Holiday Blitz tutorial: Twist Gate Fold

One of our Holiday Blitz tutorials this week is the Twist Gate Fold card - I think I actually made this card base 2 years ago when we first published the tutorial! The panels are covered with strips of scrap paper.

I love this Layered Bow clear set - doesn't it look 3D?! I chose ink colors that would match the papers, ones that I wouldn't normally put together. 

Come and join us!

Splitcoast Tutorial: Gel Impressionism Foiled Collage

Today's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a beautiful mixed media collage technique called Gel Impressionism Foiled Collage. It starts with a gel print, which is torn up and collaged, and then lightly foiled with brushed glue. Here's my card:

My son took an art class this summer and his looseleaf text book was not resellable, so he donated it to me for use in art projects. I used one of the pages from the table of contents for the base of my gel print, and I love the bits of text showing through - I also learned that the pages work well for a resist technique on the gel press, so I'll be playing with that some more. 

I used a buff colored paint, colorless blender and a bronze patina for my print, then layered it all with a fun new stencil from A Colorful Life Designs - can you spot this Dot Snowflake design in the background?

My focal image is a small section of a larger die from Spellbinders - I adore these silhouette dies by Sharyn Sowell. Here's the full image: 

At an angle you can see the collaged torn bits of my background and the small and random bits of foiling on the background - there's also a sheen from the collage medium that I used, and it's all very pretty.  

This tutorial kicks off our Holiday Blitz event for 2018 - this year we'll be bringing you 2 brand new tutorials along with 8 of our most popular holiday tutorials, revived with a new twist. Be sure to subscribe to our special events newsletter, so you can click to the tutorials right from your inbox each day! You can find them in our Falliday Fest forum as well. Come join us!

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: So Very Thankful

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a project expressing thanks. I had some fun with these new stamps by Alesa Baker - she has some wonderfully large sentiments, and the T in this one just looked like it wanted to be a perch for a bird! This was a quick and easy card, with Copic coloring on the bird, and a little watercolor swoosh and splatter to break up the background. 

Stamps I used: Thankful For You, Fluffy Bird

Remember you can enter these challenges too, using your Impression Obsession stamps! See the I.O. blog for all the details - you might even win a $25 gift certificate!! We'd love to have you join us.

Spellbinders and Fun Stampers Journey merge!

Today I'm excited to have a part in announcing some fun crafty news - our friends at Spellbinders are celebrating something extraordinary! Spellbinders and Fun Stampers Journey have merged! Fun Stampers Journey products will be a wonderful addition to the quality products you've come to love from Spellbinders - they're bringing their deeply etched red rubber stamps, many with coordinating dies, and a full line of coordinating cardstock, inks, ribbon, embellishments, and other artsy supplies! 

I got to play with some FSJ goodies for today's post - this card was made using stamps from the Thankful Friends set, along with some of the coordinating dies. I followed yesterday's Geometric Wreath tutorial on Splitcoast to create my card. To make my mask I chose 2 circle dies, using the grid on this removable contact paper to help with placement. 

In addition, I used my grid mat to line up the mask with my cardstock panel. A tip - cut the mask 1/2" wider and longer than your card panel - the overage protects the rest of your card, plus helps it stay in place on your work surface!

I used the cutout ring to help me position the center piece of my mask.

Here's a closer look at the wreath after the stamping was done - I sponged in the acorn areas first with a die cut stencil, covered those areas and stamped the purple leaves, masked them and stamped the orange leaves, masked again, and stamped the pink and brown leaves without masking. After removing all the acorn and leaf masks, I filled in with light tan ink, and stamped and colored the acorns with colored pencils.

This squirrel is a mostly solid image, so I stamped him in a lighter ink and did some coloring with the pencils I had out to give him more depth - so cute!

The stick he is on is actually a strip of inked cardstock, worked between my hands until it softened and rolled.

One more quick card with the same stamp set, and the gorgeous Cozy Knit embossing folder which I know I'll be using a lot - I used the folder on a piece of white-cored cardstock, and lightly filed the raised areas for a little more pop. This was a 6" square piece that I cut down to my smaller card size (3-1/2" x 5-1/2"), so I used the cut off piece for the collar of my little cardigan. 

I left my cardstock in the die to add some sponged color around the sentiment.

I had fun with these FSJ products, and I look forward to exploring their line more in the future - click on over to the Spellbinders site to see what else they have to offer, and be sure to check their social media accounts for more projects from the Spellbinders Team! Remember to use coupon code SBSAVE10 for a 10% discount on your order!

Boo! Flash sales!

Keep your eyes peeled for crafty one-day sales today! I'll add more as I find them!

Ellen Hutson's store

$10 off orders from $60-$124.99

$25 off orders over $125

Butterfly Reflections sale
Code TREAT31 - today only




Consumer Crafts
$20 off your $80 purchase
Code FLASH1018

My Favorite Things
Save $20 off your order of $100 or more
Code SAVE20

Splitcoast Tutorials: Frosted Trees

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is called Frosted Trees - it's a fun layering technique that gives the effect of a frosty morning. Here's my finished card - the fun part about this card is the amount of depth there is in just a single layer!

I used a product that's coming soon to A Colorful Life Designs - this is the 4" circle stencil from a set of 4 (they come with the cut out masks as well!). I taped it in place and ran it through my Big Shot to raise up the circle area on my card panel, then positioned the mask and panel in my MISTI to begin stamping. I stamped the trees lightly in the background, then repositioned the stamp for the darker trees.

For the shimmer, I used Sargent Acrylic Pearlescent Mixing Medium - I'm pretty sure this big bottle will last me a lifetime, but I love the shine, and a little bit goes a long way! I love it for gel printing (it just takes a couple of drops!), especially those prints that clean off the gel plate completely. It's really amazing stuff! Here's a little peek at the shimmer - it's verrry pretty in person. You can mix it with other paints and mediums for extra shimmer too!

This background stamp is from Impression Obsession - this is Birch Forest Solid and there is an Outline version as well. The sentiment is from my Snow Flourish clear set!

Hope you're having a good week! I had a table at a local art show this weekend and I'm still recovering a bit! Also finished up this portrait and I'm working in my spare time on Christmas orders.

One of my new favorites! I'd love to work with you in 2019 - email me if you're interested in a portrait of your own!

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Happy Haunting

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a spooky project! 

I'm going to make this fit the challenge because I like this card so much - black cats always have an air of mystery about them, and this sentiment is perfect for the introvert who likes to make it through their favorite local haunts without being seen! That works, right? For my card, I stamped the cat background on a piece of patterned paper, then used IO Hybrid inks to build the sentiment.

Stamps I used: CAC Black Cats, Introverting 2 clear set

Remember you can enter these challenges too, using your Impression Obsession stamps! And be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration. See the I.O. blog for all the details - you might even win a $25 gift certificate!! We'd love to have you join us.

Splitcoast Tutorial: Ghost Stamping

It's my turn to share a tutorial over on Splitcoast this week, and this week we're Ghost Stamping! This isn't a new technique, but I thought it would be fun to experiment with some different inks and product combinations to come up with some varied looks.

Writing up the photo tutorial was a little bit humorous to me, because this technique is actually just two steps... stamp a background image in watermark or white ink (pigment or chalk inks work best), then stamp over the image with dye inks, or mist with a dye-based spray. The first stamping layer shows through the second. 

I tried a bunch of combinations and came up with some variations to share - for this card I stamped a base image in chalk ink, and then misted over the area with a ColorBox Spritzer. The silhouette image is actually stamped in a dye ink too, but because I'd done some test swatches, I knew that this particular ink wouldn't react with what I'd stamped beneath it. This is ColorBox Black Bean Premium Dye Ink - I reallly love this line. They're foam pads and the ink is a little thicker than a typical dye.

For this second card, the effect is quite subtle. I stamped the full background in white chalk ink with my Leaf  Ledger background stamp, then stamped and brushed to fill the panel in with the solid leaf from the Layered Maple set.

One more fun card since Fall is in the air and Halloween is coming! I stamped the panel with a repeating pattern, then used one of Clearsnap's new Art Screen Trios for the inked background. These are sets of 3 stencils that layer together beautifully. 

These monsters are just too much - so cute. 

Product links: 

Card 1:

Impression Obsession: Raven Silhouette, Treat the World

Clearsnap: Scribbles Mini Molding Mat, Spritzer, Popcorn chalk ink, Black Bean Premium Dye Ink

Card 2: 

Impression Obsession: Maple clear set, CAC Leaf Ledger

Clearsnap:  Dyestress inks, Popcorn chalk ink

Card 3:

Impression Obsession: Monster Mash clear set, discontinued sentiment, All-in-One Frames - Circles

Clearsnap: Jumbo Swirls Molding Mat, Popcorn chalk ink, Dyestress inks, Art Screens Trio - Disco

Thanks for visiting me today,  and many thanks to Clearsnap for sponsoring this week's tutorial!