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! ♥

so DEER to my heart

we're still making cards based on our ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ blog banner and you're still invited to join the fun! here's a reminder of the inspiration graphic:

this week i've made nearly the same card as last week... just with different ingredients, see?

patterned paper: my mind's eye, studio calico; stickers: doodlebug, crate paper, idea-ology; digital bingo card: jenni bowlin; fabric diecut: basic grey; acrulic frame: imaginisce; pearl swirl and snowflake brads: eyelet outlet; corner rounder: we r memory keepers; adhesives: elmers brand tape runner, 3m foam tape

basically, i used the sketch of the header and a bunch of the elements, such as the deer in a frame, a doily shape, a bling flourish, scattered snowflakes; but this time i've chosen cute and colorful versions instead of the more glamorous white-on-white from last week. most of my patterned paper is from my mind's eye's "holly jolly" collection, which i got at paper anthology; the bling and brads are eyelet outlet of course; the rest of the ingredients are bits and bobs from my stash. it's a bit of a mish-mash, buti  love how it turned out!

hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and be inspired by stephanie's card, check out the gallery, and link up something of your own, we'd love to see it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you the happiest of holidays: full of delicious food, great company and stress-free travel. In keeping with the Thanksgiving tradition of eating then shopping, make sure to keep an eye out for special sales at The Ink Pad's Greenwich Village shop from Friday through Tuesday so you can get your craft fix on! (& of course The Ink Pad Online is open all the time!)

Card by Lauren Bergold

Supplies used: Karin DecoBrush Metallic Pens, Pitt Artist Pens, Eyelet Outlet Brads 

and VersaFine Clair Inks; all available at The Ink Pad!

♥♥♥

Hip To Be Square

I like square cards. I'm even willing to pay the extra ounce of postage, to get that beautiful shape and a slightly larger canvas to decorate with Eyelet Outlet Brads, Bling, Washi Tape and Paper Flowers!

With the exception of the card base and diecut snowflakes, my first card is composed entirely of Eyelet Outlet goodies! The background panel is made of Checked Tape, inset with gorgeous new Cardinal Washi flanked with Skinny Xmas Tape. The center of the stacked snowflake (which includes a white Paper Flower) is fancy new Snowflake Bling; I've even adorned my clear Swirl Bling with some smaller Snowflake Bling.

My second card features a commercial patterned paper, but I love the way I could add a bunch of different tapes right on top to customize that fun plaid! I've got more Checked Tape, Cardinal Washi and a different Skinny Xmas Tape, not to mention a cool scripty Merry Christmas Tape, Poinsettia Washi and a red dotty Skinny Tape; all of which is flanked by festive red Jewel Strips. I lined up my snowflake diecuts this time and topped them with a white Paper Flower and finally a beautiful Cardinal Profile Brad.

Wishing all of my American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, and an Especially Nice Thursday to everybody else! ♥

Lots and Lots...

...of layers on today's card on The Ink Pad Blog. Old school round eyelets and grungy stenciled gel prints combined with Michelle Ward's Manhattan Map Stamp Set for perhaps my most New York-centric card yet? Hop over for all the details!

Getting A-Head-er on Holiday Cards

We're inspired by our ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ blog header this fortnight, which means you can make a card which involves as many (or as few, lol) of the elements you see here. Maybe you love the deer, or the white-on-white color palette, or the shabby chic vibe or the frame or the pearls or... well, you get the idea, right? 

One thing you absolutely, positively DO NOT have to do is make a card that is a literal interpretation of every single thing in the header. On the other hand, you *could* do that... and I have, lol!!! :)

patterned paper and primed chipboard window frame: prima marketing; vintage sheet music and a doily from my stash; florals: petaloo and ken oliver crafts; pearl bling swirls and snowflake brads: eyelet outlet; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, glue dots, beacon 3-in-1 adhesive

Ok, see, it's a bit unfair this time, actually, because I designed the header, so obviously it's a style that I like and for which I have lots of stuff that works. On the other hand, something I somehow hadn't realized until I was nearly finished, is that the header actually does not have ANY flowers on it. (Srsly... HOW did that even happen?!) But luckily I have corrected that omission with my card, which means I can join the Allsorts "Christmas Flowers" Challenge! and the handsome diecut deer means I'm eligible for My Time to Craft's "Christmas Animals" Challenge, yay!

hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and see Stephanie's beautiful card and start planning your own masterpiece!

Wish Big!

It's generally not a great idea to follow the advice given by small forest creatures, but this handsome frog is making a very good point about *WISHES* today on The Ink Pad Blog! ♥

Making a Scene

All you need to make the *GOOD* kind of scene, in a cardmaking sense, is a judicious combination of Eyelet Outlet Brads and Glitter Tape... and ok... maybe a little bit of Bling, as well. Which is what I've used to make these two winter wonderland cards:

 This Glitter Tall Tree Tape has the perfect colors, the perfect (wide) width and the perfect amount of glitter, of the variety which absolutely DOES NOT leave a sparkly trail wherever it goes. This I needed no more than a few torn paper mats and some Pine Tree, Prancing Deer and Snowflake Brads to make a perfectly peaceful winter scene.

I've used a second variety of Glitter Tree Tape on my second card, which I framed with Blue Marble Tape and some Fancy Pearl and Jewel Bling before attaching my Moose and Pine Tree Brads. I've bordered the vertical sheet music panel with some Glitter Star Tape and allowed my Snowflake Brads and a few of the tiny gems from the Pearl Bling to cascade down the front of the card.

I expect there are nearly endless combinations of Glitter Tape and Brads that would look beautiful on holiday --or even just winter-themed-- cards. I hope you'll be inspired to try your own variations!

rainbow thanks

this fortnight at shopping our stash we are "SO THANKFUL" by which we mean (you've guessed already, haven't you?) we'd like to see projects which involve thanksgiving OR thankfulness OR it's always useful to have a few extra thank you cards on hand, isn't it. i definitely find that to be the case, which is why i've gone with option three:

patterned paper, a couple of tapes and chipboard alphas: doodlebug design; additional ancient tapes from eyelet outlet, heidi swapp, october afternoon and scotch; actual filmy graph paper from my stash, backed with plain white cardstock from staples; sequins: taylored expressions; adhesives: xyron, elmers brand tape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine

yep, i still love rainbow color schemes and i cannot see that changing any time soon! i had a vague idea about a washi tape rainbow and kawaii stickers. it shifted a bit when i found the doodlebug paper with the colorful polaroids on it and remembered i had some old-but-unopened d-bug chipboard alphabets. the size of those two ingredients changed my smallish, squarish greeting into a tall card. the washi tape (which is super long term stash-centric; some of these are ancient!) stayed, but i swapped out stickers for a scattering of rainbow sequins. so to sum up: NOT the card that was originally in my head, but i love how it turned out. 

hop over to SOS to see the gorgeous cards from my design team darlings, then start planning what you will make! ♥

You'll Get a Kick...

...out of the card that's on The Ink Pad Blog today!

(Spoiler Alert: it features Michelle Ward's beautiful Dance Line Stamp Set, designed exclusively for The Ink Pad!)

Stamping (Somewhat) Snarkily with the Sisterhood!

I was extremely honored to have been named The Queen of Snark at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers for my Pink Halloween card. And the best part is that I get to be a guest designer with them for the new challenge which is called, "Q is for Quip".

Before I show my card I figured we should agree on a definition of "QUIP". According to Dictionary.com a quip is:

quip [kwip] (noun)

a clever or witty remark or comment. a sharp, sarcastic remark; a cutting jest. 

a quibble. an odd or fantastic action or thing.

So basically it seems like pretty much any snarky sentiment could potentially count as a quip. Which gives us a lot of scope, lol! Mine is more silly than snarky, but it's a stamp my craft bestie Stephanie gave me yeeeeeeears ago and I don't use it nearly enough. Plus... it feels pretty quippy to me!

sinatra image scanned and reduced to fit my A7 card; sheet music, dictionary pages and trading stamps from my stash of vintage goodies; sentiment stamp: drs designs; flourish stamps: fancy pants;  patterned paper: photoplay, basic grey, craft consortium; plain white cardstock: staples; inks for edging: ranger distress; ink for sentiment: gina k amalgam; adhesives: elmers brand tape runner, scotch create gluestick

Since the joke revolves around Sinatra, clearly Frank should be the star of the card. I found the perfect image in one of the Sinatra bios I own, but since it's a very nice book that is definitely not for cutting up, I photocopied it, which also let me reduce it slightly in size. I built a background of dictionary paper and sheet music, added some vintage trading stamps and did a bunch of very subtle stamping of flourishes on top of the collage base. So subtle, in fact, that you can't really see them very distinctly, but it knocked down the bright whiteness of some of the papers and kind of ties everything together. I added the sentiment on nested label shapes and called it a day.

Please head over to the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers and check out the other "Quip" cards... then start planning what you will make for this fun challenge! ♥

it really IS cold outside!!!

this has been the first week of wintery weather here in new jersey, so clothing items such as hats, mittens, scarves, winter coats, and so forth no longer seem like optional extras. which is perfect timing since cold weather garments are exactly what we're looking for in our ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ cards this fortnight. here's what i made this week:

patterned paper: authentique, graphic 45, bo bunny; embossing folder: darice... used on idea-ology kraft core gold metallic cardstock and sanded for a cool distressed effect; sheet music from my stash; kraft cardstock: bazzill; dimensional holly leaves and distressing tool: prima marketing; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine

i built my card around this sweet vintage-style journal card from authentique. i added loads of distressed layers, a bit of dry embossing (and sanding!), a little sheet music, some machine stitching... in fact there's a little bit of pretty much EVERYTHING i love on a christmas card!

be sure to hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and see stephanie's card, cruise the readers' gallery and link up your own masterpiece!

Stamps + Tape + Brads

Are a few of my favorite things. Coincidentally, you can get all of those-- and lots more! --at The Ink Pad! Meanwhile, The Ink Pad Blog is where you'll find a card which looks verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry much like this one! ;)

What's Black and White...

...and black and white... and white... and white... and white... and white?! Penguins in a snowstorm!!! Or, to be more specific, the brand spankin' new Eyelet Outlet Penguin Brads in a couple of snowstorm cards. Like these:

I'm always excited when a finished project turns out looking EXACTLY like the idea that was in my head. And this was one of those times! I knew I wanted loads of diecut snowy hills stretching far into the distance with Penguins the only creature in sight. I wasn't absolutely sure if a landscape or portrait card would be best, so I decided to just make both.

My second card features fewer Penguin Brads, but I've compensated by adding Snowflake Brads, to get a little more action into the scene.

I hope that you'll be inspired to make something fun today; and I also hope there is less snow than this where you live!

Later, Gator

Did you know that in addition to The Ink Pad's entire line of exclusive Michelle Ward Stencils, all of those beautiful New-York-Centric images are available in stamp form too? In most cases, you can choose between classic woodblock and cling-backed. Either way, they've got the same thick, deeply etched, red rubber than makes for the very best impressions. Because hey, it's The Ink Pad and when it comes to stamping, they don't mess around! Today's card, which can be found in full on The Ink Pad Blog, uses three different stamp sets and one stencil. Just watch out for the alligator, k? :) 

baby it's cold outside!

but we're warm and cozy over at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ because we're making cards that feature winter garments like hats, coats, mittens, mufflers, snow boots... even xmas sweaters, ugly or otherwise! my card features the cuuuuuuuutest possible giftwrap which i found at the discount store:

hello kitty trimmed from giftwrap discovered at Five Below; patterned paper: glitz design, pebbles, basic grey, doodlebug; snowflakes cut from american crafts POW glitter paper with hero arts die; snowflake gems and enamel shapes: eyelet outlet; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape

when i want to use something like a flimsy piece of giftwrap on my cards i first run a piece of plain white cardstock through my xyron machine, then i gently place the delicate wrapping paper on top, avoiding any wrinkles. now i have cardstock weight paper i can use as is OR i can fussy cut... as i've done here. i used this week's sketch saturday (#588) as a guide to placing all my elements.

hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and see stephanie's card, then start planning your own masterpiece!

We're Leafy and Wreathy...

...on The Ink Pad Blog today, where I'm showing off a card that has collage, negative space, three different styles of Eyelet Outlet Leaf Brads, gel print goodness and... well, let's just say it's got all my favorite things except gelato! So why not hop over and see? ♥

Fa-La-La-La-Latte

One of my favorite new Eyelet Outlet brad styles is the Holiday Coffee Cup, because the only thing I love more than caffeine or Christmas cards is the combination of BOTH! :)

Since the Holiday Cups are red, white and green, those are the colors I built my card around. I thought about adding in some everyday Coffee Cups in either white or red; and possibly some Coffee Beans, but after I added the Poinsettia Washi, I found that I wanted a bit of pink and mint green, too. I did place a Holly Brad next to the cups though. And snipped apart a red Pearl Bling Strip to hyphenate my sticker sentiment.

I'm joining the Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop, which runs through this Friday, November 8th. Maybe I'll see you there!

And now I think it's about time for some coffee-loving in real life... can I get you a cup? ♥