w&w Day 4: Sew a Home for your Kitties

Hi Friends! Still loving the new Seeing Hearts stamp together with In a Word: Love, and couldn't put them down while trying out the new Purrfect with Evelin T Designs set. 

First I made a home for the kitties with the True Dotty Heart Cutaway by cutting off the bottom of the darker pink heart and sewing it to the lighter pink heart. The dimples around the edge of the heart make sewing a snap!

Then you can just tuck in your kitty couple and skip the adhesive.

There is a layer of fun foam under the heart to pop it up. And the background is made from stamping the Seeing Hearts stamp once in 5 different Catherine Pooler Inks

 

 

Be sure to check out the other amazing projects on the Winnie & Walter blog. You may have noticed we're also celebrating Winnie & Walter's 4th birthday! There are a ton of challenges going on, with one participant for each challenge winning a $75 gift card to the store!!! My challenge is to make a card (or two) with just the scraps and leftovers you've accumulated, but there are NINE other challenges for you to check out and get inspired. If that's not big enough, The GIGANTIC Giveaway is for all the products released in 2018!

   
Hope you enjoyed the new release goodies, which will be available at 10:00 pm CST tonight! There are seven (7) stamps (For Luck is free with qualifying $25 purchase), ten (10) dies and twelve (12) Catherine Pooler inks.

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

w&w Day 3: Pink and Gray Valentine

Hi Folks! Not a lot of stamping for Day 3 of Winnie & Walter's release. Instead I had a lot of fun using several of the dies like the two layered hearts (and two tiny hearts) from True Dotty Heart Cutaways, and the sentiments from In a Word: Hugs & Kisses Cutaways and In a Word: Love Coordinating Cutaways.

Instead of using the die cut "Hugs & Kisses" I moved it around a little and turned it into "Hugs, Kisses & [love]." I used the inside of "s" for the comma.

 Love all the thin, rounded lines in the die cut text.

The Love die has been stamped in white ink from In a Word: Love before being cut with the coordinating die. I love that the "e" is raised giving us the perfect space to put the remaining sentiment "always".

 

Be sure to check out the other amazing projects on the Winnie & Walter blog. You may have noticed we're also celebrating Winnie & Walter's 4th birthday! There are a ton of challenges going on, with one winner for each challenge winning a $75 gift card to the store!!! My challenge is to make a card (or two) with just the scraps and leftovers you've accumulated, but there are NINE other challenges for you to check out and get inspired. If that's not big enough, The GIGANTIC Giveaway is for all the products released in 2018!

   
Please stop by tomorrow to see more goodies from this new release! 
  

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

w&w Day 2: Mass Produced Valentine's Day Cards

Hi Folks! It's release week for Winnie & Walter! And a week before Valentine's Day! If you still need to make several Valentine's Day cards, you're going to need them to be quick and easy. I know some of you are rock stars who make each person their own unique card for the holidays and "mass produced" sends shivers down your spine. However, a girl's gotta do what a girl's got to do when you're less than a week away! Here's what I did last night ...

Fold a sheet of cardstock in half lengthwise, and then cut in four strips (2.75 x 8.25). I'm using my favorite inks, the foam pad dye inks from Catherine Pooler, which will now be available in select colors through the Winnie & Walter store! Also using two new stamp sets from Winnie & Walter, Scenery: Seeing Hearts and In a Word: Love.

Once you get the multi heart stamp set in the Misti, and your sentiment stamps, you're all set to make a ton of note cards! For the last two panels on the right, I set them side-to-side in the misti. Since the stamp is made to accommodate a horizontal A2 card I was able to stamp only once to make both panels. Efficiency! Here's what the two panels look like on a card base ...

Simple, easy, classy. The yellow card has a gray trim on the bottom that was cut with the new Georgette Border Cutaways. The gray card background is grid paper, which I chose based on Keren's fun Birthday Bash Challenge to use grid paper on your card. Love the extra texture that doesn't take away from the rather busy collection of hearts on the panel.

Here are the cute note cards. Love this smaller size, which is perfect for the sentiment on front. A little love note. Plus I like with the smaller size you don't feel like you need to write a novel to take up all the space inside. 

I'm planning on using these for either the classroom valentines, or for neighbor/friend valentines. Perhaps both?! Either way, I know they will be quick to make!

 

Be sure to check out the other amazing projects on the Winnie & Walter blog. You may have noticed we're also celebrating Winnie & Walter's 4th birthday! There are a ton of challenges going on, with one winner for each challenge winning a $75 gift card to the store!!! My challenge is to make a card (or two) with just the scraps and leftovers you've accumulated, but there are NINE other challenges for you to check out and get inspired. If that's not big enough, The GIGANTIC Giveaway is for all the products released in 2018!

   
Please stop by over the next two days to see more goodies from this new release! 
  

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

New Challenges In Progress for W&W - 4th Birthday Bash!

Hi Folks! To celebrate Winnie & Walter's 4th birthday (WOW, where has the time gone?!) we are hosting another bevy of card-making challenges on the blog! There are photo inspiration challenges, coloring challenges, CASE-ing challenges, shaker challenges, multiple stamping challenges, grid paper challenges, even non-card making challenges. Really, something for everyone!

The challenge I'm hosting is: Use Your Scraps

It's time, lovelies! All those hoarded scraps and leftovers are going to get put to use, and live happily on several beautiful cards that you make this month! Whoo-hoo!! Cleaning and card-making all at the same time. You will be so productive!




In the challenge post I've got pictures of the cards I made after sorting through my piles, as well as some of the scraps I still have left and how I organize them. These word dies are organized in baseball card pocket pages, which are just the perfect size. I love flipping through them, especially knowing what a disaster the pile looked like before they moved here : )

What a feeling of accomplishment I had after my pile of half-finished cards was GONE, especially after years of collecting there! I sincerely hope you can share in some of that excitement.

And while you're thinking of which challenges to jump into, take a look at the main Birthday Bash post which has details on the Gigantic Giveaway, i.e., how to win ALL THE STAMPS IN 2018! What a prize!

Thanks so much for looking, and I sure hope you set aside some time this month to participate in these inspiring challenges. Happy birthday Winnie & Walter!!
-Kelly

Spotlight Coloring in The Classroom

Hi Folks! I've got a post in The Classroom at Ellen Hutson today featuring spotlight coloring. Perfect technique if coloring a large stamp or scene is a little intimidating ... just intentionally color a small portion of it!

As a bonus, this may or may not be a sneak of two February Leading Ladies sets that haven't been released yet : )

Sure hope you click over to The Classroom to check it all out!

Thanks for stopping!
- Kelly

Ellen Hutson Blog Hop

Hi Folks! Welcome to the blog hop celebrating the latest United We Flourish set, Better Together by Hero Arts! You may have just come from the one-and-only Julie Ebersole, but if not feel free to start at the beginning in The CLASSroom.

The latest in the United We Flourish campaign, this stamp and coordinating die set is all about friendship, and, well, being "Better Together" ... how can you argue with that? 

I knew I wanted to feature these birds in a heart, since I was going with the punny "you're a tweet heart" sentiment. So I cut a heart from cardstock (like old-school, freehand...gasp!) and used that to stamp the adorable bird images on. The birds are colored with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers.

The heart is mounted on some silver thread wrapped around the charcoal panel. I drew a couple outlines around the heart and colored the margin.

Originally, I stamped several birds in the heart, but after I colored them I realized that wasn't the direction I was going. In the past I would put the unused heart in a drawer I have for scraps to "save for later" ... ha! Ask me how that's been going, as I struggle to close it. Not so good. Somehow, "later" never shows up. So, in the spirit of New Year's resolutions, I've resolved NOT to add anything to my drawer. I either 1) use it or 2) lose it. In this case, I spent too much time coloring to lose it, and there were no giant ink blobs or other issues with it, so I made it into a second card. Spent about 5 minutes getting the card base ready, wrapped more of the silver thread that was already out, and stamped a new sentiment. DONE. This made me feel very productive!

One more thing to mention...no need to feel constrained by how a stamp is laid out. On my original card I ended up cutting the words of the sentiment apart (after they were stamped, I don't usually cut my actual stamp unless I want it to be a permanent change) so they could be read vertically. I also wanted the black to add more weigh down the middle of the card. My "extra" card was all about speed so I left the sentiment as-is. You always have options!

PRIZES

To celebrate, two randomly selected commenters will win a $30 gift certificate to the Ellen Hutson shop! To enter just leave a comment on the Ellen Hutson Classroom blog by 11:59 PST on January 28^th.

Your next stop on this hop is the wonderful Kittie Caracciolo!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Kelly

ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker, Set of 48

Lawn Fawn Stamp Shammy

ATG Kit, Advanced Tape Glider

ATG Double-Sided Refill Tape, 2 pk, 1/4"

My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (6-1/8 X 7)

Sizzix Big Shot White & Gray

Sizzix Accessory, Magnetic Platform for Wafer-Thin Dies

Neenah Cardstock, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, 250 Sheet Ream

Smooching Pooches Light Up Valentine with Chibitronics

Hi Folks! I'm happy to share another light up card using the magic of Chibitronics. This is a sweet valentine that features two little dogs falling in love.

When you slide the little pooch over to give a smooch, something magical happens!

Love is in the air!

If you would like to see the full instructions and photos for how this card came together, I welcome you to check out my post on the Chibitronics blog.

SPECIAL NOTE: For anyone going to Creativation (CHA) this weekend, let me know and I'd love to meet up with you! I'll be demoing the wonderful Catherine Pooler Inks in her booth from 10:00-11:00 on Saturday, and helping with the exciting Chibitronics class at noon on Saturday. The rest of the time I'll be roaming around and having too much fun!

Hope to see you in Phoenix!
- Kelly