Essentials by Ellen October Release

Hello Folks! Welcome to the Essentials by Ellen blog hop showcasing the new October release of stamps and dies!

You may have come from Therese's blog, but if not please feel free to start at the beginning with Ardyth's blog. 

It's a set of Sasquatch!! This Lil' Squatch set has two adorable Sasquatch who can either be lurking in the forest behind the trees, which are also included, or they can be out in the open with your greetings.

The Squatch in the background is hiding behind the forest cut with the corresponding dies. I appreciate that these trees come in a group of three so you don't have to worry about cutting multiples, or arranging them on your card. You get an instant forest!

The "May the Forest be with You" sentiment cracks me up. I always prefer to have additional words on my cards, so I found "your birthday" from another EBE set and then just added "on" with my felt tipped pen. Sometimes I don't always know what to do with the extras in a set, like mushrooms, berries, etc. but I really like having the tiny acorn above the sentiment to reinforce the forest theme.

Speaking of really liking sentiments, this one from the Voices in my Head Vol 2 set is hilarious! And so relatable, for people of any age. This would be a perfect teen card.

 

The font is perfect for another attempt to make my own Far Side cartoon (here's the first one I made). I traced the Alpine Windows mountains and then just drew a rectangle. It's fun to color in shades of gray.

Julie has added to her popular Mondo flower series, this time with a Mondo Chrysanthemum and corresponding dies. What I love is that in addition to the giant flower, you get giant leaves. Just perfect for a fall birthday card!

After gold embossing the leaves, I watercolored them with oranges and yellows, and finished up with a gold spatter. The edges of the card base are colored with a copic marker.

Finally, we have an adorable snowman to stitch up for Christmas! With all the holes cut out, this would be the perfect project to work on with your kids or grandchildren.

You could even host an ornament-making party! Felt is so inexpensive ... just buy a quantity of white, and then the rest of the elements are so small you could probably cut them all from the scraps you may have lying around. How fun would it be to gather everyone around a table with a pile of snowmen and accessories in the middle, and just start sewing, chatting, and singing Christmas carols?!

There's something so cozy about felt and all of its glorious texture! Don't forget to slightly stuff him before you sew him up. I used actual stuffing, but you could also just use whatever you have on hand. Tissue (paper or Kleenex) would work well 

Also don't forget to cut an extra scarf for the back.

Like my friend Betty mentioned on IG this week, it would be so neat to have a whole tree filled with these guys! Put a Hallmark movie on and grab your needle and thread!

PRIZES:

We've got fun prizes!!! One random & lucky commenter will win $25 to the EH shop and one will win the whole October Essentials by Ellen release!!! To enter for a chance to win, make sure to leave comments at each stop along the hop! Comment before Sunday, October 13th at 11:59pm PST. Winners will be notified by email.

I'm pleased to send you to Lisa's blog where I know you'll see several amazing projects!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly



 

Supplies Used (including affiliate links ... thanks so much for your support!):

Lil' 'Squatch by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Mondo Chrysanthemum by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Mondo Chrysanthemum by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies Totally Random Sayings Vol. 3 by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Voices in my Head Vol. 2 by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Lil' 'Squatch by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies Sew Cute - Snowman, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies Teflon Bone Folder, Essentials by Ellen My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (6-1/8 X 7) Life Changing Blender Brush - 4 Piece Broad, Picket Fence Studios (LCB-4)

Altenew October 2019 Stencil/Washi Tape/Die Cut Tape Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hello Folks! I must confess, this is the first time I've gotten to play with washi tape that doesn't come in a standard 1/2" width, and I'm totally addicted!

You may have come from the blog of my friend Kymona Tracey, but if not please feel free to start at the beginning of the blog hop with the Altenew Card Blog.


1) Calming Bouquet Washi Tape

Calming Bouquet Washi Tape

 

This is a super wide washi tape, which is great because all you need is to roll out 4.5 inches to cover an entire card front.

For this first card I cut out one of the floral bunches from the washi tape, put that on a scrap piece of cardstock, and then trimmed around the edges in greater detail. Then I cut a separate flower and popped that on top of the floral bunch.

Having that additional flower popped up on top really makes the bouquet come to life. I thought the pale tones in these florals made it suitable for a sympathy card, which is always a challenge for me. I not a fan of dark, black sympathy cards, and at the same time I'd feel disrespectful sending a bright and happy bouquet of flowers. These colors fall in the middle quite nicely. The sentiment is further popped up, and is from Sentiment Strips.

While I had the roll of washi out, I unrolled another piece and covered the entire front of the card with it. I love the waxy finish it gives the card ... a nice change from cardstock. The only disadvantage to the waxy finish is that adhesive doesn't stick to it very well. No problem, I just used glue to secure the Mega You die and sentiment from Mega Greetings 2.

2. Gradient Lines Washi

Gradient Lines Washi Tape

Talk about a versatile washi tape! Stripes, black & white, and gradient to mix it up a bit.

I used this washi like the last card ... to cover the front of a card. The black and white stripes looked like the beginnings of a modern Halloween card. This is a phrase I saw on a little girl's t-shirt at the semi-annual consignment sale I participate in. Loved it! And then came home and turned it into a card! Inspiration is everywhere, right?!
 

I'm still in love with the tall, narrow font from the recently released Tall Alpha Dies. The slight curves (like for the "A" and "E") make it a little unexpected and exciting. 

3. Vibrant Spray Die Cut Tape

Vibrant Spray Die Cut Tape

 

WOW!! I wish I could create something as beautiful as this! But since I probably can't, I'm sure glad Altenew makes it for me : ) 

I used the leftover Gradient Lines washi from the last card, to put on the bottom of this card. Then I stuck 4.25" of the Vibrant Spray Die Cut Tape. Finally I embossed a sentiment from Birch Impressionism in gold.

It seriously cannot be easier than that! But I absolutely love how it turned out!! 

Modern Stripes + Watercolor Florals = always a winning combination

4. Rose Bouquet Stencil

Rose Bouquet Stencil

Here we've got a stencil that's made to cover the entire card base for you. Nice! 

For this card I inked up the stencil in the corner of the card, and then filled in with another set or two of florals. Before I did that, however, I put a strip of washi tape across the top of the card to act as a mask, so I'd have some white space for the sentiment. Maybe that was a little too much effort though, as it seemed the stencil was made for me to be able to use it as-is for your card design.

So I tried using the stencil only once, and boy does it work well! I made a mask to make using more than one color easy ... putting the flowers over the stencil when I'm inking the greenery, and vice-versa.

Same design, it's just in a different corner with different colors.

And then I flipped the stencil over to make a third card. What a fun set of cards! The sentiments are from Japenese Mum.

Here's a recap of all the projects I made from this release!

Here's a visual of all the goodies from the October 2019 Stencil/Washi Tape/Die Cut Tape Release.

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 by 10/8/2019 for a chance to win. 
 

We’ll also draw a winner to receive a $15 gift certificate from the comments left on each designer’s blog on the blog hop list below. All winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on 10/12/2019.

I am pleased to send you to Keeway Tsao's blog, who always creates wonderful bits of magic! 

Thanks so much for stopping by. If you enjoyed your time here, I'd welcome you to follow me on Instagram for all my latest projects!

- Kelly

Supplies used (with affiliate links at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for your support!!):

Calming Bouquet Washi Tape

Gradient Lines Washi Tape

Vibrant Spray Die Cut Tape

Rose Bouquet Stencil

 

BAF Japenese Mum

 

Tall Alpha Dies

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

Hello Folks! I'm excited to share the latest in Altenew's Build-A-Flower (BAF) series, Build-a-Flower: Fuchsia! This set comes with two flowers, a bud, two leaves and a stem. I like that the fuchsia hangs down from a branch, so if you have some of the other BAFs that face up to the sky, this will be a nice addition to mix things up.

You may have come from the blog of Maryam Perez but if not please feel free to start at the beginning of the blog hop with the Altenew Card Blog.

Aren't they such pretty flowers? And I love that the BAFs come with the corresponding dies, because cutting around those long, thin stamens would be difficult! I went with the traditional colors of red with a purple center. Since the flowers are long and thin, allowing you to see in between the blooms, I added a shaker element.

Here you can see the flowers a little closer, as well as the the Faceted Stars background stamp in the background.

The varied font sentiments are also included with this set. Love that they are separate stamps so you can change the color of each phrase easily.

This card is a little simpler. I thought the downward-facing flowers would be a good candidate for a sympathy card (maybe because downward-facing eyes make a sympathetic expression?! idk)  This time I just stamped the outline of the flowers and leaves, and skipped all of the solid layers. Then I used the Altenew watercolors to color in the blooms.

The sentiment comes from the newest die cut alphabet set ... Tall Alpha. The size of these alphas are just perfect, as I've found to be the case many times.

Just using the outline stamp is an easy way to get a different look when you're creating several cards from the same stamp set.

Here's the layering guide, very simple to line up all the layers. 

If you're not sure you have enough shades of each ink color for the Build a Flower set, you can also purchase the set with coordinating ink cubes at a 5% discount.

Subscription Plan:
There's 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 and will receive the stamps and coordinating dies at a special discounted price ($35.00 -> $29.99). See 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.
    
We'll also draw a winner to receive a $15 gift certificate from the comments left on each designer's blog. All winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on 10/7/2019.

Now I am happy to send you to the very sweet and crazy-talented, Ashlea Cornell, who I know has something gorgeous to share with you!
  

Thanks so much for stopping by. If you enjoyed your time here, I'd welcome you to follow me on Instagram for all my latest projects!

-Kelly

Supplies Used (with affiliate links at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for your support!!):

 

Build-a-Flower:Fuchsia

Buils

Tall Alpha Dies