Ellen Hutson's Pin Sights Challenge

Last week I got in a few of Ellen Hutson's new products in and I have to say they are great! This is my first experience with the Essentials by Ellen stamps and dies, though I do use the storage envelopes and magnetic sheets, so I knew the quality would be on point.

As soon as I saw the Mondo Sakura stamp set, I had to break it out and try water color stamping with it. I made several variations including a couple that used the colors and images for the April Color Trends Challenge: Pantone Drama Queen Palette. I will probably have another post using the other three backgrounds I made because I love all of them. 


Using my mini Misti, I stamped the Mondo Sakura flower onto some damp (not wet) watercolor paper. I used Distress Inks, and worked on the colors from top to bottom: vintage photo, picked raspberry, seedless preserves, peacock feathers, and salty ocean. 

When everything was dry I stamped my greeting on the background with VersaFine onyx black ink. The "extraordinary" I stamped on vellum and coated it with Ranger's Black Sparkle embossing powder, which gives any product an little extra. 

New Essentials by Ellen Mondo Sakura stamp set.

I flicked the same colors plus some mowed lawn over the leftover white space and ran it through my die machine using Honey Bee's Honey Cuts A2 Double Stitched Frames. I adhered the die cut piece to an A2 size card base made from Lawn Fawn Narwhal cardstock to pull in a gray tone. I thought it needed something extra so I grabbed some jewels with similar colors and adhered them on.

Check back in soon to see more crafty creations! 

Happy Mother's Day

It's almost Mother's Day and I thought I would share some of the cards I made for the mothers in my life with you.

Like many crafters, I try to budget my spending on stamps and supplies that are versatile and I can get a lot of use out of.

I first saw this Simon Says Stamp Center Cut Heart background stamp on Jennifer McGuire's blog and knew I had to have it. This is one of those stamps that I can see using often and for a long time. I plan on using if for weddings, anniversaries, Valentine's Day, birthdays, friendship, and it was perfect for some quick easy Mother's Day Cards.

I stamped the image both times on Blick Studio Bristol using Versamark ink and embossed it with Hero Arts White Embossing Powder.

On the first card, I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers on and the other I tried ink smooshing with Distress Inks for the first time. 

SSS Center Cut Heart Background Stamp colored with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.

The card with the Zig markers turned out to be very bright and fun even though it didn't really give me the "stained glass" effect I was looking for. 

My mother has always admired stained glass, so that was really a look I wanted to achieve here. In my opinion, stained glass tends to have a more muted look than what the Zig markers gave me, but I am very pleased with how this turned out. 

It is still a lovely look so I added a few crystal drops and finished it off with a Happy Mother's Day sentiment die from Lawn Fawn in Black Licorice. 

SSS Center Cut Heart Background Stamp colored with Distress Ink.

Using Distress Inks and a piece of sandwich bag plastic, I tested out ink smooshing and I have to admit that I have a love-hate relationship with the technique. 

I probably just need more practice, but it was a little messy. I was also really unsure of how the colors were blending until I dried it. There are a few places where orange and green are meeting that make a questionable color, but when the paper dried I liked the muted look and felt like this was more of what I wanted for a stained glass look.

Seeing these cards next to one another gives a great comparison of the techniques used to color them and how different they each look using the same stamp. This showcases how much use I am going to be getting out of this background stamp and the frugal crafter in me is giddy at getting so much 'bang for my buck.'

One more card I made for Mother's Day was one that I made specifically for my mother-in-law using Mama Elephant's Bear Hugs stamp and die sets. 

Mama Elephant Bear Hugs stamp and die set. 

I picked this set because my husband loves bears and the images and sentiments from this set are really sweet. I am one of those people who was fortunate to get an in-law family that treats and loves me like one of their own so I was happy to be able to express that!
Bonus: Zach was happy because bears.

Thanks for joining me and I hope everyone enjoys a wonderful Mother's Day!