Essentials By Ellen March Release Blog Hop

Hi Friends! I'm so happy to be celebrating the new Essentials by Ellen release that we've been previewing for awhile! There are a lot of fun products in this release. You may have come from Brandi Kincaid (illustrator of Bravehearted and Life is a Circus), but if not feel free to start at the beginning with Carissa Wiley.

This Clever Sausage set has already gotten a lot of use when making birthday cards for my youngest son's friends. The combination of modern styling, punny sentiments, and popular occasions make this set super useful!

Clever Sausage comes with dies, but you certainly don't need them to make a card. This card is completely stamped and masked without dies (except for the party hat, because I totally forgot to stamp that one before stamping the dog : ) )

I colored the scene with copics. These simple shapes make coloring a snap. It might be hard to see, but I put glossy accents on the skateboard wheels.

There's also a fun circus theme throughout this release. These cards are from the Bravehearted set. I really love that the main word in each sentiment is sized to perfectly fit inside the lion's mouth. Love this graphic style!

As you can see, my main (pun intended) orange copic marker is running dry, hahaha! I decided to roll with it, and use it to my advantage to make a textured mass of curly hair for the lion's mane. Then I masked the bottom and sponged some stripes from the Skinny Stripes die that I turned into a stencil.

The 2-in-1 Box Die is a great size for little birthday gifts like jewelry, washi tapes, small candies, a gift card, so many different things! It's smartly designed, as you use the same die for both cuts, and just flip one of the cuts over when you're putting it together.

You can orient the box vertically like this, or horizontally like the next project. Gotta love the options. It's fun to decorate your box just like you would a card. I sponged rainbow stripes from the Skinny Stripes Die and used a bird from EBE Backyard Bird Friends set.

The tag is a die that comes with the box. I cut a second tag in white, cut most of it off, and used that as a custom topper for the tag. The sentiment is from Totally Random Sayings Vol #2.

You can also just put the sentiment directly on the box, just like you would with a card. This sentiment is from the Good Times Set and it fills the space well.

TIP: if you want it to be able to flatten for mailing or storage, make sure to only adhere the two sides together. The top and bottom flap will remain loose. Depending on what's in your box, you may want to reinforce the bottom flap to keep the contents in.

Finally, I used the 2-in-1 Box Die as a base for this cute circus car, and the 2-in-1 Box Die Circus Add-On to add all the circus-y details, like these over-sized wheels. 

I cut out an extra set of the gold wheel trim pieces so each side of the black tires are detailed. Here's a rear view of the circus car.

The All Inside Bear is the perfect scale to sit inside this circus car. AND, he gets to use his little hands to hold the bars on his cage! Ha! He's either holding on for balance, or he's wanting to come out. The little bear from Bear Ware 4 is another good addition to the festivities inside.

Here you can see how the bears are arranged. I have three narrow strips going across the bottom of the open-ended box (not visible when you look thru the car). The bears are attached to these strips.

The happy dotted pattern on this circus car comes from the the Wonky Backgrounds set. Did you notice the sentiment on the car? It's in two parts ... "wishing you a beary" black strips on the left, ...

... and a "happy birthday" vellum banner on the right. The small flags on top come with the add-on set, and the large flags on top are from the Little Lady dies. One other thing I'd like to point out is the gold details on the top of the car. Look familiar? These are the wedge pieces from inside the gold wheel die cuts!

Here's another view from underneath.

As always, the car folds flat for mailing and storage. The vellum "happy birthday" banner that flies on the right side of the car will fold behind the car so it fits perfectly in the envelope.

Hope you liked these two circus-themed cards, as well as the clever sausage birthday card!

Prizes:
We’ve got super fun prizes!!! One random & lucky commenter will win $25 to the EH shop and one will win the whole March Essentials by Ellen release!!! To enter for a chance to win, make sure to leave comments at each stop along the hop! Comment before Thursday, March 12th at 11:59pm PST. Winners will be notified by email.

I now have the pleasure to send you over to my friend Laurel Beard, who I'm sure has some fabulous projects to share!

Thanks so much for checking out all my projects!

- Kelly

Supplies Used (Affiliate links, thanks so much for your support of my projects and blog!)

Clever Sausage by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Clever Sausage by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies Two-in-One Box, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies Two-in-One Box, Circus Add-On, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies Bravehearted by Brandi Kincaid, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Bravehearted by Brandi Kincaid, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies All Inside by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Skinny Stripes by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies Bear Ware 4 by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps Bear Ware 4 by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies All Inside by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies Wonky Backdrops By Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps Leading Ladies - Little Lady By Brandi Kincaid, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps Leading Ladies - Little Lady By Brandi Kincaid, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies Backyard Bird Friends by Brandi Kincaid, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Totally Random Sayings Vol. 2 by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps Good Times by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps 36 Pan Set, Altenew Watercolor Paint Uni-ball Impact Gel Pen, White Black Jack, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad