Bird Conversations

Even in the aviary world, some folks have more to say than others, lol. A fact that I have captured in card form, using one of my favorite sets from the fall 2018 release, our Blue Bird and Robin Brads!

I used some ancient speech bubble stickers as templates to cut many (MANY!) left-facing speech bubbles from sheet music to constitute the bluebird's part of this discussion. And also one right-facing speech bubble from ledger paper on which I had typed Mr. Robin's succinct reply, "Whatever". I diecut a branch, set the Bird Brads, then added all of the bubbles to an appropriately sky-like background. A thin orange mat helps direct the eye immediately to those very handsome birds!

Whatever ♥YOU♥ might be inspired to say in card form, I'm pretty sure there's at least a few styles of Eyelet Outlet Brads to help you do that!

tic-tac-toe... let's go!

it's a make-your-own challenge kind of week at shopping our stash, since lovely mimi has devised (and hand lettered!) an awesome tic-tac-toe style board for us to choose any row, column or diagonal of three consecutive elements!

i chose the diagonal that runs from top left to bottom right: leaves, stash more than five years old and powder pigments... in my case colorburst, of course!

patterned paper scraps from: authentique, glitz design, graphic 45, photo play and carta bella; scraps of gold glitter paper: american crafts pow; glossy black cardstock bases: ranger; circle die: spellbinders/nestabilities; leaf dies: provocraft/cuttlebug (small) and sizzix/tim holtx (large)... used on bits of vintage book paper painted with autumnal shades of colorburst; ink for edges: colorburst; pen outline: faber-castell pitt artist pen in SX; gold distress stickles: ranger; flowers: prima; brads: queen and co; labels: dymo; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, scor-tape by sookwang

ok, so the leaves and the colorburst are pretty obvious, i think. i painted various vintage papers somewhat randomly with 2-3 shades of the latter, then diecut them. i inked and outlined around the edges and dabbed on a little bit of gold stickles, which is hard to see in photos but very cool irl. the 5-year-old items are the set of cuttlebug dies i used for the smaller leaves-- one of the first dies i ever purchased. for that matter, the tattered foliage die i used for the larger leaves is probably close to five years old as well. the little white prima blooms are from the "got flowers" era, which is probably 6 or 7 years too, right? of course, my trusty dymo labelmaker is much older than anything else i used, and it's still going strong!

i made four artist trading coins, for an instagram swap with an "autumn" theme. the requirement was actually only to make three... but i decided the camus quote fit better when broken into four pieces.

all of the papers i used were scraps from my september and october classes at paper anthology. which were still sitting in a pile in my art lair, and were perfect to make a neutral, but not boring background for the coins.

the tiny red mini brads are pretty elderly too, actually. they probably come from around the same time as the little prima flowers.

there's lots more inspiration awaiting you from the lovely ladies at SOS, why not treat yourself to some eye candy, darlings? ♥

festive flower power

we're still wishing you Mele Kalikimaka (which is hawaiian for merry christmas) at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ this week and making cards that feature flowers to celebrate!

patterned paper: carta bella, american crafts; florals: we are memory keepers; holly leaves: petaloo; snowflake flair: studio calico; sentiment sticker: doodlebug; glossy white cardstock: the paper cut; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, gluedots, sewing machine

i had this american crafts floral paper in my hand last week, but it wasn't quite the right home for a flamingo, so i moved on. i hadn't stopped thinking about it though, so i had a head start when i sat down to make this week's card. as soon as i saw this week's sketch saturday, i was smitten (see below) so that took care of positioning. a white flower, badge center and velvet holly leaves were all pretty straightforward. believe it or not, the hardest part was finding a sentiment which made sense, fit the space, and didn't clash!!!

as i said, my layout was inspired by the current sketch saturday (#538), which i think you'll agree is pretty awesome:

be sure to hop over and see stephanie's card at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ then cruise the kalikimaka gallery for even more inspiration!

Birthday Pun(s)

As you know, I'm always excited about pairing Eyelet Outlet brads with diabolical puns OR awesome pre-made journaling cards. So imagine how excited I am to be able to do BOTH... simulataneously!

I'm definitely crushing on Doodlebug Designs' "So Much Pun" collection, especially since it works really well with a lot of different EO brads and washi tapes. For one thing, they don't just have any old frog, they have a super cute one who could definitely be the elder brother of our adorable Frog Brads! Since we're celebrating a birthday on this card, I decided not to stop there, but to also add a Party Hat and a Cupcake as well. For the background I used one of the coordinating prints from the paper collection with a few neutral solids and a nice strip of Green Dot Tape because they're frogs, lol!

I guess it wasn't too shocking that one of the other 2.25" square minicards featured some birthday candles; but what are the odds that those candles would be EXACTLY the same size as our Candle Brads? (and yet... they were!) In this case the colors were just right to feature all three shades of Sprinkles Tape too!

Of course you don't need any particular papers to make the many styles of EO Birthday Brads shine on your own cards. We've got everything from Balloons to Birthday Sock Monkeys... and a whoooooooole lot of great stuff in between! ♥

try not to step in a poodle!

because it's raining cats and dogs this week at shopping our stash. by which we mean we'd like to see projects that feature cats, dogs, or even rain! here's what i made:

frenchie and frame: pipsticks; sentiment sticker: studio calico; heart punch: ek success; patterned paper: amy tangerine/american crafts; october afternoon, basic grey; glossy white cardstock: paper accents; ink: colorbox; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape

this sweet french bulldog sticker was in my pipsticks pack months and months ago and i confess that due to his extreme cuteness i've been hoarding him a tiny bit. luckily, i have a dog-loving friend with a birthday coming up and i know she will love him as much as i do. the frame postcard is also from pipsticks, but it's a bit newer. all the patterned papers are oldies but goodies. strangely for me, this is quite a flat card, but there's so much going on with color and pattern that it felt finished.

it's raining cats and dogs' worth of inspiration at SOS, you should definitely check that out, ASAP! ♥ 

Anniversary Party and New Classes!

It's one of the best weekends of the entire year at Paper Anthology in Kenvil, NJ. We're celebrating our SEVENTH anniversary with a big party that includes food, games, prizes, special savings,*4* awesome make-and-takes and more The best part? It's all FREE! So come on down and hang out today between 11 and 4! If you can't make it today, be sure to check out the class schedule for the next two months, there are some fabulous holiday (& non holiday!) choices! I'm teaching two:

Bloomin’ Beautiful Holiday Cards:

We’ll learn three different ways to make beautiful, dimensional (& easy!) Poinsettia and Holly Clusters using Heartfelt Creations’ coordinated system of stamps, dies and shaping mold. Then we’ll combine our beautiful blossoms with Authentique’s “Nostalgia” collection on a trio of elegant cards and finish off with Elizabeth Craft diecut sentiments.

Festive Foliage Gift Bags:

We’ll combine diecuts with premium materials like metallic and glitter papers, beautiful felt and vintage buttons to create a pair of lovely gift bags that can be dressed up or down to suit nearly any winter holiday or occasion.

festive and floral

we're celebrating christmas with a floral flair this fortnight at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥. for "MELE KALIKIMAKA" any flowers will do; and your card needn't have any island or tropical connection, but it can if you want. and SURPRISE... mine does!

patterned paper: echo park, creative imaginations, american crafts, crate paper, elle's studio; flamingo and scalloped border sticker: echo park; hibiscus stickers: martha stewart; palms and plumerias: creative imaginations; poinsettias made with heartfelt creations stamps, dies, stamens and foam paper; ink: colorbox; adhesives: elmers gluetape, 3m foam tape, beacon 3-in-1

i couldn't resist adding a flamingo of course, but actually heartfelt creations' system for making awesome dimensional flowers-- in this case poinsettias-- was my number one inspiration. I used the coordinating stamps and dies on their very cool foam paper, added some color and ultra-fine glitter,  then used my heat tool to make the petals curl into realistic looking blossoms. once i had loads of poinsettias and a flamingo, of course i added some hibiscus, plumeria, palm fronds and faux polaroids. like ya do, lol...

be sure to hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and check out stephanie's fab florals, then get cracking on yours!