Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Ellen Hutson LLC's 11th Anniversary Hop

  
Hello Folks! I am SUPER excited to celebrate Ellen Hutson's 11th Anniversary along with a host of wonderfully talented artists! You may have come from one of them, the lovely Carolyn Peeler.

For this special hop, we were asked to make a project with our favorite Essentials By Ellen set. I easily could have gone with the Mondo Hydrangea stamp, Oh Deer, or the innovative Hinged Alphabet dies, but I simply could not pass up my absolute favorite stamp and die of all ... the bear from All Inside! I love, love, love him for three main reasons:

1) his dead-pan expression just cracks me up;
2) he can hold so many different things, from all sorts of various sets; and
3) his streamlined shape makes him super easy to color, but he's so cute you can just leave him as-is (a.k.a., polar bear!)

Here are cards from the post where I first fell in love with him:


I haven't gotten to make a holiday card with this cutie yet, so I was excited to get to work!

And here he is, hanging out at the North Pole all majestic-like, wishing joy to the whole world!
For the world, I cut out a circle from watercolor paper, lightly penciled in the continents (while looking at a globe on google), and then watercolored them with zig clean color markers. Since it's a Christmas card I made the globle red and green. It was fun not using traditional colors for land and water, and I like how festive it looks! Finally, I washi-taped the Hinged Alphabet Dies to keep the word "joy" spaced together, and ran them through the die cutter.
One of the benefits of the hinged alphabet dies - since the letters pop up at an angle you can read a card that's lying on top of a counter in another room : )
Another advantage of the hinged alphas is that you get the opportunity to hide a little surprise underneath. When you look at the card from the side you see all sorts of gold sparkles coming out, like the world is literally bursting with joy!
I guess a fourth reason I love this bear is that Julie has thoughtfully designed accessories for him, kinda like paper dolls! The Bear Wear 2 set has Halloween, winter and Christmas accessories to get your bear prepared for the holidays. I've added the Santa hat and candy cane here, but there are many other accessories to choose from.

For this card, I copied an idea I had my kids do for Christmas cards one year. I made them large J, O and Y letters to hold up, and I took a picture. They had a ton of fun being silly which made for a fabulous greeting. These bears can hold things too, so why not have them spell out a sentiment?


These letters are from the hinged alphabet dies. Nice to know you can use them like regular die cuts if you cut the letters off at the hinge. After inking them in red I made some stripes with a white gel pen. Love the bears' chubby little hands grabbing things! I didn't even adhere these letters down, they are actually holding the letters. Just like my kids : )


The globe is made the same way as the first card, only with traditional colors, and a healthy dose of glitter on top to make it all sparkly. The sentiments in all caps on both cards are made with the Basic Alphabet set. Just perfect for occasions like this where you need to finish off a phrase. I wanted "to the" to be smaller (so more of the world would show) so I just hand wrote that in script. The black fish tail ends are hand cut as well.


In this case it really worked out that polar bears live in the North Pole, as that meant no coloring for me! (Fun Fact: Did you know polar bears live in the North Pole, while penguins live in the South Pole? They are NOT neighbors!)


I have about a dozen bears pre-cut and ready to go at all times, because, well, you never know : )

In fact, I took this opportunity to use up some of my empty card bases, extra sentiments, and stray embellishments, and turned them into three more cards. All of the elements are recycled from prior projects. Such a good feeling to clean and be productive at the same time! And what a great illustration on how the All Inside bear goes with just about anything. The heart, envelope and party horn are all from different stamp sets that aren't even designed by Essentials by Ellen. Love that!

Thanks so much for taking a look and letting me share my favorite Essentials by Ellen set with you!


The fun continues at the delightful home of Laurel Beard where there's something wonderful waiting for you!

A huge thank you and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to all the mighty fine folks at Ellen Hutson LLC!
-Kelly


112 comments:

  1. I love this post. So filled with adorable inspiration.

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  2. I love blog hops b/c they inspire me to create. Thank you to all of the talented artists for sharing their beautiful creations.

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  3. Adorable cards! Love that bear and the hinged 'joy' sentiment!

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  4. Great cards what an adorable bear!

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  5. love these creative cards! The bear is too cute with all his 'bear wear' accessories! definitely on the xmas list this year!

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  6. I love that you have bears precut and ready for a bear emergency ;-)

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  7. ...and look at all the cards you have ready to go. Love this bear, too...he/she has adorned a heap of cards from my craft area. Especially love the way you've used it. Brilliant on the globe with the glitter peeking out and, oh so, clever to have it holding the sentiment.

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  8. These are so cute! All are clever and inspiring!

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  9. Very clever cards! Love how you used the sentiment to tie in the globe image.

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  10. Your cards are simply adorable!!! I now know that I need to get that bear stamp set. It has definitely moved to the top of my wish list.

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  11. cute, cuter, cutest cards Kelly!

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  12. I LOVE that bear!! Thanks for the ideas:))

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  13. Love the All Inside bear too! Great cards! Sooo cute with all the accessories.

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  14. So fun! Love the watercolor world and the hinged letters.

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  15. Fabulous cards with the bear stamp. Love the hinged word die.

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  16. Love what you did with the bears...so cute.

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  17. These are so adorable! Your hand painted globes are really nice. I love that bear. I guess I better put him to use this holiday season. Thanks so much.

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  18. I love your polar bears holding the word Joy! So cute <3

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  19. love the glitter under the letters!

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  20. This bear is extra cute with the Santa hat. Cute cards. Thanks.

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  21. This bear is so cute! I have totally underutilized him!

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  22. That little bear is just too cute! Happy Thanksgiving!

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  23. LOVE how you used the bear!!! So cute!

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  24. Love your interpretation of Joy to the world! That bear is so cute.

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  25. Super cute cards Kelly! Love the cute bear image! So creative using him holding the letters and the candy cane... fantastic designs!

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  26. Love your cards - so very creative!

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  27. Great cards. Love the bears holding the letters.

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  28. Oh, the things you could do with this cute little bear...well obviously, just from looking at all your cute cards above.

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  29. Darling cards - love the hinged alphabet dies.

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  30. Love those bears! Really cute cards. TFS

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  31. Your herd (fleet, flock?) of bears are fabulous, and showcased in the most wondrous of ways! Especially smitten with the globe-and-glitter card; so much sweetness happening here!
    ~carol

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  32. Beautiful collection of cards! Who knew there were so many ways to use that little bear!

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  33. I love your cards! So cool to use the world!

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  34. I completely forgot about the hinged alphabet! Thanks for sharing your adorable bear cards!

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  35. Love that bear! And your watercolored globes are fantastic!

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  36. Love the bears.
    Those holding the letters are
    great. The one standing on
    top of the world is fun.
    The coloring between the world
    and the lettering is great.
    thanks for sharing

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  37. That bear is just too cute! Love it

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  38. Oh my!! Your cards are adorable!!! Beautiful colors and details!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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  39. Great use of that adorable bear! I especially like the one where the bears are holding the letters!

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  40. Oh my goodness, so much fun, everything looks so happy

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  41. Very inventive cards. Love the sparkles under the Joy.

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  42. All Inside seems to be a favorite of a lot of designers. I love your designs with it. I guess it will have to go on my Christmas list. Thanks.

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  43. These are totally adorable!! LOVE these!!!

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  44. Great cards, love the hinged dies and how you used them.
    Dolores

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  45. Oh my goodness! I need to get the hinged alphabet dies,

    I love the bears holding the word joy!

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  46. Those are just the cutest cards! Love that bear.

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  47. I am loving this bear that can hold things. You're right, his expression is a riot!

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  48. So much to love in your cards. You've shown how versatile the bear really is. That hinged alphabet is amazing.

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  49. Wow! Super cool creations! You are so creative! Thanks for sharing with us :)

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  50. Wow these projects are so creative - thanks for the ideas:)

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  51. You're always so clever, Kelly--so unique & wonderful!

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  52. The bear is such a cutie and you've showcased him wonderfully in your card designs!

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  53. Beautiful cards! That little bear is so dog-gone adorable!

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  54. I do not have this little bear....wowo! So much inspiration!!

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  55. Love the bear in the Santa hat ... such a cute collection of cards.

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  56. Your cards are fabulous! Thanks for showing all the versatility of this darling bear. He is so cute & every card you have shared makes me happy just looking at it. I need that little guy for my stash!

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  57. Great card designs with this adorable bear.

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  58. You rocked these bear cards. I really like the JOY letters in their hands. Well done!

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  59. Yup, gotta love the bear and all the stuff he can hold. Clever card ideas!

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  60. Your bear cards are so adorable, love the watercolored earths and the JOYs.

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  61. Kelly I love how you used watercolour to create all these cards. So modern and festive. Of course I always love that bear too!

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  62. Wow! So many different looks! Wonderful cards!

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  63. These are fabulous! I especially love the bear holding the letters... genius!!

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  64. Kelly you just bring so much JOY to our world! SO bear-ably adorable!
    =]

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  65. As ever, Kelly, a fun, creativity-provoking post ... and adorable cards ... that little bear truly is a complete cutie! Hugs, Anita :)

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  66. Your cards are absolutely awesome! Lol he also cracks me up he's too cute!

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  67. Ok, that bear is now cute! So creative, I love your cards! Creative use of the hinged alpha dies too, fun!

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  68. That bear is too cute. I love how you used it in different ways.

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  69. You sure gave that guy a good workout! Love them holding the letters. Hope your holiday weekend is wonderful.

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    1. Love how you showcased the versatility of this oh so cute bear! Amazing cards - love them all!

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  70. OH my heavens....these are so great! I love the bear, the worlds you created, the JOY sentiments! What inspiration! I have that bear set, but not the Bear Ware and now I think I need it!

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  71. Oops, entered comment in wrong place. Love how you showcased the versatility of this oh so cute bear! AMAZING cards- love them all!

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  72. I sold. I had to go order this bear. He is too darn cute and versatile!

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  73. Ah, this bear is too cute!! Love your cards.

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  74. I'm smiling from ear to ear after visiting your blog tonight! What a fun way to use that bear! Thanks!

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  75. Such awesome cards, Kelly! I really love the cute bears on top of the globe!!

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  76. Very cute cards! I love the one where the three bears are holding the JOY letters.

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  77. These are so stinking cute!! Now I just have to get the adorable bear & see how many different things I can have him hold!!

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  78. Awesome, totally & utterly awesome cards, would love one of the cute birthday cards & the ' joy to the world ' cards are an excellent way to send your message both to those near or far absolutely awesome thanks x

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  79. This bear is totally awesome. I love getting inspired. Can't wait for my goodies to arrive so I can start creating

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  80. Too stinkin' cute! Love the red and green earth.

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  81. These are beautiful cards ! (Great how you penciled the continents, just by looking at a globe on google.)
    This bear is adorable !

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  82. Fabulous cards! That bear is too fun. My favorite is the bears holding the letters to spell out joy.

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  83. I'm going to start looking for what else I can have my bear hold, Kelly. What a great idea to hold the letters for a sentiment.

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  84. Wow..these cards are amazing. Thanks for sharing.

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  85. So much fun with all these bears! Love the bears holding the JOY. Great job!

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  86. Such a SWEET Collection of Cards!! LOVE the FUN Designs!! THANKS for sharing and have a FABULOUS WEEKEND!! =)

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  87. Super cute card collection. Love this bear and all your adorable designs featuring him.

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  88. This bear cracks me up, too. Love him holding the JOY!

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  89. Wonderful cards using this fun bear.

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  90. Beary cute cards! Love how you made the globes

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  91. Beary fun cards! So cute - the bear is a must have!

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  92. Really neat cards! I especially love the one with the 3 bears holding the "j o y" letters. Such a cool idea! :) ~ Andrea

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  93. I love your cards. The bear is fabulous, I hope they come out with more bear wear as I plan to use the sets to send cards to my granddaughter while she is away at college.

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I absolutely love reading comments. Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to leave one! - Kelly