all bundled up? in JULY??!

ok, yes, it's a bit of a counter-intuitive theme this fortnight at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ but bear with me while i explain that when we say, "all bundled up" we're actually looking for holiday cards with *LAYERS*... three or more layers, to be specific. that's do-able, right? even if where you live it's too hot for anything but shorts and a t-shirt! here's what i made:

poinsettia panel made with colorburst and poinsettia stamps by ken oliver crafts, plus some wendy vecchi and impression obsession cover stamps added lightly in the background; ink: versamark; embossing powders: wow; gems: eyelet outlet; rub-on sentiment: making memories; patterned paper: daisy d's, craft and you design, graphic 45; glossy white cardstock: the paper cut; distressing tool: tonic; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, sewing machine

ok, so, everyone knows that using lots of layers isn't much of a challenge for me, lol. but in this case i've got four layers of paper and still come out with a flat card, which i'm kind of psyched about! in addition my poinsettia centerpiece kind of has a few layers of it's own: its got colorburst, then background pattern stamps, then embossed poinsettia stamps, and finally a rub-on transfer sentiment and a few gem centers!

stephanie also has a gorgeous "bundled up" creation to show you, why not hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and check that out before planning your own layery masterpiece!

What's Better...

...than that first cup of coffee in the morning? Ok actually that’s a trick question, because there’s really NOTHING better than that, is there? But cards made with Eyelet Outlet Coffee Stamps and Coffee Brads come pretty close. See?

I love that our stamp sets were created especially to work with our brads, but they also have brilliant sentiments that stand alone AND some fun images as well. For this card I used the little coffee bean stamp to create my own custom patterned paper, then used a brown Tombow Dualbrush pen and a waterbrush to color them in a watercolory style. Then I used some clever dies from Stephanie Barnard to construct the coffee cup, whose carrier band is made from our gorgeous henna-inspired Wide Flower Washi. I embellished with a few Paper Flowers, added my favorite sentiment in the Coffee Stamps set, and called it good to go!

I hope you'll be inspired to think about making your own patterned paper with your favorite EO Clear Stamps. But first... why not help yourself to just one more cup of coffee... :)

did she say, "cupcake mandala"??!

yes, i did say that. and yes, i've made a cupcake mandala, in card form! but first i should explain that this week's challenge at shopping our stash is called, "feeeeeeed me, seymour" (...ok, technically, it's just called, "feed me" but who can resist a gratuitous "little shop of horrors" song cue?? well, not ME, anyway...) and the brief is to make a project that features food. it doesn't have to be cupcakes, of course. but it could be. and mine is. see?

ancient dimensional resin-like cupcake stickers: mambi i think... at least, they were in a pack of mambi stickers of similar colors but different material... it's possible they just got put there, but again, they are ANCIENT and even if we knew who made them, we couldn't find them again, luckily ANY cupcake stickers will work!; large center stickers: pebbles; other small stickers: sn@p planner, pipsticks, recollections and some teeeeeeeeeeeeny nail art stickers from the dollar store; patterned paper from top to bottom: basic grey, sei and echo park; glossy white cardstock: paper accents; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, sewing machine

this thing is a veritable treasure trove of ancient (but still awesome, imo) stash! but then, the thing i love about sticker mandalas is that they are the best vehicle ever for using up bits and bobs. because you don't need a lot of any one thing, and nothing needs to match or even make sense together, really. something that's a bit important, however, is *SCALE*. because if you use stickers that are all the same size, the mandala will feel... un-dynamic? i'm not sure what the word is, but your eye will just sort of get stuck, if that makes sense. having larger things in the center and moving out towards smaller ones, just looks better. i do also like the precision of starting with a perfect circle, so i traced a roll of washi tape with a pencil to make the ring where i placed my cupcakes, then covered it with the large center stickers. for the "rays" of the mandala, i didn't measure, as such; but you'll notice i used a gridded paper, which is an excellent way to cheat in this sort of situation!

there are loads of delicious food-centric projects just waiting over at SOS to inspire you... grab a spoon and dig in, darlings! ♥

ICAD roundup: now even ICAD-ier!

would you like to see more index cards? because i just happen to have some right here. no pressure...

day 33(a and b): denim or blue

a couple of experiments with a new waterbrush featuring all of my favorite shades of blue and indigo colorburst. one is outlined with a pitt artist pen and one with machine stitching.

(for the record, ranger's TH waterbrush with the medium fine tip is still my favorite.)

day 34

random colorburst patterns with pitt pen (xs and s nibs) outlines on top. one of my "default modes" for nights when i have no particular idea to try out.

day 35: mosaic

this is the scrap of watercolor paper on which i used up my leftover colorburst from the "blue prompt" on day 33. i always wind up with a little too much CB out of the bottle, and i always have offcuts of watercolor paper, so i store the latter with the former, paint off the leftovers, and use them for diecutting or other essperiments. like making a mosaic, lol. i did a bit of random machine stitching after i had adhered all my "tiles" to the gridded index card, just to make sure they were all really going to stay. on. there.

day 36

it's orange... it's doodle-centric... it's vaguely leafy... with shadows! :)

day 37

as much as i love the cards that turn out beautifully, i kind of almost love the "not quiiiiiiiite makin' it" cards even more. in this case i was trying to make a collage using washi tape as my only adhesive. it wasn't an entirely successful idea, but it was really fun!

 day 38: palette

ok, technically the spectrum, but it's the basis on which many palettes are built. btw, i still love old school, analog, cut-stuff-outta-magazines collage. just sayin'... 

day 39: mandala monday

a scrap of colorburst watercolor flowers, some layers of gel print deli paper and a few posca pens. on my very last purple index card from a pack of funky assorted colors i got at target last year.

♥♥♥

have an AWESOME monday!!!

♥

stripes and stars

we're still celebrating both of the above at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and you still have plenty of time to join us by making a card with stars or stripes or both! here's what i made this week:

chipboard station wagon sticker: mme; sentiment stickers: photoplay; patterned paper: echo park, photo play, basic grey; star die: nestabilities by spellbinders; glossy white cardstock: paper accents; ink: prima; adhesives: elmers brand gluestick 3m foam tape, sewing machine

since june 30th was the 5th saturday of the month, we could choose ANY sketch from the sketch saturday archives. i chose #283 because it had a star already onnit AND two great places to put strips of stripey paper. so i did! i flipped the sketch horizontally to suit the direction that cute my mind's eye chipboard station wagon was driving, but otherwise i was quite faithful. easy, peasy!

stephanie has another great card to show you this week, why not jump on over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and check it out right now!

July and August Classes

I'm pretty excited about my upcoming classes at Paper Anthology. If you're anywhere near Morris County, NJ, I'd love for you to come along and make stuff with me! ♥

Christmas in July (and August):  Vintage Ornament Edition:

Join Lauren in getting (just a little bit) messy when we break out the ColorBurst, a few different types of texture paste, various inks and a sanding block to make ornaments that look just like the precious ones we’ve saved from Nana’s attic. We’ll even learn how to get a very cool distressed foil effect with an embossing folder and gluestick!

It’s Your Day: Go Wild

Is it a card, a booklet or a giftcard holder? YES! This project, built around Photoplay’s adorable new “We Bought a Zoo” paper line, has a tropical die-cut decorated cover, sturdy ribbon tie, extra-long accordion-folded inner sentiment AND a nice big pocket at the back to tuck gift cards, photos or just an extra-special note. Let’s make one now and figure out what to call it later! :)

Complete details as to dates and times, etc, are on the Paper Anthology class page. Not sure where exactly in New Jersey this is? Here's a handy map!

Happy Fourth of July!

This seems like a really good day for me to show off a few patriotic cards using some of my favorite Eyelet Outlet brads and tapes, so I'm up on the EO Blog doing just that, see?

It's no secret that I love a big, chunky sentiment and that I often build an entire card --or in this case, two entire cards, lol-- around one. I love alphabet stickers and dies of course, but I also like to make my own custom letters using the ultimate resource for that: the font library on my computer! I just format the text I want to use to the correct size for my card, print it out, staple it to the patterned paper I want to use, and cut around the outline. For even more flexibility, I can make my own paper by adhering my favorite Eyelet Outlet washi tape to some plain white cardstock. In this case, a I've stacked a combination of red, white and blue tapes, to make the letters even more dynamic.

I love these Flag and Hat Brads, I especially love that you get 6 hats and 6 flags in the same pack. I made a little border using two flags, a hat and a couple of Enamel Stars, and flanked the "happy birthday" text with dots from the same set of enamels. My "USA" letters are a free font called "Intrepid" from dafont.com and the tapes I stacked are: Skinny Red Dots (from a great set of five skinny tapes), Red, White and Blue Stripe, Skinny Blue Hearts (from a set of three heart tapes).

My second sentiment is in another free font called "Roland" and features Skinny Blue Dots Tape, Skinny Silver Stars (from another great three tape set), and my beloved Heart Washi. I've made a little bunting using light blue Banner Brads, White Hearts, plus red and blue stars from the Red, White and Blue Stars brad set. It might take you a minute to notice that there's actually no official patriotic themed product on this one, I've just combined the right colors and added in some stars and things. In fact, most of my blue elements are baby blue rather than navy, which I think looks kind of fun.

I hope everyone who is celebrating today will have a wonderful time with family and friends! ♥