card design

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WAFFLE FLOWER SNEAK PEEK + A GIVEAWAY

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There are a LOT more ways this Oversized Hugs Die can be used, but today, I’m showcasing four!

And, Waffle Flower has a giveaway going on—you could win this Kit #05, from their Sneak Peek Club by leaving a comment for me over on this video on my YouTube Channel!

  • Open to folks with US addresses only at this time.

  • Be sure to comment there by 05/31/2023.

  • The folks at Waffle Flower will draw a winner and contact them.

FYI: Waffle Flower’s Sneak Peek Club is a monthly subscription, with each kit featuring part of an upcoming release. All the products included in Kit #05 will be available individually on 06/05/2023 when their release goes live. New subscribers to the Sneak Peek Club as of today’s date (05/25/2023) will receive the next upcoming kit.

Below is a slide show you can scroll through to see still shots of the 4 different cards I created:

So fun, right?! Scamper on over to my YouTube video so you can enter for a chance to win!

And, may the odds be ever in your favour! (wink!)

SUPPLIES: Affiliate links included wherever possible. I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made via my links.

  • Oversized Hugs Die by Waffle Flower (***Kit #05 products will be available individually on 06/05/2023***)

  • Catherine Pooler Cotton Candy Dye Ink - EH

  • Catherine Pooler Do-si-do Dye Ink - EH

  • Catherine Pooler Coral Cabana Dye Ink - EH

  • Blending Brushes - EH

  • Waffle Flower Mini Media Mat - EH

  • Double Sided Sheet Adhesive - EH

  • Scraps of Transfer Foil - *from my stash

  • Spellbinders Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine - EH

  • Tonic Comfort Trimmer - EH

  • Tonic NUVO Drops in Ebony - SB

  • Flower Sequins - *from my stash

  • Ranger Glossy Accents - EH / SB

  • Bearly Art Glue - EH

  • Neenah Solar White 80# Card Stock - EH

  • Bazzill Pale Rose Card Stock - SB

  • Concord & 9th Ballet Slipper Card Stock - EH

  • Concord & 9th Sorbet Card Stock - EH

  • Patterned Papers - *from my stash

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BIRTHDAY VIBES

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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 dimes to you. 🙂 Your support is appreciated more than I can say!

ESSENTIALS BY ELLEN APRIL 2023 RELEASE IS AVAILABLE NOW (affil)

I am addicted to “type”. I love words, letter forms and typography. There’s a lotta’ my beloved type in this release and the larger the type, the more it makes me giddy. I’m sharing a few samples I made with my new stamps, dies and hot foil designs but there’s a lot more inspo and goodness over on the release page, so check it out by clicking the photo above, or the link directly beneath.

Closer details can be seen in the slide show below:

I share more insights and details on the products I designed and the samples above in a recent video on the Ellen Hutson YouTube Channel right HERE.

Someone on Instagram asked about the colors I used so I am listing the color palette I stuck with for all my samples down below in the supplies. Note, some are paper colors that have been discontinued 😭 but I have included suggestions for alternatives I think would be lovely and are very similar in hue.

Hope you get a chance to join the Ellen Hutson Release Hop over on Instagram—there’s a giveaway and all you need to do is leave some comment love on the hop stops, to toss your name into the hat for an opportunity to win! The eye candy is DELISH!!!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you found the above inspiring!

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2 PUNNY VALENTINES PLUS A TUCK AND FOLD CARD

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This card started as a sketch, but as I temporarily laid everything out, I felt like it needed something “more”—something small, but a little different from what I do out of habit. Originally, I had planned to white emboss the sentiment onto a strip of black card stock and work it into the layout. That’s a great stand-by that works quite well for many of my designs.

But, the idea of deviating from my stand-by, just slightly, kept nagging at me. So, I mounted the solid pink heart to the base card and then moved that to my MISTI, and curved the sentiment slightly, along the edge of the heart, got it mounted to the lid, and then inked and stamped. The golden colored frame was then mounted a little cattywampus (intentionally) with a little bit of glue in just 3 spots—I like the dimension it gives when it curves slightly up from the card front.

Everything else was clear embossed with my favorite black ink (affil) onto watercolor paper (affil), watercolored and die cut before 3D mounting into place.

Immense satisfaction achieved! (fist pump!)

This little bubblegum machine shaker card turned out so cute! Initially, I couldn’t decide on a background/backdrop for the machine and it occurred to me to grab my 1” circle punch and just punched a bunch of “dots” from card stock in coordinating colors—I love it!

I used Staz-On Cotton White (affil) to stamp the sentiment on the Crystal Clear Plastic (affil); I probably should have heat embossed it (this acetate is heat resistant) for better visibility as it’s hard to capture it that well in a photo, but IRL, it shows more prominently. Those teeny, tiny rainbow confetti hearts (affil) were just beggin’ to be filler, so I had to do it!

Here’s a TIP:

If you don’t have any sheet size foam tape (affil) to die cut for the shaker walls, try cutting the shaker front piece 5x from 110# Neenah Solar White (EH / AMZ affil) and just layer/stack them all together with Bearly Art Glue (affil)

feat. BIG LOVE STAMPS (the hearts background) | XOXO DIE

This way fun “fun-fold” design is actually a tri-fold that tucks and folds! I haven’t done one of these in so long and it’s one of my favorites so I need to poke myself as a reminder to do this more often because it’s so easy and always feels “clever”.

Video Tutorial below:

If you give this fun fold a try, you’ll have to let me know what you think! I love that it’s soooooo simple but the explosion of colors just makes it so visually impressive!

I cannot believe we are mid-way through January already; CRAZY!!!

Stay crafty!

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 dimes to you. 🙂 Your support is appreciated more than I can say!

OTHER SUPPLIES

The color palette I used for these samples:

Tools:

Embellishments:

Miscellaneous:

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LOVE, FRIENDSHIP & VALENTINE RELEASE TODAY!

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A new release is here—YAY!!! All the samples on the release page (affil. link) have been givin’ me the vapors!

There’s an Instagram hop going on—skedaddle on over to see eye candy from the design team, toss your name into the hat for prizes and just flat out be inspired! Link: Instagram Hop starts at @ellenhutsonllc

I’m sharing a few samples here, that I’ve shared on my Instagram, in case you don’t follow me there. Hey, I totally get it; not everyone is on all the social medias—not everyone actually “likes” social medias. #amirite? #itsOK

feat. BIG LOVE STAMP SET/DIE (affil link)

Glued some strips of colorful card stock onto my base card, triple die cut LOVE and layered the letters together to create faux chipboard and clear embossed “ya’” over the stripes. A deviation from my normal white; love it so much, I wanna marry it! LOL!

feat. SO CHEWSY STAMP SET/DIE (background hearts from BIG LOVE) (affil links)

Stamped a random background of hearts in my color scheme and popped the die cut image onto a mini Action Wobbler (affil link)—it will compress down when you slip it into the envelope but as you slide it out, it will bobble! One of my favorite interactive mechanisms because it comes already preassembled and you just slap it on there. BAM!!!

I couldn’t capture the shine of the Rose Gold hot foil stamping on the mailboxes, but it is soooooo pretty IRL!

  1. Die cut from watercolor paper (affil link)

  2. Hot foil images

  3. Watercolor over top of foiled designs (it resists the paint/water like heat embossing does)

  4. Assemble

  5. Rinse & Repeat 🤣

Seriously, I could hot foil stamp all.day.long. And, the results on watercolor paper? CHEF’S KISS!!! #allthehearteyes

I like chocolate, but I LOVE dark chocolate and truffles most especially and this set is so fun to play around with because of the different truffle shapes and variety of “toppings”. That rich, chocolatey ink effect was achieved by first stamping the solid images using Catherine Pooler Spiced Ink, then ink blending directly onto the stamp using a sponge and Catherine Pooler Icing On the Cake and stamping over the top again to create some shading and dimension. I then stamped the detail images over top with Versamark and white embossed them.

If you have any trouble with embossing powder sticking where you don’t want it in this situation, make sure the solid images are fully dry —you can use your heat tool to warm the paper and evaporate any moisture—and by applying anti-static powder over the surface and THEN stamping and heat embossing the detail images.

I am old enough to remember the satisfying sound of the Librarian’s date stamp going “tttthhhhhunk!” onto a library card. When I got home with my books, I would slip the card out and then tuck it back into the pocket, repeatedly. No idea WHY I would do that, but I suspect it marked the beginning of my love affair with office supplies and stationery products. Go figure!

Hey, weirdough!

When you open this one, you’ll see a sweet surprise inside!

feat. JAMMIN’ STAMP SET/DIE (affil link)

I call this a Peek-a-boo Pop Out card—the li’l Bread Slice is hand-trimmed slightly smaller than the actual die cut window and mounted onto foam tape for dimension. Before mounting him through the window, I flush-mounted Jam to the inside of the card in a spot where, when you opened it, she would appear and be peeking over Bread’s “shoulder”—err, ahem—CRUST. (snort)

By the way, that decorative edge along the card front is actually one of the “WAVES” dies; I thought it made for an awesome, shallow and imperfect scalloped edge. (fist pump). Gently blended a little ink along the edge to make it pop a wee bit more.

I must admit that the “just because”, non-occasion-specific card is probably my most favorite of cards to make and receive.

How ‘about you?

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 dimes to you. 🙂 Your support is appreciated more than I can say!

OTHER SUPPLIES

The color palette I used for these samples:

Tools:

Embellishments:

Miscellaneous:

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HOW TO STAMP ON ACETATE

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Stamping on acetate (I use Ellen Hutson's Crystal Clear Plastic) used to one of those things that caused me some anxiety and stress, even tho I loved the end result—you had to make sure you didn’t slide around on the slippery surface and ruin the impression. I would hover, double check that my pinkie fingers were anchored to steady my hands, hold my breath and hope that the impression would land specifically where I wanted it. Sometimes it did, sometimes no worky . . .

The MISTI changed all that. If you still do not have one of these, I highly recommend getting the original/standard platform. I think it’s the most versatile size but still compact enough to not overwhelm your work surface. I also own the Mini MISTI, which is so awesome for stamping a quick sentiment on a card front, but when I need to reposition the paper or the stamp, the size of the original makes it a whole lot easier.

TIP: The snow dome above, from CHRISTMAS MAGIC, was die cut out after the stamping had dried. I like to use washi tape to anchor the die down to the Crystal Clear Plastic, but I’m careful to avoid placing the tape anywhere where it might in advertently “lift” any of the ink off. I suppose I should test that theory to see whether or not it this ink does hold up to sticky stuff, but I figure why take the chance when you can avoid it anyway? (insert shoulder shrug)

In hindsight, after filming the video below, I realized you might have seen the stamping better if I had removed the protective tissue that is sandwiched between each sheet of Crystal Clear Plastic (It comes that way in the packaging and I always leave it on the sheet when I’m trimming it down to size to avoid scratches), but as I progress through this particular project, you’ll get some good looks at how the snow actually looks and the difference between the original card, and the duplicate I made to show the technique.

Skater image from SNOW MUCH FUN . Sentiments from HOLIDAY CHEER HOT FOIL STAMPS

Here, I used the smaller dome in the set to make a snowy acetate window for a traditional style shaker card. It’s a really fun way to dress up your shaker windows with very minimal effort!

MORE TIPS:

  • Use a MISTI; seriously, the magnet holds your acetate in place and really helps you get crisp, clean impressions, without sliding all over the place. Makes a HUGE difference in ease. Ask me how I know . . . !

  • Use an ink that is permanent on slick surfaces; I love Staz-On inks, and their Opaque Cotton White EH / AMZ has been a favorite of mine for years and years! Keep in mind that this ink is specifically formulated for things like acetate/non-porous surfaces and does not show up well on paper.

  • Staz-On Opaque Cotton White ink EH / AMZ comes with it’s own reinker bottle; you load the ink pad yourself. Shake the bottle well before loading the pad; I often use a plastic butter knife to spread the ink evenly across the surface and “work it” down into the pad foam. If you “over-ink” the pad, things can get really thick/gunky on the stamp, become super slippery and take a while to dry. I get best results when pad is inked enough to be slightly “tacky”, but not slippery.

  • You made a mistake or got an ugly impression; it’s gonna be OK — don’t mess yer dress!!! Use a rubbing alcohol prep pad (First Aid aisle at the grocery store/pharmacy, etc.) to clean the ink off and try again. Yup! You can totally do that! HUZZAH!!! (virtual high 5)

  • Use a heat-resistant acetate, like Ellen Hutson’s Crystal Clear Plastic ; you can heat emboss and hot foil stamp on it! BONUS!!!

  • Staz-On has a tendency to “stain” your stamps. If you find it bothersome, try using a cleaner like Ultra-Clean to remove.

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 dimes to you. 🙂 Thank you for buying all the things!

SUPPLIES MENTIONED: