Ellen Hutson Catherine Pooler Hop

Hi Folks! I have loved creating with Catherine Pooler stamps and inks for quite some time now, and could not be happier that their product line is being added to the Ellen Hutson store! To celebrate, the Ellen Hutson team (ack, did I just say that?! Whoo-hoo! It's official, I'm on the team!!) is having a blog hop. You may have come from the one and only Julie Ebersole, but if not, feel free to start at the beginning in the CLASSroom.

 

Catherine and I got to meet a couple years ago at Creativation, but this year was extra special as it was her first year as an Exhibitor. And man, did she kill it, with winning Best New Exhibitor! So proud of her. And her team. They are a fun group to hang out with, that's for sure! I only demo'd the Catherine Pooler Inks for a bit the first day, but often ended up back in their booth the whole rest of the weekend. The top right photo always makes me laugh ... Catherine is getting ready to be filmed and asks the camera man how her hair looks. "Long," he replies. Hahahaha! The last photo is me, Catherine, Ingrid Blackburn (Design Team), Susan Furr (Director of Sales), and Shawna Clingerman (illustrator, including the gorgeous background wall). Good times!

One of the new products that I desperately wanted to play with is the Stained Glass Coverplate designed by none other than Julie Mogford (previously co-owner of Winnie & Walter!) Folks, this die is amazing! I came up with 6 different ways to use it on your card (besides just layering it on top of a background). Let's take a look ...

1) Only remove select negatives. This can result in many different patterns, but most of them will have a modern feeling to them. To go along with the modern style, I kept the sentiment simple (from Love Grows).

2) Make a See-Through Card. Start off as in example #1 by just removing select negatives, and then cut away that same shape in the card base below. This will allow you to see through to the inside of the card. It's nice to adhere colored or patterned paper inside. Also fun to tuck the sentiment into the negative spaces so it's suspended over the card.

3) Cut the coverplate in half (width-wise.) Once you have the two halves, layer them on top of each other to create even more new patterns and textures! Keeping both layers white, on a white card base, takes away some of the business of the pattern. This makes such a fun and interesting panel for your focal point.

 

4) Cut even more sections, and layer them randomly. Another fun look! This smaller panel is the perfect size for the "love" sentiment from Love Grows. A mini-attacher keeps all the layers together behind the heart. One of the flower middles is used to stamp around the border of the panel.

Here's what they look like after being cut. When you assemble them, just turn each section so the lines don't match up too much. 

5) Make a Dream Catcher! Once I got the courage to cut into the paper, I started thinking of shapes and what could be done with them. I'm sure there are a ton of shapes in this design, but I focused on the large circle in the middle.

 You can see I even used scrap paper (the one on the left with the blue ink) knowing that it would be hidden after it was layered. After layering them I twisted the top circle so it was offset and that made a pretty awesome dream catcher!

 

I blended some ink on the circles, and wrapped the edge with silver thread. I was a little worried about the feathers after running out of them mid-project. Then I remembered all those annoying stems that sometimes poke out of my down pillow inserts, unzipped the pillow covers, and harvested my own feathers. I'm happy to say, all of these feathers came from my family room pillows! I finished the strings off with a few seed beads.

6) Use your scraps!  After cutting a circle out of the middle of the die, I was left with an interesting frame. I watercolored an Aqua background, stamped a sentiment, and adhered a few of the flowers to complete the card. I love that there's texture around the card, but it doesn't take away from the focal point design.

Hopefully now you see why I love this Stained Glass cover plate so much! There are just so many different ways to use it. We didn't even get into layering multiple colors (which looks amazing, by the way!) If your budget isn't allowing you to buy this cover plate now (or if it's sold out already) you can probably use these same methods with another cover plate that you already own. Except maybe the dream catcher! I think that idea may be unique to this cover plate : )

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

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

Affiliate Links from Ellen Hutson:
 

Catherine Pooler Dies, Stained Glass Cover Plate

Catherine Pooler Clear Stamps, Love Grows

Catherine Pooler Dies, Love Grows

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

Ranger Ink Blending Tool, 1 Inch Round

Ranger Ink Blending Tool Replacement Foam, 1 Inch Round

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Sugared Lavendar

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Rose Petals

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Stone Blue

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Pixie Dust

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Black Jack

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Juniper Mist

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Peppermint Scrub

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Aquatini

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Seafoam

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Mint To Be

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Spruce

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, It's A Girl

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Daydream

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, It's A Boy