MM40 (and 39!)

It's a Many Splendored Mandala Monday, once again working in my Dina Wakley 6x6 Journal* and letting the kraft pages shine. This time I did most of the basic shapes with a few different sizes and colors of Posca paint pens; then outlined everything with a Ranger Letter It Fineliner.

Last week's mandala was just lines, and a bit smaller, but probably as close to symmetrical as I'm ever going to get, so I was pretty pleased:

I hope your week is off to a good start and that you'll find time to do something creative and fun this week! ♥

*Sadly the Dina 6x6" Kraft Journal is discontinued, but you can still get a larger Dina kraft version; or an 8x8 Dylusions Journal in kraft, ledger or black; or lots of other cool journals and accessories from Ranger!

Happy PURR-thday!

The Halloween Add-On Stamp and Die Set from Wendy Vecchi's latest Spellbinders release, Not Your Ordinary Card Collection is indeed outstanding for Halloween but... it's not JUST for that holiday.* Case in point:

A little bit of a warning: when you start paper-piecing the adorable kitties, you should probably allow a little bit of extra time and cardstock because once you start, you will likely not be able to stop at just ONE cat! For that matter, the Build-a-Plaid Layered Stencil Set is also quite addictive. This time I chose to go with some of the softer shades from Wendy's Ranger Archival Inks, so I used Leaf Green, Sky Blue and Pink Peony. Of course it's entirely possible to work with any stencil set without the MAKE ART Stay-tion, but it's so incredibly helpful that I'd hate to be without it at this point. I used a few of the dies from the Pinking Edge Birthday Add-On to make the main portion of the sentiment; and some of the accessories are from the Christmas Add-On set.

I had been planning to use the cool pocket and some of the dies in the Essential Envelope Set, but by the time I was up to three cats I couldn't just choose ONE so I made a larger (not quite A7) card they could all inhabit!

*I do actually have some fab Halloween ideas for the set, as well, and they'll be coming along in a future post!

SKETCH-tivus for the Rest of Us

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're asking you to get SKETCH-y with us. Take a peek at the inspiring sketch Stephanie has created for us and feel free to flip it, stretch it, rotate it, smoosh it or change shapes; just make sure we can see "the bones" of the sketch in your card!

Here's my card:

A frame is a nice choice for the focal element in the sketch, and since this one was oriented vertically, I chose to rotate the sketch 90 degrees counterclockwise, but otherwise my card is quite faithful to the original. I filled said frame with sheet music and some supercute stickers, added various washi strips to the beautiful 49 and Market background panel, did a little stitching, et voila!

Link your sketch cards on the Sketchtivus post at Jingle Belles by 6pm (eastern) on Wednesday, October 9th. 

Best Fishes...

...for a FINTASTIC Birthday! This fun and punny card features Eyelet Outlet Shark Brads, Fish Brads (they're on sale!) and Water Splat Brads as well as three styles of tape: Ocean Washi and extra wide Water Tape are torn and layered to give a feeling of movement and a mat of Glitter Gold Tape that sets off the gold metallic highlights in the Ocean Tape.

Shopping List:

Shark Brads

Fish Brads 

Water Splat Brads 

Ocean Washi

 Water Tape

Glitter Gold Tape

WATER you waiting for? Swim over to the Eyelet Outlet Store to SEA all of these FIN-tastic items... and so much more!

Customized Notebook

I'm happy to be up on the Ranger Project Page with a very fun and funky composition book I altered using some of my favorite products: Ranger Archival Inks, Liquid Pearls, Stickles and more! I'd love for you to CLICK THIS LINK and visit the step-by-step tutorial! ♥

Unbe-LEAF-able!

It's time for Challenge #531 at Shopping Our Stash. This one's called, "I'm LEAF-ing It Up to You" and, as you may already have guessed, we'd like you to create a card that features leaves. This being the first week of Fall here in the Northern Hemisphere, you may well choose to make a card that features the rich seasonal shades of browns, reds, yellows and oranges. Or... maybe not...?

The other night I happened to stumble upon a folder full of watercolor paper panels: some were painted a single shade, some had splashes or blended colors, others were obviously just using up whatever paints I happened to have been using that session; which I'd saved to use later for stamping or diecutting. The best thing I discovered was this 5" square which was painted half sky blue and half grass green. There was also a set of chunky Altenew diecut letters painted similarly half and half. I have NO idea what I'd intended to do with them or why I never did whatever it was, but I was excited to find them and instantly shifted gears to favor tropical foliage instead of the autumnal sort I had been considering. I used my beloved Lawn Fawn Tropical Leaves die set and got to work... et voila! A few tiny flowers, coordinating mats and a secondary sentiment later, I was finished.

Head on over to Shopping Our Stash to see the unbe-LEAF-ably inspiring cards from the rest of the team and start planning what you'll link up with us this fortnight. SOS531: I'm LEAF-ing It Up to You runs until Monday evening, October 7th.

It's In the Bag

I needed a fast giftbag for a birthday dude, so of course I couldn't resist using Wendy Vecchi's "Not Your Ordinary Card Collection" dies from Spellbinders. This time I chose a more masculine palette of Archival Inks to use with the Build-a-Plaid Layering Stencils (English Ivy, Tiger Lily, Peat Moss and Monarch Orange) with which I adorned an Essential Envelope pocket and also a small kraft gift bag from the big box store. 

I used the Pinking Edge Birthday Add-On to make a card to tuck into the pocket, which, as it turns out, was also just big enough to hold a medium-sized candy bar. I added a few strips of Wendy's Washi Tape Assortment 1 and a bit of ribbon and twine and called it good.

Visit Spellbinders to see the entire "Not Your Ordinary Card Collection" as well as Wendy's previous Garden Collection! And you should definitely check out the Facebook Group, Make Art with Wendy Vecchi where you can see lots of Wendy's makes and videos, as well as checking out what other crafters are doing AND you can post your own Vecchi-centric creations, too!

Don't Make Me Laugh!

Unless you're participating in this fortnight's Jingle Belles challenge, "Ho Ha Ha" in which case, making us laugh, chuckle or smile is EXACTLY what we'd like you to do; by making a card that's funny, punny, silly or snarky. Here's what I made this week:

I loved Stephanie's Taylored Expressions Grumpling card from last week, and it reminded me that I own the Mythical Grumplings stamp set, with it's supercute sourpuss of a yeti, to whom I've given an Eyelet Outlet Santa Hat Brad. I used my (sadly out of print) Stamplorations' "Jingle All the Way" die for the top part of my sentiment panel, and computer-generated the rest, using a free font called Bohemian Typewriter. I used a nice big Nestabilities label die on the panel and matted it on coordinating cardstock; then added the whole thing to a piece of offset chevron patterned paper... (so ancient I have no idea who made it) ...which I augmented with some skinny washi tape strips.

You still have until next Wednesday evening (9-25) to link up your own humorous holiday card(s) at Jingle Belles!

Hello, Fall!

Looking forward to all the joys of autumn, especially colorful leaves, crisp air and cooler temps! Here's a pair of fall cards featuring Eyelet Outlet Leaf Brads, Sunflower Brads and a bunch of autumnal-inspired tapes including Wide Sunflower and Wide Leaf Tapes, plus Brick and Wood Washi as well as intricate and delicate Nature Tape.

Shopping List:

Leaf Brads

Sunflower Brads

Wide Sunflowe Washi

Wide Leaf Tape

Brick Tape 

Wood Washi 

Nature Tape

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store to find all of this and lots more; better yet, check out the Tradeshow Schedule to see if the EO Booth will be coming to your town this fall!

Not Your Ordinary Card Collection

I'm thrilled to get my hands on Wendy Vecchi's new collection from Spellbinders, which is called “Not Your Ordinary Card Collection” and I assure you, it totally lives up to its name. I couldn't wait to dive into the Essential Envelope Die Set, which has TWENTY dies, including this cool style of open envelope, which is a bit like a library pocket, so of course I was onboard as soon as I heard that, lol! I've also used all of the flowers, most of the leaves and the sentiment from the set, and for my first project I just diecut colored cardstock to which I added very minimal shading with Wendy's Archival Inks from Ranger.

The Build a Plaid Layering Stencil Set is also outstanding; it features five 6x6" stencils, each with a different size of parallel stripes, so you can (as the name implies, lol) literally build a different plaid pattern every time. I chose to make a very loose, multi-color design featuring some of my favorite Archival shades including Rosy Posey, Pink Peony, Leaf Green and Sunflower.

For the interior card I used the medium sized frame die from the Pinking Edge Birthday Add-On set, which has three different pinked panels and some cool birthday accessories like a multi-layer cake, as well as the perfect "Happy Birthday" sentiment that you can cut with or without a shadow. 

I'm excited to play with more of the birthday accessories later; oh and there's a very cool Halloween Add-On with stamps and dies (and the cutest cat everrrrrr!) as well as a Christmas Add-On... all of which I will be digging into SOON, so stay tuned! Meanwhile all of these items are available separately or as a bundle on the Spellbinders website as well as fine papercrafting stores everywhere!  

Diamonds (& Speckles) Are a Mandala's Best Friend

It's a 6x6... (plus a little bit extra!) ...Mandala Monday in my Dina Wakley Kraft Journal, with Letter It Fineliners laying down the basic shapes; a combination of inks, markers and paint pens adding color; and a finishing touch of splattered White Gloss Spray.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead! ♥

New Kit: Happy Haunting

With Halloween on it's way, Paper Anthology Design has put the focus on hocus pocus! It's not just WITCH-ful thinking, our newest Class in a Kit, Happy Haunting, really is creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky; not to mention cute as can be, and thus these cards are suitable for sending to boys and ghouls of all ages. The designs are built around some of our favorite seasonal stamps and dies from Impression Obsession, Lawn Fawn, Hero Arts and more; but here's the best part: ALL of the diecuts have been pre-cut for you; and all of the sentiments pre-stamped! You get to skip right to the FUN parts: arranging, assembling and attaching all the elements into some of the fastest (and cutest!) Halloween cards ever.

This kit has everything you need… (except adhesives and optional ink for edging) including LOTS of googley eyes! …to create all three A2 cards as pictured, as well as step-by-step instructions and a nice big color photo to help with placement. It's all treats and no tricks. Click THIS LINK (or ANY of the bolded text in this post!) to go directly to the Happy Haunting product page in our Etsy Shop, Paper Anthology Design.

JB2419-Ho Ha Ha!

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're asking you to create Humorous Holiday Cards; they can be funny, punny, snarky or silly but make sure they induce a smile, a chuckle or a laugh. 

Here's my card:

Something I only tend to realize when a humor challenge arrives is that I don't have a vast quantity of funny stamps, especially holiday-themed; I'm not sure HOW this is possible, but there ya go! As I was considering what to do, I found this TINY (1" square) HUMBUG stamp which I think has to be 20+ years old and I wondered if I could make it into a full-sized A2 card. And it turns out, YES, though it's definitely a bit more pared down than my usual style. A little matted diecut frame, some foam Thickers, a few patterned paper panels in appropriately coordinating "Humbug Green" et voila!

Hop over to Jingle Belles to see what Stephanie has created and start planning your own smile-worthy card to link up with us. JB2419 Ho Ha Ha will run until the evening of Wednesday, September 25th.  

Unsuccessful Chameleon?

Eyelet Outlet Reptile Brads feature both chameleons and geckos, and it would be a shame if one COULDN'T see them, since they're very handsome indeed. This chameleon is proud to be the star of a "Dad Joke" style card; he's joined by a Tall Palm Brad, and backed up with Grass Tape, Wood Washi and Wide Cactus and Flamingo Tape.

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store where there are creatures and critters galore!

SOS530: Don't Really Need Another...

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash it's time for True Confessions from the Design Team and maybe (if you dare!) from you? We're owning up to the stash items we can never resist, even when our current supply is (arguably) more than sufficient. 

I'll go first: I confess that I am AWASH in washi tape... but I have NO regrets whatsoever on this point!

When it comes to washi and deco tape, I'm in what our late great SOS DT member Leslie Hanna used to call a "S.A.B.L.E." situation; by which she meant, "Supplies Available Beyond Life Expectancy"! I've used twenty-nine (29!) different varieties on this card and I've barely scratched the surface of my collection. I've also used a bunch of paper flowers and enamel dots. It's possible that my stash in both of those categories could also have been used as my True Confession, but neither is quite as gargantuan as the washi cache, so we'll just leave it there.

Head over to SOS to see what the Crew have made and read their shocking True Confessions; then start thinking about what you might conceivably have too much of... and how you could use a bit of it to make a card you link up with us. SOS530: Don't Really Need Another runs until Monday evening, September 23rd.

PS: In case you're wondering, the trick to diecutting washi-covered shapes with NO fear at all about curling or un-stuck ends is to use a piece of cardstock covered with edge-to-edge adhesive. I like to Xyron a piece of cardstock but you can also use double-sided adhesive sheets or rolls. Then just line your tapes up neatly, burnish them a bit, and diecut like you're using patterned paper!

MM37

It's a splishy splashy Mandala Monday featuring some of my favorite shades of Tombow Dual Brush Pens with linework by Ranger's Letter It Fineliners and a few Posca Paint Pen details in white.

CASE-ing Christmas, Week 2

This week at Jingle Belles, we're still asking you to CASE (Copy And Selectively Edit) any of the cards that Stephanie or I have made for any of the previous Jingle Belles prompts (yep, you've got 13 1/2 years of cards to choose from!). Be sure to link to the card that inspired you and tell us the selective edits you made to the design. Here's my inspiration... scroll down to see my version!

This week I was inspired by Stephanie's Neutral Noel collage card from June of 2021 (above) I swapped the cool "found relatives" style photo for a scanned and re-sized vintage postcard of appropriate colors that is portrait rather than landscape-shaped; and of course my collage and vintage bits are different, but I kept to the footprint of the original card and made sure to include some sheet music, some softly patterned paper, a small piece of transparency, and... my favorite... that cool wrap of twine!

Visit Jingle Belles to see ALL of the cards we've made over the last thirteen seasons, choose one you like, make your own version and link it on the original post, Love's Labor Day Lost! This prompt runs until next Wednesday evening, 9/11/24.

Back to School

Here in the USA, many kiddos will be heading back to school this week, so here's a timely greeting featuring just a few of our Eyelet Outlet school-themed items, including: a School Bus Brad, Book Brads, an Apple Brad, Leaf Brads, Computer & Headphones Brads, Eye Glass Brads, a Ladybug Brad, Calendar Tape, Days of the Week Tape and Tape Measure Washi.

 

Even if you're NOT heading back to class this week, this is a great time to treat yourself to a few school-themed supplies in the Eyelet Outlet Online Store!

Labor Day Mandala Monday

In honor of back-to-school week, this Mandala Monday is brought to you by a fab set of Faber Castell highlighters that I had somehow managed to forget I had; which is a pity because they're such beautiful, vivid colors! (No unicorn clicky pens were harmed... or indeed used... in the making of this mandala, but being such perfectly matching shades, it had to be featured in the photo, right?!)