Ellen Hutson - 12th Anniversary Celebration

Happy Monday, blog friends! Thank you for being patient with me after my Pinkfresh Studio Holiday Cards Blog Series. As I mentioned, I came down with one of the worst cold viruses I've ever had, and it really dropped me. I haven't been that sick in I don't know how long! I'm feeling a lot better now, and am getting back to my day to day. I did want to mention that the winner from my week long Pinkfresh Studio Giveaway has been posted on my giveaway page....be sure to check it out and see if it was you! {I haven't heard from the winner yet!} I'm also in the middle of completely redoing my craft area, so it is a giant mess!

But that didn't stop me from creating a card to celebrate Ellen Hutson's 12th Anniversary today! Plus, they are having a GREAT Anniversary promotion with an exclusive FREE gift with purchase! Shop now to get the best selection, and to get your hands on this exclusive freebie!

I met Ellen this past January at Creativation, and she is one of the warmest people I have ever met. It's not always easy to have conversations about everything that has gone on in my life, but she took the time to talk with me about Ellie & Layton. I'm always grateful to those who are willing, and don't back away from the uncomfortable nature of the subject. I'm also grateful when people understand why I tear up, and give me giant hugs rather than trying to move along. And that is exactly what Ellen did for me when we met. She is a true gem & light in this world.

We are having an epic, 3-day Instagram hop celebrating Ellen and today is day 1! Julie Ebersole is the start of our day 1 hop, so be sure to head on over & check out all of the amazing inspiration! We have a "Warm Fuzzies" theme for this 3-day celebration, and you might be thinking, "Lea....yours look anything but warm." Lol! The honest truth friends is that I LOVE winter, and I feel at my coziest when I am looking out my window at a landscape blanketed in glittering snow. It's even MORE cozy if the snow happens to be falling! So, that was my inspiration for the theme. :)

 I focused my card around the Alpine Window diecuts, which are technically designed for a tri-fold card. But if you partner them with a 3.25 inch circle die (I used Carly's Cutaways from Winnie & Walter for mine, but you can use any in your stash) you can turn them into layers! To start I diecut the scene from heavyweight white cardstock - you have to do each step separately, so it took 6 diecut runs to finish. Then I snipped off the thin circle strip from the top of the tree & house layers. Next I colored each layer with my Zig watercolor pens in the following colors (all linked at the end of the post):

Mountains: light grey, pale grey

Trees: pale green, green shadow

House: haze blue

Once that was finished, I covered the layers in prisma glitter & diamond dust, and layered them together with foam tape. Finally, I backed it with a scrap of 6x6 paper from the Pinkfresh Studio Holiday Vibes collection. This finished my cute wintry scene.

Next I mounted a white cardstock panel with foam adhesive to the front of an A2 cardbase made from Bazzill Icy Mint cardstock. I marked a light pencil line where the circle scene would be mounted, then stamped the sentiment from Mountain Holiday to the lower right corner in onyx black Versafine. I used my MISTI, and just took out the foam pad, since I had mounted the white block in foam. Then I adhered the wintry scene over top of the penciled circle. 

I thought it looked a little like an ornament, so I decided to top it with this beautiful silver leather bow! I've had this in my stash forever now - it is from the American Crafts DIY Shop collection, and not readily available any longer. But you could easily change this out with any other type of bow in your stash, or just tie your own to put on top!

The final step was accenting here & there with my signature iridescent jewels! I felt the bow needed a little something, so I also added a pearl accent to the middle of it, and that truly finished my card for today!

That is all I have for you today, my friends! Before you move along with your day, I wanted to invite you to follow me on social media. I hang out on Instagram a lot, and share my work in progress in my stories...along with REALLY cute photos of my dogs! :) And of course, I would love for you to subscribe to my YouTube Channel. I had to take a break from videos when getting sick, because I sounded TERRIBLE. Lol! But, now that my voice is mostly back to normal...I resuming video work again! :)

INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE

 

I hope that you have a great Monday, and have fun along our Instagram hop today!

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