ELLEN HUTSON CELEBRATES 15 YEARS

I’m so proud of my long-time friend Ellen—to have been in business for 15 (FIFTEEN!!!) years is such an accomplishment and I could not be more thrilled for her! Man, how the years have flown and her company has grown into an amazing small business that all started from basically a closet, if you can believe it!

Now through the 17th, 11:59 PT, you can save 20% PLUS all qualifying orders of $100+ will receive a gift with purchase, in the form of this delightful stamp set, HB2U! Click HERE to go to straight to the “You are Special” Category at ellenhutson.com

I added some notations to my shaker design for this set, as a number of folks have told me they find them helpful. My favorite tip, is snipping that little triangle on the edge of the circle window to create a balloon, heh, heh, heh!

I do think I overfilled the shaker with a bit too much confetti stars, tho; forgot to repeat my mantra, “Less is more. Less is more. Less is more.” . . . Learn from my mistake, LOL!

I just got my COVID booster and was feeling kinda puny this morning, but it’s subsiding and I should be in tip top shape by this evening once again.

Have a wondermous week!

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SUPPLIES:

• Solar White - 25 pk, Neenah Classic Crest Cardstock

• Essential Circles, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies

• Bellini, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

• Coral Cabana, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

• VersaMark Ink Pad

• Gold Fine Detail, Gina K Designs Embossing Powder

• Dual Speed Heat Tool, WOW

• Crystal Clear Plastic, Medium Weight 8 1/2' x 11' (10 pk), Essentials by Ellen

• Scor-Tape 1/4' (5mm), Scor-Pal Tape

• Scrapbook Adhesives Crafty Foam Tape, White

• Gold Mini Star Confetti, Pretty Pink Posh Sequins

• Iridescent Mini Star Confetti, Pretty Pink Posh Sequins

• Smoothies Minis, Creative Expressions

• New & Improved Mini MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (6-1/8 X 7), My Sweet Petunia

• Crafter's Companion Gemini Junior

Disclosure: I include affiliate links to the products used in my projects and make a small commission when you purchase via those links, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for buying all the things!

ONLINE CARD MAKING EVENT COMING IN FEBRUARY 2022

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’:

feat. Fa La La, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps / Holly Jolly Christmas by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps / Snowflakes, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies

feat. Sweet Surprises by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps / Tiny Stars Background by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Hot Foil Stamps

Hope you have a a wonderful and creative weekend!

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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

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.

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.

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SUPPLIES:

• All Wrapped Up by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps

• Tag It - Christmas, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps

• Essential Arches, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies

• Snowflakes, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies

• Farmhouse Tags, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies

• VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne

• 36 Color Set, Gansai Tambi

• 48 Color Set, Gansai Tambi

• 12 Color Set, Gansai Tambi

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

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

• Crystal Clear Plastic, Medium Weight 8 1/2' x 11' (10 pk), Essentials by Ellen

• Desert Storm - 25 pk, Neenah Environment Cardstock

• Watercolor Paper Pad 9x12, Canson XL

• Ranger Watercolor Paper, 10 pk

• Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Wax Lips, 25 pk

• Baker's Twine Twisted Ribbon - Red, May Arts

• Ranger Stickles, Silver

• VersaMark Ink Pad

• Embossing Magic Bag, Inkadinkado

• Stampendous Embossing Powder, Detail White, 0.76 oz.

• Dual Speed Heat Tool, WOW

• Crafter's Companion Gemini Junior

• Platinum 6 Die Cutting And Embossing Machine, Spellbinders Tools

Disclosure: I include affiliate links to the products used in my projects and make a small commission when you purchase via those links, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for buying all the things!

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!

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.

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!

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SUPPLIES:

• Holly Jolly Christmas by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps

• Holly Jolly Christmas by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies

• Sweet Surprises by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps

• Sweet Surprises by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies

• Rockin Red, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

• Peppermint Scrub, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

• Mushroom, Concord & 9th Premium Dye Ink Cubes

• VersaMark Ink Pad

• Stampendous Embossing Powder, Detail White, 0.76 oz.

• Stampendous Embossing Powder, Detail Gold

• Embossing Magic Bag, Inkadinkado

• Powder Tool Adhesive Deactivator, EK Success

• Dual Speed Heat Tool, WOW

• Silver, Coats Metallic Thread

• Super Shine Silver Stars, HAI Sequins

• Ranger Multi Medium, Matte Mini, 1/2 oz.

• Jewel Picker, Marvy Uchida

• 40 lb. Vellum - 25 pk, Bazzill

• Desert Storm - 25 pk, Neenah Environment Cardstock

• Solar White - 25 pk, Neenah Classic Crest Cardstock

• Solar White Heavyweight 110 lb - 25 pk, Neenah Classic Crest Cardstock

• Crafter's Companion Gemini Junior

• Platinum 6 Die Cutting And Embossing Machine, Spellbinders Tools

Disclosure: I include affiliate links to the products used in my projects and make a small commission when you purchase via those links, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for buying all the things!

SENDING HOLIDAY CHEER & HOLIDAY SPRIGS

I’m always torn on color schemes for the holidays—not just for cards, but for holiday home decor, too; traditional vs. non-traditional . . . I do love red and white—especially a warm white—it just speaks cozy to me for the holidays. I have to laugh, tho, because at least on my cards I don’t have to “commit” with any permanency, LOL!

feat. Holiday Sprigs / Sending Holiday Cheer / “Wishing you a Merry Christmas…” from Holly Jolly Christmas

Sharing some samples today from the new 2021 Holiday Release that feature Sending Holiday Cheer and Holiday Sprigs. Now, I don’t show them on these particular examples, but there are some humorous quips in Sending Holiday Cheer that would totally bust me up if I opened a holiday card to find them inside. If that resonates with you, definitely take a close look at that set!!!

I love this ombré inking effect and couldn’t resist repeating that throughout a number of the samples I made for the release page. Holiday Sprigs has solid imagery to coordinate with outline counterparts so if you are not a colorist (like me!), you’ll be happy to have that kind of flexibility.

The outlines even look so pretty stamped simply in a rich red color against that natural white hue of watercolor paper. I added some fine spatters of black acrylic paint for just a tiny bit of texture and used one of the dies to cut sprigs from glitter paper to create a wreath effect—IRL the sparkle really sets off the whole design.

I was somewhat hesitant to try this on a darker card stock, but I think the white embossing looks stunning against this grey card stock, especially with the pops of red from the NUVO Drops—such a sophisticated, upscale look! I’m glad I tried it!

I’m so curious to know what other folks lean towards for their holiday colors!

Sidebar: Ellen Hutson is giving away prizes over on our Instagram Hop—if you’re so inclined to toss your name into the hat, go comment along the hop to enter! You can start at my Instagram or the Ellen Hutson Instagram account—just look for the hop graphic so you know you’re commenting on hop related pics!

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SUPPLIES:

• Sending Holiday Cheer by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps

• Holiday Sprigs by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps

• Rockin Red, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

• Peppermint Scrub, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

• Smoothies Minis, Creative Expressions

• Embossing Magic Bag, Inkadinkado

• Powder Tool Adhesive Deactivator, EK Success

• VersaMark Ink Pad

• Stampendous Embossing Powder, Detail White, 0.76 oz.

• Stampendous Embossing Powder, Detail Gold

• Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Wax Lips, 25 pk

• Holiday Sparkle, Hero Arts Glitter Paper

• Solar White - 25 pk, Neenah Classic Crest Cardstock

• Slate Gray 100 lb - 25pk, Essentials By Ellen Cardstock

• Tonic Nuvo Crystal Drops, Red Berry Gloss

• Ranger Stickles, Gold

• Scrapbook Adhesives Crafty Foam Tape, White

• Scrapbook Adhesives Thin 3-D Foam Squares, Mix White

• Dual Speed Heat Tool, WOW

• New & Improved Mini MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (6-1/8 X 7), My Sweet Petunia

• Crafter's Companion Gemini Junior

• Platinum 6 Die Cutting And Embossing Machine, Spellbinders Tools

Disclosure: I include affiliate links to the products used in my projects and make a small commission when you purchase via those links, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for buying all the things!