Hey there friends!
It’s time to celebrate another new release from the Ellen Hutson Essentials by Ellen line, and I hope you’re in a festive mood because this one is PACKED with all things holiday! From snowmen in shaker globes and interactive snow angels to heaps of sentiment strips and more fabulous 2-layer sentiment dies (YAAAAS!)…. you’re going to love it!
Like I’ve been doing in recent months, today I’ll walk through the entire release and give you my top 3 favorites. This is a BIG one, so let’s get right in!
Bundled Up Stamps & Die Set
Scarves, mittens, hats and thick wooly socks – this set reminds me of childhood winters when I was growing up in Canada. While I don’t require many of those accessories now in California, they’re certainly fun to stamp in whatever colors your heart desires. The die set includes a die for the ‘Let it Snow’ sentiment, and that’s great news if you want to use it on a shaker card. In the project below, I’ve ink blended a background, then used a new Essentials by Ellen Rectangle Hot Foil Stamp (more on that shortly) and an Oval Hot Foil Stamp to create some shine behind the die cut images.
Cozy Cuppa Stamps & Die Set
PSL? Hot chocolate? Flavored coffee? What’s your warm holiday beverage of choice? No matter what you choose, you can brew up a fancy one with this stamp and die set, complete with whipped cream, a gingerbread cookie, marshmallows, a candy cane, and a few little sprigs. I had so much fun playing with the gingerbread cookie in particular – perhaps because baking has always been such a huge part of the holidays in my family. Also a huge part: thorough quality control to ensure all gingerbread cookies taste good.😉
Snow Much Fun Stamps & Die Set
With cute little line art illustrations, this set gives you options for coloring. You can get those markers out, try a little watercoloring (or faux watercoloring) with dye inks, or ink blend backgrounds in masked-off stripes as I’ve done here. For the snow angel die, I created the illusion of deeper snow by backing the front panel of the card with foam tape.
Snow Angels Stamp & Die Combo
Speaking of snow angels, those of you who enjoy a good interactive card are going to like this one! Using a simple pull tab setup and some brads to allow for movement, your card recipient can pull and push the tab at the bottom of the card to move the girl’s arms and legs. (There’s also a boy in the stamp set, but they share arms and legs!)
If you’re new to making interactive cards, this is a very easy interactive die set to work with. However, if you’d rather keep things super simple, you can try something like what I did in my second project, which was to use the snow angel die to cut a window from some DIY white glitter cardstock. (I made it by going direct to white cardstock with my Versamark ink pad, then heat setting clear sparkle embossing powder on the entire panel.) From there, you could absolutely turn this design into a shaker card, but I kept it simple since the glitter cardstock was already giving plenty of sparkly vibes!
Oh What Fun Stamp Set
You may recognize this big bold greeting as a gift with purchase from last year’s holiday release, and it’s back – this time as a purchase-able (as in, non-gift) item in the shop! Not only does it work as a focal point for a card, but you can also make some pretty cute tags by combining it with some die cut images from the other sets.
North Pole Greetings Stamps & Die Set
Ready for another big, bold sentiment? Similar to Oh What Fun, the main greeting in this stamp set is big enough to be the focal point of a card, but there’s also plenty of space to add a few other decorative elements if you’re working with an A2-sized card. For the project on the left, I used the Essentials by Ellen Landscape Die Set to cut a snowdrift, then did a little masking so that I could get the word ‘Pole’ stamped and positioned in front. For the card on the right, a plain dark green background felt a little blah, so I added a little clear heat embossing of some pine boughs for a subtle watermark effect.
Christmastown Stamps & Die Set – Top Pick!⭐️
This set was easily in my Top 3 picks for this release and I had SO much fun playing with these clean and simple solid images. Some simple masking allows you to create little scenes with trees positioned in the background or foreground, and before you know it, you’ll have a little Christmas village all stamped out.
Again, I reached for the Landscapes Die Set to create a couple of snowdrifts for the first project, using 1 layer of foam tape for the top tier and 2 for the bottom tier. To ensure that I stamped the elements in spots that would barely tuck behind the snow drifts, I used temporary tape to hold the snow drift pieces in place as I positioned my stamps in my MISTI. Once I knew they were in the right place, I removed the snow drift layers, stamped, then adhered the layers once all the stamping was done.
Christmas Magic Stamps & Die Set
This set allows you to create shaker globes in 2 different sizes, and create a little scene inside. The snowman and tree fit nicely inside the larger globe, but you can also mix in elements from the Christmastown set for the smaller one. As for shaker filler, I went for iridescent stars in the snowman card and clear/silver seed beads in the Christmastown project. That said, there are 2 stamps in the Christmas Magic stamp set that allow you to emboss flurries, so if you’re not into shaker cards, creating a snowy look is still totally doable.
Holiday Vibes Stamp Set
See those sentiments in the Christmastown cards? Those are from the Holiday Vibes Stamp Set, one that you’ll LOVE because it allows you to stamp or emboss a whole bunch of sentiments at once, and cut them all out in a single pass. You may remember the Positive Vibes Stamp Set from earlier this year, and this is the version with a holiday twist. I highly suggest making a whole bunch on various colors of cardstock so that you’ll be all set when you need to put cards together quickly!
Happy Mail Die Set and Santa Mail Hot Foil Stamps
Attention all gift card-givers: You need this cute little duo! Not only can you create a super cute little mailbox that perfectly houses a gift card, but the Santa Mail Hot Foil Stamps allow you to fancy it up with some foiled postage stamps and greetings. Small stamps from some of the other sets (such as the holly in Cozy Cuppa) also work well to decorate the mailbox, and patterned paper could be fun, too!
Sew Cute: Deer Die Set
This deer is the latest in the Essentials by Ellen line of ornament dies, and even if you know nothing about stitching, making these little guys is a total breeze. As you can see, I stitched the perimeter in DMC embroidery floss that matched the color of the felt. But if stitching on finer elements (like the nose, eyes and eyebrows) scares you, have no fear – a glue gun does the trick in just a few seconds. Oh, and if your tree already has a certain aesthetic and doesn’t usually include many critters, these make really cute garlands and gift toppers as well.
Wide House Box Die Set and Wide House Box Christmas Add-On Die Set
Remember the Tall House Box from the last release with its wonky-windowed Halloween Add-On? Well, get ready to build a new little neighborhood because there’s now a Wide House Box with snow-topped roofs, shutters and a wreath to decorate with! Like the Tall House Box, this one fits a gift card inside, as well as other small goodies. Though it’s not very obvious in the photos, I decided to make the snow on the roof glittery by applying clear sparkle embossing powder to a panel of white cardstock before die cutting. I also added some sparkly little drops on the wreath and trees, and you could totally go bigger on the decor by adding other colored embellishments as Christmas lights.
Cozy Sweater Tag Die Set
Not only does this die set work as a layered tag, but it also fits perfectly on the front of an A2 card panel in case you want to make a matching set. In my projects, I used the detailed die to hot foil the pattern on cardstock, but the same die can also be used to imprint the pattern (without fully cutting through). I did this on the under-layer of the tag, but again, it was difficult to capture on camera. I promise, it’s there! As for a sentiment on the tag, I used the Cool Yule sentiment stamp set (more on that in a moment) along with the previously-released Modern Tags Die Set to build up a layered look.
Fa La La Die Set and Ho Ho Ho Die Set – Top Pick!⭐️
Can I get an aaaaa-men for more 2-piece sentiment dies!? If you’ve been around here for a while, you already know I love ’em. Meet another two items that are in my top picks for this release. These are so versatile, not too big and not too small, and bold enough to be a card’s focal point if you want them to be.
In one of my Ho Ho Ho projects, I only used that die and nothing else, and this is one of my favorite ways to make a clean, simple, and modern-looking card. The shadow parts of the dies are also great for making shaker cards, and speaking of which…
Trim the Tree Stamps & Die Set, and It’s Christmastime Stamp Set
Trim the Tree is full of little critters, as well as tiny tree decorating accessories that allow you to create all sorts of scenes. I paired a few die cut and colored elements with the Ho Ho Ho die to make a shaker card, then used just the tiny stamps for a second project, stamping them in the shape of a circle. (This is super easy to do – just cut a circle out of a piece of scrap cardstock and place it over an A2 card panel, then start stamping to fill the gap in the middle.) To make it look like a Christmas bulb, I embossed one of the patterned lines from the Holiday Vibes Stamp Set vertically from the top.
Cool Yule Stamp Set – Top Pick!⭐️
Another one of my favorite picks in this release! You guys know I’m a fan of a clean font, and these sentiments are everything you need in a holiday stamp set. In addition to working on cards, they also fit really nicely on tags created with the recently-released Modern Tags die set.
Holiday Cheer Hot Foil Stamp
Here’s another one for those of you who like making big batches of sentiments. (Yep, I’m raising both hands over here!) These end up being a little bigger than the sentiment strips created with the Holiday Vibes stamp set once you trim them down, and if you punch a small hole in the end, you can also use them as skinny tags in a bundle of layered tags. Don’t forget to pull out your Press Plate to reverse-foil your leftovers – the results are stunning and the shine really makes the sentiments stand out.
Essential A2 Rectangles Hot Foil Stamps
These are the latest addition to the Essentials by Ellen shape family, ready to satisfy all of your framing needs! I’ve used the rectangles several times throughout these projects to add a foiled border and am pleased to report that they work beautifully. Of course, like the other shapes, they’re designed to coordinate with the Essential A2 Rectangle Die Set, so you can easily cut them out.
Phew – we did it, friends! That’s the whole release and I hope you’re feeling excited! To celebrate, myself and the rest of the Brand Ambassador team are part of an Instagram hop today, and by commenting, you can enter to win a gift card to the Ellen Hutson shop. If you’d like to participate, just hop over to my Instagram account and find the card that you see in the top of this blog post. And, if you’re feeling ready to shop, you’ll find the full release here. I hope you love it all as much as I do!
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