SOS378: inspired by quilting

this week at shopping our stash we are, as i've mentioned above, inspired by quilting. i had a couple of ideas, the first of which was to trim some hexagonal patches of paper and add them, quilt-like, onto another design that coordinated well. i'm happy with the result:

the papers on this card are from a newer prima line called "pretty pale" which definitely lives up to its name. but don't worry there are some much older stashy bits involved, too! the crystal hexie frames are from... ok, i'm not honestly sure, i've had them for a bit. they're a "say it in crystals" shape that i could not even find again in a google search, so i suppose they must be from a couple of years ago, at least. i placed each of the frames on a pretty section from a paper called "colorless" that is quite neutral, but it has little copper metallic patches that are super-elegant. once i had framed up a bunch of pretty hex-shaped sections, i trimmed neatly around them with scissors and used them like appliques, mounted on tiny squares of foam tape. the pretty tiny taupe butterflies are also from a few years ago and the flower is pretty ancient, i think. i was glad i had saved/hoarded it, however, because i love how it looks on this card.

as long as i was in the quilting vein, i couldn't resist making one more "strip quilt" card, similar to the ones we made in one of my september/october classes at paper anthology. i described the method for a similar card back in june, if you'd like to see how it's done. it's quite easy, since you start with a PANEL that has adhesive on, rather than applying adhesive to each of the strips.

once i had covered the entire panel, i did a bit of machine stitching on top and finished off with some elderly (but still beloved) prima burlap fabric dogwood flowers, plus some equally ancient leaves from an entirely different collection. again the papers are from "pretty pale".

 i hope you'll be inspired to channel your own "inner quilter" and join us this week at SOS! ♥

look what santa brought me!

it's time for one of my favorite ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ traditions, yes, it's that time again to show off the crafting goodies you got for xmas or hanukkah! and yes, it totally counts if the "santa" who treated you to something new before (or after) the holidays was *YOU*!!! just in case you have iron willpower and didn't receive or purchase ANYTHING new in december or january... (for the record, i'm only pretending to believe you, lol!) ...but just in case: break out something from your crafty stash that hasn't been used yet! here's what i made:

having run very low last year on one of my own personal crafting "must haves" ...adorable holiday-themed sticker sheets from doodlebug design... i treated myself to a few of those just after xmas, and while i was at it, i got a few papers too. it's the latter i've used here from the "christmas town" and "milk and cookies" lines. as it is nearly every january, the memory of how many of my lumpy bumpy cards turned out to be considered first class parcels and cost $3 to mail is fresh in my mind, so the next few weeks you'll see some quite flat and conservative cards such as this, that only have a few eyelet outlet enamels and brads, plus a bit of machine stitching for texture. luckily i once again had an awesome sketch saturday to spur me on:

be sure to hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and see stephanie's lovely card and get ready to link up your own masterpiece!

Have a BEAR-y Nice Day!

Warning: This post contains Diabolical Puns; those who do not enjoy such humor should look away NOW! 

It's Lauren here again with more Valentines. Or rather, one official Valentine and one all-occasion card. But really... you could make them both all-occasion or both Valentines. Anyway, here are the cards in question, they both feature our adorable Eyelet Outlet Bear Brads:

"Bear Hugs" was the first idea that came to me when I saw these lovely little guys and I've made it into a Valentine, but really, you could send "Bear Hugs on Your Birthday" or "Thinking of You and Sending Bear Hugs" or even "Get Well Bear Hugs for You"!  Isn't it nice when cards can multi-task? 

When I thought of the "Un-BEAR-able" pun I was stumped for a bit as to how to use it on a card without being rude, lol! But finally it came to me. 

Of course there are plenty of additional ways to go: "Sending BEARY Good News"... "Wishing You a BEARY Happy Birthday" or even, "I'm em-BEAR-assed that I missed your birthday"! It turns out that Bear Brads are pretty handy to have around! ♥

Lauren Bergold

comes from a very PUNNY family! 

(But you probably guessed that already...)

SOS386: hearts on fire

this week at shopping our stash the challenge is called, "hearts on fire" and the brief is -rather straightforwardly- to make something with a heart on it. it needn't be a valentine, but it can be if you'd like. i made altered rolodex cards for a swap with a botanical theme:

papers, florals and stencil: prima marketing; vintage book paper from an ancient, falling-apart garden manual; sentiment stamps: altenew; wooden stamps: cherry arte and stampendous; inks: ranger archival; heart dies: nestabilities; fern dies: spellbinders; pearls: eyelet outlet; sequins: from my stash; adhesives: xyron, 3m foam tape, gluedots, scor-tape by sookwang, nuvo deluxe for sequins

once again i had a brand new paper collection burning a hole in my creative pocket. because if you get to spend time somewhere awesome like paper anthology, you will tend to want to bring your work home with you lol. in this case it's another beautiful line from prima (they're on fire recently, imo) this one is called misty rose. but don't worry, i also have lots of fab older stashy stuffs incorporated, too. including a sentiment from a great set of stamps stephanie gave me months ago for my birthday. i hadn't used it yet, because honestly, i was not confident that i could line up both parts neatly. of course, with the MISTI, it's no trouble at all to do so... times 6 or 7 or however many you need, with ZERO mistakes!

i built my cards from pages of an old gardening book, xyroned onto sturdy cardstock. then i added a layer of plain white modeling paste through a floral stencil. which turned out to be practically invisible. so when it was bone dry, i rubbed a little bit of ink onto the raised bits to make it show up better. then i did some random stamping of leaves and a bit of a crackle pattern on top to grunge it up a little more.

more old-stash goodies in the form of fern diecuts leftover from a summer class; tiny ANCIENT prima flowers mixed in with new ones from the misty rose collection; eyelet outlet pearls; and sequins of unknown origin, lol. and together they add up to a bit of happy spring-like sunshine to swap with my junk journal junkies group!

hop over to SOS and see all the heart-y goodness from my design team darlings! ♥

the pitter patter of pattern january

more fun sketchbook goodness, YAY! ♥

day 6: fair

i was thinking of a fun fair, so i went crazy with colorburst bunting. like ya do...

day 7: coral reef

this was a stumper because i decided i had to combine pattern january with mandala monday, which turned out to be harder than i thought. this doesn't entirely work (either as a mandala or a pattern, lol!) ...but... i definitely learned a lot AND got to use wisteria, cornflower and orchid colorburst!

day 8: kitchen

in a very verrrrrrrry tangential take, i painted some beuatiful arabesque tile i saw recently at home depot, that i would love to be our backsplash when we (eventually) re-do our kitchen. 

(technically, the tile i saw was neutral beige-on-beige, but that's not especially fun to paint, kwim?!)

day 9: starts with w

my "default mode" for pattern january is to go with very literal brush lettering whenever i can't decide what to do. this was one of those times. i cannot say i like this as a finished piece, but i had a lot of fun trying to make as many W color names as i could think of into visual patterns. i predict you might see some of my letter styles again, in something a little more finished looking.

(note: i've spelled "wedgwood" two different ways... BOTH are wrong...)

♥♥♥

pattern january is devised and hosted by anika starmer, aka a is for anika, on instagram and facebook. everyone who'd like to participate is welcome, in any media they enjoy!

♥♥♥

wrap stars!

we're still making cards that incorporate giftwrap or tags at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and you're still invited to join the fun!

gold and purple snowflake giftwraps saved from the recycling bag on xmas day; patterned paper: lawn fawn, bo bunny; alphabet stickers from the dollar store; pearls: eyelet outlet; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, xyron, sewing machine

this week i've used two different wraps: some gorgeous gold embossed paper that was on one of my own gifts, plus the vibrant purple and white pattern, which was actually on a gift my aunt gave to my mother... but i scooped it up to make a card, lol. there was a large and thankfully unwrinkled section, which became the background of my card and then i fussy cut a few of the snowflakes, as well. luckily i had the current sketch saturday, so i knew exactly where all my elements should go!

hop on over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ to see stephanie's card, and link up your own wrap masterpiece! 

Valentine, Je T'Aime!

Hi again, today I'm showing off a couple of Valentines with a French accent!

I love that Eyelet Outlet Eiffel Tower Brads come in two shades -bright silver and annodized copper- and that you get a mix of both in every packet. My first card features the silver, as well as one each of our Sun and Cloud Brads, to make a tiny landscape within a small heart shape. I've also added Heart Pearls to dot the I and J in "je t'aime" and two strips of Skinny Dot Washi Tape to set off the yellow cardstock panel.

But that's not to say I don't love the copper Eiffel Towers, as well! Here's one now, along with a Heart Brad, set against a carefully snipped panel of Wide Travel Washi, to show just the Parisian destination. My large heart panel was made by neatly lining up strips of Script Tape on plain white cardstock and then diecutting the result just like any other patterned paper.

There are so many cool ways to use Eyelet Outlet brads and tapes to make amazing and unique Valentines, I hope you'll stop by the EO Blog soon to see what the design team is up to next! ♥