Gingerbread Couple

Eyelet Outlet Gingerbread Brads are about as cute as it gets already, but... they're even more adorable in front of a Penny Black diecut Gingerbread Cottage, with a Gingerbread Washi sky, and "landscaping" made of Candy Cane and Peppermint Candy Brads. The cottage is trimmed out with Sparkle White Glitter Tape icicles and a Heart Enamel with a sentiment from Foil Red Stripe Washi.

There are lots more holiday brads, tapes and bling available in the Eyelet Outlet Store!

Last Mandala Monday of November

It's a Really Random Mandala Monday, in sticker form! Featuring a Pepin Vintage Fashion Lady (from The Ink Pad, NYC, which I miss terribly!) surrounded by lots of Pipsticks and a few older goodies like those Mary Engelbreit flowers. Hope your Cyber Monday is off to a good start! ♥

Banner Holiday: Week 2

We're still making cards inspired by our Jingle Belles Blog Banner (scroll down for a reminder of what that looks like) and here's how I interpreted that assignment this week:

Once again I've used the traditional red and green color palette of the header. I also incorporated a vintage style Santa (via an Authentique journal card) and some botanical elements, in the form of Eyelet Outlet Poinsettia Washi Tape, plus Simple Stories cardstock stickers. Something that's a bit subtler is the fact that there are several collagey layers going on, which reflect the way I assembled the original artwork using translucent digital elements.

I hope you'll be inspired to use however many elements of the banner appeal to you, and make a card to join us for this, the last official Jingle Belles challenge of 2022!

Happy Turkey Day!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the US, so this seems like the perfect time for a card that sums up the holiday, in Eyelet Outlet Brad style. Chunky diecut letters make a nice home for a combination of Pumpkin Brads, a handsome Scarecrow, a Rake, lots of Mini Leaves, and Fall Stitched Flowers with their Mini Stitched Flower friends. 

Wishing the happiest of holidays to all those who are celebrating! Meanwhile, should you need a little retail therapy over this wonderful weekend for shopping, the Eyelet Outlet Online Store is open 24/7!

SOS484: Shine Bright Like a Diamond

I think you'll agree we've got the best title ever this fortnight at Shopping Our Stash, and possibly you've already guessed that you have the choice of making a card that incorporates either light source (the sun, a lightbulb, a chandelier) OR some bling. Or, if you're me, you might choose BOTH!

Hambly Screen Prints has been out of business for nearly a decade, but... having been a huge fan AND having cool friends like Stephanie and Amy, who've managed to keep finding some of Hambly's divine transparencies here and there, I still have some, which I treasure and try NOT to hoard. I made this not-quite-A7 Chandelier cardbase from a leftover piece (hence the odd size!) and used a few of the offcut chandeliers on top of my collage of vintagey papers and postage. That is an actual Sewing Pattern Lady (from a vintage pattern envelope) and she's surrounded by older bejeweled Prima Flowers and wearing a necklace that's clipped from the very edge of an Eyelet Outlet Swirl Bling. I'm quite smugly claiming extra points for having found an ancient but un-cut piece of Tim Holtz patterned paper with a coordinating sewing pattern lady on it to use as my photo background. :)

Head over to SOS to see what the rest of the team have made and start planning how YOU will, "Shine Bright Like a Diamond"!

Mandala Monday(s)

You would think by NOVEMBER I would remember every week to load the latest Mandala Monday onto my blog buuuuuut... nope. I'm playing catchup again, so here's this week's take followed by last week's!

MM46: Sharpie and Posca Paint Pens 

on an extra-large paint chip from the Big Box Home Improvement store. 

Pasted into my Traveler's Notebook.

MM45: Flowery Zen-Doodle inspired mandala

 drawn with Pitt Artist Pens and watercolored with Tombow Dual Brush Pens, 

made into a 6" square card. 

A Banner Holiday

For our final Jingle Belles prompt of 2022*, we're asking you to make a card inspired by our 2022 Jingle Belles Blog Banner. You can choose as many (or few) elements as you desire: maybe you love the vintage Santa, the traditional red and green color palette, the sparkly letters or the seasonal blooms? Or possibly even the "sketch" of the design, ie, the way the elements are arranged. If your choice isn't obvious, do make sure you tell us what parts of the banner inspired your card. Here's a reminder of what that looks like:

And now, here's my card:

My card was inspired by the positioning of the elements in the header (in card challenge parlance we call it the "sketch") so I concentrated my images to the bottom left and top right of the card. I incorporated Santa and some botanical images, but since they are stickers from Doodlebug Design, they have a much different mood than those on the header. I stuck (mostly) with the traditional red and green palette of the blog and I couldn't resist making the background from sheet music!

Be sure to visit Jingle Belles to see what Stephanie has made this week and then start planning what you'll link up with us this time!

*Boy did this year FLY BY or what?!

A Walk in the Woods

As much as we love seeing the leaves return to the trees in the spring, there is definitely something to be said for the loveliness of bare trees, where we can see the trunks and the branches... and any wildlife that might be passing... so clearly. In this case, the wild life consists of Eyelet Outlet Deer Brads, in a forest where some Snowflake Brads are softly falling. There are also four styles of EO Washi on this card: Wood Tape, Twig Tape, Glitter Copper and Glitter Tall Tree Tape.

The woods are created with Penny Black's Woodland Scene dies, which look wonderful with both pieces stacked together; but it turns out they also look equally nice when used singly, as on this slimline version. The trees have been cut from cardstock to which neat strips of Sparkle White Glitter Tape have been applied, to make a sparkling snowy scene. All three styles of our Cardinal Brads (Cardinals, Female Cardinals and Profile Cardinals) stand out beautifully against the snowy trees and blue sky, while flurries of Red Snowflake Bling drift downwards.

There are plenty more birds and beasts, flora and fauna, in the Eyelet Outlet Store, you should probably go and check them out!

A Very Vecchi Xmas!

New Jersey crafters, join me for a bright and cheerful class that features nearly EVERY stamp in Wendy Vecchi’s Doodle Christmas and Doodle Holiday stamp sets! 

We’ll do a little coloring, a little fussy-cutting, a little embossing and yes, we’ll even get out the big box of washi tape! Please bring your basic kit, your favorite scissors and some holiday spirit! Dates  and details on the Paper Anthology Blog!

Fleece Navidad!

It's the second week of our, "Funny, Ho! Ho!" prompt at Jingle Belles and we're still making funny, punny, snarky or otherwise humorous cards. 

This week, I knew that I wanted to use up the ugly sweaters on a sheet of older American Crafts paper, so I cut them out and was ready to roll when I realized that I didn't have a good sentiment to go with them. Luckily, I when I messaged Stephanie, she came up with a bunch of goodies that I formatted and printed out. Problem solved AND I have a bunch of "the same but different" cards to send to my nieces at college!

You've still got until next Wednesday evening to join our Jingle Belles fun... which we hope you will!

The Future's So Bright...

...You Gotta Wear Shades! Here's a bright and cheerful card, featuring some beachy Eyelet Outlet Brads, including a handsome Flamingo, a stately Palm Tree, a Sandcastle, and our Sun and Cloud Brads; all arranged on Penny Black's Glasses die with Cloud Washi lenses, on a background of Rainbow Tape.

While I was experimenting with combinations of tapes I came up with another version I really liked: Love Tape glasses with the Cloud Washi again for the lenses. I added Colored Daisies and a Mini Ladybug to the tiny garden and made a tiny glasses-shaped card base from a piece of window plastic.

Whatever the calendar might say, when it comes to papercrafting, it can always be any season you want, as long as you have a few appropriate Eyelet Outlet embellies!

Buttons and Bows and...

Little things mean a lot this fortnight at Shopping Our Stash; we're making cards featuring those tiny old school standbys: brads, eyelets, buttons and ribbons. 

My card is soooooooo stashy, I don't think there's a single thing on here that's still in print!!! My "little things" consist of some annnnncient Oriental Trading Co. flower brads; some Eyelet Outlet Funky Bee Brads that I still have a bunch of; and the smallest pink buttons I've ever seen... courtesy of my friend Michelle. In addition, I've got about fourteen styles of washi tape, in rainbow hues, of course; not to mention a flowery Simple Stories journal card from their "Snap" collection, plus a second one from which I snipped my snappy saying.

Be sure to visit SOS to see what the rest of the team have made to inspire YOU... then start planning your own masterpiece!

Wendy Vecchi Autumn Place Setting

Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Stamps, Dies and Stencils come off the page and onto an autumn tablescape. I've used Wendy's "Thank You" and "Autumn Greetings" sets to create napkin rings, place cards and votive candle rings. Head over to the Ranger Blog's Project Page to see the step-by-step tutorial! 

Going Dotty

This one's more like a hex sign than a mandala but it's definitely DIFFERENT, lol! There are 50+ Mandala Mondays each year and on this one, the 44th of 2022, I used my Zig Dot Markers and a few Tombows in my Canson Mixed Media Sketchbook.

Funny, Ho! Ho!

This fortnight at Jingle Belles we're asking you to create humorous holiday cards... they can be funny, punny or snarky, as long as they make you smile or chuckle. In the process of making my card, I discovered that I have hardly any humorous holiday sentiments. Luckily, I have a computer and plenty of cute fonts, so I was able to re-create a sentiment I saw on a novelty t-shirt in a catalog:

The fancy holiday lady is an Authentique journal card, the typeface is called (appropriately enough) Mom's Typewriter and was free from dafont.com, and the papers are from the scrap bag. This is one of those cases where thinking up what to do took muuuuuuuuuuuch longer than actually doing it. Am I the only one to whom that happens??!

Be sure to visit Jingle Belles to see the fun and fabulous card Stephanie has created to inspire you (there might be a Grumpling involved!) and then start planning what you'll make!

Bloomin' Awesome

There's no bad time of year for a sunny day and a garden full of flowers, so luckily Eyelet Outlet has lots of different Flower Brads (this card features Colored Daisies) as well as Sky Tape, Grass Tape, Butterfly Brads, Mini Ladybugs and Hearts!

Head over to the Eyelet Outlet Store for lots more choices to make your next Bloomin' Awesome card!