What's Going on in This Photo??

It's the last Stencil Sunday of 2019, which seemed to call for something a bit special. So I made a Manhole Mandala (yes, really!) using Michelle Ward's beautiful Manhole Cover Stencils and Stamps from plus a few basic circle and heart dies. All the details are on The Ink Pad Blog, as are the facts about the Big News. Because The Ink Pad is moving to a brand new location... SOON! Meanwhile there are sales galore at the current shop, you should probably check it out! ;)

Many Thanks!

These sweet Lawn Fawn birdies are the star of a card with many thanks on The Ink Pad Blog today. Because no matter what winter holiday you celebrate, this is most likely the week you will need the most thank you cards, lol! There's also some big BIG news from The Ink Pad, so you might want to pop over and check that out!

It's the Big Day!

Wishing a very Merry Christmas 

to everyone who is celebrating today!

♥♥♥

cards featuring Eyelet Outlet Solid Paper Flowers,
Holiday Flower Bling, Holiday Bling, Christmas Washi, Heart Tape,
Checked Tape, Red Dot Tape, Skinny Tape, Christmas Pattern and Red Tree Tape

Happy Hanukkah!

The Festival of Lights begins at sundown and I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone who is celebrating a very Happy Hanukkah from everyone at The Ink Pad! This timely card is on The Ink Pad Blog today, if you'd like to stop by and read a bit more about it.

Peace, Joy, Love and COOKIES!

But not necessarily in that order, lol. Because I happen to really love homemade cookies. Luckily I found Lawn Fawn's adorable How You Bean Christmas Cookie Add-On stamp set at The Ink Pad, so I can make and enjoy as many cookies as I want without gaining an ounce. Check out The Ink Pad Blog for more details!

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut(cracker)

Especially when it's a week before Christmas and you suddenly discover you're a few cards short of what you need to cover the ENTIRE list; which seems, mysteriously, to have somehow grown since last year?! At least, that's what happened to me recently. And you know that I love to make every card unique and special, but in crisis mode, what I need are a few flat, mail-able cards... FAST! Luckily I have a good supply of Eyelet Outlet Nutcracker Brads and Washi Tape, so I'm already half way there.

Of course the other half is a background and a sentiment, so some seriously "cheating" is in order. Rather than stamp or paint I'm going to jumpstart with patterned papers from a collection that coordinates with the brads I've chosen, in this case those handsome Nutcrackers. My LSS, Paper Anthology, has the entire gorgeous line of Authentique's "Rejoice" which features traditional xmas colors and a few absolutely stunning plaids, as you can see. For my first card, I started with a plaid panel and added an inset just tall enough to accommodate the height of the Nutcrackers and two strips of XO Gold Foil Tape to really set them off. I'm excited that sets of "wordfetti" sticker sentiments are making a comeback because they are the ultimate in quick customization!

For my second card I decided to get a little fancier with my background, so I chose another plaid, and added tape accents as if they were part of the design. Since the patterned paper has such nice strong horizontal and vertical lines it was easy to incorporate Checked Tape plus two coordinating shades of Glitter Skinny Tape which even add a bit of texture, with no fear of extraneous glitter shedding everywhere! This time my two Nutcracker Brads are standing right on top of their sticker sentiment and framed up in a couple of nesting label-shape diecuts. 

Since the possibilities of Brads + Tape + patterned paper are nearly endless, I think I might make a few more "extra" cards... just in case!

TREE-mendous!

The holidays are approaching *FAST* so here's a super easy card idea to help things along! I used a bunch of Michelle Ward's exclusive Stamp and Stencil Designs to create trees with a distinctly NYC vibe. Of course they are all available at The Ink Pad Online. Meanwhile, the card and a bit about its creation are on The Ink Pad Blog today.

Holiday Treats

This card sums up a few of my favorite holiday things: Peace, Joy, Love... and Cookies; though I might not necessarily put them in that order, lol! I made this fun wreath with Lawn Fawn's adorable How You Bean Christmas Cookie Add On Stamp Set which I got at The Ink Pad; hop over to The Ink Pad Blog to read all about it!

Snow Far, Snow Good

I confess that I do not actually love snow in real life, BUT... I love it on holiday cards, especially shaker cards that star the new Eyelet Outlet Snowman Couple Brads!

Because seriously what in the world could be cuter than a Snowman and Snowwoman all dressed up for a Snow Date?! After I filled the shaker cup with clear microbeads and a few tiny sequins, I concentrated on making a background that went well with that scene. I decided they should live on a Christmas Tree Farm, which I made by filling the lower 2/3 of a plain white cardstock panel with Christmas Tree Washi Tape, lined up nice and neatly. I filled the "sky" with Dotty Foil Tape and as a finishing touch I scattered a few Snowflake Brads so they looked like they were falling down the front of the card.

If it's snowing where you live, I hope you are as happy and cosy as this cute Snow Couple!

It's Xmas Time...

...in the city! Especially at The Ink Pad and on The Ink Pad Blog where I have a card featuring the stamps and stencils Michelle Ward designed exclusively for The Ink Pad, on which it turns out that the Manhole Hex Stamps make awesome tree ornaments. Ok yeah, that's possibly the weirdest holiday claim ever, but it's true, honest... you just have to go and see!

it's a wrap!

it's hard to believe we've just finished our NINTH season at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ but as you can see i've got the big sprawly collection of 50+ holiday cards to show for it! many thanks to all who played along whether you did one prompt or all of them! we'll be back on january 1, 2020 to start the whole thing all over again! ♥♥♥

What Do...

...a vintage typewriter, Distress Oxide Inks, Eyelet Outlet Flower Brads, a Michelle Ward sentiment stamp and an ice cream cone have in common?? Hop over to The Ink Pad Blog to find out! ;)

A Very Washi Xmas

I love tape. I love wide tape and skinny tape, glitter tape and foil tape; but my favorite thing about tape is that all you need to do to make a fast, fabulous and completely custom holiday card (or two lol!) is combine a few of your favorite styles and maybe add an Eyelet Outlet Brad or some bling and you are DONE! ♥

This week I am crushing on the new wide Santa Washi Tape which comes in two colorways. My first card features what I'd call the default style, with a sort of winter sunset background. I flanked it with Skinny Star Tape and Blue Marble Tape, then added a bunch of fancy new Snowflake Bling. The sentiment is a single repeat from our Merry Christmas Tape, trimmed into a little flag and matted on a scrap of red cardstock.

We also have Santa Washi in Green, the green being a reference to the pistachio background behind The Big Guy. In this version, I built a sort of chimney from wide Brick Washi, and let Santa emerge from the top of it. I added a row of Poinsettia Brads for extra texture and once again my sentiment is a one specific section of Christmas Tape. You'll notice that both cards are built atop a simple graph design, which is partly because I like that sort of paper but also... if you're going to apply a bunch of washi tape and don't love measuring, a patterned paper with a strong straight horizontal line is *very* helpful! 

If you need to make a bunch of cards, but don't love "mass producing" why not gather up all your tapes and see how many uniquely beautiful backgrounds you can make in just a few minutes?

happy holidays!

hard to believe we've come to the last shopping our stash post of 2019 already?! so we've got a super easy one, we want to see a card or project that celebrates whatever holiday you love most in december. whether that is hanukkah, christmas, solstice, kwanzaa, omisoka or... well, you tell us. i happen to like xmas. i especially like decorating for xmas and serendipitously i found this perfect little journal card in an old authentique paper collection!

i've got allllllllllllll kinds of stashy goodness here! in fact, only the red plaid paper at the very very back is new; everything else ranges from a few years to omg-where-did-that-come-from sort of age. the green branch is from a vintage ideals magazine, both text papers are 5-6 year old october afternoon selections; the frame is simple stories from maybe 2015? the prima flowers and white holly leaves are only a year or so old, but the velvet flower trimming is absolutely ancient and it was a scrap exactly the right size to wrap around my A7 card panel.

be sure to hop over to SOS and see what the rest of the DT has made, and allow us all to wish you the very happiest of whatever holidays you might be celebrating! ♥♥♥

Stencil Sunday: Rainbow Skyline

I love New York. That is both a statement of fact and a reference to one of The Ink Pad's exclusive Michelle Ward stamps, which I've used to make a card as colorful as the city itself. Hop over to The Ink Pad Blog to see the whole card and hear the whole story!

I'll be doing some lettering at The Ink Pad's Seventh Avenue store today from 1-4pm, why not stop by try out the brand new Karin Metallic Markers... I guarantee you will looooooooove them as much as I do! ♥