holiday 2021

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ELLEN HUTSON'S ANNUAL 12 TAGS OF CHRISTMAS

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Every year, Ellen Hutson hosts the 12 Tags of Christmas, and this year’s theme was Holiday Carols, and you can see my post with all the tips and catch the video at the link above (under the photo). My chosen carol was Holly Jolly Christmas and my friend, and talented fellow stamper, Chari Moss joins me with her interpretation!

Along with the hop there are challenges and a chance to win a shopping spree! You can see all the details there and check out all the gorgeous tags shared by the Ellen Hutson Design Team Members and guests!

For as long as I can remember, my favorite rendition of this carol has always been by the one and only Burl Ives. And, yes, every year I still watch the classic stop-motion animated Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer as an adult.

In my video towards the end, you’ll see me reference a great recipe for a cheese log. Cuz I do love me a good cheese log! My daughter brought one to our Thanksgiving Feast and our whole family went bonkers over it and I had to have the recipe! I love that it can be a “make-ahead” appetizer and that is so easy, beautiful, colorful and incredibly yummy! I’m sharing the link to it here: Easy Cranberry Pistachio Cheese Log by Jen, author of Carlsbad Cravings.

I hope this Season finds you able to safely enjoy some in-person time with family and friends! My family LOVES food and FOOD GIFTS are always a huge hit—I’m totally gifting these cheese logs, with the appropriate tag, too. #handmadegiftswithloveforthewin

Happy Holidays!

ANNOUNCEMENT

Also, I wanted to give you a heads’ up that I am going to be transitioning to a new email platform; currently my blog’s RSS feed goes out via MailChimp to those of you that signed up. But, how those emails look has always bugged me (like really, really bugged me!), so I’m moving over to FloDesk.

If you’d like to continue receiving updates/news, other yadda yadda via my email list, please sign up! There’s a new form along the bottom right of my site’s home page you can fill out.

If you’re not interested, no worries; I just didn’t want those who are accustomed to receiving that RSS feed via email to miss out when I finish the transition.

Thanks muchly!

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ECLIPSE DIE CUTTING EFFECT

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I have seen a number of questions regarding how I achieved the effect on the “Oh What Fun!” card; at the time, I was literally outta’ steam and just couldn’t pull off a video prior to sharing it for the Holiday Release.

Eclipse cards are among my most favorite to make—the technique is simple, not messy, and the end result is one that always seems to fascinate folks. While that’s the focus of my video, I also threw in 2 other techniques that I just happened to combine on these cards, so you’re actually getting a trifecta, LOL! Oooh, go me!

The other two are Ombré Inking, and Faux Embossing Folder (I have no idea if it’s actually called that; it’s what I call it because that’s what it reminds me of), neither of which have to be used in conjunction with the Eclipse Die Cutting, but at the time, that’s the direction the mojo went so I rolled with it. I ended up loving the end result so much I think it was worth the extra time and effort. I wouldn’t necessarily mass produce this type of card, but if I wanted to make an extra special card for someone’s birthday, it is an absolute stunner!

So, would you make a one-off card like this for special occasion? I think something like this would be suitable for a birthday, anniversary, wedding or new baby. If I were making a stack of these, I’d most likely skip the ombré inking and the faux embossing folder effect and just go for the Eclipse.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Also, I wanted to give you a heads’ up that I am going to be transitioning to a new email platform; currently my blog’s RSS feed goes out via MailChimp to those of you that signed up. But, how those emails look has always bugged me (like really, really bugged me!), so I’m moving over to FloDesk.

If you’d like to continue receiving updates/news, other yadda yadda via my email list, please sign up! There’s a new form along the bottom right of my site’s home page you can fill out.

If you’re not interested, no worries; I just didn’t want those who are accustomed to receiving that RSS feed via email to miss out when I finish the transition.

Thanks muchly!

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ONLINE CARD MAKING EVENT COMING IN FEBRUARY 2022

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Truth: When it’s quiet around here, that means there’s an awful lot going on behind the scenes! I’ve been busy with some “creative” professional development stuff and really enjoying the process—I consider myself a life-long learner and I always feel such an amazing, intrinsic sense of “happy” (massive monkey-clapping!) when I learn how to do something that intrigues me—especially when the things are hard, or require technology.

All that to say, I wanted to share some news that relates to a lot of that behind the scenes stuff!

YASSS!!! I made the team! (virtual high fives)

I was accepted as a presenter (instructor/teacher/speaker) for the February 2022 Card Maker Success Summit! There’s so many talented presenters on that roster! This is a FREE virtual event that will be online for a limited time and if you want full, lifetime access to all the classes after the event ends, you can purchase an All Access VIP Pass. I actually attended a similar virtual workshop for artists last summer and enjoyed it muchly, so I’m waaay stoked to have an opportunity to be a speaker at the Feb 2022 CMSS!

Anyhoo, if a virtual card making event sounds like fun to you, I wanted to let you know that the host of the Summit is now offering a Waitlist for those interested in the All Access VIP Pass for February’s event—just click the button below to go over to the signup:

By the way, have you gotten your holiday cards going yet? If not, here’s some eye candy that I hope sparks ya’:

 

Hope you have a a wonderful and creative weekend!

Disclosure: I include affiliate links when/where possible in this post and make a small commission when you purchase via those links, at no extra cost to you. Thank you, thank you!!!

ALL WRAPPED UP + TAG IT: CHRISTMAS

feat. All Wrapped Up Stamp Set/ Essentials Arches Dies / Farmhouse Tags Dies/ Tag It: Christmas Stamp Set/ Essential Snowflakes Dies

feat. All Wrapped Up Stamp Set/ Essentials Arches Dies / Farmhouse Tags Dies/ Tag It: Christmas Stamp Set/ Essential Snowflakes Dies

These sweet li’l buddies are helping each other get prepped for the holidays . . . I love loVE LOVE when a darling image takes up enough presence on a card that I don’t have to ponder or agonize about how to combine and layout a card design—All Wrapped Up is the answer to that wish, at least for me, anyhoo!

Ya’ know, those Essential Arches dies are actually PERFECT for making tall snow-globe windows for shakers and/or card fronts—this is a simple window card (clear plastic is sandwiched between the car front and an additional die cut panel so you can peek through). The sentiment beneath is revealed when you open up the card . . . It’s just so sweet, I can’t even . . .

A word to the wise, tho—do all your white paint spattering BEFORE doing anything else; it needs a little time to air-dry before you start die cutting into it and assembling all your pieces. Ask me how I know . . . (chortle). However, if you’re in a hurry, take a clean paper towel and press it down carefully over top to soak up any excess paint droplets.

My paint spatter method:

  1. Squeeze a little white acrylic paint onto an acrylic block. It doesn’t take all that much so don’t get crazy.

  2. Squeeze a little water at a time from your waterbrush into the paint and mix it right on the block until you have a consistency you like.

  3. Hold the acrylic block over the area you want to spatter and use your paint brush to flick it off the block down onto project. Repeat until you have all the spatter you want, then set it aside to dry.

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All Wrapped UP also works lovely for tags—GAAAH!!! All the heart eyes! If you love to layer your tags, that skinny one, combined with the sentiments in the Tag It Set are perfect for doing that—anything that makes mass production easier gets 5-stars from me because I’m always last-minute Lucy at getting things wrapped so I tend to keep tags pretty minimalist. (face palm)

Do you like making tags? My daughter is not a card maker, but she does enjoy making tags for holiday gifts.

HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS

I adore solid stamps. For me, they’re the epitomé of effortlessness (is that a word?) in the world of stamps.

Holly Jolly Christmas is based on my love of clean, bold graphics and ease of use!

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That tree was stamped first with Rockin’ Red, and then I reinked the bottom edge of the [stamp] image with Peppermint Scrub and blended the edge of the ink line so I would have a smooth transition between the colors when I stamped again over top. Easy ombré perfection makes my stamping heart swoon!

Add in that eclipse die cutting effect and BAM! I’m in love! Sidenote: I usually layer my eclipse die cuts about 3-4 deep using 110# card stock.

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The fa la la stamp in this set was white embossed twice on a longer strip of vellum card stock so I could wrap the ends around the kraft panel to secure it. And, this time, I on the tree, I swiped my Concord & 8th Mushroom ink cube across the stamp to create this cool textured look!

I borrowed the gift packages from Sweet Surprises and added a messy nest of metallic thread and those super-shine silver stars—so hard to pick up how brilliantly they reflect light on camera, but I love them so—IRL, they’re pretty doggone dazzling!