39 Rue des Cartes

Happy Anniversary Ellen Hutson LLC!

This November marks Ellen’s 11th anniversary and I’m happy to have been asked to hop along to celebrate it. Hoppers were asked to create with a favorite Essentials by Ellen set. I’ve been in a cozy, wintery mood and that had me reaching for Oh Deer.

I love to color and watercolor, but sometimes I want something a little faster (without sacrificing the cute). That’s when I go to a favorite trick for “coloring” an image: stamping tone-on-tone. I used brown ink on a lighter brown paper, die cut, and done!

To create a colorful scene to stage the little deer in, I used some of my favorite elements from a few other sets (listed below) and stamped them in bright colors (also listed below). One last touch before layering the deer panel on the front of my card was a bit of Moonstone Glimmer Paste, swiped on with my finger. (If you haven’t tried it, that stuff is freakin’ gorgeous. Just get some. Trust me.)

I’m your last stop on today’s hop, but be sure to check head back to The CLASSroom for details on all the anniversary celebrations (and how you could win some crafty goodies).

Today’s Hop Roster
Amy Rysavy
Carly Tee Minner
Amy Tsuruta
Lisa Adametz
Lea Lawson
Heather Meeson <—– You’re here

supplies used:
essentials by ellen – oh deer stamp set
essentials by ellen – oh deer die set
essentials by ellen – holly jolly stamp set (trees & dots)
essentials by ellen – cozy christmas (sentiment)
ranger distress oxide ink – twisted citron
ranger distress oxide ink – peacock feathers
ranger distress oxide ink – abandoned coral
ranger distress oxide ink – iced spruce (pebbles under deer)
ranger distress ink – ground espresso
versafine ink – onyx black
nuvo glimmer paste – moonstone
neenah solar white cardstock

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Last May Ellen, Julie, and Chaitali organized a fundraiser to help find a cure for breast cancer. They wanted to make a difference, honor their mothers, fight for their friends, and protect their daughters; they created the Courage Stamp & Die Set, benefitting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. (BCRF is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent and cure breast cancer by advancing the world’s most promising research.)

$25 from the purchase price of each Courage Stamp & Die Set is
donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. 

More than $27,000.00 has already been raised, but we’d like to do more. Today we hop not only to thank the ladies who organized the original fundraiser, but also to raise awareness, and draw your attention back to the fabulous Courage Stamp & Die Set in hopes of continuing to benefit BCRF. 

Continue the hop by heading over to Jennifer McGuire’s blog!

Please join us!
Visit the Ellen Hutson BCRF Fundraiser Page on the BCRF website to learn more and follow our fundraising progress! Together we can #betheend!

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There’s a new girl in town and she’s crafty! (Does anyone else have that Beastie Boys song in their head now?)

The first in a series of – oh, yes, there’s more to come –  “Leading Ladies” by Brandi Kincaid for the Essentials by Ellen line at Ellen Hutson. And while this little beauty is in a set with some laugh-out-loud crafty goodness, she’s great for “everyday” cards like this one too.

What I dig most about Brandi’s Crafty Lady is that she can be ANY lady. I see a lot of my friends in her (and once I have a stash of Leading Ladies with different hairstyles? There they’ll be – every lady I know)!

I wanted to give her some funky clothes and went to one of my favorite old-school techniques to do it: paper piecing. In this case, I picked up a few digital card kits from Brandi’s website and used the 3×4 card designs to dress her up, mixing lots of different patterns.

All those little rectangles in the bottom of the shot above are different digital cards I printed and stamped on like any other piece of patterned paper.

I opened the files in Photoshop and resized them to print smaller so the scale worked a bit better for her clothing. (Not a step you HAVE to do – you could just download, print, and stamp – but I thought the scale worked a bit better smaller.)

To finish her look, I did a little coloring with Copics, adding a few freckles with a fine tip brown pen, and adhered the pieces I stamped and cut. (Heather Campbell has a great video on paper piecing in The CLASSroom this week if you’d like a little refresher.)

The final touches were layering her over a galaxy background made with a bit of watercoloring and adding a DIY typewritten sentiment to fit the cosmos theme.

supplies used:
essentials by ellen, leading ladies – crafty lady stamp set
essentials by ellen, crafty lady dies
memento ink pad, tuxedo black
neenah cardstock, solar white
strathmore watercolor paper
copic markers: E15, E18, E21, E71, E74, Y17, BG10
copic opaque white
brandi kincaid, ramona digital journal cards
brandi kincaid, laura digital journal cards

In honor of their mothers, Ellen, Julie, and Chaitali teamed up to find a way they could make a difference and pay tribute to these special women – whose lives were all affected by breast cancer – while actively contributing to finding a cure. Together they created the Courage Stamp & Die Set.

This set was made especially to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and is available from today at www.ellenhutson.com. BCRF is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent and cure breast cancer by advancing the world’s most promising research.

$25 from the purchase price of each Courage Stamp & Die Set will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. (Every dollar helps: for example, $25 funds half an hour of research.) You can also donate directly at the Ellen Hutson BCRF Fundraiser Page on BCRF’s website.

Please join us!Visit the Ellen Hutson BCRF Fundraiser Page on the BCRF website to learn more and follow our fundraising progress! Together we can #betheend!

As you can see, the Courage set is a veritable garden of layerable images. I wanted to make a bold, vibrant card and was totally inspired by Rifle Paper Co’s florals (which they often pair with a dark background). That can be a challenge with ink and paper, but the matching dies make it a breeze. I used a combination of Memento and Distress Inks to get the bright colors I was hoping for (using embossing ink to prime the stamps for the best, smoothest coverage), did a quick line of sewing with gold thread across the top of the sentiment layer, popped it up, layered the florals around it (some popped up as well, others flat), and finished it with a few flat, gold sequins.

Continue the hop by heading over to Carly’s blog. (And just in case, the full hop list is below for reference.) Thanks so much for stopping by and being a part of the BCRF Fundraiser release.

The CLASSroom
Lisa Adametz
Sandy Allnock
Kelly Alvarez
Laurel Beard
Heather Campbell
Kittie Caracciolo
Darlene DeVries
Julie Ebersole
Lydia Fiedler
Sharon Harnist
Jennifer McGuire
Heather Meeson<—– you’re here
Carly Tee Minner
Chaitali Narla
Carolyn Peeler
Catherine Pooler
Nichol Spohr
Julia Stainton
Carissa Wiley

Thanks for stopping by!

supplies used:
essentials by ellen, courage stamp & die set
memento dew drop ink pad, pistachio
memento dew drop ink pad, northern pine
memento dew drop ink pad, tangelo
memento dew drop ink pad, morocco
memento dew drop ink pad, lilac posies
memento dew drop ink pad, dandelion
memento dew drop ink pad, bahama blue
ranger archival ink pad, jet black
ranger distress mini ink pad, mustard seed

Hello and WELCOME to hoppers coming from Jennifer McGuire’s blog! You’ve found the next stop on the February 2017 Essentials by Ellen Release Hop!

Lucky you – I’m givin’ away an Essentials by Ellen stamp set too!  The person who wins can chose any in stock Essentials by Ellen stamp set  (Maximum value $25 USD) from Ellen Hutson.com  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post by Tuesday, February 28!

There is also an AMAZING Grand Giveaway over in The CLASSroom!  To enter that, be sure to leave a comment there, too, by Tuesday, February 28!

ALL winners will be announced in the CLASSroom on Friday, March 3! Please check in there on that date to see if you’re a winner!

If you get lost along the hop, please visit the CLASSroom blog for a complete list of all the hoppers!

Now on to the cards! I’m giving you a look at the Hinged Thanks Die, Otterly Awesome Stamp Set, Otter Ware Set, and Wonky Backgrounds Stamp Set. Let’s get to it …

This die is pretty nifty. Instead of simply cutting out a letter, a little bit of each one is scored so you can use it to cut letter-shaped “windows” – which is super cool.  But where I think this die really shines is the way it lets you cut and layer letters too (like I did here). Rainbows, ombré … so many cool possibilities!

This card uses my favorite set from this release: Wonky Backgrounds. “What?!” you say? Why is that one my favorite when there are so many cute otters and the fabulous gal with the towel on her head? Don’t get me wrong, I dig ’em all, but this … this is one of those must-have tools everyone needs in their stamping arsenal. Texture, shapes, and smaller elements – everything you need to add a little “oomph” to your cards.

Don’t forget to leave a comment to enter my giveaway and then hop on over and say “hi!” to:

CARLY TEE MINNER!

Thanks for hoppin’ with us today!

Hello, and welcome from Jennifer McGuire’s blog!

So … how much are you lovin’ the Holiday Release Hop so far?! I’ll be showing you some ideas for a few of the new stamp sets and dies below, but first – how cool is this?! – I get to give away an Essentials by Ellen stamp set! The winner may chose ANY  Essentials by Ellen brand stamp set  (Maximum value $25 USD) currently in stock at EllenHutson.com  To enter my giveaway, please leave a comment on today’s post  by Tuesday, October 25th!

There is also a crazy good Grand Giveaway in the CLASSroom!  To enter that, be sure and leave a comment there too – also by Tuesday, October 25th!

ALL winners will be announced at the CLASSroom on Friday, November 4th! Please check there on that date to see if you are a winner and for further details on claiming your prize!

If you get lost along the hop, please visit the CLASSroom blog for a complete list of all the designers hoppin’ today.

On to the eye candy …

Featuring Fat Pants & Stitching Cover Plate

I couldn’t resist taking a few of the (many!) shapes in the Fat Pants set and turning them into something a little spooky! Paired with an oldie but goodie (Got Candy?) and cut from Lawn Fawn’s Goodie Bag it’s the perfect size for gifting a few treats.

Don’t forget to leave a comment to enter my giveaway and then hop on over and say “hi!” to:

CARLY MINNER’S BLOG

You won’t be disappointed!