Blue Christmas

We're channeling our inner Elvis this fortnight at Jingle Belles; for "Blue Christmas" we'd like to see holiday cards that are (...you guessed it...) predominantly blue! Here's what I made, featuring my new Wendy Vecchi Doodle Christmas Stamp Set from Ranger:

I made a fun, slightly splashy background by smooshing Wendy's Morning Glory Archival Ink Pad onto my craft sheet, misting it lightly with rubbing alcohol, and dragging a piece of watercolor paper through the wet ink in several directions. This is a technique more often done on glossy paper, but I like the slightly different effect you get on a matte surface, as well. When the panel was entirely dry, I stamped the baubles from Doodle Christmas a few times in Jet Black Archival at the left corner, then filled in the area above them by stamping the evergreen bough repeatedly in Fern Green. I used brushmarkers and a sparkly gel pen to color the ornaments. Using a Mini Ink Blending Tool with a Domed Foam, I lightly dabbed more Morning Glory onto the chipboard "LOVE" embellishment from the new Statements Chippies set, then stamped the same color, full strength, randomly all over the word with the sparkles stamp. To make the word pop even more, I added a strip of bright blue tape from Wendy's Washi Assortment (#1) and matted on glitter and metallic papers in a coordinating shade of blue. 

Be sure to head over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card and start planning what you'll make!

More Wendy Vecchi Christmas in July

Wendy Vecchi's new Doodle Holiday Stamp Set is versatile enough to make all-occasion cards (like this one from yesterday) but as a matter of fact, it's quite excellent for Christmas, too! Today I've paired it with stamps from Doodle Christmas and with chipboard greenery from Wendy's Chippie Wreaths set customized with Fern Green Liquid Pearls, plus a few of my own doodle accents.

I stamped the wreath from Doodle Christmas onto a circle of vintage sheet music in Fern Green Archival, added outlines with a Letter It Fineliner and incorporated tiny berries of Sage Liquid Pearls. I stamped the candle, holly leaves and evergreen bough on white cardstock, colored them with brushmarkers and cut them out. To build the card, I layered the three wreaths onto a background of Tape from Wendy's Washi Assortment #1, popped the candle and holly onto Letter It Clear Foam Tape and matted with a beautiful piece of patterned paper from Stamperia; then affixed the entire thing to a 5.5" square card made of Distress Cracked Leather Cardstock.

These stamps have inspired the most beautiful cards from Wendy and the other Makers... I hope you'll visit the INK... STAMP & MAKE ART with Wendy Vecchi Facebook Group to see those!

Doodle Holiday

I mentioned yesterday that Wendy Vecchi's new Christmas in July release from Ranger features TWO new seasonal MAKE ART Stamp Sets; but yesterday's card only used Doodle Christmas; so today let's take a look at Doodle Holiday! I started out with the intention of making a Christmassy, paper-pieced tag in shades of bright green and hot pink, with the super-cute birdie as the star of the show. But midway through, I realized that as wonderful as the holiday aspect of this set is... you can actually use it all year round, for pretty much ANY occasion. So I went kind of neutral on that front.

I did paper-piece most of my elements though; stamping the bird, birdhouse, swag of greens and holly leaves on scraps of patterned paper, then cutting them out and embellishing them a bit with markers. I stamped the doodle stars in three groupings on a #8 Tag and colored them; then arranged all the elements, adhering some of them flat to the tag with Perfect Card Adhesive, and popping a few up on Letter It Clear Foam Tape. Et voila!

PS: The staging for these photos is composed of scattered sheets from Dina Wakley Typed Ledgers Set 2, which technically have nothing to do with the project; but they make quite a nice background, don't you think?

Christmas Card(inals!)

Cardinals are some of my favorite birds and also some of my favorite Eyelet Outlet Brads. We have Cardinals, Female Cardinals and Cardinal Profiles and I've used the first two on this card. To make the male Cardinal's vivid feathers stand out even more, I've clustered some of my favorite holiday washi tapes: Vertical Red Tree Tape, Heart Tape, Poinsettia Tape and Red Foil Striped Washi. My sentiment is one repeat of Merry Christmas Tape, stuck to a piece of cardstock and popped up on foam for extra dimension. 

If Christmas in July isn't your thing, check out our Bluebird and Robin Brads, Seagulls, Owls, Penguins or Flamingos in the Eyelet Outlet Store!

Wendy Vecchi: Christmas in July (Part 1)

Thanks to Wendy Vecchi and Ranger we're celebrating Christmas in July with big style; there are TWO new seasonal MAKE ART Doodle Stamp Sets (Doodle Holiday and Doodle Christmas) holiday sentiment Chippies (Statements) and Liquid Pearls to match two of my favorite Wendy Vecchi Signature Archival Inks: Red Geranium and Fern Green! 

For today's card I used stamps from the Doodle Christmas set: I embossed the delicate wreath multiple times in Ranger Gold E/P on a kraft background, and the poinsettia in Black E/P on white cardstock. I stamped the small berry sprig randomly all over the chipboard "NOEL" from the Statements Chippies. I've also used BOTH new shades of Liquid Pearls: Red Geranium and Fern Green... can you tell where??

I used a fine brush to fill in all the leaves on the berry sprigs with Fern Green. I diluted Red Geranium with water and used the thinned down paint (because really, when you think about it, Liquid Pearls are shimmery acrylic paint in a dry-out-proof bottle with a fine-tipped dispenser) to color the poinsettias!

Stay tuned for more "makes" with the new products all week, and be sure to check out the INK... STAMP & MAKE ART Facebook Group, as well as the @wendyvecchi and @ranger_ink Instagram accounts for lots more inspiration!

Cruising Into the End of July...

...and here now is the penultimate ICAD Round-Up; starting with today's Mandala and working backwards through the past week:

Day 55: Mandala Monday

An ink-over-collage scenario, featuring some beautiful vintage "Big Dollar" trading stamps from Stephanie, and the three newest shades of Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink from Ranger: Morning Glory, Rosey Posey and Peachy Keen.

(There might just be a new WV release tomorrow, too... you never know...)

Day 54: Wander

This silhouette of a magazine model, cut from a vintage map just happened to be in my box of collage bits! I have no idea what my original intention was for her, or why it didn't happen...

Day 53: Dawn or Dusk

Currently the only time it's less than sweltering here in central New Jersey, and it's amazing how the critters who frequent our feeder and birdbath (birds, squirrels, bunnies and chipmunks) instinctively know that. (Ok, yeah, not really prompt-based; it's just a garden-themed vintage paper collage!)

Day 52: Together

This pre-cut-out vintage illustration was sitting in my box of collage fodder and for some reason the amount of shopping they're carrying screamed, "Green Stamps" to me! :) 

Day 51: Chevron

Circling back to a prompt from last week when I had an idea but no doodling time!

Day 50: Detour

Very verrrrryyyyy loose version of the prompt, but het... there's a map!

(Ok, really I just wanted to use another of Gina's awesome Critter Stickers; this one's calle Anxious Pastel Pacu!)

Day 49: Wallpaper

Quite a tangential take on the prompt, but I like how this grouping came out; it's the last 3 or 4 images from an ancient pack of rub-on transfers, layered over a torn paper collage.

♥♥♥

It Don't Mean a Thing...

...if it ain't got some BLING! Because at Jingle Belles, we're still "Blinging on the Holidays" with our special crafty crossover challenge with the lovely ladies on the Double Trouble Challenge Blog. Which means you can make ONE (new, blingy, holiday) CARD and link it up at both sites... with a chance of a fun little prize at each!

Here's my card for this week:

I'd been trimming up papers from Photoplay's North Pole Trading Co line for a Christmas in July class I'm teaching at Paper Anthology next weekend, so I had lots of weirdly sized little strips of pretty paper -including metallic gold and glittery red- and whenever that happens, I tend to want to use them to make backgrounds like this one I did a few years ago. For a focal point I used the round tag (and one of the cut-outs) from Pinkfresh Studio's Classic Tags with Fillable Elements die set to make an ornament from a scrap of older red moire paper. I backed it with Copper Non-Shed Glitter Paper adorned with Eyelet Outlet Pearls, and an oversized red Pearl Brad; dangling from a Champagne Bling Strip hung on my Tim Holtz Holiday Greens Thinlits.

Be sure to visit  Jingle Belles to see what Stephanie has made this week; then remember to link up your own card on the "Bling on the Holidays" post AND also at the Double Trouble Challenge Blog.

Christmas in July: Ho Ho Ho Edition

There's something about making holiday cards in July that helps to offset the hot and humid temps, don't you think? Eyelet Outlet's Santa and Mrs. Claus Brads are happy to celebrate all year long, and on this card they've brought along one of their Deer friends, a Santa Hat Brad and Santa Washi, with a sentiment out of Merry Christmas Tape.

Whether you're making cards for Christmas, Hanukkah, Back to School, Birthdays or "Just Because", Eyelet Outlet has all the brads, tapes, sequins, bling and paper flowers you could possibly want.

Lauren Bergold

wouldn't mind a week or two at the 

North Pole during the summer!

WTHeck Embellishments

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we have an especially interesting challenge: we want you to search through your embellishment stash and find something that makes you think, "WHY the Heck did I acquire this??!" And then... (here's the tricky part!) ...use it on a card or project! 

Thanks to Paper Anthology's Annual Papercrafters' Garage Sale, many of my most puzzling items have already crossed the crafty rainbow bridge, but I did find a this plastic sorter* full of metal shapes, tags, keys, tiny frames, bookplates, miscellaneous hardware and enough charms to make a Victorian lady swoon. Plus... some strange but beautiful embossed metal stickers, whose origins completely elude me. I expected the adhesive to be long gone, but no, the backers peeled right off and they stuck magnificently well to my funky collage of torn vintage paper and white lace tape. I added machine stitching, a scatter of Eyelet Outlet Sequins and a gel print mat that my friend Gina made and declared my A7 card fini! I have to say that I didn't expect to create ANYTHING remotely interesting for this challenge, but now I'm slightly wondering, "Why the Heck didn't I buy more of these??!" 

I hope you'll visit SOS to see the other designers' WTHeck items and cards (it's well worth the trip, I assure you!) and then start delving into the weirder side of your stash to play along!

*Having discovered said sorter, OF COURSE I promptly dropped it, broke the lid, and spent twenty minutes retrieving tiny metal things from the floor of my art lair; which is why everything is now arranged kinda neatly... sigh... 

Mighty Mighty Mandala Monday...

...and another ICAD Round Up! Let's take a look at the index card art from this past week: 

Day 48: Mandala Monday

I found the embossed and ink-blended circle icon in my box of leftover bits and decided it would make a fab center for a mandala. I stand by that decision!

Day 47: Off Prompt

This was a very collagey week, for which I make no apology. This one is of the clean-up variety, encompassing a bunch of yellow things that were on my work table.

Day 46: Off Prompt

My friend Gina, who is one of the most amazing artists I know, has recently re-opened her Redbubble Shop, Gina is Arty, and she was kind enough to send me some of her awesome animal stickers. I am OBSESSED with this Pink Lemonade Giraffe, amongst others!

Day 45: Travel

Ok, definitely stretching the prompt, lol! But birds travel by flight, which involves... FEATHERS! (And serendipitously, on this day, I found an unfinished feather doodle in my index card box. So I finished it, colored it and added splashes all over.)

Day 44: Whimsical

In my box of collage bits I stumbled upon this pre-cut-out vintage elephant illustration and a map of South America and it occurred to me how similar the two shapes were. You can't really see it in the finished collage because I added an extraneous hibiscus... but still... 

Day 43: Axolotl Collage

Another beautiful, whimsical animal sticker from the Gina Is Arty Redbubble Shop!

Day 42: Off Prompt

A fairly random set of doodles on top of Zig Dot Marker background, on a gridded index card.

Hello, Dino!

Long long ago, dinosaurs roamed the earth in search of itinerant typing jobs! This adorable Toby the Stegosaurus pattern is by Mariska Vos-Bolman (aka @diyfluffies on instagram) via her Ravelry shop. Crocheted in Demin Mist Vanna's Choice from Lion Brand Yarn. RAWR!!! 

Bling On the Holidays!

It's a special Christmas in July event at Jingle Belles; we are happy to be partnering with the lovely ladies of the Double Trouble Challenge for exponentially more fun AND a chance at some cool prizes! First, I'll tell you that our part of this event is called, "Bling On the Holidays" and we'd like to see your brand new holiday cards that include jewels, gems, pearls, sequins, glitter or pretty much anything sparkly! 

For the Double Trouble Challenge, it's "Christmas in July", and basically any holiday card will qualify; so if you make a card to link up with us at Jingle Belles, we hope you'll also link it with them to be included in their drawing! Then be sure to check back every fortnight or so, because they have a new challenge every other week and it's a great way to find some new challenges and loads of inspiration!

And now without further ado, here's my super-blingy card:

As you can see, I've added LOTS of Eyelet Outlet Bling, in the form of an XL Snowflake atop my white poinsettias, and also some Clear Swirl Bling that I've cut up and rearranged to fit the space better. All this takes place on top of a diecut holly panel (ancient Hero Arts!) that I misted with glimmery blue spray ink; layered over green metallic cardstock and ...though it's hard to see in the photo... a mat of white glitter paper.

Be sure to pop over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautifully bling-centric design, then visit the Double Trouble Challenge; oh and did I mention that there miiiiight just be some little prizes at each site? You know, if you like that sort of thing...? :)

Christmas in July: Snowy Woods Edition

I don't know about you, to me the time that snow and ice really start looking good is NOW... when New Jersey's hot (90F) and humid (75%+) weather makes Christmas in July seem very appealing indeed. Luckily Eyelet Outlet's frosty, glitter washi tape, Snowflake Sequins and winter critters are happy to be featured on cards and tags no matter what the temps happen to be!

I saw some mini shaker tags on Instagram and immediately knew what I wanted to make. I used a set of Sunny Studio Tag Dies and my trusty 1.5" square punch to create homes for my Polar Bear Brads, Deer Brads and even a Handsome Snowman; plus a few Snowflake Brads, of course.

I backed the insides of the shaker windows with Glitter Tall Tree Tape, Glitter Star Tape and Glitter Tree Tape; then filled the shakers with Snowflake Sequins and Gold Star Sequins. After I sealed up the shakers, I backed the tags with contrasting cardstock, added some jute twine, a few sticker sentiments and called it good.

Whether it's hot or cold where you are, this is definitely a good time to get started on some Winter Holiday makes with your favorite EO items!

ICAD Recap and Mandala Monday

Just another manic Mandala Monday, followed by the rest of last week's Index Card a Day artworks, in reverse order. Hope you'll find time to do something fun and creative today! ♥

Day 41: Magic Pencil Mandala

This set of Yoobi multicolor pencils came from Miss Stephanie and has a great combination of multicolor leads that make everything you color a bit of a surprise... in a really good way!

Day 40: Verdant

Only as I loaded this one onto Instagram did I realize that it was on the wrong day... but hey... there no BAD time for handcut Green Stamp foliage, is there?

Day 39: Geometric

Quilt-ish triangles are fun to arrange. Hence the TWO cards! :)

Day 38: Turquoise

A one staple collage featuring a sewing pattern lady, some green stamps and cool ticket stickers that Stephanie sent me, with bits of map, interesting wall paper and a fractal background.

(Technically only the index card itself is turquoise, but still...)

Day 37: Mysterious

This card has nothing really to do with the prompt, although it is a bit mysterious that I can't seem to stop cutting out little shapes, smacking them on index cards and stitching on top!

Day 36: Quatrefoil or Ogee (again!)

A more traditional ogee pattern, with punched hearts and hand cut teardrops on a repro library card.

Day 35: Yellow

I had intended for my doodley watercolored flowers be almost entirely yellow, with green foliage and maybe a little orange; but it seemed unfair to exclude all the other colors...

Stars OR Stripes?

We're still celebrating Stars OR Stripes at Jingle Belles, or if you're really into it, you can make a holiday card that has BOTH... like I did:

I've circle-punched some vintage-inspired holiday illustrations from an older Authentique patterned paper, dusted off a leftover piece of classic Basic Grey Stripey paper, added a Simple Stories sentiment, and then bumped up the star power with washi tape, a paper strip and some ancient anodized brads. Not the fanciest card I've ever made but it's sweet; plus... it's flat and mailable, which becomes a more desirable thing to me every time they raise the postage rates!

Venture over to Jingle Belles to link up your own starry or stripey creation, and while you're there be sure to check out Stephanie's beautiful card!

HB2U

Is there anything more festive than Birthday Sock Monkeys? I kind of doubt it, especially when they're Eyelet Outlet Birthday Sock Monkey Brads AND they're on sale! I've paired mine with some colorful Happy Birthday Washi Tape, Pastel Balloon Brads (also on sale!) and Heart Enamels.

If Sock Monkeys are not your idea of birthday joy, there are plenty of other styles of brads, tape, flowers, bling and enamels at Eyelet Outlet!

Hello, Inky Goodness

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we are, "Blending In" by which we mean we'd like to see cards and projects that feature ink blending. Dye inks, pigment inks, alcohol inks... any kind of ink you feel like using. I chose Ranger's Distress Oxides because they are the creamiest; and because I just got my hands on the newest shade, Uncharted Mariner and I was excited to see how it fit in with the rest of the line. Don't worry though, even though the ink is new, everything else involved in this card is exceedingly elderly, I promise!

First the blends: I don't suppose anyone will be surprised to hear that Uncharted Mariner pairs very well indeed with all of the darker blues and greens in the Ranger Distress lineup. Blueprint Sketch, Prize Ribbon, Rustic Wilderness and Evergreen Bough make for especially nice transitions, imo. From there you can happily head into lighter blues, purples and more. I also liked the color shift from Broken China into Uncharted Mariner, but I found that I needed to do a bit more overlapping of the two colors because there is a bit of a gulf between the intensity of the two shades.

Once I had a bit of a play with the blends themselves, I started adding more inky goodness in the form of stamping and stenciling. (Sorry, I used too many different items to list them all AND most are no longer available anyway; on the plus side, you could do this with ANY combination of stamps and stencils you like!) I also added another layer of texture by using some of my favorite (also ancient!) embossing folders and on a couple of them I rubbed my Glacier White Pigment Ink Pad on top for extra definition. I had seen this done on top of darkish watercolor and admittedly the white stood out with more contrast than it does on top of the un-set Oxide blends, but it's still a cool technique.

When all of my panels were finished and dry, the hardest part was choosing which one to make into a card first. But then I stumbled upon my old, but still beloved, Dina Wakley Scribbly Birdies and Small Scribbly Birds and that made it pretty easy. I stamped them on some older gel-printed panels, cut them out, and added them --with a bit of vintage sheet music and some Big Chat Stickers to complete the design.

Be sure to check out the Crew Cards over at Shopping Our Stash, then start planning how you'll be "Blending In" with us!

It's a Fourth of July Mandala Monday...

...and here's an ICAD round up as we hit the midpoint of our 61-day index card art journey. Here are the week's cards, in reverse order:

Day 34: Mandala Monday

Three or four older gel prints, cut into mandala-friendly shapes, stuck together, outlined and doodled upon; with a background of torn and inked vintage paper.

Day 33: Quatrefoil or Ogee

I thought this pattern of punched circles and hearts would assemble into a more traditional quatrefoil pattern, but... not so much, lol. But ICAD is about experiments, so I'm rollin' with it!

Day 32: Sky

At first glance, the connection to the prompt is not blindingly obvious; until you realize that I was going for a sort of Zendoodle Kite type of thing. Ok, as it turns out, even at second glance, the connection to the prompt isn't blindingly obvious! :)

Day 31: Postmark

Stephanie found the most remarkable and lovely collection of vintage trading stamps and sent me a whooooooole bunnnnnnnnnnch! I'm in collage heaven!

Day 30: Magical

Does a rainbow whirlpool swirl qualify as magical? Well, it does to me, lol!

Day 29: Neon

Remembering my brother's tropical fishtank years, I recalled a fish called a Neon Tetra. Went looking for a pic and didn't find one; ...but... there were lots of other tropical fish in neon colors, some of whom appear in this funky fish collage!

Day 28: Off-Prompt

Inspired by my friend Mary (aka @millwoodstudioart) who had just posted some awesome florals over watercolor on library catalog cards. Also flashing back to last week's #PLAID prompt.

I post my ICADs in my Instagram feed @llaurenb each evening and then collect them up right here on Mondays. If you'd like to know more about ICAD check out Daisy Yellow Art!