozen. •chinkle•

Alrighty, then! That’s all I got today. Have a gooder!

SUPPLIES (affiliate links used wherever possible):

WITHOUT COFFEE

Black and a natural white + hints of copper . . . I’ve been on a neutral kick lately, not sure why, really—just that I keep gravitating towards it.

Clear embossed the cups and coffee makers/pots from A Breve Note all over black card stock and then filled in any gaps with the coffee beans to make this background—LOVE!!! —it’s such a chic look! This black card stock is quite loverly—a nice rich black and 100# weight.

The copper embossing powder I happened to have for the sentiment and the cup looks so good with that Rose-Gold Washi Tape •heart palps•

To-Go Cup was heat embossed onto watercolor paper and watercolored with Clean Color Real Brush Markers + a Pentel Aquash. By the way, if you haven’t seen it, my favorite way to use these markers is demonstrated in the video on this blog post: Neon Watercolor

The Clean Color Markers come in sets (there’s a nice variety of different sized sets), but you can also get the colors individually from Ellen’s, which I love because then I can easily replace the colors I use the most frequently, without having to buy a whole new set.

I know, I know—another messy thread nest. What can I say? When I like something, I use it until I’m sick of it . . . Even tho it’s been a number of years, I am still not sick of messy thread nests, thank you very much. •hair flip•

Such a clean, simple and satisfying card to make . . . •happy sigh•

Cheers!