Surfin' the Web

Apologies to any arachnophobes out there, I know that not everyone is a fan of our eight-legged friends, but these Eyelet Outlet Mini Spider Brads are so adorable, it's scary, lol! Which is why I couldn't resist weaving-- or in this case, machine stitching-- a web for them to inhabit on my Halloween card:

I drew some very light pencil marks to make the long straight "anchor" lines of the web, then sat down at the machine and did the curvy connecting lines. The nice thing about spider webs is that you don't need perfectly neat stitching; in fact the messier it is, the more organic your web will look!

If you're not really up for web-weaving, though, this Spider Web Washi is absolutely perfect! I created my oversized sentiment by neatly covering a scrap of white cardstock with lines of tape, then tracing some chipboard letters and cutting them out. 

To make the smaller letters I covered a scrap of cardstock with Glitter Black Washi and used alphabet dies. After all my elements were attached to the card, I added those Adorable Arachnids and called it a day.

I was inspired to use the grey background by the Mood Board Inspiration (challenge #235) at Use Your Stuff; for which I thank them!

If the spider brads are still too creepy crawly for you, there are lots more Halloween Brads at Eyelet Outlet so there's sure to be something you'll love! ♥

the belles, the bellllllllllllllllllllles!!!

we're still ringing out the xmas cheer at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and you still have plenty of time to link up a bell-based card! here's what i made this week:

holly brads: eyelet outlet; journal card with bells and sentiment sticker: simple stories; patterned paper: basic grey, doodlebug + a scrap of vintage sheet music; kromekote cardstock: the paper cut; ink: colorbox; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, sewing machine

the fab bell image was actually on an oversized rectangular pocket-scrapbooking card, but when i saw the current fusion sketch, i was inspired to trim it into a circle instead. i did a bunch of machine stitching, added some super-cute eyelet outlet holly brads, and painted a bit of pewter liquid metals onto the center of the bells for a cool shimmer effect that... alas... can only be seen irl!*

despite a massive flooding event in cedar rapids and the mandatory evacuation of both her home and office this week, the amazing miss stephanie has still produced a gorgeous card which you can see over at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥. leave her a little love too, k?! ♥

*you're all invited round to see the card in person, i'll put more coffee on, shall i? 

i love you a latte, amy tsuruta!

i enjoy coffee quite a bit, too; and we all know that making cards is my favorite thing, so it's a bit of a puzzle that this is the first time in a couple of years i've gotten my act together to make a card which celebrates all of those things, but at last i've made something for the 2016 fall coffee lovers' blog hop, woohoo!

i'm hoping this is autumnal enough for the seasonal hop... i went with a sort of loose back-to-school theme is somewhat fall(ish) colors, at least partially so i could add the gorgeous eyelet outlet book washi tape which i absolutely love. the fab new coffee cup and coffee bead brads are eyelet outlet, as well, and so is the skinny hearts washi. i've also got a dictionary page with COFFEE actually on it, that i consider a bit of a triumph, lol! and a couple of the tiny sunflowers from a bouquet my aunt found at a garage sale.

vintage dictionary page + sunflowers from my stash; coffee brads and washi tapes: eyelet outlet; cardstock diecuts: october afternoon; patterned paper: american crafts, october afternoon, with scraps of basic grey and doodlebug for paper piecing; pink twine: lawn fawn; ink: ranger archival for stamping, colorbox chalk for edges; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape

i'm jumping in on the current retro rubber challenge (#48), "all tied up" and for once i know EXACTLY how old my stamps are! mick and keef, the two adorable monstas, were carved for me by my girl gina for a monsta swap we did in 2009 (!!!); the coffee sentiment stamp is from the first set of stamps my friend becca cruger designed for stamplorations (in sept 2015), it's called "literary caffeine-ations" and is still available from that fine company! :)

be sure to check out the fall coffee lovers' blog hop, say "hey" the lovely miss amy and soak up the glorious inspiration in the readers' gallery. oh, did i mention there's a chance at some amazing prizes?! you know, if you like that sorta thing... 

SOS271: an apple for teacher

we're going a bit tutti frutti shopping our stash this week! we'd like to see cards and projects that have fruit or veggies on them; alternatively, you could make a teacher appreciation card or gift, so there are plenty of different ways to take this! here's what i made:

patterned paper: basic grey; journal card: simple stories; cardstock stickers: doodlebug; strawberry, cherry, sun, cloud and mini butterfly brads: eyelet outlet; tape: love my tapes, doodlebug, scotch, little b, heidi swapp, martha stewart; glossy kromekote cardstock: the paper cut; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape

this is my favorite sort of card, because i've mixed some brand new must-haves (those uber-cute tropical-themed cardstock stickers from doodlebug ) with some of last year's eyelet outlet brads and scraps of ancient basic grey paper. i love the way new supplies make me look at my older stuff with new eyes and find cool combinations i hadn't thought of before!

my favorite part of this is the sticker collage, which i've built on top of a trimmed-down 4x6" journal card whose letters are a pretty good match for the colors in the stickers. i added the typed sentiment strip to make this read, "aloha, birthday girl" which i think is a fun thing for a card to say!

i used the current sketch saturday layout (#431) to guide the placement of my elements, though clearly i've played around with the proportions quite a bit... i *think* you can still see the "bones" of the sketch though?

there's lots more fruity food for thought over at SOS, why not hop over and enjoy that right now, darlings?!

*ALL* the colors!

if you've ever asked my niece maddie what her favorite color is, she will have said, without the least bit of hesitation, "RAINBOW!" at the age of twelve she's old enough to know that technically, rainbow isn't a color, as such. but she doesn't care. it's still her favorite. something i've noticed lately in my sketchbook is that if i'm doodling or doing anything abstract without being given a specific palette, i will probably use my favorite color: RAINBOW! :)

this color burst watercolor was made for #sisters with heart in art on instagram, the prompt was "drips and drops". well, that just SCREAMS rainbow hearts, doesn't it?!

this was a marker testing page that i later filled up with black pen doodles. well a girl's gotta do something at 10:30pm, right?!

someone asked me recently if my half- and two-thirds mandalas actually go off the page, or if i just crop them that way for instagram. IG does kind of force you into a square, so sometimes i am posting a slightly smaller version than real life, but if they look like they go off the page, it's most likely because they do. i just find it more dynamic when the art fills up the space really well. also... symmetry is HARD you guys! 

i had fun in september jumping intermittently on an instagram challenge hosted by @aisforanika called #backtopattern. this particular prompt was "shapes". i'm still not sure what possessed me to do that much precise measuring and coloring, but i like the result; sort of "vitruvian man" meets 1970's tv test pattern, eh?

another #sisterswithheartinart prompt, this one was "circles" and i had just gotten a tiny (round!) paint set on a trip to the metropolitan museum of art.  

another day of #backtopattern, this time "paisley". i actually set out to make a funky version of a color wheel using all the shades of color burst, similar to some very cool ones i saw on ken oliver's facebook page. well, i DID use all the shades of color burst, lol, so there's that... :) 

whatever ♥YOUR♥ favorite color is, i hope before this lovely sunday ends you will have used a bit of it in a project that makes you especially happy!!! ♥

belles are ringing

this fortnight's prompt at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ is called "christmas bells, those christmas bells..." and for once, it means EXACTLY what you think it does: we want to see holiday cards with bells on them! jingle bells, church bells, silver bells, sleigh bells, or any other kind of bell you can think of! here's what i made:

cardinal brads, holly brads and glitter gold washi tape: eyelet outlet; vintage sheet music and doily (inked green and layered) from my stash; chipboard letters: basic grey; plaid patterned paper: october afternoon; sage green cardstock: core'dinations; ink: colorbox; adhesive: elmers brand gluetape

the very first year of ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ my lovely blogging friend and fellow jersey girl lorraine of paper vernissage gave me this beautiful memory box "jingle bell border" die and it is still one of my all-time faves! in this case i've used it-- and most of the other elements on the card-- to make my oversized sentiment even more prominent; a task for which those adorable (brand new!) eyelet outlet cardinal brads are admirably suited, imo. my layout was inspired by this week's sketch (#178) from atlantic hearts sketch challenge:

stephanie has also created a most inspiring holiday card (literally) with bells on, why not check it out at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥?

SRSLY? OMG!

I was fairly surprised earlier this year when my retired, and not especially "tech-savvy" mother got her first smart phone. The reason? She wanted to be able to text with her grandchildren! Of course the best part of texting is being able to use all those cuuuuuuuuute emojis, right? Well, good news, now we can use Eyelet Outlet Emotion Brads and Emotion Mini Brads on cards, too!

I made a fun background of text speak using my vintage typewriter, but you could easily stamp or computer-generate something similar. Before I began typing, I lightly traced around the brads and the Heart Enamels I wanted to use, so that I'd be sure to leave enough space, in the right places. It's pretty hard to type right down to the bottom of the page, so I filled in the last few lines with a strip of Tape Measure Washi and a strip of Skinny Hearts Tape.

I can think of sooooooo many fun uses for these... I'm probably going to need more than one pack! :)