Cut 'n Paste

Joy - an adorable Christmas tag

We only have a few days until Christmas - I don't know about you, but I'm excited! Not even the cold I've caught which caused me to spend the day on the couch yesterday is dampening my excitement! This time of year there are so many cute Christmas products that we can invest in... however, for today's post I wanted to show how something that was not designed as a Christmas stamp set can be reimagined in the most delightful way to fit into holiday crafting. This is especially awesome if, like me, you are trying to pull together something from your stash to make a last minute holiday card/project. 

To get started I used the G'day Mate United we Flourish Ellen Hutson & Avery Elle collaboration stamp set. It's a super cute stamp set with my absolute favorite stamp in the set being this Momma Kangaroo and her Joey. Here's how it looked the first time I crafted with this set - not a spec of holiday to be seen! (Supply list for the yellow card can be found here.)

But when designing my project this time, I did three things to up the holiday mood:

1) I gave our Kangaroo her own Santa hat from the Bare Ware 2 stamp and die set by Ellen Hutson. I then shimmered it up using a Clear Wink of Stella pen.

2) I reinforced the holiday theme by surrounding her with traditional Christmas colors. For the main background I used the My Favorite Things Kraft Collection Solid Stripes 6x6 paper pad, and for the pops of color I used the following cardstock colors: Neenah Solar White, Bazzill Chocolate Malt, Bazzill Peppermint

The tag itself was made using the Essentials by Ellen Concertina Tag Die set.

Finally, to color the Kangaroo I used the following Copic marker colors: E13, E23, E33, E71, RV10, R37.

Thanks for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this little peek at one of my Christmas Crafting projects. 

Oh so Sweet!

Welcome! Today I am part of a blog hop celebrating the newest United We Flourish Stamp set by Ellen Hutson and Concord & 9th, Sweet Sprinkles! I've been loving these "United together" stamp sets and this one is no exception. It is so sinkin' cute. Check it out:

I mean... can you even? Here's the little card I whipped up using this set:

I own/host a women's creative retreat in Tuscany, Italy, and the gelato is a amazing over there. So I knew the minute I saw this stamp set that I wanted to use it to make an ice cream/gelato card.

Here's a quick look at my supply list:

White Cardstock: Neenah Clasic Crest Solar White
Stamp and Die Sets: Sweet Sprinkles, Scalloped Die 
Ink Colors (all Altenew): Caramel Toffee: inkpad single| inkpad in a set, Jet Black: inkpad single| inkpad in a set, Rouge: inkpad single| inkpad in a set
Patterned Paper - all 6x6 pads: Crate Paper Bloom paper pad, Craft Paper Cute girl and Crate Paper Little One 6x6 paper pads (Sorry, while these were in stock when I made my project, they are currently sold out at Ellen Hutson. However, if you google the paper collection, you can most likely still find them available.)
Other: old white plastic and mother of pearl buttons, sewing machine and white tread.

To celebrate, two randomly selected commenters will win a $30 gift certificate to the Ellen Hutson shop and two commenters will win a $30 gift certificate to the Concord & 9th shop. To enter just leave a comment on the Ellen Hutson Classroom blog and the Concord blog by 12pm PST on December 26th.

Thank you for joining me on this hop today. I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Your next stop is the blog of the talented Lisa Stein. Her card uses this set in an unusual, and totally inspiring way. Her outside the box thinking made me realize how many fun things you can do with this set!
 
And if you get lost, you can always start again in the Ellen Hutson CLASSroom.

Poppin' Bottles...

Hello! Welcome to the Essentials by Ellen December release blog hop. I'm delighted you stopped by and am happy to share my project with you. If you've been following along with the hop, you will have come here from the blog of Carly Tee Minner.  

I was challenged to work with the new Bottles of Bubbly die which I combined with a stamp from the brand new Cue the Confetti set.

This set came at the perfect time for me as my husband, who works in law enforcement, was just promoted to Sergeant. So we're "Poppin' Bottles" indeed!

First, for the products: The A2 card base and white cardstock are Neenah Solar White heavy cardstock, the patterned paper is the Modern Graphics by Essentials by Ellen and the gold Paper is Gold Foil by Bazzill.

Stamp: Essentials by Ellen Cue the Confetti  

Die: Essentials by Ellen Bottles of Bubbly

Ink: Clear Emboss It by Ranger

Embossing ink: Gold by Hero Arts

To start, I cut a piece of white cardstock slightly narrower and shorter than the front of an A2 card. To that, I cut the bottle with my die cutting machine. The next step is to do the gold embossing of the greeting. Then, I choose the black and white dotted patterned paper and glued it directly to the back of this white cardstock. I loved this particular paper design because it reminds me of bubbles rising to the top of the bottle - a great design for this purpose!

I glued small strips of the gold oil paper and black and white patterned paper directly to the A2 card front as seen in the sample card, then used 3D foam dots to stick the white cardstock with the bottle on it to the card front so that that piece is layered above the backgrounds.

Thank you for joining me on this hop today. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Your next stop is the blog of the amazingly generous and creative Jennifer McGuire. And if you get lost, you can always start again in the Ellen Hutson CLASSroom.

Here is today's hop roster:
Julie Ebersole   http://papertrufflez.com
Brandi Kincaid   www.brandikincaid.com/blog/
Kittie Caracciolo   http://kittiekraft.typepad.com/
Carly Tee Minner   www.carlytee.com
Carolyn Peeler   http://www.carolynpeeler.typepad.com/            <------ YOU ARE HERE
Jennifer McGuire http://www.jennifermcguireink.com/blog

I'm in the Winter 2018 Issue of Where Women Cook!

If you've been reading my blog over the past few years, you'll know about La Dolce Vita, the creative lifestyle retreat I host in Italy. At La Dolce Vita attendees spend a week enjoying an inspiring fusion of cultural exploration, antiquing, creative and culinary workshops and friendship with like-minded women in the spectacular Tuscan countryside. This year my special guest is the ever so talented artist Rebecca Sower.

If you've ever wondered what it's like to attend La Dolce Vita, my friends at "Where Women Cook" are giving  you a backstage pass to one of the evening activities from the 2017 retreat, a traditional Italian pizza party! Filled with beautiful photography by Elizabeth Maxson,  and recipes from my friends Loretta and Vittorio, the Winter 2018 issue (which is on shelves Dec.1) transports you to Tuscany with my friends and partners as we planned and hosted a dinner party to remember.  Paging through the article I was reminded of the amazing food and magical atmosphere that we enjoyed that night. It's memories like this that make La Dolce Vita so very special.

In addition to this story, there are two other articles in this issue that I know you're going to love. The first is by cover girl, Elizabeth Maxson. She attended La Dolce Vita last year as one of my special guests and led a photography workshop. You are going to flip over her amazing farmhouse kitchen! The second article features Chef Deborah Corsi, proprietress of "La Perla di Mare" a seaside restaurant in San Vincenzo, Italy. Elizabeth and I had the honor to visit her restaurant this past summer and she was delightful and so incredibly creative with the presentation of each dish. You will be in awe of the recipes she shares.

Finally, I'd like to say a huge thank you to Jo Packham & her WWC team for giving me the opportunity to share La Dolce Vita in the pages of her magazine and to Elizabeth whose photography makes the story come alive!

Where Women Cook can be found at all major book/magazine stockists such as Chapters (in Canada), Barnes & Noble (in the USA), independent craft stores or chains like Jo Anns and Michaels, and directly through their publisher Stampington.