BLING on the Holidays

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're celebrating (...you guessed it...) BLING! So make a card featuring jewels, gems, beads, pearls, glitter, stickles, or anything sparkly and join the fun!

I've had these Bling Snowflakes from the big box store for aggggggggges, so I was determined to use them for this prompt. I found a funky gel print made (at some un-remembered time, lol) by using an ancient Darice snowflake embossing folder to remove paint from the plate. I added some older Tim Holtz metallic rub-on transfers to enhance the holiday theme. My sentiment and mat are white glitter cardstock and the finished card is an A6.

JB2505: BLING on the Holidays runs until the evening of Wednesday, March 12th. Visit Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful BLING-centric card and find all of the details (and the Linky tool) there!

Puppy Love

In case you're having a RUFF day, here are some adorable Eyelet Outlet Puppy Brads to cheer you up! The puppies have been paired with the bowl and bone from our Kennel Mix, as well as Paw Brads, Paw Washi and Wood Tape. 

Shopping List:

Puppy Brads

Kennel Mix

Paw Brads

Paw Washi

Wood Tape 

Whether you love dogs, cats, lizards, sheep, cows, tigers, monkeys or even polar bears, the Eyelet Outlet Store has all the best animal brads and tapes for your cards and projects!

It's the Dreaded ONE LAYER Card!

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash the challenge (#542) is called, "One is the Loneliest Number"* because we're making single-layer cards that don't have anything glued on. So put your thinking cap on and get out those stamps, stencils, inks and masks!

I cannot tell a lie: one layer cards are definitely NOT part of my crafty comfort zone. Luckily, I've been watching Wendy Vecchi's Tip Tuesday Reels for the last couple of years, and I have learned A LOT from her. So when this challenge was announced, I immediately got out my favorite WV Studio 490 stamps and stencils, plus my WV Archival Inks from Ranger. I was pretty proud that I knew to stamp and mask the flower cluster from Delightful Art FIRST; (incorrect image order has tripped me up in the past!) then stencil a selected area of the Rectangle Grate pattern in Night Sky; then stamp the Botanical Register text in Watering Can; and finally add the small hearts and sentiment from Merci and More. Finally, I colored the florals using Cactus Flower and Leaf Green Archivals with the coordinating stencil, adding in a bit of shading with colored pencils at the very end.

I hope you'll visit SOS to see the gorgeous cards the rest of the Crew have made to inspire you. Then give the One Layer Card a go. SOS542: One is the Loneliest Number runs until Monday evening, March 10th.

*Thank you Three Dog Night for the perfect nostalgic song cue; though I also like the Aimee Mann version.

MM08

Diamonds are a Mandala's best friend! This is my first attempt at a Diamond Window Mandala and it's maybe a 47% match to the idea that was in my head. So you'll probably be seeing something similar before too long. (I'll let you decide if that's a promise or a warning, lol!) :)

Peek-a-Boo Diamond Window Mandala

in my large Dina Wakley Journal from Ranger.

Drawn with Distress Watercolor Pencils 

and outlined with Letter It Fineliners

I'd Like to Be... Under the Sea

It's an Octopus' Garden collage card to celebrate a sunny 49F Sunday in central New Jersey. Hope you're having fun today!

Midnight Clear (Week 2)

It's the second week of making cards with transparent elements at Jingle Belles and this time I have a two-fer of shaker cards. See?

Technically these are ordinary cards with shaker tags on them, but you get the idea. I love Sunny Studio's Build a Tag #2 Die Set and that's what I used to make the tags and reinforcers. Then I punched square windows into each tag, backed them with scraps of clear acetate, and made a little winter scene with Eyelet Outlet Glitter Tree Tape, Sparkle White Glitter Tape hills and Snowflake Sequins. I finished off with Snowflake Brads and Penguins or Snowy Trees; then added tag-shaped mats and panels adorned with Glitter Tall Tree Tape, sticker sentiments and a few more sequins. 

Visit the reminder post at Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's second card; then scroll down to the original Midnight Clear post to link up your own CLEARLY awesome creation(s)!

It Was TENSE

Eyelet Outlet Liquor Brads are always up for a celebration, even if it is in the form of a diabolical pun! Here they're paired with Cocktail Brads as well as Beer Brads and Grape Brads on an all-occasion card that's full of good spirits!

Shopping List:

Liquor Brads

Cocktail Brads

Beer Brads

Grape Brads

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Store and our Idea Gallery to drink in all of the cardmaking inspiration!

Liquid Pearls Winter Bluebird Card

Did you know that dry Liquid Pearls will act as a resist for diluted colors? It's a similar technique to using a heat embossed design as a resist for watercolor, and is currently one of my very favorite things to do with my growing collection of shimmery colors. Head over to the Ranger Project Tutorials Page to see, step-by-step, how I created this shimmery winter bluebird card, featuring Dina Wakley's adorable Scribbly Birdie Stamps and Simon Hurley's beautiful Stained Glass Stencil.

MM07: Paint Pens on Kraft Cardstock

It's a wild and whimsical Mandala Monday featuring pink, white and pale orange Posca Pens as well as my trusty Letter it Fineliners in my 6x6 Dina Wakley MEdia Kraft Journal.*

*This particular item is out of print, but if you're looking for a journal that's cool and super sturdy, anything from the Dina Wakley MEdia range will not disappoint!!!

JB2504: It Came Upon a Midnight CLEAR

This fortnight at Jingle Belles we're asking you to make a holiday card that contains at least one see-through element. It can be a glass embellishment, an acrylic transparency, some vellum, acetate or "ghost" shapes, clear stickers, lucite buttons, shrink plastic... whatever you like. If you can see through it (AND figure out how to attach it to your card!) put it on there and link it up!

Here's how I was CLEAR-ly inspired this week:

I still have a fun little stash of the late great Hambly Screen Prints transparencies, which are so thick and sturdy you actually can make a card base out of them and build your entire design on top. Fair warning: however well a transparency card comes out IRL, it will be VERY hard to photograph (as you can see) but other than that, I'm pleased with this one. I used nearly an entire sheet of Hero Arts' Holiday Messages Rub-on Transfers and three out of four ancient dimensional snowman stickers from the big box store. I added a diecut panel inside the card (see below) for writing on, but realized belatedly that the front is so transparent, I might add another panel to the back of the card and add my personal greeting that way. 

Head on over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful card and start planning what you'll link up with us this time. JB2504: It Came Upon a Midnight CLEAR runs until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, February 26th.

Hoppy Valentine's Day

Don't FROG-et to wish your besties a very HOPPY Valentine's Day! The Eyelet Outlet Frog Brad Set has frogs, cattails and two colors of water lilies; pair them with Cloud Tape and Grass Washi and it's easy to make a scene... in a good way, lol! 

TOAD-ally Awesome Shopping List:

Frog Brad Set

Cloud Tape

Grass Washi 

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store to check out all of the birds, bees, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish today!

SOS541: Thrice as Nice

You may already have guessed that this fortnight's challenge at Shopping Our Stash involves THREE of... something. In fact we'd like to see you use three (or more) patterned papers on your card. Not to brag but I've used twelve!

In the interests of full disclosure, I just got this adorable Simon Hurley Road Trip stamp set from Ranger and I was dyyyyyying to "test drive" it, but not only did I use a dozen different ancient patterns to piece it, they were all SCRAPS, so I feel like I did come down on the correct side of stash usage for this one.

Just FYI, the first company to make an all-wheel-drive car that's plaid will get my money. Meanwhile, there are lots of other beautiful and inspirational cards for you to see at SOS, before you start planning what you'll link up with us this time. The "Thrice as Nice" challenge will run until the evening of Monday, February 24th.

MM06: Rub-on Transfers

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon the organizer containing what I thought were a few leftover packs of rub-on transfers (in fact A LOT of leftover rub-on transfers) and became utterly re-obsessed. Thus this is my first ever Rub-On Transfer Mandala Monday. (Probably not the last one lol!)

Happy Superb Owl Sunday!

I'm the least sporty person in the world, but my Suburban Philadelphia upbringing demands I add, "Go, Eagles!" to this. (I might watch the Puppy Bowl...) :) :) :)

 

Holiday Shape Up!

It's the second week of "Shaping Up for the Holidays" at Jingle Belles and you're still invited to join the fun. Here's what I made this week:

I found a cute clipart hat online, printed a couple of copies on plain white cardstock so I could cut it into a pattern; then paper-pieced the hat, brim and bobble using two sizes of Lawn Fawn's Knit Picky papers. I had been planning to adorn the brims with brads, but stumbled upon these fun Doodlebug enamel leaves and berries and just like that, my choice was made!

All the details (and the Linky tool) for joining our Jingle Belles Shape Up fun are on the original post, which is HERE. This challenge wraps up on Wednesday evening, February 12th.

Award for EGG-cellence!

An adorable Eyelet Outlet Chicken Brad is the star of this EGG-stra special (and EGG-stra silly) card. Set atop a pile of Egg Brads (they're on sale!) she is justifiably proud of her achievement. Super-cute Chicken Washi Tape makes the perfect background for this MATHEMACHICKEN to strut her stuff!

Poultry in Motion Shopping List:

 Chicken Brads 

Egg Brads

Chicken Washi Tape 

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store for more animals, birds, bugs and everything else you need to bring your next card idea to life!

Painting with Perfect Pearls

It's a Perfect Pearls Mandala Monday with extra shimmer and shine in my large Dina Wakley Journal from Ranger, which has the thickest and sturdiest cotton rag watercolor paper I've ever used; it's seriously dreamy and will stand up to any amount of paint, water, ink, sprays, gesso... pretty much ANYTHING you can think of.

Did you know you can watercolor with Perfect Pearls Pigment Powders? It's super easy, you don't even need to use Perfect Medium OR set the colors afterwards! Just add a bit of the powder to some clean water in a palette, mix it up well... et voila! You've just made your own pearlescent watercolor. Combine shades together and make custom colors, or use them as they come. For soft subtle tomes, mix just a little powder in; for bolder hues, add more pigment.

This mandala was painted using the newest additions to my Perfect Pearls collection: Iris, Turquoise, Sunflower Sparkle, Blush and Perfect Bronze. Outlines added with Letter It Fineliners.

Here Fishy Fishy

Now that January is o-FISH-ally FIN-ished and dusk is taking place after 5pm (yay!!!) in the northeast, let's celebrate with a couple of collage cards featuring the amazing mixed media digital art of my friend Gina, who has a variety of very cool products available in her Redbubble. Zazzle and Teepublic stores, all of which can be accessed via the bolded text above OR from the linktree in her IG profile @ginaisarty ♥ My "favorite" design is usually whatever she's just done, but I confess that her whimsical animals and her fish are always at the top of my list. Shout-outs to my Aunt Judie, who often does a stack of fussy-cutting when she visits; and to my friend Heather @hchampag who recently came over for a Collage Playdate which also encompassed an outstanding home-baked chocolate cake and a feast of takeaway Chinese. Hard to beat an occasion which combines friends, food and creativity all in the same place, am I right?! ♥♥♥