Creating and Connecting

Is your sweetie like mine? DJ likes to get me things I love and he knows that is crafty items at my favorite on-line store.  The Ellen Hutson 2019 Gift Guide  (click on this link) has a lot great gift ideas for your crafty friends or yourself.  It includes many categories such as gifts for specific price ranges, stocking stuffers, and favorite dies and stamps. Or did you know you know you can make a wish list at Ellen Hutson LLC and share it with family and friends? I made a short video to walk you through the process:   Steps on how to make share your wish list: 1.  Make an account at the  Ellen Hutson on-line store  (click on this link). *** I find Chrome works to make my wish list and Explorer does not work. 2.  Once you are signed into your account click on "Wish List". 3.  Click on "Create a new wishlist…" 4.  Type a name for your wish list and check the box "I want to be able to share this wish list". 5.  Click on "save wish

Ellen Hutson LLC is having a huge Gratitude Sale , November 27 to December 2, 2019 with 20 to 80% off. Here are the details... save an additional 20% on the products in the GRATITUDE19 category with the code GRATITUDE19 applies to in-stock items in the GRATITUDE19 category only and only when code is applied not valid on previous purchases cannot be combined with other offers we are unable to combine orders sale begins at Wednesday 11/26 at 12am pacific time sale ends Monday 12/2 at 11:59pm pacific time You can reach this sale by clicking on the following link: Gratitude Sale Make sure you use the GRATITUDE19 code. If there has been something you have on your wish list I hope it is on that huge list of items on sale:) Have a great day! And Happy Thanksgiving to my friends and family south of my border:) Betty This post contains an affiliate link. When you shop using this link I receive a small commission at no cost to you.  Thank you for your support!

Just a couple of weeks ago I got a notification on my Instagram feed from  Sarah at  Funky Fossil that I had won a stamp set of my choice, so I chose the ever so cute Funky Fossils Festive Penguin  set.  Lucky me!!! In less than 2 weeks it arrived at my door in Canada from the United Kingdom.  Thank you sweet Natalie for choosing me! Isn't he the cutest!!! Tips: 1. Plan your card lay out using your dies and stamps. 2. Using the rule of thirds can help you create balance if you are not finding the placement that is pleasing to your eye. *Rule of Thirds: You break your space in equal thirds, both horizontally and vertically. This leaves you 4 points where those lines intersect.  You then place your focal points at these intersecting points or along the vertical or horizontal lines.  Please see my photos where you see a grid overlay I have made. 3. Die cut samples of the snow banks out of scrap paper and then use those samples to line up your dies on the cardstock to

When I saw the super adorable Essentials by Ellen Dinomite Christmas stamps and Essentials by Ellen Dinomite Halloween stamps by the amazingly talented Brandi Kinkaid I knew exactly what I wanted to do...a dinosaur Christmas tree!!!  I know a little boy who will looove these cards! (...and a big boy too; DJ keeps trying to claim cards. LOL! I keep telling him we need to share them!) And I love how it turned out! A little Moonstone Nuvo Glimmer Paste  was the finishing touch. I hope you enjoy my short video on how I made this and 2 extra cards with the "leftovers"! Tips: 1. Stamp and color 2 of each of the dinosaurs and some of the accent images in copic friendly ink and die cut them using the Essentials by Ellen Dinomite Christmas dies  and Essentials by Ellen Dinomite Halloween dies .  This gives enough images to make the Christmas tree, with a few left over. 2. When coloring use dull copic YGs, like YG93, in the shadow area if you want to decrease the vibrancy

Who wants to watercolor this beautiful Beautiful Bouquet Dahlia stamp from WPlus9! Pick me!!! It is an oldie but a goodie.  (I hope that is not what they are saying about me:) And Ellen Hutson still has it in stock, wow! I hope that you can go make a card and have some fun today! Betty     Supplies:  Beautiful Bouquet Dahlia Watercolor Cardstock This post contains affiliate links. When you shop using these links I receive a small commission at no cost to you.  Thank you for your support!

I chose the Essentials by Ellen Mondo Holly  to play in the Time Out Challenges and the AAA Card Challenge. I never tire of coloring. It is so relaxing. I embossed my image with WOW Silver Sparkle embossing powder. I colored my image with Prismacolor pencil crayons. Using the Essentials by Ellen Plaid Maker  stamp set I made that sweet little plaid pattern at the left edge of my card.  I am a plaid lover! I think it comes from when I was growing up my Dad always wore plaid shirts. I cut all parts to size and mounted everything on my card base. My die cut sentiment comes from the retired Essentials by Ellen Zipper Panel die set.  The original die sentiment says "enjoy" but I did a little "surgery" to make it say "joy".  I glued that in place. Finally, I added Glossy Accents to the berries and set the card far out of my reach, as I have been known to smear a thing or two. The Themes for the challenges are: Be sure to check out these challenge

I made 2 cards with the Altenew Rose Flurries 3D Die Set , one using colored cardstock and one using copic markers to color white cardstock. These cards are inspired by the Altenew November 2019 Inspiration Challenge. For my first card I pulled out all my miscellaneous colored cardstock that matched the inspiration challenge colors.  I was short a couple of colors so I blended some ink onto my darkest color to deepen the color for the last layer to die cut. I die cut all my layers, but this is where I ran into a few problems. I had mixed up wrong colors for some of the layers of the flowers.  (I was curious to try a different method so that prompted the second card.) Once I had re-die cut the missing layers I glued all my pieces together and glued them onto a cream color A2 sized card and stamped my sentiment which is from the Altenew Build a Flower Sakura Blossom  stamp set.     For my second card I use the layering guide provided by Altenew and organized all the

DJ, my husband, has a drone and video business and he recently uploaded an amazing wedding video and separate outtakes on his website DJ's In the House Drone and Video Photography  that he did this summer. What a privilege it was for him to capture the day filled with love for such sweet, wonderful people. Ashley + Austin's Wedding (click on Ashley + Austin once into his website) Ashley + Austin Outtakes (click on Outtakes once into his website)   We would love it if you would share DJ's website and videos with your friends and family.  And if you are planning a wedding we hope that you will contact DJ and allow him the privilege of capturing your special day!   Betty and DJ    

When I saw the very talented Jessica Frost-Ballas's card on Instagram it inspired me to pull out my very cute  Lawn Fawn Toboggan Together Stamp and Die Set , Lawn Cuts Stitched Hillside Borders  and Lawn Cuts Slide on Over dies. I made a hidden slider card.   When DJ, my husband, saw this card he claimed it for himself.  Those of you have met him through voice overs on my YouTube channel can probably hear him say something like this.   Tips: 1. I hid the slider mechanism for the sled and penguin behind the hill.  See the picture below. The slider channel is below ground level.  Instead of attaching the image straight to the slider mechanism I added an extension to the image and attached the extension to the slider mechanism.  I then added foam tape behind the top layer and behind the background layer so the slider has room to slide.  (I used 2 layer of foam tape. I am not sure if 1 layer would be adequate.  I wanted to make sure it slid easy.) 2. I used Brusho on wat

Watercoloring Colorado Craft Company's Bethlehem's Light stamp using Inkon3 Fadeout No Line Coloring Detail Ink  is fun and easy! This is Day 3 of Kathy Racoosin's 30 Day Coloring Challenge. In this challenge she encourages us to do what we love and color every day for 30 days. Here is a link to her blog if you want to know more about her challenge: The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge . So that is what I have done, I have watercolored for the last 3 days.  This card took 50 minutes, but the video is not nearly that long:) I hope you enjoy a short video to show how easy it is to make this card. Tips: 1. Inkon3 Fadeout No Line Coloring Detail Ink  is a must! I love it. It takes on the pigment of whatever paint color you apply to it. 2. Start with a light wash of paint, leaving some gaps where you want highlights. 3. Add more layers, using darker paint on each layer where the shadows would occur including along some of the detail lines of the stamp.  Colorado