PaperFections

12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist 2017!

It's that time of year again, for one of my favorite projects -- Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist! You can find all the instructions for my Copic Various alcohol ink background tag over in the CLASSroom. << Simply leave a comment on that blog post and you'll be entered into a drawing to receive a $25 gift certificate to spend at EllenHutson.com! Or if you are inspired to get creating and join in the challenge fun, you could win a $150 gift certificte! You can find all the details here. Happy Holidays! Read more →

Top 5 Gifts for Crafters

Hello, friends -- Today I have a card to share that uses one of my favorite techniques, alcohol ink blending, to create a fabulously glitzy background for the holidays! My alcohol ink of choice is Copic Various Ink Refills, since I already have them on hand to refill my Copic markers. They are also my #1 pick for one of the Top 5 Gifts for Crafters this holiday season! There are a few different ways to work with alcohol ink. My first go-to method is to place drops of the alcohol ink onto a felt ink blending pad (I used YG03 & G46), attached to an alcohol ink applicator tool or ink blending tool. I also added in some drops of festive gold metallic mixative. You can also add a few drops of 0-Colorless Blender, to help keep the felt pad moist. Then just pounce the ink blending tool all over a piece of Yupo paper: The Yupo paper is coated, which allows the alcohol ink to move around on the surface of the paper, creating wonderful shade variations! You can keep working the ink until you achieve your desired effect. Another way to use the alcohol ink is to:... Read more →

Hand Lettering Techniques & Applications

Hand lettering is all the rage right now, and I'm on a mission to practice and get better at it! So I put together this list of helpful tutorials: Check out this fabulous Hand Lettering with Copic tutorial over on the Imagination International Inc. blog. David Sorrell walks you through everything from beginning to end -- choosing your word or phrase, spacing, balance, details, ink, etc. He used Copic Multiliners SP (0.2, 0.5, 0.7) and Copic Classic Marker to create this wonderful hand lettered Courageous sign! This tutorial by Lisa Funk and Addi Robison walks you through and easy process on how to create a faux calligraphy Thank You note. They used the Copic Multiliner Brush Medium Pen, the Copic Multiliner 0.8 Pen and the Copic Multiliner 0.5 Pen. This Mother's Day card tutorial by Melody Howe gives you a free downloadable template you can customize, along with a free downloadable alphabet which you can trace. To make this an easy process, use X-Press It Graphite Transfer Paper. Customize it and make it into a faux hand lettered card or sign for any occasion! In this Father's Day Mug Card tutorial, Melody Howe gives you another free downloadable coffee mug... Read more →

Essentials by Ellen November 2017 Release Hop

I hope you are ready for a week filled with amazing inspiration using the latest release from the Essentials by Ellen line of stamps and dies from Ellen Hutson LLC! Today I'm using the newest adorable Leading Lady by Brandi Kincaid, Photo Lady! I stamped the Photo Lady with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto a Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White panel and colored her with these Copic Markers: (Skin: E00, E11, E21. Hair: YR21, YR24, E23, E25. Rainbow shirt: R24, YR15, Y18, YG25, B23, V06, RV55, C1. Jeans: B32, B34. Shoes: N5, N6.) Then I decided to play off her rainbow shirt and continue with the bold and bright by putting the Photo Lady in a garden filled with colorful flowers, created with Julie's Rustic Botanicals stamp set and Distress Oxide Inks! After masking off the Photo Lady, I used Picked Raspberry, Twisted Citron, Lucky Clover, Spiced Marmalade, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Seedless Preserves, Wild Honey, and Peeled Paint to stamp the flowers: To finish the card, I used Essentials by Ellen Stitching Lines dies to create a stitched border along the top edge and top third of the sides. Then I die cut a photo frame and stamped it... Read more →

Essentials By Ellen September 2017 Release

Hello Crafty Friends! Welcome to the first day of inspiration hops for the September Essentials by Ellen release! This month brings some fun new accessories (and pals!) for the adorable All Inside bear, with the Bear Ware 2 stamps and coordinating Bear Ware 2 dies! Another one of my favorite additions this month are the Concertina Tags: So I combined all of these elements to create this fun tag card: The Concertina Tags each have different decorative bottom edges and are hinged together but you can easily trim them apart, to make die cutting multiple tags super quick and easy! For the base of my tag card, I die cut through two layers of Neenah 80 lb. Solar White cardstock with the tags die, leaving the top edge uncut and "hinged". This creates a card base 6-3/8" wide x 3-1/4" tall that will fit in a #10 business envelope: Next, I die cut a single layer of Solar White cardstock Concertina Tags, cut them apart, then used the following Distress Oxide Inks to sponge color onto the white tags, in an ombre effect: When the card is closed, the hinged tags can be Z or accordion-folded: I had fun dressing... Read more →

Essentials By Ellen September 2017 Release Sneak Peek!

It's Release Day over at Ellen Hutson!! Today you can get a peek at the new Essentials by Ellen stamps and dies on this page of the website, which includes a few videos and projects (or click on the individual product thumbnails below)! Then watch the CLASSroom blog for inspiration projects all this week! I'll be back here on Tuesday with the full details for this little project I created: I hope to see you back here Tuesday! New Sept 2017 Products >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Bear Ware 2 by Julie Ebersole Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Bear Ware 2 by Julie Ebersole Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Concertina Tag by Julie Ebersole Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Leading Ladies - Baker Lady by Brandi Kincaid Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Leading Ladies - Baker Lady by Brandi Kincaid Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, No Peeking by Brandi Kincaid Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Modern Christmas by Julie Ebersole Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Modern Christmas by Julie Ebersole Read more →

Airbrushed Embossing

It looks and is feeling like we may be getting an early Fall in my part of the U.S. -- one of my favorite seasons! So today's card honors cooler temperatures and rich, Autumn colors! I wanted a pretty leafy frame for this wonderful new Dancing Leaves stamp from Pink Ink. Here's how it came together: I used Taylored Expressions Embossing Folder-Scattered Leaves and began airbrushing the top side of the folder's debossed/recessed leaves, since this side of the embossing folder ends up making the raised/embossed leaf impressions on your cardstock. Airbrushing is a quicker way to deposit the Copic color onto the embossing folder, AND helps prevent your marker nibs from getting frayed as opposed to trying to color directly on the rigid plastic. I started with Copic YR07: Next, I airbrushed the other leaves with (left to right, top to bottom in the photo below) with these Copic Sketch Markers: YG95, YR24, E07, E25-only on the stems of the leaves. You can get adventurous and use more than just one color on each leaf, too! I didn't color the center part of the embossing folder, since I wouldn't be using it for this card. (In hindsight, I should... Read more →

Beet the Heat!

Hello, Crafty Friends -- How's the August heat where you are? Here in south Texas it is hot, Hot, HOT ... and don't get me started on the humidity, LOL! But I'll take it any day, over the frigid, frozen temperatures some of you endure in the winter! And while I love gardening, about the only time I get out in the August heat is to water a few potted plants the irrigation system doesn't reach (poor plants)! That's why I fell in love this this adorable new Essentials by Ellen release, Leading Ladies-Plant Lady by Brandi Kincaid! Isn't that saying on her shirt hilarious?!! And there are several more puny quips in this set: This set is part of a new Essentials by Ellen release from Ellen Hutson, available TODAY! You can find the entire release HERE and I'll be back on Friday with another sample using Julie Ebersole's new Rustic Botanicals set! As promised earlier last week, this is the entire image I colored using the custom RV65 color I created with an empty Sketch Marker and empty Various Ink bottle! These are the Copic Sketch Markers I used to color Plant Lady's shirt, beet, boots, hat, apron,... Read more →

Using Empty Copic Markers to Create Custom Colors

Hello, Crafty Peeps! I'm here today to share with you just how easy it is to create your own custom Copic color! Did you know Copic has empty markers available in three different sizes -- Classic Markers, Sketch Markers, and Wide Markers? And they come with the same nibs as their filled marker versions! You can use these empty markers for a number of things, but my favorite way to use them is to create my own custom Copic color. Maybe you are saying, "Why would I want to do this, when there are 358 colors of Copic ink?" Most often, I use custom Copic colors to fill blending gaps, such as this -- my favorite RV63 and RV66: These are some of the newest Copic colors and while it is entirely possible to use them together in a blending group (after all, we've been doing it since they were introduced, right?), having another color to bridge that wide gap would just make things a little easier, wouldn't it? :) So here I am today, creating that custom middle color! To get started, you will need an empty marker -- I chose an empty Sketch Marker, along with an Empty... Read more →

High Five To That!

A Note From Ellen Hutson: Last November Ellen Hutson began celebrating our 10th anniversary with the theme United We Flourish. And what does "United We Flourish" mean? It means that our company would not be here without the amazing companies we work with, the designers who create stunning projects showcasing the wonderful products being created AND you, our fabulous customers! YOU are such a vital part of our creative community - you inspire and encourage us! Your response to United We Flourish was overwhelming and heart-warming. We heard repeatedly from you that you appreciate how our little company works together with the other manufacturers we carry to bring you their products and education showing how to use those products. To thank you for your constant support and encouragement, we have partnered with some of our friends to offer exclusive limited edition stamp and die sets! These sets will be available for a limited time (most likely 3-6 months) after each release, depending on how quickly you snap them up. The theme of these stamps sets are uplifting and fun. We are thrilled to present the second one to you ... G’Day Mate stamps and die combo by Avery Elle exclusively... Read more →

#WorldWatercolorMonth with Copic Various Ink Refills

I'm loving #WorldWatercolorMonth -- how about you? I thought my Copics might be getting a little jealous, so I decided to incorporate them into the watercolor mix today and use my Various Ink Refills in one of my favorite ways ... you guessed it -- by "watercoloring" with them! Don't you LOVE that vibrant color?!! "Watercoloring" with your Copic Various Ink Refills is quite simple -- Just squeeze a little of the ink into a palette, fill a waterbrush with Copic Colorless Blender, then pick up your desired Various Ink color with the brush and paint away on watercolor paper! Note: It may take you a bit to get used to the flow of your waterbrush and how much Colorless Blender it dispenses -- if one brush flows a little too much or not enough, try a different brand of brush. I have several different brands and they all flow a little differently. If there is not enough Blender solution on your brush when you pick up the Various Ink color, the resulting color going on your paper will be dryer and may streak and not color smoothly. But, this can sometimes work well to add shading to previously laid-down... Read more →

Copic Sketchbook Art Journal-2

Today I have another page to share with you from my Copic 5x7 Sketchbook Art Journal. You may remember my Plumeria page from a few weeks ago, where I airbrushed in the journal. But I really wanted to try coloring with my Copic markers directly on the paper, since the paper in the journal is made with the highest-quality Japanese illustration paper and claims to be ideal for use with Copic markers and mixed-media. Sure enough, the uncoated medium weight paper colored on beautifully! For this page I used Copic's Tracing Memories app on my phone, to turn a photo I took on vacation last week into a line art sketch I could color! Here's my reference photo (beautiful Flamingo Beach in Montego Bay, Jamaica): You can find out more about the Tracing Memories app here and here, and download the app in the iTunes store. Then I printed the sketch on a page from my Copic Sketchbook Art Journal and colored it with Copic markers! To do this, I just used scissors to snip the paper in between the spirals, and gently took the paper out of the journal: Next, I used washi tape to tape the journal page... Read more →

Copic Coloring an Underwater Scene

Today over in Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom, I'm sharing tips on how to color an underwater scene with your Copic markers. I hope you'll join me there for some watery Summer fun! Read more →

Copic Sketchbook Art Journal

Hello, Crafters! Today I'm sharing my first attempt at an art journal page (so please go easy on me!). I've wanted to try art journaling for a long time, so when I saw these new Copic Sketchbooks, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to start one! I had so much fun, and that's what counts the most, right? :) I'm using the 5" x 7" Copic Sketchbook, made with the highest-quality Japanese illustration paper. This newest edition of the sketchbook is ideal for use with Copic markers and mixed-media! The 50 sheets of uncoated, medium-weight paper are spiral bound between two heavyweight black covers for stability, making professional grade paper and artwork palette portable and protected. FEATURES: • 50 Sheets • 70 lb professional-grade Japanese paper • Super smooth surface for clean inking • Uncoated paper (ideal for Copic markers) • Warm toned paper for vibrant coloration • Pencil erases cleanly • Super thick covers Here's a little back story on the pretty plumeria flower theme I chose ... My husband and I spent our honeymoon in Hawaii and that was my first introduction to these beautiful fragrant flowers/trees. They were everywhere and their gorgeous fragrance filled the... Read more →

Life is Better When You're Golfing

Hello, Friends! Here it is June 1st and Father's Day is right around the corner. I thought I'd better be prepared for the day, with a card for my husband. Golf is his favorite past time, so I thought this new The Golfing Line stamp from Pink Ink Stamps would be perfect for him! The fun background was created by airbrushing Copic G09 onto white cardstock, through a stencil I thought resembled golf balls! After removing the stencil, I airbrushed lighter Copic G03 over the white background: The golf image was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White cardstock and colored with these Copic markers: I know the orange golf balls may seem like an odd choice of colors, but that's the color my husband prefers! I stamped, colored, and cut out an additional golf bag, then popped it up using X-Press It's new Foam Mounting Squares. These squares have the same great high tack adhesive and easy to remove backing as my favorite X-Press It Double-Sided High Tack Foam Mounting Tape that comes on the continuous roll, just already cut into convenient 1/4-inch or 1/2-inch squares! The Foam Mounting Squares were also added behind... Read more →