Month: July 2020

Rainbow Ink Swatches with Essentials by Ellen Better Days Ahead Exclusive Gift with Purchase Set

| @popsofpaper

Hi Friends, hope you are having a great week! Today, I’m so excited to share a swatching project that I’ve been working on. I love the idea of color swatches and always love looking at ink swatch photos (it’s crafty eye candy for me) but until now I haven’t taken the plunge. When I realized I could swatch the four beautiful ink combinations from Pinkfresh Studio with the four rainbow ribbons in the exclusive EBE Better Days Ahead Gift With Purchase Stamp Set, I jumped for joy and went all in because (1) I needed my own color swatches in my life and (2) Rainbows are my absolute favorite. There’s definitely better days ahead in my craft room with the addition of these happy rainbow ink swatches.

Below you’ll find my swatching process and more color combo photos.

The Swatching Process:

  1. Die Cut 12 Circles that fit on a circle tag.
  2. Add the 4 Rainbow Ribbons and 1 Heart to 5 different Stamping Blocks.
  3. Open up the ink cube packaging and stamp each color from darkest to lightest. 
  4. Use the darkest ink to add the cute little rainbow heart. 
  5. Free-hand scribble in the names of the inks between the first and second rainbow ribbon. 
  6. Die cut 12 circle tags in “matching” rainbow color cardstock. I used the the Hero Hues Sampler for my circle tags.
  7. Adhered Rainbow Swatches to the circle tag and insert circle ring for storage.

Here’s to Better Days Ahead full of colorful rainbow cards & swatches. Be sure to stop by Ellen Hutson and do a little wishlist shopping so you can get your hands on this awesome stamp set! Better Days Ahead is available with purchase when you spend $100 or more between July 15-19, 2020. 

Big Paper Hugs!
Emily

Supplies:

Affiliate links provided at not additional cost to you. Thank you for your support and kindness.

Please note that some items are currently out of stock but should be restocked soon…be sure to use the notify me feature if there is a color combo you have your eyes on. You can also find all the ink colors at Pinkfresh Studio. 

What “Inkspires” You! Card Hop

| @popsofpaper

Hi Friends! Hope you are having a wonderful week and enjoying the Handmade Happiness What Inkspires You Card Hop. If this is your first time stopping by, I’m so glad you are here and big Welcome!! You can find the entire card hop at the end of this post.

Not only are we sharing our Inkspirations but we’re also celebrating my friend Courtney Kreeber’s Create and Inkspire business launch! Make sure you stop by and have a look as I hear there might be an amazing card kit launching a July 15th.

My Inkspiration

When the cardmaking/stamping bug hit, I was in need of a creative outlet to stay centered. What truly inspires me is the creative process and how my mind can escape for a little while as I take an image, a sentiment, a color palette or a new crafty tool and pull all those elements together to create a bright and cheerful smile on paper and in my soul. When I create my cards, I not only get joy from the process but it’s common for me to create fun little stories in my mind about the images or to reflect on the sentiments or the person I’m making the card for.  It helps me to be mindful to giggle and remember how important it is to play as an adult.

So today, I’m sharing a slimline card using the Take a Leap Stamp Set from Evelin T Designs. Evelin’s stamps and storybook designs are my perfect creative getaway. Don’t these little critters look like they are having the best day ever!! Bouncing on the trampoline with arms stretched wide embracing all the fun and joy of a carefree day.

The Card Making Process:

Creating the Critters: I stamped all of the critter images with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink to white card stock. Then I colored the images with different Copic markers in browns and grays. To add a little whimsy to a couple of the critters, I added little hearts on their belly. The bunny with a gel pen heart and the kitty with a colorless blender heart belly —after I colored the kitty with my Copics I used my colorless blender to remove some of the ink to create the heart pattern. After coloring, I fussy cut the images and set them aside for my final card assembly.

Creating the Slimline Card Panel: My overall goal for a slimline card is to fit into a Business/#10 Envelope. The white card panel for the background design was cut to 8.5 x 3.5 inches. The aqua card base is approximately 8.75 x 3.75 inches.

  • I stamped the tree and trampoline directly to the card panel and colored with copics and white gel pen along with the grassy ground cover.
  • Then I used a stitched heart from Trinity Stamps Slimline Series Die Set to create the heart background elements. Originally, I was going to make a shaker but instead decided to ink blended the heart die cuts using blending brushes and The Stamp Market Inks and then adhered the colorful hearts back into the stitched heart “frames”. I really love the extra pop this color combo brings to the card design. 

The Final Assembly: To complete the card, I adhered the critters to their hearts using thin foam adhesives and added the “Keep your spirits high” sentiment with VersaFine Clair Nocturne Ink. 

So there we are friends, a happy slimline card that’s jumping for joy. I hope this project Inkspires you to enjoy the full creative process to create a fun, playful smile on paper. Thank you so much for stopping by and be sure to join the talented card makers along the card hop. 

The Card Hop

Courtney (You Tube)

Pennie (You Tube)

Michele (You Tube)

Emily (you are here)

Amanda (You Tube)

Amalia (You Tube)

Cyn (You Tube)

LeeAnn (Blog)

Laura (You Tube)

Terra (You Tube)

Maria (You Tube)

Karen (Blog)

Jennifer (You Tube)

Keionna (You Tube)

Mary Ellen (You Tube)

Christi (Blog)

A few of the Supplies:

Affiliate links provided at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your kindness and support! Big Hugs!

Summer of Stamping: Brandi Kincaid EBE Release Blog Hop

| @popsofpaper

Hello Friends and welcome to Pops of Paper! Today, I’m joining several of the EH Design Ambassadors on a Blog Hop celebrating Ellen Hutson’s Second Summer of Stamping New Release. 

The release includes two Gorgeous 4×6 floral stamp sets (Mondo Pansy and You Should Know) and the Thank you for Being a Friend 3×4 Stamp all designed by the amazing Brandi Kincaid. There’s also a combo of all three sets!

What I love most about this release are the sentiments. They’re like little paper pep talks and reminders of how special and important we are for each other and to ourselves.

My first project features the You Should Know Stamp Set and coloring with Prismacolor Pencils on both color cardstock (mossy green) and white cardstock. I love it when you can use the exact same coloring supplies and get two completely different (but both very pretty) results. List of the pencil colors: Poppy Red, Pale Vermillion, Process Red, Blush Pink, Pink, Peach, Mulberry, Parma Violet, Lilac, Violet, Yellowed Orange, Spanish Orange, Canary Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Apple Green, Grass Green, Colourless Blender.

You are doing better than you think: Stamped and heat embossed with white embossing powder. Colored with Prismacolor pencils; blended with a Prismacolor blender pencil and little pops of white gel pen polka dots for extra dimension. I added  pretty sparkly sequins for the flower center. For a little more pop, an Essentials Rectangle White Frame Border and black and white sentiment block popped up with foam tape.

We’re in it together: Stamped with Versafine Clair Ink in Green Oasis and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Colored with Prismacolor pencils; blended with a Prismacolor blender pencil and pretty sparkly sequins for the flower centers. To finish the card, I stamped the sentiments with Nocturne Versafine Clair Ink and added a skinny strip of polka dot washi tape. 

My second project features the Mondo Pansy Stamp Set. Wow, this set is amazing to color! I stamped and masked the image to cover the bottom of the card panel with pansy stems and flowers. Then I heat embossed my images with clear embossing powder.  I colored the florals with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers in the following colors: Pink-025, Peach Pink-202, Yellow-050, Lemon Yellow-051, Bright Yellow-052, Turquoise Green-042, Persian Green-033, Light Violet-081, Lilac-083, English Lavendar-803.

Then I added white gel pen stipple dots and shading to the florals. For the sentiment, I used the EBE Big Scripty Hello with a vellum shadow piece and stacked black cardstock “hello”. To finish the card, I added clear sparkly sequins and sparkly Stickles . 

Tip: To pop-up your vellum sentiments without foam, after stacking your sentiment on the vellum, turn your sentiment over and adhere several sentiments on the underside of the layered piece. Then add adhesive along the sentiment and adhere to your card panel for no-show glue or foam spots with extra dimension.

So there we are friends, three floral cards using the new Essentials by Ellen release. I hope you enjoyed my projects today. Be sure to stop by and take a look at the entire release and all of the amazing inspiration from the talented EH Ambassadors on the Blog Hop…details below!

BLOG HOP PRIZE DETAILS

We’ve got a super fun prize!!! One random & lucky commenter will win $25 to the EH shop!!! To enter for a chance to win, make sure to leave comments at each stop along the hop! And don’t forget to comment here too for a bonus entry! Comment before Saturday, July 18th at 11:59pm PDT. The winner will be notified by email.

BLOG HOP:

EH Blog 

Jessica Frost-Ballas 

Adelina Starace 

Lisa Spangler 

Michele Ferguson 

Ashlea Cornell 

Carissa Wiley 

Carly Tee Minner 

Laurel Beard 

Emily Mydlowski (You are Here)

Julie Ebersole 

Additional Supplies:

Affiliate links provided at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for your kindness & support.