Essentials by Ellen February Pin-Sights Challenge

Hello crafty friends!   I'm so excited to be invited over to the Ellen Hutson blog today, to play along with the monthly Essentials by Ellen Pin-Sights Challenge.  Every third Thursday of the month a new inspirational challenge is posted with a chance for you to win a $50 gift certificate to the Ellen Hutson store.

Here is the gorgeous inspiration photo collage that you can use to make your card for February.

The rules are pretty simple when making your card:

1. Incorporate whatever inspires you about these pinned photos and colors.
2. Be sure to use some Essentials by Ellen products in your creation.
3.  Head on over to the Ellen Hutson Pin-sights challenge and link your card up to the challenge gallery You have until February 28th to enter to win!

I made two cards today that were inspired by the purple floral bouquet on the bottom and the gorgeous colors in the top photo.

I started out by stamping two identical backgrounds with the Essentials by Ellen Mondo Hydrangea stamp set.  Once on Canson Watercolor paper and once on Neenah Solar White cardstock.  This was made super easy by using the MISTI stamp positioner.

I water colored the image on watercolor paper using different shades of Ranger Distress Inks.   Then I diecut a heart shape in the finished watercolored piece, setting the heart aside.  I adhered the negative background piece it to the card front with dimensional tape.  I heat embossed the sentiment on a strip of black paper using white embossing powder then adhered it over the heart shape using dimensional tape.  I stamped, watercolored and cut out three single flowers to adhere with dimensional tape and added a few sequins for some sparkle.

Card 1 Supplies: 

• Stamps:  Mondo Hydrangea (Essentials by Ellen)

• Dies: Lawn Cuts Dies, Heart Stackables (Lawn Fawn)

• Ink:  Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves, Peacock Feathers, Evergreen Bough, Black Soot (Ranger), Onyx Black (Versafine), clear (Versamark).

• Paper: Neenah Solar White cardstock 110 lb, Canson Watercolor Paper

• Accessories:  WOW! Superfine White Embossing Powder,  Sparkling Clear Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Mounting Tape (Scotch)

Now, because I can't bring myself to throw away a diecut piece that I've already colored, I decided to use it on a second card.   This is where the second background on Neenah cardstock comes into play.  After gluing it to a cardfront, I lined the heart up in the middle and adhered it with dimensional tape for a subtle spotlight affect.  I added three single watercolored flowers  and the Essentials by Ellen Be-You-Ti-Ful diecut sentiment that I color blended with Ranger Distress inks.

Supplies: 

• Stamps:  Mondo Hydrangea (Essentials by Ellen)

• Dies: Be-You-Tiful (Essentials by Ellen),   Lawn Cuts Dies, Heart Stackables (Lawn Fawn)

• Ink:  Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves, Peacock Feathers, Evergreen Bough, Black Soot (Ranger), Onyx Black (Versafine).

• Paper: Neenah Solar White cardstock 110 lb, Canson Watercolor Paper

• Accessories:  Tonic Nuvo Crystal Drops Black Ebony,   Mounting Tape (Scotch)

Well, that's all for today my friends. I had a great time with this challenge and  I hope you get a chance to play along.

  

The Ton's February Challenge - Heart

Hi everyone!  It's time for another monthly challenge over at The Ton!
For the month of February we're celebrating what else?..... love of course, with the cue word  "HEART".



 The Ton's Challenge Blog 

We challenge you to make a card using the cue word HEART as your inspiration.   You have the whole month of February to enter as many times as you like, for a chance to WIN a $50 gift certificate  for  The Ton online store.  You can click on the link to head on over and check out the details any time.  But first I'd like to show you a card I made for this month's  
Heart Challenge!

The word "HEART" inspired me to pull out those adorable heart shaped Sunnies glasses to compliment the "fabulous" stamp from The Ton's new Seriously Amazing stamp set. 

Supplies:

• Stamps:  Seriously Amazing, Sunnies, Beautiful Day Bicycle, XOXO (The Ton).

• Dies:  Sunnies Coordinating Dies

• Ink:  Hollywood Star, Ballet Slippers, Noir, Hampton White Pigment (The Ton), clear emboss (Versamark).

• Paper:  Silver Glitter Adhesive Paper (The Ton), Solar White cardstock 110 lb (Neenah), black cardstock.

• Accessories:  Silver Metallic Sequins 4mm (The Ton), white superfine embossing powder, clear superfine embossing powder (Ranger), dimensional tape.

To give the affect of seeing thru the glasses, I first stamped the "fabulous" word multiple times on the card base with The Ton's Hollywood Star ink and set aside.  On another piece of cardstock I stamped the "fabulous" one more time. Then, using a blending tool I lightly blended the light pink Ballet Slippers ink over the top of the fabulous.  This is what gave the word a blurry, muted look.

 After the ink dried I stamped the glasses from the Sunnies stamp set in Noir black, over the blended "fabulous" word, then diecut the image.  To make them shine like real sunglasses,  I took a clear Versamark ink pad directly to the glasses image and then embossed clear embossing powder over the top.  Doing this step muted the the stamped word even more.  I positioned the glasses on the stamped card base with dimensional tape, being sure to line up the letters on the glasses to the letters on the card base.  I added some little Silver Metallic Sequins on the frames for some bling.

To finish up this card I added a strip of  The Ton's Silver Glitter Adhesive Paper to the bottom of the card.  I also stamped some black hearts from the Beautiful Day Bicycle stamp set and the sentiment from the Sunnies stamp set.  I used the new XOXO stamp set on the inside of the card to wish a Happy Valentine's Day!

That's all  for today my friends.  Thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope you'll make some time this month to join in this fun Heart Challenge with us over at The Ton Blog.  We love seeing all of your creations and it's so fun to see everyone's interpretation of each challenge.  

Have a great day and happy stamping!