Uno Mas

Technically ICAD ended on July 31st, but I couldn't resist making one last index card mandala for my 2025 collection!

I (sequentially) smooshed a few favorite shades of Simon Hurley STELLAR Inks from Ranger onto my craft sheet, misted them with isopropyl alcohol* and picked up the ink with an unlined index card. When I had covered the card in a tie-dye-ish series of colors, I dried it with my heat tool and then added outlines with my Letter It Fineliners and details with a white Posca pen. 

*Simon's STELLAR inks are water-based, but something I learned from the very clever and always inspiring Wendy Vecchi is that using rubbing alcohol to "watercolor" with dye based inks works pretty much exactly the same as using water, except the alcohol will not warp or pill your cardstock, no matter how wet you get it! Thanks, Wendy!!! ♥

'Twas the Sketch Before Xmas

...and all through the blog, we're busy making new holiday cards based on this clever and inspiring layout by our own Jingle Belles Sketch Diva, Stephanie! 

As always, you can interpret the sketch using any colors, stamps, papers or supplies; and you can flip, rotate, stretch or smoosh it; even swap the circle for a different shape... just make sure we can see "the bones" of the sketch in your design! 

And here's my card:

As you can see, I flipped the sketch upside down (unintentionally!) and I shifted things (on purpose) a bit to the righthand side to accommodate my square card format, but otherwise I was quite faithful to Stephanie's beautiful sketch. Unusually for me, ALL of my items not only come from one manufacturer (49 & Market) but from one collection, "Christmas Spectacular" with which I am a bit obsessed. I used parts of three patterned papers and built my focal collage from the "cut outs" sheet that's included with the papers.

There's a sweet little prize for one randomly selected cardmaker who links up with us this time. JB2516: 'Twas the Sketch Before Christmas runs until the evening of Wednesday, August 13th.

ICAD: Final Three

Hard to believe that sixty-one days have elapsed since June first when the Index Card a Day Challenge began, but the calendar indicates that is indeed the case, which means it's time to say one more giant THANK YOU to Tammy Garcia, who devised ICAD in 2011 and continues to serve as hostess, inspiration and cheerleader every June and July as we embark on our yearly quest to make art on index cards, every day, for two months! 

Day 61: Love or Wish

It's the final day of #dyicad2025 and the optional prompt is #LOVE or #WISH which is perfect because I'd like to send my LOVE to @gypsy999 aka our hostess Tammy; to all of my fellow ICADians and ICADettes; as well as all who followed along on this, my 13th year of Index Card a Day; I'm already looking forward to next year! My WISH for all the artists and makers is that you will keep painting, drawing, stamping, coloring, collaging, lettering, stitching... whatever; make time for creativity and fun, even if it's only a few minutes each day, you deserve it!

Day 60: Marquee

Nothing but a single (#marquee style!) THANKS stamp, some whimsical puffy stickers and five bold shades of Simon Hurley STELLAR Inks on the penultimate day of #dyicad2025 because I wanted this one to be about thanking all the ICADians and ICADettes for sharing their art and their comments and generally making this the best June and July ever. Of course the biggest shoutout goes to our hostess and inspiration Tammy Garcia aka #gypsy999 who devised this super summer shindig in 2011 and has been rockin’ it every summer since. THANKS Missus! ♥

Day 59: Upside Down

I'm off-prompt, but as I took this photo it occurred to me that my three-stencil + doodles card is (unintentionally) about as conclusively non-directional as it could possibly be; and thus virtually incapable of being #UPSIDEDOWN which I find sort of low-key amusing... 

♥♥♥

Ranger Dimensional Texture Paste Lemon Squeezy Card

What's better than Simon Hurley's beautiful Zesty set of twenty-one citrus-themed clear stamps with lots of uplifting sentiments? His coordinating Lemon Branch Layering Stencil Set that makes it easy-peasy to add realistic dimension with Ranger Opaque Matte Texture Paste and Archival Reinkers! Making even better than that, the Lemon Branch Stencils are ON SALE! And if you need an idea for how to use it, follow along on the Ranger Project Tutorials page as I show you step-by-step how I made this bold, bright encouragement card. ♥

Holiday Jumpstart: Winter Wonderland (NEW!)

CLICK HERE to visit the Holiday Jumpstart: Winter Wonderland page in the Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop

Holiday Jumpstart: Winter Wonderland is Paper Anthology's newest holiday card kit, which features peaceful winter woodland diecuts, serene color palette, and a vibe that perfectly fits any winter holiday your friends and family celebrate. Grab yours today in the Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop.

Paper Anthology’s Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit is our pre-packaged kit that includes everything you need (except adhesive) to complete FIVE copies of this new original holiday card design. This edition is called “Winter Wonderland” based on the sweet seasonal forest vignette.

Don’t we all adore the IDEA of making holiday cards throughout the year, instead being overloaded in November and December? But sometimes it’s hard to be inspired during the “off-season”. This pre-packaged kit features everything you need (except adhesive) to complete five bold, beautiful, colorful cards; including complete written instructions (not pictured, but included!) and a nice big photo for reference.

Check out the Holiday Jumpstart: Winter Wonderland page in the Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop

This kit contains:

Five embossed and scalloped periwinkle panels
Five pre-diecut tan forest squares
Five pre-diecut white birch tree squares
Five green shimmer pine boughs
Five large two-layer diecut pinecones
Five small two-layer diecut pinecones
Five pre-diecut "peace" sentiments
Fifteen clear dew drops
Complete step-by-step instruction sheet with large color photo
Five white topfold A2 cards

Actually, Cats Have Staff

Here are TWO versions of a cute and snarky cat card: one featuring beautiful, realistic Eyelet Outlet Feline Brads; and the other spotlighting our adorable Kitty Brads. Comical Cat Tape and Wood Washi are pitching in to make the perfect backgrounds.

Fabulous Feline Shopping List:

Feline Brads

Kitty Brads

Cat Tape

Wood Washi

The Eyelet Outlet Store also stocks Black Cat Brads and Silhouette Kitten Brads as well as lots of other critters from the backyard, the farm, the beach, and even the jungle. Check out the Animal Brads section today or better yet, check the Tradeshow Schedule to find out when the EO Booth will be coming to a town near you!

SOS553: Eat Five a Day

You may already have guessed that the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash, "Eat Five a Day" involves making a card which features at least one fruit and/or vegetable; which means I can skip the lengthy introduction and show you my card, right?

This is not just a card with multiple fruits (pineapples, orange, strawberries, cherries and watermelon, to be specific) but for sheer ancient stash-usage, it's going to be hard to beat. I don't think there's a single thing on here that is less than four or five years old; and a few things (like the faux polaroids and the Love, Elsie background paper) are probably ten or more! Basically I sat down with a neutral background, added fruity washi, and then piled on as many stickers and punch-outs as I could possibly fit on one 5.5" square card.

Be sure to check out all of the other gorgeous and inspiring cards from the SOS Crew. Then link up your own fruity- or veggie-centric card at Shopping Our Stash. SOS553: Eat Five a Day runs until the evening of Monday, August 11th.