W&W December Rerun - Stampets: Penguin

 

Hi Folks! Each month at Winnie & Walter we feature a previously released set and host a challenge (either with that set, or something that inspires you from the featured projects). This month we're featuring the smaller 3x4 Stampets: Penguin set.

 

 

There's a bit of masking going on here, but for the extra time it took to do that, I saved more time with the black and white coloring. 

The only marker colors I really used was for the scarf. I decided to just cut the scarf out instead of masking it because 1) masking would have been more involved, 2) I could color the stripes outside the lines since I was cutting it out anyway, and 3) the ends of the scarf would be able to bend outwards. To make the scarf look a little more textured and real, I drew a few lines through the striped design with a colorless blending pen.

 The background was blended with Catherine Pooler's Midnight and Juniper inks, and then flicked with some gold spray from Heidi Swapp and some watered down white paint. I had to cut a lot of heads to mask the penguins before I flicked paint on the background!

Instead of gray shadows, I used light blue shadows for them since they're on the ice.
 

Be sure to check out the Winnie & Walter blog for details on how to participate in the monthly rerun challenge, and win a $25 gift card. Also, don't forget that this set is currently on sale all month!

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly 

FOUR Different Ways to Use the NEW Hands Dies from Ellen Hutson

Hi folks! I'm so excited to show you four different things you can do with the new Hands die at Ellen Hutson!!

This set comes with a pair of hands in a small and large size. Aside from giving you more options with your design, the two different sizes also makes it a lot easier to create multiples when you can run them both through at the same time. This comes in handy for cards like this first one where you want a lot of hands to make a crowd ...

   

1. Make a cheering crowd. Some of you may have seen my post on Instagram where I shared my inspiration for this card. 

 

 

Now that the boys are old enough to be left at home for an evening we've been attending a lot of concerts. To me, there's nothing like the feeling of one of your favorite performers coming on stage for the first time, and the crowd going wild.

This translates perfectly to this card, where you just see the shadows of all the hands raised up in celebration. And how easy is this card to make ... just die cut a bunch of hands, stick them on a card base that's been blended with white ink in the middle, and heat emboss the sentiment. It's a perfect congrats card for those hard-to-impress teen boys. 

 

2. Use them to enhance your sentiment. You may have several sentiments already that would work with hands, holding, gestures (like waving "hi"), etc. but if not, there's a coordinating stamp set called Hang On with several compatible phrases.

This card uses one of those phrases, embossed onto a heart I cut out, and held by a mom wearing a sweater. I really love the visuals of this card echoing its sentiment to send a strong message. 

3. Use them to hold your gift inside the card. I am SO EXCITED about this one, and this reason alone would make me want these hands! How many times to you go to put a gift card or money inside a card and HAVE NO IDEA what to do with it so you just put it loosely inside the card? Then maybe it falls once the recipient opens it, maybe not, you have no idea.

If you adhere the base of a hand under a strip on the bottom of your card, just fold up your money and slip it in between the fingers. No need to adhere it ... it's light enough and small enough to stay put through normal use of the card. If you have a gift card, you might want to put light adhesive under the gift card, but it would still have a purpose for being on the card (because someone is giving it to you).

I love that it literally looks like you're being given money by someone (you)!

4. Depict Sign Language. I can't decide if idea #3 or #4 is my favorite ... being able to actually show a specific sign language word/phrase/letter opens up a whole new door of communication with these dies!

This one here is the sign for I Love You, where the letters I, L and Y are all combined.

I kept everything white, except for the red sentiment, and the subtle background with a stamp from Snow Days. Conveniently, the "I Love You" phrase is also part of one of the sentiments in the Hang On set. Just think of the possibilities here! You could bend the fingers to make so many different things ... Hang Ten, have it point to something important, make an initial in sign language, actually spell out someone's name in sign language, OK, call me, etc. It would be really fun to make a series of these cards too. Or a set to give someone.

Sure hope you came away with some good ideas for this set of dies and/or the coordinating stamp set! It's available starting TODAY in the Ellen Hutson shop!

Thanks for looking!
Kelly

Affiliate Links (which simply means if you purchase something using these links I get a small portion of the sale, at no additional cost to you. So appreciate your support!)

Hands by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies Hang On By Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps Hands & Hang On By Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Stamp & Die Combo Snow Days by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Aquatini Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Mint To Be Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Garden Party Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Melon Ice Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Green Tea My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (6-1/8 X 7)

Ellen Hutson New Letterboard Dies!!

Hi Folks!

Ack!

It's a LETTERBOARD!!!!

And you can make a million of them!

For any reason!

The newest Essentials by Ellen release, which is out TODAY, has a stand-alone Letterboard die set which includes a letterboard, a frame for that letterboard, and an entire set of alphas! I am so in love! It's almost a shame how easy it is to crank out actual letterboards, and all the letters you need. I can see this being used for parties, home decor, tags, menus, place settings, cards ... so many possibilities. Let's take a look!

This letterboard is framed with a gold glitter paper to give it a little sparkle, but other than that it's just a simple phrase and you've got a super cute holiday decoration.

I cut a few sets of the alphas so I'd have a lot to choose from, and then started gluing the letters down with a thin glue applicator.

To break up the alphas a little I colored the "bright" in a light pink with copic markers. Love that there's an ampersand in this set.

I ended up using two layers of cardstock for each letter so they have a good amount of dimension. Boy, do they look like actual letters stuck in an actual letterboard! I was so excited seeing the rounded edged, thin letters for the first time!

The back of this panel is a stenciled dots pattern adhered to a piece of chipboard, with a stand that folds out. Love that this letterboard is free-standing as well!

This letterboard shows off a few more words, in addition to a few script words that come from an add-on set, Essentials by Ellen Letterboard Script 2.

It's really fun mixing the straight alphas with the scripty alphas.

I curved the "favorite" and "smile" words around the smiley face (which also comes with the main alphas set).

Those embossed lines on the letterboard just make me happy : )

You don't have to maintain the original rectangle shape of the letterboard ... here I've cut it down to fit a smaller sentiment. This could remain a stand-up letterboard, or you can make it into a really cute tag. You may be able to see on the lower edges of the white frame I've mitered the corners to make the frame fit the smaller letterboard.

The asterisk is also included in the alpha, and makes fabulous snowflakes!

One bonus use for the actual letterboard with the embossed lines is for journaling. Yes!!! Love having something to guide my writing (both in maintaining a consistent height, and with consistent spaces between the lines) that does not really show up. I'm seriously considering making 100 of these on white paper and using those to put on the inside of every card I send out! Why not write straight?!

The frame for the inside of this card is made from stamping one row of that sweater background stamp from Snow Days.

One additional thing I wanted to point out ... it's amazing how the Skinny Stripes die is EXACTLY the right width and height to be used as a letterboard! Now instead of embossed lines, you can use actual lines from all the cut stripes. What?! Craziness, I tell you. I may have shrieked when I figured this out. Those smart designers of the Essentials by Ellen line : )

Really excited to see what everyone is going to make with these mini letterboards! There really are a wide variety of uses for these dies. You could even use the alphas on their own if you have a custom sentiment you wanted to put together.

Thanks so much for looking! If you're interested, here's a link to the entire December release!

-Kelly

Affiliate Links (which simply means if you purchase something using these links I get a small portion of the sale, at no additional cost to you. So appreciate your support!)

Letterboard, Essentials By Ellen Die Combo Letterboard, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies Letterboard Script 2, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies Snow Days by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps Altenew Stencils, Feeling Dotty My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (6-1/8 X 7)