New Essentials By Ellen - Backyard Friends

Hi Folks! We've got a few new sets from Ellen Hutson this month, and one of the cutest is this Backyard Friends set. Several different birds, two branches, a nest, and several punny sentiments make this a set that's sure to be reached for often for all sorts of cards.

The branches are either in bloom for the Spring, or "leaved" for the summer. I chose to use the Spring branches so I could include the happy blossoms. It was fun using my bright red Copic colors to bring the Cardinal to life.

 For the nest, I used an exacto blade to cut a slit to slip the eggs inside.

The entire panel is spritzed with gold ink, and then sewn to the card base.

I'm sure we'll be seeing a flood of cards with these sweet birds shortly ... they're just so charming!

Tomorrow I'll share a few more cards featuring a Grandmother and a cute little boy. If you'd like to jump right to all the new sets, here's a quick link. Hope to see you then : )

Thanks for stopping by!
- Kelly

Affiliate links:

Backyard Bird Friends by Brandi Kincaid, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Melon Ice Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Aquatini Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Black Jack Uni-ball Impact Gel Pen, White My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (6-1/8 X 7) Sizzix Big Shot White & Gray We R Memory Keepers Basic Score Board Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps, Totally Random Sayings Vol. 2 by Julie Ebersole Life Changing Blender Brush - 4 Piece Broad, Picket Fence Studios (LCB-4) Life Changing Blender Brush - 6 Piece Fine, Picket Fence Studios (LCB-6) Teflon Bone Folder

Altenew WINNER!!

Hello Folks! Thanks so much for stopping by the Altenew Dahlia blog hop last week. You all are always so sweet with your comments. Totally warms my heart : )

I am pleased to announce the winner of the $20 Altenew gift certificate! The person who was randomly selected from the comments is:

NoxMarch 5, 2019 at 5:56 AM

Wonderful vase card - it looks so detailed and dimensional, I can almost feel it. The other cards are so lovely too - I especially love the colours of the last one!

ReplyDelete

Nox, please contact me at griglion@ameritech.net and I'll send you the details on claiming your prize. Big congrats!!
 
Thanks again for all your support!
Kelly

Blended Background with the Life Changing Blender Brushes

Hi Folks! I've been having so much fun using the Life Changing Blender Brushes since coming back from Creativation, and would like to share a few cards I made with them. This weekend the Ellen Hutson Designers had an instagram hop in celebration of March being National Craft Month (as if we all needed an excuse to be crafting ... hahahaha!!) There was no theme, we were just told to have fun creating something. Wonderful!

 I chose to use three of my favorite things:
1) Catherine Pooler Inks (for their coverage, and color range)
2) Picket Fence Studios Life Changing Blender Brushes (for their blending abilities)
3) Totally Random Sayings Vol. 2 by Julie Ebersole (for their universal appeal, and for their large font/scripty font combinations)

This first card didn't turn out so well blending-wise. There were some rough transitions so I set it aside to work on the next card. (If you want to know the details, it was mainly because my Tiara yellow ink pad was running out and I needed to add more ink to it. well, I added A LOT of ink, which made the blending of that color very splotchy at times. To reduce the blotchiness I dragged a paper towel over the top of the ink pad to soak up excess ink. This helped, but I was still left with the initial blotches.) Not wanting to toss it, however, I came back to it and figured I'd work with it to see what happens. I had nothing to lose. And you know what, I absolutely like this one better!

To cover up the rough blending transitions I stamped the word "happy" across the base of the card in corresponding ink colors. This provided distraction from the blending. Also, at first I had dark gray mountains on the bottom (like the next card you'll see) but after switching to clean white mountains it made the card so much more light and happy.

Here's the card that worked out better from a blending perspective. Due to not wanting to disrupt that, I left it super plain, hoping also that you'd see a sunset behind the mountains.

A large sentiment die is perfect for this simple card, and a large sentiment in GOLD is even better. I placed the gold "hello" in the section of the card that was more yellow/golden.

The mountains, as in the prior card, were created by selectively using the circular Alpine Windows dies straight across the card, rather than layered on top of each other.

I do like how they follow the same formula, but ended up slightly different from each other. Again, pushing myself to make a card from the left-overs worked out being a good thing.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

Affiliate Links (meaning I make a small commission if you purchase, at no cost to you ... thanks for your support!):

Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps, Totally Random Sayings Vol. 2 by Julie Ebersole Alpine Window by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies Big Scripty Hello by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies Mondo Gerbera Daisy by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Uni-ball Impact Gel Pen, White Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Black Jack Dual Speed Heat Tool, WOW My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (6-1/8 X 7) Sizzix Big Shot White & Gray We R Memory Keepers Basic Score Board Life Changing Blender Brush - 4 Piece Broad, Picket Fence Studios (LCB-4) Life Changing Blender Brush - 6 Piece Fine, Picket Fence Studios (LCB-6) Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Party Dress Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Tiki Torch Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Orange Twist Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Tiara Samba, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

Altenew Build-A-Flower: Dahlia Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Welcome, welcome! I'm just delighted to be a stop on this fabulous blog hop celebrating the newest Bulid-a-Flower release from Altenew ... the Dahlia! You may have just come from Svitlana Shayevich's blog, but if not feel free to start at the beginning of the hop at the Altenew Card Blog.

Yet again, Altenew has released a multi-step flower that allows you to have a burst of color, all without having to do the actual coloring. Genius!  

 In no time I was able to create this vibrant bouquet of dahlias in several different colors. 

 

I decided to turn the dahlia flower heads into stemmed flowers, and collect them in a glass vase that's filled with water. Here's how I did it:  

I always keep hard plastic packaging on hand instead of tossing it for reasons just like this. I drew a vase in permanent marker on the leftover packaging (I'm sure from a toy at Christmas) and cut it out. I then cut a piece of vellum with the same silhouette, and used the Altenew Artist Markers in the palest blue to make some water. Finally, some thin strips of paper are colored in green to make stems. 

Then it's just a matter of arranging your bouquet. Once I have them all in a pleasing arrangement I take a picture so I can remember how to put them back (I could also use the Glad Press 'n Seal plastic to pick everything up and hold it in place while I'm putting adhesive on).

To enhance the realism, I cut a slit along the lip of the vase so I could stick the actual stems through. Under the vase on the card base I've done a very light stenciling through the Elegant Swirls Stencil and added some spatters with the Altenew watercolors. The beautiful sentiment is from this new BAF Dahlia set.

After finishing this card, I realized I used a lot less flowers than I intended, so instead of putting the leftovers in a pile never-to-be-seen again, I pushed myself to make a few more cards.

They're super basic, with a trio of flowers gathered in an ink-blended corner of the card. Some have a gold embossed sentiment, some I left empty so I could pick the greeting when I need one.

Then I decided to try out a different color combination, and wouldn't you know, those turned out really well too!

For this card I just assembled the flowers in the center of the card and added some sequins and ink spatters. 

The background is blended with the colors I used for the flowers and leaves to keep things cohesive. I stamped a sentiment from this set on two strips of paper spanning across the card.

Again, I made a few too many flowers (because they are just so quick and easy to make!) so I used this opportunity to make an additional card. To keep things moving quickly, I didn't think about the format of the card at all, and just used the same formula as the last set of cards.

 

Wow, before I knew it I had SIX cards made from the Dahlia Build-a-Flower ... so fun!

Subscription Plan
There is now a monthly subscription plan for the Build-A-Flower sets! When signed up, you are guaranteed a spot in the monthly Build-A-Flower releases (which often sell out) and will receive the stamp and coordinating die set at a specially discounted price ($35.00 →$29.99). See the Altenew site for further details.
 
Prizes:

To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 6 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or Altenew Scrapbook Blog for a chance to win. Three winners will be announced on the Card Blog, and other three winners will be announced on the Scrapbook Blog on 3/9/2019.

My Giveaway:

The folks at Altenew have also generously provided a $20 gift certificate for one lucky follower/commenter on my blog! To be eligible, please 1) follow my blog and 2) leave a comment on this post before March 6th, 2019. I will announce the lucky winner on my blog on the 6th.

Your next stop on this hop is the lovely Vicky Papaioannou who has something beautiful to share with you!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Sure hope you enjoy all the wonderful inspiration from all of these mega-talented crafters!

Kelly

At no cost to you, affiliate links may be used.
If you get lost along the way, here is a complete list of the hop:

Altenew Card Blog

Norine Borys

Laura Bassen

Therese Calvird

Kathleen Graumüller

Svitlana Shayevich

Kelly Griglione <--- you are here!

Vicky Papaioannou

Patricia Roebuck

Virginia Lu

Seeka

Emily Midgett

Nathalie DeSousa

Altenew Scrapbook Blog

Anna Komenda

Heather Hoffman

Laurie Willison

Amber Rain Davis

Zinia Redo

Joni Andaya

Gayatri Murali

Winnie & Walter's Fifth Birthday! Lots of Prizes and Challenges!!

Hi Folks! Can you believe it's been five years for Winnie & Walter?! Seems like forever ago and yesterday too that I got an email from Shay saying she was wondering if I'd be interested in playing with some really fun stamps : ) Five years later, hundreds of stamps and dies, and a lifetime's worth of stamping "fun", we're celebrating Winnie & Walter's fifth birthday!

For the next month, we'll have several challenges that you'll be able to participate in to get those creative juices flowing, and to win lots of prizes. All the details are in this post. 

My challenge is a fairly simple one:

Make a project using stamps from three or more different sets.

I was happy to find that these elephants from two different sets combined to make the perfect family! Add the balloons from a third set, and you've got a sweet card for first time parents : )

Are you ready to play? Head over to the challenge at Winnie & Walter ... would love to see what you come up with!

As always, thanks for stopping by!
-Kelly