JUST SQUIDDING IDEAS & INSPIRATION

Click on the photo above ⬆︎ to see my video tutorial for the creation of this design on the Ellen Hutson YouTube channel!

If you love sea creatures and get as much a kick out of puns as I do, you will probably love working with Just Squidding! I have a variety of samples here that I hope will inspire you! It is a seriously fun set to play with!

I used a waves die in a number of these examples to DIY a stencil for ink-blending my ocean background—such an effective way to make subtle backgrounds!

I used Copic Markers to color in all but one of the examples shown here. Can you guess which one I actually used bonafide watercolors on, instead of Copic Markers?

I created a porthole effect on the above card, by die cutting the inner circle first with an Essentials Circles die, then ran it through again with one of the Essentials Stitching Dies so I could stitch embroidery floss around the entire edge for accent—in my head it was a cute idea, but I was thrilled when it turned out even cuter in real life!

White embossed my li’l octopus and have to say that bold colors really make her details stand out! And, those Clear Drops were just begging to be used—any time I’m doing a water scene, I immediately want to reach for them to embellish.

I still haven’t used all the puns available in this set—I need to get busy! Too many chuckles to be had!

Hope you’re staying healthy and safe and that many of you have been able to get vaccinated so you can once again visit and hug loved ones without worry!

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by!

P.S. It was the “Inkin’ of you” card . . . (grin)

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SUPPLIES:

• Just Squidding by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps

• Just Squidding By Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies

• Waves By Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies

• Essential Circles For Stitching, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies

• Essential Circles, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies

• Jet Black Amalgam, Gina K Designs Ink Cube

• Obsidian Amalgam, Gina K Designs Ink Pad

• VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne

• VersaMark Ink Pad

• Stampendous Embossing Powder, Detail White, 0.76 oz.

• Dual Speed Heat Tool, WOW

• Life Changing Blender Brush - 2 Pack, Picket Fence Studios (LCB-2)

• Blending Brushes 4 Pack, Catherine Pooler Tools

• Fiesta Blue, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

• Mint To Be, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

• YR0000 - Pale Chiffon, COPIC Sketch Marker

• R21 - Sardonyx, COPIC Sketch Marker

• RV42 - Salmon Pink, COPIC Sketch Marker

• BG0000 - Snow Green, COPIC Sketch Marker

• BG10 - Cool Shadow, COPIC Sketch Marker

• BG23 - Coral Sea, COPIC Sketch Marker

• B05 - Process Blue, COPIC Sketch Marker

• 36 Color Set, Gansai Tambi

• Large Ink Blending, Altenew Tools

• Speedball, 2' Soft Rubber Brayer

• Solar White - 25 pk, Neenah Classic Crest Cardstock

• 40 lb. Vellum - 25 pk, Bazzill

• Watercolor Paper Pad 9x12, Canson XL

• Crystal Clear Droplets, Essentials by Ellen Embellishments

• Super Shine Silver Stars, HAI Sequins

• Apricot, DMC Embroidery Floss, Essentials By Ellen

• Ranger Stickles, Diamond

• Crafter's Companion Gemini Junior

• Platinum 6 Die Cutting And Embossing Machine, Spellbinders Tools

Disclosure: Affiliate links used wherever possible; when you purchase via my links I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks a bajillion! And, if I could reach through the interwebs to hug you, you’d be wrapped up in the most appreciative mondo squishy hug on the planet!

PICK YOUR POISON

As I’ve mentioned before, Halloween reigns supreme at my house . . . (chuckle) This idea was one I just couldn’t pass up. I used the Bottles of Bubbly Die, which was originally designed to be a champagne bottle for various festivities and celebrations but I’ve even used it in various ways, such as:

• A message in a bottle design

• Whale in a bottle (this link takes you to my photo on Pinterest, as my old blog is gone now)

• Foiled it with the Gemini Foil Press

So, naturally, when I needed a bottle for the poison label, which was just hand trimmed out to look wonky/spooky-like, I turned to this same, versatile bottle. (cheeky grin)

I still have some cork paper in my stash so I used that to die cut the cork for my bottle, and the vellum webs were attached with mini glue dots—you can’t really see the dots unless you look hard for them. (fist pump)

The little banner was also “fish-tail” trimmed at one end and then stapled to the card front with one of those fun baby staplers I love so much (listed below). BTW, make sure your card is open before you staple the skinny li’l banner . . . ask me how I know . . . (snort!)

Have a fab day, and thanks for stopping by!

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SUPPLIES:

• The Last Bite by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps

• Spiderwebs, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies

• Bottles of Bubbly By Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies,

• Sauna, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

• VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne

• Ebony Black 100 lb - 25pk, Essentials By Ellen Cardstock

• 40 lb. Vellum - 25 pk, Essentials by Ellen

• Solar White - 25 pk, Neenah Classic Crest Cardstock

• Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Gold Coins, 25 pk

• Mini, Glue Dots Sheets

• Mini Stapler, Heidi Swapp Tools

• Tim Holtz, Tiny Attacher

• Platinum 6 Die Cutting And Embossing Machine, Spellbinders Tools

• Crafter's Companion Gemini Junior

This post contains affiliate links; when you shop via my links I receive a small commission at no charge to you. Thank you for supporting me—it is so appreciated!

WITHOUT COFFEE

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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•

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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!

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SUPPLIES (affiliate links used wherever possible):

• A Breve Note by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps

• A Breve Note by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies

• A Breve Note by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Stamp & Die Combo

• VersaMark Ink Pad

• WOW Embossing Powder, Regular - Clear Gloss

• WOW Embossing Powder, Regular 160ml - Clear Gloss

• Hero Arts Embossing Powder, Copper

• Bazzill 40 lb. Vellum, 25 pk

• Canson Arches French Bound Cold Press Watercolor Paper Pad 9x12

• Canson XL Watercolor Paper Pad 9x12

• Essentials By Ellen Cardstock, Ebony Black 100 lb, 25pk

• Inkadinkado Embossing Magic Bag

• Hero Arts Embossing Gun (Wagner)

• ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker 097, Pale Gray

• ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker 062, Dark Brown

• Pentel Arts Aquash Water Brush, Small Fine Point (23638)

• ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker, Set of 12

• ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker, Set of 24

• ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker, Set of 36

• ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker, Set of 60

• ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker, Set of 48

• HAI Washi Tape, Rose Gold Foil

• Coats Metallic Thread, Copper

• Scotch Foam Mounting Tape

• Crafter's Companion Gemini Junior