Holiday Treats

These adorable crocheted macarons were this year's handmade ornament, and while you can't eat them, they're still pretty sweet! 

This paragraph is the knitty gritty details, so if you don't crochet or have any interest in yarncraft, you can skip it! French Macaron Cookies pattern by JuliHMtoys available in her Etsy Shop. Macarons crocheted with a C-hook in Lion Brand Yarn's TruBoo, rayon yarn made from bamboo; this was my first time using it, and admittedly I chose it for the colors, slightly glossy finish and (crucially!) the fact that it was on sale and the correct weight for my project; but like everything from Lion Brand, it's a very nice yarn to work with and I recommend it heartily. Colors: Goldenrod, Mulberry, Mint, Light Blue and Cameo, with soft Silver for the frosting. (They do make a bright white as well, but it was not in-stock at the big box store on the day I was shopping, so I went with the best shade available.)

Thanks Snow Much

Eyelet Outlet Glitter Tape and Winter Wildlife Brads are not JUST for Christmas, this is the perfect time to employ them for post-holiday thank you cards! The mama and baby Polar Bear Brads are right at the edge of the wide Glitter Tall Trees Tape, framed up by Glitter Gold Tape. The handsome Deer has paused near a Snowy Tree Brad in front of some gorgeous Glitter Winter Tape (like the Tall Trees Tape it's 1.25" wide... perfect for scenes!) framed by Glitter Blue.

Whether you need to make fast Thank You cards or just get moving on winter birthdays and Valentines, the Eyelet Outlet Online Store has all the embellishments you could wish for!

Merry Christmas!

 

Wishing you the happiest of holidays!!! ♥

2023 Jingle Belles Faves

The nice thing about making one holiday card per week at Jingle Belles, January through November, is that you can take December off; the only drawback is that it leaves Fridays a tiny bit sparse, so this seems like the perfect time to look back at the year and pick five or so favorite holiday cards. And here they are in no particular order:

JB2305: It Came Upon a Midnight, Clear

I always love cards built on my well-hoarded stash of Hambly Screen Print transparencies... I always love coloring the Pretty Pink Posh Holiday Pals... and I always love shaker cards. This baby is all of those AND features random strips of washi tape, to boot!

JB2302: Jingle Bells

Prima's Candy Cane Lane line is one of my all-time favorite paper collections, and this card is loaded with various bits, though the glittery pink snowflakes and velvet paper jingle bells (thank you Ms. Lorraine!) miiiiight be what takes this one over the top.

JB2316: Neutral Noel

Another example of choosing a beautiful paper line, then letting it do almost ALL the hard work; this time it's Ciao Bella's Snow and the City, distressed, inked, layered, sewn upon and finally bedecked with a big blingy bloom. 

JB2309: Leftovers

Ever since Lawn Fawn's Car Critters and the reindeer-centric Christmas Add-On set was released in 2020 I have made at least a couple of cards with it each year, which I suspect will continue indefinitely. This time I paperpieced all the elements, then used an amazing Sketch Saturday layout and lots of leftover offcuts of paper that were laying around.

JB2321: Pink Christmas

Pink Christmas is nearly always my favorite Jingle Belles event of the year and this plethora of Wendy Vecchi Doodle Christmas poinsettias which I "watercolored" with her gorgeous Archival Inks was as fun to make as it is to look back at!

♥♥♥

Jingle Belles will return on January 1, 2024 with a new prompt every other week and an inspiring card from both Stephanie and myself every week until the end of November. If you'd like to chip away at your holiday card list in a stress-free way AND meet some awesome new cardmaking friends, why not plan to join us then?

Oh Christmas Tees, Oh Christmas Tees!

This festive trio of holiday t-shirt cards is one of the fastest projects of the year, thanks to a colorful selection of Eyelet Outlet holiday themed brads and tapes. From top to bottom: A Gift Brad atop Santa Washi; a Candy Cane over Gingerbread Tape; a Santa Hat on Ho Ho Ho Washi; a green Peppermint Candy bedecks vertical Red Tree Tape; Santa himself (from our Santa and Mrs. Claus set) brightens up some Brick Washi; a Pine Tree atop Santa Hat Tape; the sweet vintage-inspired deer from our Santa and Deer set is on Holly Jolly Washi; a Snowy Tree adorns Winter Character Tape and finally Santa from the Santa and Deer set over Tree Washi. The backing panels are made of extra-wide Wood Tape, Music Note Washi and Brick Tape, set against super-sparkly Glitter Red Tape.

No matter what combination of Eyelet Outlet brads and tapes you choose, they are sure to add up to the happiest holiday cards of the season!

The Last SOS of 2023

For this year's final challenge at Shopping Our Stash (we're taking a short break and will return on January 16th!) let's go with the creative flow and showcase the last HOLIDAY cards of 2023: Christmas, belated Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, New Year... if it's a December holiday, it's fair game!

I needed a few fast Christmas cards, so luckily I could Shop My Stash and use up all some of the leftover diecuts from the December Holiday Jumpstart kit I made for Paper Anthology, here's a pic of the final version, for reference:

I don't know about you, but a great many of my projects start out by trying multiple versions of the various pieces. In this case, you can see that I was already sure what papers and dies I'd use... but which would be used for which underwent quite a few different options. 

Luckily, even the "rejected" bits looked well together and by pulling in a few pre-diecut backgrounds and extra bits I made both of these A6 cards in about fifteen minutes!

For the record, the deer are from Taylored Expressions' Woodland Silhouettes 1 and the Evergreens are hers as well. The arched frame and backer are Memory Box's Winter Wood Dome Layer and Nested Globes, respectively; that coverplate is older and I *think* was Pinkfresh; Lawn Fawn's Knit Picky, Spiffier Speckles and Woodgrain Cardstock feature prominently, not to mention various scraps of metallic, velvet and glitter papers.

Mandala Monday Round-Up

The last official Mandala Monday of 2023 kind of crept up on me, so this seems like a good time to choose a few of my favorites for the year. So here they are, in no particular order:

MM13: 

A collaged mandala from back in March... featuring a particularly lovely (to me, anyway) bit of vintage map and (of course) a tiny car!

MM12: 

It's a well-known fact that I consider the phrase, "too much color" absolute nonsense, and this super-stripey marker mandala (coincidentally also from March) made with about a zillion shades of Tombow Dual Brush Pen is proof of that!

MM46: 

I was surprised to find that I only made a couple of sticker mandalas this year, must do better in 2024! Meanwhile, I do love this one (which admittedly is LOOSE in terms of mandala structure) composed mostly of ancient Mrs. Grossman's stickers from last month. 

MM18:

I suspect that anything made with Dina Wakley Collage Paper and Typed Ledgers is automatically going to be fairly awesome, but I (immodestly!) confess to being extra-proud of this collaged mandala. 

MM01:

Going all the way back to January to include this ink-over-collage mandala colored with some of my favorite shades of Wendy Vecchi's Archival Inks from Ranger.

♥♥♥

To see ALL the Mandala Mondays of 2023 you can click this link to see them in blogpost form OR head over to my Instagram account for the complete compilation in convenient Flip-a-Gram form! 

Brand new Mandala Mondays will resume on January 1, 2024.

Holiday Cheer is IN THE BAG!

Or, in this case, holiday cheer is in a pair of (formerly) plain white gift bags, adorned with Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape, Glitter Tape, Bling and Brads!

On the red and green bag we have: Christmas Jolly Holly Washi, Red Stripe Foil Tape, Santa Washi, Glitter Red Tape, Ho Ho Washi, and snowflake diecuts held on with large and small red Jewel Brads. Santa and Mrs. Claus are standing by to supervise the presentation of this gift!

The blue and silver bag is embellished with: Glitter Winter Tape, multiple strips of Glitter Silver Tape, sprinkled with 2" Snowflake Bling and 1.5" Snowflake Bling and the snowflakes are attached with large and small White Pearl Brads.

Every bag, box, card or package you need to decorate this holiday season will find the best choice of embellishments at Eyelet Outlet!

Lauren Bergold

loves wrapping Christmas gifts!

Blog * Instagram * Facebook

MM49: Poinsettia Mandala

It's a Very Vecchi Mandala Monday, thanks to Wendy Vecchi's gorgeous Archival Inks from Ranger (in Bluebird, Prickly Pear and Cactus Flower) and her brilliant technique of painting with Archivals! 

You can do this by diluting Archival Reinkers with Isopropyl Alcohol (Wendy's favorite) or (as I've done here) by "smooshing" your selected colors of ink pad onto a Craft Sheet and then picking up the color with a Waterbrush full of Isopropyl.

Admittedly these are not traditional Christmas colors, and I've never seen a purple poinsettia... but I love how this turned out!

Embossed Holiday Treescape Tags

The holiday season is here and in my opinion, there is no such thing as too much sparkle and shine! For this project I've used Ranger's Winter Wonderland Bundle of Verdigris and Green Tinsel Embossing Powders paired with White Opal and Bahama Bay Liquid Pearls to decorate a trio of terrific treescape tags featuring Wendy Vecchi's MAKE ART Statements Chippies and Simon Hurley's create. Treescapes and Winter Wonderland stamp sets. There are step-by-step instructions on the Ranger Project Page. And while you're over there, why not check out ALL of the fabulous and inspiring Ranger Bundles?!

Tiled Washi Tape Christmas Card

Eyelet Outlet's Christmas Sayings Washi Tape features eight different 1 x 1.75" postcard designs. For this card they've been stuck to plain white cardstock and cut apart, to make a tiled background. The sentiment and diecut flower pick up on the lovely colors in the tape, and also provide a place for a Poinsettia Brad, a Cardinal Profile and a pair of Holly Brads. 

Holiday cardmaking is faster, easier and a lot more fun when you have Eyelet Outlet Brads and Tapes to help out!

SOS511: Whatever the Weather

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash, we're celebrating weather elements, such as snow, sun, ice and rain. Which means you can pretty much make anything you want, from holiday cards to birthday bags... just so it has something weather-centric! Here's my card:

This is one of the fastest (& stashiest!) cards I've made all year, thanks to the fact that I found both the rainbow washi tape panel AND the pre-cut-out sun and cloud element in the box where my 12x12 sticker sheets live; the latter being where I found the bird, the bee, the "wonderful" and the chipboard heart. All I had to do was find a couple of coordinating patterned papers and a 6" square Kromekote card and I was all set! 

Head on over to SOS to see what the Crew have made to inspire you, then start Shopping YOUR Stash to see what you can link up with us this time! Challenge runs until Monday evening, December 18th.

It's a Many-Splendored Mandala Monday

It's been a bit grey and bleak here in New Jersey, but since it's such bad karma to complain about RAIN in DECEMBER, I'm just brightening things up on my own, thanks to Simon Hurley's gorgeous palette of create. Dye Inks from Ranger!

December's Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit

December’s Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit is Paper Anthology's pre-packaged kit that includes everything you need (except adhesives) to complete FIVE copies of this new original holiday card design. It’s called “Wooded Wonderland” since it features this lovely forest scene built using Memory Box, Spellbinders, Sunny Studio and Taylored Expressions dies. 

This kit is available in-store and online at Paper Anthology, here's a link with all the details!

(Christmas) Wrapping Up 2023

It's hard to believe we've already come to the end of another Jingle Belles season. It feels like 2023 just few by, thanks to all of the fun we've had seeing you build your holiday stash, and working on our own.  

Once again we're sharing our beginning-of-December big pile-o-cards before we begin writing & addressing, so they can be mailed or hand-delivered to our favorite folks:

Now it just remains to wish you the happiest of holiday seasons. We'll be back on January 1, 2024 to start our 14th year of taking back December one holiday card at a time... and of course we'd love for you to join us for our holiday mayhem once more. There's one last link-up for the year over at Jingle Belles; you can use it to share your last-minute holiday cards and, if you have a few minutes, cruise through the other cards to be inspired and maybe leave a comment or two. 

Many thanks to everyone who helped to make this year our most fun EVER; we'd hope to see you back again at Jingle Belles in 2024! ♥

It's Taco... Thursday?

I was scrolling through the photos on my phone and realized I never posted the incredibly awesome, GIANT Taco Pillow I made for my nephew Matthew's birthday in September; so here it is now!

This project was inspired by the adorable Happy Lil Taco @theknottyboss offers as a free pattern. As you can see, I super-sized it by crocheting with three strands of Vanna's Choice from @lionbrandyarn (Mustard, Duckie and Beige add up to the variegated shade of a crunchy corn taco shell, in case you wondered) and working until my taco shell circle was approximately 22" in diameter; a measurement scientifically based on that being when I ran out of the lightest shade. To make the curly lettuce (one strand of Sweet Pea and one of Radiant Lime) I used the stitch progression @walkerwhimsy devised for the clouds on her Rainy Day Scarf, but worked as an edging. The tomatoes are just half-circles of red, and again their size and quantity were based on when I ran out of Scarlet yarn. The cute mustachio was also a free pattern, which I unfortunately did not save; but if you Google "crocheted mustache pattern" you'll be spoilt for choice. 

I'd write more about this but it's nearly lunchtime and now I really REALLY want some tacos!

Wildlife Winterscapes

Maybe the most fun you can have with our Eyelet Outlet Wildlife Brads is to build little scenes for them to inhabit. This trio of A1 cards all have stamped trees and sponged skies, with Sun and Cloud Brads to light the way and a flurry of Snowflake Sequins to set the season. Pine Tree Brads and Snowy Pines add to the foliage, then the critters arrive: a Prancing Deer, a handsome Moose, plus mama and baby Bear Brads. Two washi tape mats, of Glitter Blue Tape and Wide Wood Washi frame the designs.

There are Eyelet Outlet Animals for every taste, including Dinosaurs, Farm Animals, Reptiles, Cats and Dogs, Fish and Crustaceans, Jungle Animals, Birds, Bugs and Critters of all kinds! 

This is BIG

It's an Elegantly Elephantine Mandala Monday thanks to this gorgeous Pink Momma and Baby Elephant Sticker from my friend Gina's Redbubble Shop where there are pages and pages of stickers, stationery, tees, accessories and sooooo much more... all adorned with Gina's colorful stylized designs, which I would call Whimsical Realism. You should probably go take a look... afterall... it's Cyber Monday, right?!

This mandala was created with Black Letter It Fineliners in my (now sadly discontinued) Dina Wakley Blue Edition Journal both from Ranger Ink. The gorgeous orchids, which serendipitously match the pachyderms perfectly, were cut from a freebie calendar.

JB2324: Banner Holiday, Week 2

We're still making cards inspired by our 2023 Jingle Belles Blog Banner, here's a reminder of what it looks like:

And here's how I was inspired this week:

Having gone as literal as possible last week, this time I wanted to see how far I could go in the other direction, but still have the influence of the banner show clearly. I rotated the rectangle shape to make a "tall card"; I used the layers of music, text and snowflakes for the background; I placed a tree toward the left of the frame; and finally I used the same Stamplorations "Jingle" die on glitter paper as my sentiment. 

Head over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's gorgeou card, then scroll down to the original Banner Inspired Holiday post to visit the Readers' Gallery and to link up your own card(s)!

Give Thanks

On the day before the American Thanksgiving holiday, what could be more fitting than a simple card which sums up the day. The "THANKS" portion of the sentiment is diecut from beautiful extra-wide autumn Leaf Washi, studded with Leaf Brads, Mini Leaf Brads and the yellow flowers from our Colored Daisy set. The background is made of super-wide Wood Tape, framed with Brick Washi.

Wishing the happiest and healthiest of holidays to all who are celebrating!

SOS510: Splish, Splash

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we're celebrating wet media, such as watercolor, acrylic paint, etc; but if that isn't your thing, you could swap out and use an image featuring water.

I made a vibrant watercolor background by spritzing my craft sheet with Dylusions Ink Sprays in London Blue and Cut Grass, diluting them slightly with clear water, then placing my watercolor panel face down to absorb the colors. When my background dried, I stamped, in collage style, portions of some of my favorite older Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Backgrounds, including Herringbone (embossed with Ranger Turquoise Powder), Perfectly Plaid and Botanical Register (embossed in White). Around the edges I overstamped the stars from Wendy's Doodle Holiday Stamp Set embossed in Blue Neon. I added Night Sky Archival around the edges and machine stitched the panel to a white 5.5" square card. The focal flower is from Wendy's A Million Thank Stamp, Die and Stencil set; it's been stamped once in Leaf Green and once in Rosey Posey, with the additional shades of Prickly Pear and Pink Peony Archival added for detail.

The "Splish, Splash" challenge runs at Shopping Our Stash until December 4th. Be sure to check out all of the inspiring cards the Crew have made, then start planning what you'll link up with us this time.

Winter Wishes

Join me at Paper Anthology for "Winter Wishes" a three-card class that’s SNOW much fun! Inspired by the soft dreamy palette of Echo Park’s Winter Land collection, these cards feature a little embossing, a little stenciling, some torn layers, a bit of fussy-cutting and LOTS of seasonal diecuts from Taylored Expressions, Memory Box and Sunny Studio; with sentiments from Stampendous. 

Visit the Paper Anthology Blog for all the details and sign up info!

Multi-Week Mandala Mashup

After several months of remembering to post my Mandala Monday entries every week on the blog, I suddenly hit a little patch of forgetfulness and skipped two weeks in a row, so here are THREE mandalas to start your Thanksgiving week:

MM46: Distinctly Dotty

Lindy's Magicals background, Letter It and Posca Pens... with a little bit of Tombow detail

MM45: Super Sticker-centric

A little stash of ancient, rediscovered Mrs. Grossman's animal stickers

MM44: Predominantly Purple

Lindy's Magicals, Letter It Fineliners, Poscas and Tombow detail

A Banner (Inspired) Holiday

It's hard to believe it's time for our final Jingle Belles prompt of 2023. This fortnight we're asking you to make a card inspired by our 2023 Blog Banner. There are so many possibilities for inspiration: the pink + white + tan color palette OR the trees and/or snowflakes OR the glittery letters OR... well, you get the idea! Choose any aspect(s) that appeal to you; just be sure to let us know which elements you're incorporating into your design!

My card is VERY literal, but then, I designed the header, so of course it's already in my style, lol!

Ok so, the details: I incorporated the basic sketch, colors, glitter and trees into my super-layered design. The background consists of patina-ed vintage sheet music, part of an ancient Hambly snowflake paper, bits of doily, and torn vellum with typed holiday lyrics. The forest of Taylored Expressions' Evergreens are diecut in pink with white "shadows" and the (impressively appropriate) sentiment was made with Stamplorations (sadly out of print) Jingle All the Way die.

A reminder that your card does not have to be a literal interpretation of our blog header, it just needs to be inspired by one or more elements therein! Head over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful card and start planning what you'll make. This challenge runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, November 29th.

Squirrels Just Wanna Have Fun

The joys of Autumn in the Northeast include colorful foliage, crisp cold days and plenty of nuts and seeds for our furry friends to gather. This card sums up Fall and celebrates our new Acorn and Squirrel Brads, a gorgeous Sunflower, a Pumpkin and a bouquet of Leaf Brads.

The Eyelet Outlet Online Store has all the critters, flowers, foliage, food and holiday icons you could possibly need to make your own celebration of Autumn in card form!

Tinsel Embossing Powder For the Win!

Ranger's Tinsel Embossing Powder does for holiday cards what tinsel rain does for Christmas trees: makes them exponentially more sparkly and festive! I'm on the Ranger Project Page today, using Ranger's gloriously glittery Holiday Tinsel Embossing Powder Bundle to "paint" on Simon Hurley's Bold Holiday Blooms Background Stamp and I'd love for you to check out the full tutorial!

Candy Canes and Cookies, Oh My!

We're heading into week two of our Jingle Belles Hard Candy Christmas, for which we'd like to see your favorite holiday sweets and treats... in card form! 

This week, I've got candy canes, Christmas cookies, hot cocoa, cupcakes, Christmas pudding and more, thanks to a partial page of older American Crafts mini journal cards I found in my xmas stash. I trimmed them down, popped them onto foam tape and added a couple of patterned paper layers... Pebbles' black text and Dare 2B Artzy's red dots, to be exact. There were too many for just one card, so I split them up and made 2 A7s; because in mid-November it's literally IMPOSSIBLE to make cards too quickly, right?!

This challenge runs until next Wednesday evening, November 15th. Be sure to head over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card and link up your own!

Thanks For Always Having My Back

Eyelet Outlet's awesome new Sugar Skull Brads are not just for Dia de los Muertos, they are pretty fabulous in a fanciful tattoo cluster, as well! Here they're paired with Rose Brads, a white Heart and the handsome blue lizard from our Reptile Set.

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store to see ALL the options for Brads, Bling, Washi Tape and more; your next brilliant card idea is just a click away!

Emboss Like a Boss!

If you've already guessed that the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to emboss (whether it be with powder and heat OR by using an embossing folder) then well done you; we can get right to my card:

I grabbed one of my all-time favorite Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 stamp sets (Delightful Art) and embossed the primrose-ish flower a few different ways, so that I would have options. I stamped it singly in a few different powders (of which my favorite was Wendy's Watering Can) then I also did a couple of backgrounds where I stamped the same image multiple times to make a repeating pattern. Again, one of my faves was Watering Can, but I also liked the White one. I used the coordinating stencil (all of Wendy's Studio 490 stamp sets came with coordinating stencils, I think she might've been the first to do that, several years before it became A Thing!) to add Tea Rose Archival (with Orange Blossom shading) and Prickly Pear (with Fern) on the focal image and white background; on the other panel, I just added some Watering Can ink very lightly around the edges. I matted both panels on Fern Green, added some machine stitching, a scattering of Eyelet Outlet Pearl Bling and one of the sentiments from the same stamp set et voila! 

PS: Just to brag a tiny bit, there's also a little strip under the sentiment which has pressure embossed leaves on it; via an ancient C-bug embossing folder. Admittedly it's hard to hard to see on the finished card, but still... :)

Be sure to head over to SOS to scoop up some of the Design Team's abundant inspiration, then start planning what you'll make to link up with us. The "Emboss Like a Boss" challenge runs until the evening of Monday, November 20th.