IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN!!!!! It’s a new-release day over at Ellen Hutson, and it’s all about the fall season…is your weather inspiring you to head toward a new crafty focus yet? I think I’m already done with cards for Halloween now since I send out only half a dozen or so – but I’ll be continuing with fall and winter as the weather changes!
Supplies for this project are linked at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links may be used at no cost to you.
Out of all the projects I made, the little tag was my favorite – I’ve always LOVED the cartoon “It’s the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” and the scene where Snoopy riiiiiiises up out of the pumpkin patch with his goggles on his head is my favorite scene! I did have to draw my own Snoopy, but…..some things are worth the trouble! Here I used the Farmhouse Tag Dies with Pumpkin Season Stamps
Ellen challenged me to use the new A2 piercing plate with the pumpkins after watching me struggle with trying to sew flowers earlier this year – gah! This one has more holes closer together so if you suffered with the last one – this is a lot better for following details. I stamped Pumpkin Season Stamps in no-line ink so the lines wouldn’t show if I messed anything up.
I attempted multicolor leaves from Pumpkin Season Stamps which was hard but worth it for the final effect.
The piercing plate works as a background too – mine is airbrushed but it could be done with any medium – punch the moon out before applying color and nest it back in. The Bat Hugger Die is supposed to wrap candy but IT IS TOO EARLY TO HAVE CANDY IN MY HOUSE. It is not safe. LOL! SO my bat is hugging the ghost from another stamp and die set.
Annnnnd here’s the ghost that I used in the previous card, but this time the Halloween Treat Tags instead of the die! The bat’s open wing wasn’t wide enough to reach out and touch someghost, so I stamped the ghost first, then masked it, stamped the bat on the left, then moved it over to stamp the right edge of the wing. To make the ghost look transparent, I colored a light version of what was behind him – namely that wing – inside, then went over the stamped line with white gel pen coz, well, I forgot to stamp it in no-line ink. Ha!
The Halloween Boo-quet Stampset has lines you can use as the “stems” for the ghost – but I didn’t feel like masking all that out. And I was picturing the ghosts flying up to a ceiling in a haunted house anyway so I used the booquet idea to create that! Lots of fun colors in the swoosh, with dark greys and mysterious window shapes to indicate they’re in the rafters of a haunteed mansion.
The other stamp that caught my eye in Halloween Boo-quet was the witch – she has her thumb out like she’s witchhiking (HAHA!) – so instead of putting the broom in her hand, she’s waiting at the broom stop for a ride! Driver is a cat, and I don’t know how he’s driving while facing backwards. When I was stamping I also wasn’t thinking clearly – I wanted the magical swoosh so started stamping the broom on the right, but then had to make the magic dust go in a loop around the witch – well, lots of storytelling went on in my head, I’m not sure it was resolved, but – fun card anyway!
Last but not least, a treat box! This one will be for my next door neighbor – she is the QUEEN of bringing me treats! Her hubby is going through cancer (2nd round ugh!) and she tries to find things he can tolerate and that he likes. He had a hankering for cheesecake, but it made him sick…so who do you think was delivered half a cheesecake!?!? (I did remind her she coulda just frozen it!) She’s the best about treats, so I try to bless her with them too….we’ve both contributed to each other’s Covid weightgain. Ha!
There’s an Instagram hop going on today if you’d like to check it all out – but as always I do appreciate you shopping from my links if you plan on nabbing a couple goodies! It really does help to keep my work going forward, and it costs you nothing extra. You’re the best!
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
I’ve been sharing some summery “epic” scene cards on social this summer….and took a break from the to-do list too turn some of those into a mini class! But rather than the normal little promo video, I thought I’d do a lesson that applies to the class, yet can be enjoyed by everyone. So let’s go!
Supplies for this project are linked at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links may be used at no cost to you.
What’s backlighting?
It’s when the subject you’re looking at – or coloring/drawing – is in between you and the light source – in the case of these island scenes, the sun is low to the horizon and off in the distance at sunset/sunrise, so the side of the subject you see is the shadow side. The dark side.
Showing little stamps colored this way is something I’ve done for a long time, but I thought seeing it large-scale might help make the lesson clearer – and would let me show you the difference that it can make to be really bold with those shadows!
The Art Impressions Gull Friends set (EH – AI) is perfect for these scenes too…birds on the beach! This solo gull has the backlighting around the edge….but notice, there’s a black outline because of the stamp. Try something like this with no-line coloring (stamp in a light ink) and the effect of backlighting is a lot better.
Backlighting does tend to make details in the stamped image irrelevant; and for some images, it may not work at all. This kind of does since you can at least tell they’re birds because of the legs and shadows – but all their accessories lose their humor in the drama of the lighting.
And then there’s these two nutty pelicans! This took a crazy long time, just figuring out how the candle flames would work on top of the background. But…when a figure is up in the air, be sure to leave space between their feet and shadow. If the sun is low, like it is in this case, offset the shadow. In reality this pelican’s shadow would probably be off the page!
The class
It’s time for a new mini class! Island Time intermediate level….pushing the boundaries of it due to some tree and cloud drawing but I have faith in you!
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
Gull-Friends, Art Impressions Clear Stamps —- EH – AI
Sorry I didn’t have the sky and tree on camera – my poor equipment is in meltdown mode! It’s almost 90 in the studio, and nothing is happy. Not me, the pups, or my tech. Wahhhh! But…on a good note, I’m learning things so once life gets back to a cooler state, I hope to turn some of this into classes eventually.
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
Crafty Companions stamps, My Favorite Things : EH • MFT
Crafty Companions dies, My Favorite Things: EH • MFT
Yes it’s Sunday and I normally don’t post on Sundays….but since it’s Colorado Craft Company’s new release, I’ve made an exception!
I sat down with the release stamps and started coloring….I don’t think I’ve explained often how I approach new releases, but I try to see if there’s a commonality. Sometimes it’s something the products share (Anita Jeram in this case!) but the cards I started coloring were coming out with incredible contrast! What a mojo day – it was pretty spectacular to see what I made and ask myself, “Did I just do that?” Ha! So the card I color in the video will have that heavy contrast in common, and you’ll see it come to life.
Supplies for this project are linked at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links may be used at no cost to you.
Video
At the end of the video you’ll see the cards pictured below – and I’ll write out a little more detail about them in the text here. Watch the video below or click HERE to view it on YouTube.
A Fox’s Life
The strong contrast between all the dark areas against the lights from the moon and highlights…..all that creates some serious drama!
I also created a slimlline card with the other stamp in this set; only the little part around the foxes is part of the stamp, so I created a rocky/pebbly beach with heavy heavy shadows to set off the light striking the foxes. The water is nice and dark so it makes the foxes pop in front of it – and I kept the sky lighter as well for the contrast. The sky is way fancier than what’s in the Blue Skies classes but if you’re interested in upping your game, it’s on sale right now.
Art Is
Anita Jeram has drawn a bunch of “art” related stamps, and I couldn’t be happier! This one has an easel with a couple images that can be stamped onto the canvas. Here I stamped the bunny in black on rocks that I drew, posing….and then stamped it in lighter ink as part of the in progrss painting. The background has strong side lighting, low on the horizon. It can seem “wrong” to put the highlights on the back of the bunny – but pay attention to the direction the light is shining from; it can do unexpected things.
The other version of Art Is is a slimline artists loft – I always wished I could have had one when I lived in NYC! But I guess I can draw my own so maybe I didn’t miss out on anything? The lighting here is full of drama; even if the walls are a tan color, when backed up by bright light from windows, they get dark.
Kindness First
I was working on these cards and proceeding just fine until….I hit the mojo wall. I stared at the bunny and cat and couldn’t figure out a scene to give them! I asked on social media, and someone on Instagram suggested a lumber mill by a creek, someone else wanted a waterfall – and this is what happened after that! Note all the dark colors that “frame” the figures – they don’t OUTLINE the characters, make sure you picture the background as if it’s continuous behind the figures.
Play Time
This set has smaller scene stamps, so each one got the dramatic light treatment. The mice putting on makeup have a dark wall behind and strong shadows across the teal surface of the table….and glossy accents on the shiny parts of the makeup products.Again, see the light on the BACK of the mouse on the right? Thats where the light’s coming from.
The light is coming from in front of the mice and their tea party – but just a slice of light cutting across it. Maybe a crack in a door or window. Dramatic shadows behind them and all the shadow outside the main scene simplifies it somewhat.
Spoonful of Sugar
I tried to picture what would make this mouse happy enough to juggle – and decided he was thrilled to have snuck the whole bowl out of the house! That gave me dark steps to silhouette, giving a nice dark area around the sugar bowl. I used a white pen to cover/remove the motion lines of the juggling, and then added magic dust that’s helping with the juggling.
Recharge
The cat in a hammock cried out for drama! I colored the clouds in the background first -lots of color, lots of drama, then added trees in green and grey, with extra trees on either side. Dark grasses just like i showed you in the video.
Happily Ever After
For this card I adapted one of the Copic Enchantment backgrounds into purples and pinks. SO pretty for a wedding card!
Bloghop and prizes
8 winners in this hop! Each will win one stamp set….to be included in the drawing leave a comment on each blog. Enter comments up until midnight eastern time on the 16th and winners will be announced by us on the 17th on the CCC blog.
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
You all know how much I love contrast right? Sometimes contrast is what can totally save a piece of art that you aren’t liking! In the case of this gnome stamp, I struggled with the gnome being surrounded by too many objects that arguably are the size of his nose and cheeks – thus fighting for attention! Contrast is what can separate the gnome from his surroundings – both the white of the paper and the colors in the flowers.
Do you think you’d ever try this? Color a background black sometime and see what happens – does it give you the courage to increase contrast in the image itself?
I opted to put the sentiment on a panel inside – leaving the front nearly a clean-and-simple design despite all the coloring that went on.
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
Friends are Flowers, Trinity Stamps Clear Stamps: EH – TS
Animal friends are gathered together all in one stamp – so I don’t have to mask them to put them all in a group, yay! I love stamps like this, so I couldn’t resist. I decided to add to my collection of No-Line coloring projects, so if this intrigues you, go check out some of the others.
Supplies for this project are linked at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links may be used at no cost to you.
No-line coloring allows you to adjust lines (make animals fatter, skinnier, change ear shapes, etc) – but also allows you to make the edges LOOK fuzzier than they’re drawn. In some ways that makes them look like they’re wiggling around, which is exactly what I’d expect if a group like this was gathered. Maybe wiggling nervously, ha!
Video
The set I’m using is a graduation set but also has an awesome “I’m proud of you” sentiment that will make the set last throughout the year. Plus of course you could do this as a birthday or hello card with other sentiments you already have! Watch the video below or click HERE to watch on YouTube.
I put all the colors together here for you – pin this for use later:
Here’s the embarrassing close up view; please know that coloring can be super adorable and imperfect. I choose to believe the animals are wiggling around – not that my coloring isn’t perfect like a computer generated it. These are handmade cards we create….go easy on yourself! Your recipient isn’t going to ding you. They won’t even see your imperfections.
The little MISTI tip is one I’ll try to use again in the future – I included it as a bonus in this video, but it’s helpful if you have an image you only want to stamp a little bit of! Stamp it first onto masking paper – IN PLACE. Don’t lift it except just enough to slip scissors in to open up the area of the image you want to stamp.
More no line coloring…
If you haven’t seen my “Inspiration” tab (in the menu at the top of the blog)….this is one example of a collection of posts on a single topic – no line coloring!
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
Proud of You by Anita Jeram, Colorado Craft Company Clear Stamps • EH • CCC
Proud of You by Anita Jeram, Colorado Craft Company Dies • EH • CCC
