Combining Florals to Make a Bouquet

Hello! I've got something a little different on the Winnie & Walter blog today ... it's not a card, but a recipe scrapbook page for our family's last cousin to get married. Working with a larger format was a nice change, and really lets you use a ton of these gorgeous stamps we all have. It was fun to just keep layering them on!

The other benefit to making these recipe scrapbooks is ... the recipes!! A whole pan of Pay Day bars?! Umm, yes please!

If anyone's interested in trying them ... here's a shot of the back of the recipe.

My full post, with photos and tips, is on the Winnie & Walter blog.

Hope you're all doing well!
-Kelly

5 Random Stamps Make a Vase - EH June Color Trend

 

Hello! Whenever I start a card I usually want to have some sort of challenge involved in making it, like a new technique, a different twist, or maybe combining a few different techniques.

For this card, my challenge was to copy the inspiration photo of four vases in the Ellen Hutson June Color Trend Challenge as closely as I could, without having having any EH floral vase stamps.

So I spread out the sets I had and started picking out elements that could work. I have a round balloon from Essentials by Ellen Up the Happy that works for the vase if I turn it upside down, as long as I don't ink up the tied section (where the arrow is pointing). The neck of the vase will come from turning the letter "u" from Essentials by Ellen Basic Alpha upside down. The opening of the "u" doesn't have to match the un-inked opening of the balloon exactly since I will be blending ink to color inside the vase. A few stray ink marks won't be too noticeable.

The stem of the flower is an elongated "s" shaped squiggle stamp from Oh, Frappe by Julie Ebersole. I really just needed a straight line for the stem, so I stretched out the squiggle stamp on my block and forced it to be more straight. For each of the stems, I just inked up a different length of the stamp. The flower itself was pretty easy, as there was a tiny flower in the Spa Day by Brandi Kincaid set. But, I did notice that in the inspiration photo there were tiny yellow centers on the flowers. I could have just used the tip of a yellow marker to fill in my centers, but I'd feel better about my personal challenge if I could find a stamp to do this for me. Hunting through my sets again, I found a dot stamp from Oh, Frappe by Julie Ebersole. It was a little larger than I would have liked, but sometimes that's how you get the artsy look ... something's a little off and not how you would have planned it.

Now that all the stamps are picked out, it's time to start construction on the vases! I stamped a couple vases on a sheet of copy paper so I could cut out the insides and use that as a mask. TIP: don't be lazy like me and try to use the same mask for all your vases, especially if you're making more than one card. I did this at first and forgot the colors get muddy when you're blending mint ink over a mask that already has purple ink on it. So I made four separate masks, one for each color vase.

I blended some black ink to make a surface for the vases to sit. There wasn't a whole lot going on with the vases, so I thought I'd better make an interesting background. It couldn't be too distracting though because I wanted to stay true to the simple nature of the inspiration photo. Usually this means I add texture vs color. So I die cut the texture-loaded Bed of Roses by Julie Ebersole Cover Plate die and layered that behind my stamped panel. Although I covered the majority of the beautiful die cut, the wavy lines peeking out along the edges of my main panel are just exactly what I was looking for.

To finish it off I added a sentiment from Winnie & Walter's Sentimental: Winter set. 

Sure hope you get a chance to play along with the June Color Trend Challenge when it gets posted this Thursday! You have a whole month to dream up something special to share with everyone. Also, there will be a randomly chosen winner to receive a $50 gift certificate to Ellen Hutson!

Thanks for stopping by!
-Kelly

Affiliate links:

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Black Jack ATG Double-Sided Refill Tape, 2 pk, 1/4" ATG Kit, Advanced Tape Glider Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Up the Happy by Julie Ebersole Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Basic Alpha by Julie Ebersole Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Oh Frappe by Julie Ebersole Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps, Spa Day By Brandi Kincaid Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Bed Of Roses by Julie Ebersole Winnie & Walter Clear Stamps, Sentimental: Winter Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Sugared Lavender Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Sweet Sixteen Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Green Tea Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Mint To Be Ranger Ink Blending Tool Replacement Foam, 1 Inch Round Ranger Ink Blending Tool, 1 Inch Round My Sweet Petunia MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (8-1/8 X 10-1/2)

Hidden Message Card that Lights Up!

Hello! I've got another light up card to share with you, and this one has the added benefit of revealing a hidden message once you pull the tab!

The hero of this card is the Essentials By Ellen Every Day Hero Lady by Brandi Kincaid. She is sporting a fashion-forward cape, paper pieced with Perfectly Plaid Spring by Lawn Fawn. Because we want her shirt to light up, it's stamped, embossed and cut from vellum. There is a hole punched out of the crown so her gem can light up as well, and it will be backed with red vellum. Her hair is colored with the only three brown copic markers I have, hahaha!

Because we want the message hidden until the light goes on, I made two shirts. The plain one will be on top of the one with the sentiment, hiding it until show time. I was so excited to find that the "tough as nails" sentiment from the Essentials by Ellen Make it Beautiful set by Brandi Kincaid fit the shirt EXACTLY (space wise and content wise)! Doesn't this look like it's from the same set?!

You can find all the nitty-gritty details on the mechanics of the card by checking out my article on the Chibitronics blog. But, I'd like to point out one interesting feature, and that's in the center of this circuit, where the black arrow is pointing. After the second LED the copper tape on the negative side (the narrow tips of the triangle) splits into two. Due to the small space involved in hiding all the circuitry under the Every Day Hero Lady I didn't have room to run the copper tape up to the red light and then back down again to the last light, so I cut down the middle of the copper tape and ran one end to the red light and the other end to the last light. Problem solved!

Here she is, looking all confident and ready for action. The sentiment "you are" is actually a portion of one of the sentiments from the Cat Lady set by Brandi Kincaid. I just wrote "and" with a white gel pen. The "strong" die cut is Strong by Brandi Kincaid, which looks fabulous in gold foil with its thin lines. I seem to use this die all the time recently.

So, shall we see what this lovely Leading Lady can do?

Ta-da! The rest of the message is revealed ... "you are Strong and Tough as Nails." And if you had any doubt this lady has super powers, the gem in her crown lights up. She is a force!

The "pull me" on the sliding tab is from Heffy Doodle's Interactively Yours set. It's the perfect size ... not too big to draw a ton of attention, but you know it's there asking you to do something. And it fits the width of the tab perfectly.

Here's a video showing this lady in action!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed this interactive card!
-Kelly


 Affiliate Links:

Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Leading Ladies - Everyday Hero Lady By Brandi Kincaid Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Leading Ladies - Everyday Hero Lady By Brandi Kincaid Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Leading Ladies - Cat Lady by Brandi Kincaid Chibitronics Copper Tape, 16 ft (675353) Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps, Make It Beautiful By Brandi Kincaid Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Strong By Brandi Kincaid Lawn Fawn Petite Paper Pack, Perfectly Plaid Spring Chibitronics White LED Circuit Stickers, 30 pk (675346) Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Black Jack ATG Double-Sided Refill Tape, 2 pk, 1/4" ATG Kit, Advanced Tape Glider

Make a Cross Stitched Globe, AND GET 20% OFF AT ELLEN HUTSON TODAY!

Hi Folks! Not sure if you saw my post in the Ellen Hutson CLASSroom this week, but if you haven't I'd encourage you to check it out. It features the new United We Flourish collaboration between Waffle Flower and Ellen Hutson ... in the form of a floral, cross-stitched globe!! Never have I seen anything like this! Stamping is always fun, but you know there are the times where you get a new set and are simply giddy with excitement to see what it's going to look like, right? Well, this is definitely one of those sets. AND, the excitement after you've done all that "cross-stitching" is just as special. 

Stitched Together

In the Ellen Hutson post, I've got tons of tips on stamping with this set, including:

- What order to stamp the colors in, and exactly where to line up each color (thru trial and error);

- How to rescue poorly aligned images (don't throw it out!);



- And how to set up your Misti to perfectly stamp all four of the globe colors, so you can easily experiment with all your color combinations ...

It was so addicting!!



Of course I have some completed projects as well. I would love it if you head over to see the full article and let me know what you think!

Also if you haven't heard there's a SALE at Ellen Hutson ... 20% off if you $75 order. But it's only through the rest of the day. What's on your list?!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

United We Flourish Stamp & Die Combo, Stitched Together by Waffle Flower