Photo Inspiration, Week 2

At Jingle Belles, we're still totally loving that bold Tinsel Trees Inspiration Photo, and making cards inspired by some aspect of that design. Here's a reminder of what it looks like:

And here's my card:

This week I took inspiration from the color palette (though I've inverted the proportions of white to color); from the circle shapes of the baubles, and the different shiny/matte/sparkly surfaces. I've used a fabulous Simon Says Stamp Ring Wreath Die that Stephanie gave me and inset the circles with pink, blue, silver and gold specialty papers (great way to use up scraps); then I added a large script sentiment (diecut twice for a drop shadow effect) and finished off with several colors and sizes of Eyelet Outlet Pearl Brads.

You've got until 6pm on Wednesday, April 5th to join our Jingle Belles Photo Inspiration fun, which we hope you will!

Hey, Chickie!

The Eyelet Outlet Chick Brads are having an EGG-cellent adventure under Sunny skies, on a lawn made of wide Grass Washi used both flat and as a diecut border... the better for hiding Colored Egg Brads.

Be sure to scroll around the EO Blog to see all of the inspirational Easter and Spring cards and projects our fabulous design team have made with their Eyelet Outlet goodies! 

SOS493: Sketch Challenge

We're, "Gettin' Sketchy Wit It" at Shopping Our Stash this fortnight, so all of our cards will be based on this clever layout:

Here's what I made:

As you can see, I rotated the sketch ninety degrees to the left, but otherwise, I've been quite faithful to it. I've also done some hardcore stash shopping: the background is Studio Calico from... probably ten years ago? The wavy strip behind my ocean scene is Junkitz (bemember them?!); all of the stickers (the cloud, the photo corners, the bubbly border) are Echo Park and at least four or five years old. The sea critters are all Lawn Fawn stamps, the axolotl (yes, they really exist and some of them are, as my friend Leslie would have said, (gah!) PINK!) and narwhal are only a year or two old, but the turtle and tiny fish come from my very first Lawn Fawn set, Critters in the Sea, which I won in a card challenge years and years (and possibly one more years) ago! I often paper-piece these guys, but since I'm actively trying to do more coloring, I used them for practice and I'm not unhappy with the result.

Whatever style, colors, products or ideas you'd like to incorporate into your next card, I'm pretty sure you can figure out a way to make them work in the sketch and then c'mon over and link up with us at SOS!

MM13

Moving mirthfully into a marvelously map-centric Mandala Monday with some fun vintage paper collage action: map pieces, map index (the stripey ones are my fave!) sheet music, ledger paper, foreign text, a nice big floral illustration, bits of library card and of course a tiny car. Let's get this week started... vroom, vroom!

Tinsel Trees Photo Inspiration

This fortnight at Jingle Belles we've got a cool Photo Inspiration prompt for you: we're making cards inspired by this DIY Tinsel Tree Tutorial at White House Crafts. You might be inspired by the trees themselves, or the color palette, the decorations, some tinsel... there are so many possibilities! Just make sure you tell us in your post how the photo inspired your design, if it isn't totally obvious, k?

In my case, it IS blindingly obvious, lol! I loved the tinsel and bottle brush trees, the pink, white and aqua palette, the soft shimmer effect, the little pops of gold... basically the whole entire thing!

I used Spellbinders' Bottle Brush Tree Die Set to create the tiny trees and My Favorite Things' Happy Holidays Circle Frame to make a home for them. The background plaid is a Simple Stories *EASTER* paper, as a matter of fact; the pink is from Lawn Fawn's Knit Picky line. I've added pink glitter pearl accents and scattered some golden Eyelet Outlet Star Sequins about for extra shine. I was so happy with how this came out that I made it into Paper Anthology's March Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit, for which that fun die set is included!

Be sure to visit Jingle Belles to see the gorgeous card Stephanie has made, and hop over to Paper Anthology to see our previous Holiday Jumpstart kits.

Cruisin' in to Your Birthday...

...In Style! And it doesn't get much more stylish than Eyelet Outlet Classic Car Brads, paired with beautiful wide Map Tape, and accents of Tire Track, Road Washi and Skinny Glitter Tape. There's also a Compass Brad to guide our travels and it's all held on with EO Screw Brads.

The Eyelet Outlet Online Store has all of the brads, bling, pearls, enamels, flowers, eyelets and washi tape you could possibly imagine; but so does the Eyelet Outlet Booth; check out the Tradeshow Schedule to find out when we're coming to your town! 

Spotted: STRIPES!

It's possibly the boldest EVER Mandala Monday, as I have tried out a coloring technique I saw on Instagram: instead of filling each shape with a solid color, I've used stripes of pink, yellow/orange, green, blue and purple. This post should probably come with a free pair of sunglasses, but until I figure out how to swing that, you might just want to grab your own eyewear, or poke a hole in a piece of paper and view it like a solar eclipse! ;)

Tombow Dual Brush Pens and Ranger Letter It Fineliners in my Canson sketchbook

Spring Lawn Fawn Tags

It's definitely a good week when I can sneak in a bit of coloring practice, especially when there are super-fun new(ish) Lawn Fawn stamps (and washi tape!!!) from Paper Anthology involved.

That hot air balloon from the Fly High set is A LOT of fun to color, I tell ya! The Elephant Parade Stamps and Dies sold out FAST, but will be back in the store this week. I've used a bunch of different sets for the sentiment combos, including Gnome Sweet Gnome and some of the characters from Car Critters (still possibly my all-time LF fave!) though I have to say that the chunky font in Everyday Offset Sayings is very appealing too. But that washi... HOW can anyone resist??!

Cardstock Christmas, Week 2

We're still eschewing patterned paper at Jingle Belles, and celebrating Cardstock Christmas! This week I've used one of my favorite "scrap-busting" techniques: cut them into strips of various size and arrange them in quilt-like patterns.

It's also quite an addictive process, so I'm not sure I've ever sat down and only made just ONE panel. In this case, I made a red and a green; then pressure embossed them (the green used Spellbinders' Forevergreen; the red features an older Sheena Douglass folder that seems to be OOP) and added a little sanding and Unicorn Ink to emphasize the texture. Large fabric flowers, ancient ribbon and brads, bold cardstock mats and machine stitching complete the design(s).

Cardstock Christmas continues at Jingle Belles until 6pm next Wednesday night (3/22/23) so there's plenty of time for you to join the fun!

Having a Ruff Day?

If so, Eyelet Outlet Puppy Brads are guaranteed to cheer you right up! Here they've made a happy home on a pair of preprinted wordart journal cards, along with the supper bowls from our Kennel Mix, some Paw Brads, Heart Brads, and a background of adorable Paw Washi! Anodized Quicklet Eyelets add a little extra touch to the corners and (surprise!) Quicklets don't even need a setter... you can use a pen to attach them!

Not a dog person? We've also got Felines, Reptiles, Tropical Birds, Horses, Farm Animals, Jungle Critters, Fish; not to mention Lions, Tigers and Bears... plus lots more! It's a pretty safe bet you'll find your favorite pet at Eyelet Outlet!

SOS492: Somewhere Over the RAINBOW

If you've already guessed* that the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to add rainbows to your creation OR use the rainbow color palette in your design, then well done; I'll skip right to my cards:

As I may have mentioned before, I have a lot (srsly A LOT!!!) of washi tape and I enjoy playing with it, so for this challenge I made a few panels of rainbow tape strips and made them the catalyst for the rest of the design. 

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I also have a lot of patterned paper scraps, which I save especially for diecutting, so I decided to use my ancient Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Butterfly dies to create a flutter of butterflies (...according to Mr. Google, a group of butterflies is either a Flutter or a Kaleidoscope; the latter seems more predominant but the former is so much easier to spell...) which I've attached with small Eyelet Outlet 1/8" Round Brads in rainbow colors.

As you can see, I got a little carried away with the tape panels and butterflies, so I wound up making not one, not two, but three A-6 sized cards. I've left off sentiments for now, so that these can be used for pretty much any occasion, whenever I need them.

I bet you have "too much" of something that's a bit older, but still beloved in your cardmaking stash. Why not re-discover it, color it appropriately, and join our "Somewhere Over the RAINBOW" challenge at SOS, which runs through Monday, March 27th. In the meantime, hop over to see the gorgeous cards the DT have made to inspire you!

*If you had NOT already guessed that the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to add rainbows to your creation OR use the rainbow color palette in your design, then SURPRISE! Because that is, in fact, the brief this fortnight. :)

MM11

It's a flashy, splashy, watercolor Mandala Monday featuring the brightest, warmest colors in my repertoire, in an attempt to ward off any additional snow. (You're welcome!) 

I used my Tombow Dual Brush Pens to outline each series of shapes, then "pulled" the color inwards with a waterbrush. At the end, I flicked water all over the piece and used a paper towel to lift off little splotches of color. 

A (Daisy) Heart-felt Gift!

Papercrafting is, of course, my favorite creative pursuit, but it's not something you can do in a waiting room, or riding in the car, so my "portable" sub-craft involves yarn. I can knit and crochet, though in the last few years I've done more of the latter. This sweet little purse is a birthday present I made for one of our grandnieces and I think it turned out nearly as cuuuuuute as she is!

This adorable Daisy Heart Granny Purse Crochet Pattern is free from Daisy Cottage Designs and she has lots more patterns for all kinds of projects. I changed the strap slightly and used Vanna's Choice Yarn from Lion Brand.

JB2306: Cardstock Christmas

It's time for a brand new prompt at Jingle Belles and this one (imo!) is a bit challenging! For "Cardstock Christmas" we're asking you to step away from commercial patterned paper and create with CARDSTOCK; of course you can stamp it, emboss it, paint it, diecut it, glitter it, tear it and do pretty much anything else you can think of, so put your thinking cap on and join the fun!

At first glance, you may think I've cheated and used a cloudy patterned paper, but no... it's Avery Elle's Cloud Mat Die, on which I've used the "inset" diecutting technique. I cut the background from a rich colonial blue cardstock, the clouds from bright white and the frame from a pebbly texture of lime green. I used an older Memory Box pine tree with an appropriately deep green cardstock, and Tim Holtz's "Reindeer Flight" on copper glitter cardstock. The snowflake is Impression Obsession and cut from ivory shimmer cardstock, held on with an Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brad. The sentiment flag is from Making Memories, I think, which gives you an idea of juuuussssst how many years that thing has been lurking in my stash, lol!

"Cardstock Christmas" runs through March 22nd. Stephanie and I would love for you to join the fun at Jingle Belles!

Wendy Vecchi Clover All Over Card

I'm up on the Ranger Project Page, going green the week before St. Patrick's Day, with Wendy Vecchi's MAKE ART Stamps, Stencils, Dies, Chippies and (of course!) Archival Inks. I'd love for you to hop over and read all about it!

KOALA-tee Reading Time

Here is my* ideal day off scenario, in card form: I'm reading, surrounded by books, with a friend or two for company! In this case the books are Eyelet Outlet Book Brads and Book Tape, the friends are a Koala Brad and a Mini Ladybug, there's a Telephone Brad in case I feel like chatting, and some Rose Brads for extra color and inspiration. I've also used Wood Washi to construct the bookshelves and Text Tape as a background.

The stamped elements are from Avery Elle's "Feels Like Home- Add On" stamps and dies, which I acquired at Paper Anthology; I've colored them with Tombow Dualbrush Pens (also from Paper Anthology!) and shaded with Prismacolor Pencils.

What does YOUR ideal day off look like? Because whatever it is, I bet Eyelet Outlet has brad and tape styles that would help you recreate it in card form!

*Technically, I am NOT a Koala Bear (I don't even like eucalyptus!) but otherwise, this is a fairly accurate representation, lol!

SOS491: Week Two

We're still looking forward to Spring at Shopping Our Stash with the challenge, "Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere" so here's another card I made to celebrate:

Having become somewhat obsessed with the combination of collaged vintage paper and patterned paper motifs, I made another (appropriately floral!) version, this time using an ancient SEI paper with vertical chains of blossoms. I layered them with torn and inked English and Chinese text, plus part of an index that had an interesting typeface. I matted on some Basic Grey "Out of Print" plaid, sewed around the perimeter and scattered some coordinating Eyelet Outlet Round Sequins about for a little sparkle.

"Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere" runs at SOS until next Monday evening, March 13th and we'd love for you to join us!

MM10: Sketchbook Play

It's a fanciful, fractured Mandala Monday, for which I chose the shapes (and later the colors) quite randomly, then tried to tie them together in a way that made sense. Or was, at least, vaguely harmonious? I think I miiiiiight have done slightly better with the "random" aspect than the "harmony"... but all of it was FUN which is the main thing, right? Hope your week will be full of pleasant surprises and unexpected inspiration!

Tombow Dual Brush and Pitt Artist Pens in my Canson Mixed Media Sketchbook

Tag! You're It!

Coloring (somewhat realistically; with shading, etc) is not my BEST thing and probably won't ever be but... practicing definitely helps and (me being me) each time I improve a bit I enjoy it more, which makes me want to do it more, which helps me improve. It's like the reverse of a vicious circle... what would we call that?* A virtuous circle? A benevolent circle?? Well, whatever, it helps!

At Paper Anthology, Elisabeth and I have been making Thank You tags to put inside online orders, which turns out to be an excellent excuse to break out pretty much ANY stamp or die set we feel like using. In this case that was, for the bears, Lawn Fawn's Den Sweet Den and Avery Elle's Feels Like Home Add Ons. As usual, my favorite way to do this kind of coloring is to "basecoat" all of the elements with Tombow Dualbrush Pens, then add shading and detail with Prismacolor pencils.

*While trying to work out what the opposite of a vicious circle would be, I Googled the phase, "Vicious Antonyms" which I think would be an awesome name for a band. If you have a band, and you're looking for a name, please feel free to use it!

I Can See CLEARLY...

We're heading in to the second week of our Jingle Belles transparent element challenge, "It Came Upon a Midnight CLEAR" and once again, I've de-hoarded an ancient Hambly Transparency, this time as a base for a cluster of vintage postage, stickers and other xmassy odds and ends:

In the past, when I've posted cards built upon a clear base, the two big questions I get asked are, "HOW to you attach things?" and "Can you see the adhesive on the inside/back of card?" The answers to these are, respectively, I use the clearest available adhesive for the job, depending on what I'm attaching; and as long as it looks NEAT from the other side, I don't get too worried about it not being 100% invisible. In this case, the stickers took care of themselves and they look beautiful from the other side. For the vintage postage stamps, I used gluestick, which is likewise invisible. For the patterned paper circles I used Scor-Tape and Foam Tape, cut neatly into squares, and yeah... if you realllllllllllllly look carefully on the inside you can sort of see those, but... I'm not very bothered by it. The third question in this realm is, "How do you add a sentiment or signature?" The answer to that is I put a diecut label shape on the inside, placed in such a way that it enhances the design on the outside. I will try to put my writing behind the stickers, and I'll write a little smaller and neater than usual, but again... I'm not going to stress if it's slightly visible.

Some additional attachers for clear cards include: brads, staples, the special "invisible" gluedots or photo corners they make for using with vellum and... maybe my favorite... machine or hand stitching! If you want to short circuit ALL of these concerns, you can build a card where only a central window is made of clear acrylic; OR you can make it so that only a border of the acrylic shows. Hope that has given you a few ideas, and I'm happy to answer questions in the comments or via email!

Remember, you do not need to make a card that's entirely clear for this challenge, you just need to add a clear element... so shaker windows, vellum panels, vellum stickers, lucite or plastic elements, etc; are all fair game! Make sure to check out the reader's gallery on the Midnight Clear post at Jingle Belles to see what Stephanie has made and also how the other participants have interpreted the idea of "CLEAR"!

Hi (and Hi Again!)

I am still slightly obsessed with Eyelet Outlet's huge selection of Pearl and Jewel Brads, which come in pretty much every size, color and style you can imagine. This week I've used them on two all-occasion cards that also feature EO Flower Petal and Multicolor Dot Washi Tapes:

I built the first of these cards on top of a polka-dot transparency, so that the blooms I backed with cardstock and cut out of the Flower Petal Tape would appear to drift down the card, held on only by a variety of Pearl and Jewel Brads, ranging from tiny 5mm size to substantial 12mm. There are two strips of Multicolor Dot Tape wrapped around the front of the card and a small strip of cardstock inside, to hold a greeting and signature.

For the second card, I used one of my favorite diecutting tricks, which is to keep an entire set of alphabet dies intact, and use the negative space, after the letters are cut out, to use as a background. When the letters H and I happen to be next to each other, this makes an instant greeting! This time I used only 5mm Purple Pearl Brads (they come in five other shades!) with silver bezels to attach the Flower Petals.

Remember that ALL Eyelet Outlet Pearl and Jewel Brads are currently on sale; so I'm pretty sure you'll want to collect an assortment of styles, too!