SOS570: White OUT

It's time for a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash and this fortnight we'd like to see cards/ projects which contain NO white. 

I recently realized that it's been quite some time since I made a card with one of my favorite die sets: Hero Arts' Frame Cuts Tulips. If this set had coordinating stamps, not only do I not own them, I've never seen them. And while they look perfectly nice just cut from cardstock or patterned paper and pieced; it's actually not terribly difficult to add a sort of ruffley edge just below the top of each flower to make them look a bit dimensional. You can use inks, paints or watercolors, but this time I went with my trusty Tombows in three very nicely blendy shades of pink and two of green. When I had the colors to my liking I took very sharp Prismacolor Pencils in a coordinating shades of dark pink and medium green to emphasize the layers and add a bit more shading. I used gel prints for my label shape and card background; the one looks like it actually has a bit of white on it but NO, I assure you, it's very pale pink. I used a rich rusty orange-ish red for my mat and for the A6 cardbase. I even changed the top thread on my sewing machine from white to light pink before adding some machine stitching as a finishing touch.

SOS570: White OUT runs until the evening of Monday, April 6th. Visit Shopping Our Stash to see our Crew's inspiring takes on this challenge and start planning what you'll link up with us this time.

Tiny Tales Collection: Rainy Night

I'm so proud to announce that my friend, Carol Porter, aka @naysworld8 has designed this ah-mayyyyy-zing digital collection, which is now available in her NaysWorld Etsy Shop. Whether you're a digital, physical or hybrid papercrafter, I think you're going to love this kit and find lots of ways to use Tiny Tales Collections Presents - Rainy Night: Chapter 1 — The Walk Home (Notice it says, "Chapter 1... because it's a growing series… more stories are on the way!)

The kit features 12 gorgeous .png elements which resize beautifully and look great whether you use them in big or small digital art; AND no matter what size I printed them, they looked absolutely perfect on both plain cardstock and glossy photo paper. Case in point:

I made two physical versions of this City Walk layout design; one as an A2 card and one as a larger art journal page, about 6 x 9" including the gel print background.

I layered some of the elements before printing and added others that I printed and fussycut. For the latter, I chose to leave a very skinny white border to get maximum definition.

No matter what size I chose or what paper I used, the images were flawless, scaling perfectly and printing beautifully. I also made a pretty large all-digital collage... just because I could, lol:

As you can see, I added a background paper that wasn't in the kit and I widened the city street image just a tad to accommodate the square format, with no distortion or loss of clarity. I put a bit of a drop shadow on the lady and on the sentiment strips, but otherwise the images are exactly as they came in the kit.

I'll have more projects later this week, so stay tuned. In the meantime, make sure to check out Carol's work via Instagram @naysworld8 as well as her Nay's World Website and find the first Tiny Tales Collection in her NaysWorld Etsy Shop!

Don't Be Koi

Feeling a bit fishy this Mandala Monday, thanks to this fun vintage (octagonal!) needlework pattern I've used as a centerpiece. The petals are made from beautifully patina-ed vintage Chinese dictionary pages (thank you Liz!) and Big Dollar Trading stamps (thank you Stephanie!) while the circles are graph paper and parts of a crochet-stitch illustration. I feel like this needs one... more... thing... BUT I've been considering and trying out "one more things" for several days with no outcome. So it's possible you'll see this one again at a later date, if I ever figure out what to add, lol.

Hope your first week of Spring is off to a good(ish?) start! 

Even MORE Roses!

Spring is officially here but it'll be a little while yet until we see daffodils in our gardens, much less roses; so here are some that I painted using three of my favorite new Archival Ink shades from Ranger: Sweet Treat, Avocado Toast and Sand Castle.

I used a waterbrush full of Isopropyl Alcohol to pick up Sweet Treat ink I had smooshed onto my craft sheet, swirled it around into loose, semi-circular shapes, let it dry and then "found" the layers and petals of the roses and used Wendy Vecchi's brilliant Wonky Double Outline Trick with a Black Letter It Fineliner. For leaves, a vaguely triangular shape with the hypotenuse tucked under the flower works pretty well and a little bit of tannish Sand Castle ink mixed with the Avocado Toast adds interest and the illusion of texture. 

As with most of my watercolors (whether done with water-based or alcohol-based media) I like to use up any extra pigment by splashing it as speckles randomly on top of my design. So I did.

We Three... Ugly Sweaters (x2)

We're still celebrating THREE's at Jingle Belles; so this fortnight you can basically choose any color palette, any layout, any theme and any products; but... we want to see a strong group of THREE...something. 

I have about half a sheet left of PhotoPlay's (appropriately named) Ugly Sweater Party patterned paper, and I must confess that although I've had several of these sheets, I've never used it as a background or in any other way than as I've used it here. I really only want to cut out the cute little sweaters and put them on cards. So much so, that I had cut out four or five sweaters to make my THREE-centric card before remembering I either had to put some aside or make two cards with three sweaters. Obviously, I chose the latter course. I used my Elizabethcraft Planner Filmstrip die to hold the sweater trios and I had planned to stamp, "Don we now our ugly sweaters" as the sentiment. Because I could have sworn I had a stamp that said that. As it turns out, either I was mistaken, OR it's been hidden away by the gremlins who also steal single socks and tupperware lids. So after a bit of searching and quite a lot of grumbling, I just formatted the text on my computer and printed it out. Which doesn't mean I won't, for the next few weeks, spend a few random minutes here and there still vaguely looking for that stamp... Obviously... 

JB2606: We THREE Kings runs until next Wednesday evening, March 18th. Head over to Jingle Belles to see the Readers' Gallery and link your own tremendous trio(s)!

Chicks and Eggs and Flowers

Spring officially begins this weekend, and Easter is just around the corner; what better time for a bold and colorful card featuring Eyelet Outlet Chick Brads, Sun and Cloud Brads, Bright Fresh Flowers and Colored Daisy Brads?

The bold background is Simon Hurley's Egg Hunt Background Stamp which I embossed with Ranger White Embossing Powder, to act as a resist for a rainbow-inspired blend of Simon Hurley Stellar Inks that match the brads reallllllly well!

Egg-cellent Easter EO Shopping List:

Chick Brads

Sun and Cloud Brads

Bright Fresh Flower Brads

Colored Daisy Brads

Eyelet Outlet makes Easter cards (and all other cards, too, actually!) easy and fun!

Chic Birthday Card Set

The exclusive new line of Make-It Clear Stamps and Stencils can ONLY be found in the Ranger Store. Today's post features a set of four minicards made with the Chic Birthday Stamp Set, Sprinkle Hearts Stencil and four of the brand new Archival Ink colors. If you'd like to see the full step-by-step photo tutorial, head on over to the Ranger Project Tutorials Page!

Bokeh Batik

One of my favorite things about working with Ranger Archival Inks is that you can do a lot of the fun little tricks I love about watercolor, but instead of working with water, you use 91% Isopropyl Alcohol. BUT... for sciencey reasons I don't entirely understand, the fact that you're using alcohol instead of water means you can be working on fairly thin paper or cardstock and it won't warp or rip or pill or otherwise hurt your substrate.

In this case, I used an ink blending tool to add all of my Archival colors, letting them overlap a bit to create new shades in between; then I flicked on LOTS of droplets of clear alcohol, over and over, blotting them each time to pick up a little color. Until I finally had this very cool effect that almost looks textured. And, as you can see, my page is not lumpy. bumpy, ripped or wrinkly. Some of the color DOES seep through to the back of the page, however, something you might like to keep in mind if you try this fun "trick".

BTW, all of the above is just one tiny little portion of information I've learned from the very awesome Wendy Vecchi, and if you aren't watching her Tip Tuesday videos on Instagram or Facebook, you are realllllly missing out!

Another Button Collage

It turns out that hand-sewing buttons onto vintage paper collages is somewhat addictive. But luckily I have A LOT more buttons (...and a lot more vintage paper for that matter...) so I can't really see a downside.

I hope your weekend is off to a good start and that before it's over, you'll find a little time to indulge in whatever crafty activity you feel compulsively drawn to right now! ♥

We Three... Kittens?!

Ok, technically, the new Jingle Belles prompt is called, "We Three Kings" and we're asking you to create a card with THREE of one element: three circles... three reindeer... three packages under the Christmas Tree... you get the picture, right? But in my case, it was three kittens, as you can see:

In addition to three adorable vintage felines, my card has a few more threes: three torn patterned paper pieces and three pieces of doily. I kept trying to add "one more thing" but nothing really seemed right, so I attached the sentiment, did a bit of machine stitching and called it good.

JB2606: We Three Kings runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, March 25th. Hop over to Jingle Belles to link your card(s)!

Bunny Hugs

Eyelet Outlet Rabbit Brads, Colored Eggs and Mini Butterflies turn sweet stamps into an adorable Easter card that's sure to make some-BUNNY's day when it arrives in their mailbox!

The stamps in question are from Simon Hurley's Easter Bunnies set and have been painted with Sand Castle and Sweet Treat Archival Inks from Ranger.

Eyelet Outlet has all the embellishments you need for all the holidays you celebrate; and the EO Blog has all the inspiration you need to use them beautifully!

SOS569: I'm COUNTING on You

If you've guessed from the title that this fortnight's challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to make a card with at least one numeral on it, HOORAY, you're right! Here's my card:

Lots of seriously elderly stash usage here: my numerals are from this ancient set of Making Memories Alphabet Rub-ons; I've applied them to my well-hoarded Hambly Screenprints transparency card base, so that they peep out as mirror images from the under the corners of my funky collage. There are also numerals on the tickets, and some in the various text papers as well. That beautiful orchid sticker is from DK's Botanists' Sicker Anthology, a book that Stephanie gave me a couple of years ago and despite LOTS of use it still has hundreds of gorgeous stickers in it! Not to brag, but I really love how this came out AND it's a reminder of the fact that challenges often spur me on to make something I would not have thought of, otherwise.

SOS569: I'm COUNTING on You runs until the evening of Monday, March 23rd. Head over to Shopping Our Stash to read the details and check out the inspiring cards our Crew has made. Then root around for one or two neglected craft items and join the fun!

Too Much?

I'm putting the "psycho" into "psychedelic" this Mandala Monday. I started out with a fab mix of Archival Ink colors and Simon Hurley's awesome two-part Sunrays Layering Stencils. I probably should've stopped at ONE mandala ring and made the petals more consistent though; the combination of sunrays and offset circles is a bit dizzying, lol. Ah well.

Is this my favorite mandala? No. Did I "waste" my paper, ink and time? Also no! I tried something new, I enjoyed working on it, I learned a few things to do... and a few things not to do next time. All of which adds up to a successful art session, if not necessarily a beautiful finished piece. And I'm absolutely fine with that. Hope your week is off to a good start!

Collage + Buttons

I had a craving to make a collage with a cascade of buttons... so I made one. Yes, I placed each button individually, used a paper-piercer to poke the holes, and sewed them on... one by one... with embroidery floss. Which seems tedious, but was actually quite relaxing. (But yes, I'm kinda weird, so maybe it would be tedious for anyone else, lol.) I hope that today you'll find time to make or do something YOU have been craving!

Unrelated PS: This morning a friend sent me an article from @billy_penn revealing there will be NO Zitner's Butter Krak Eggs this Easter. A sad blow to all chocolate- and coconut-loving folks born and raised in the Philadelphia area. I'm gonna need a little time to walk this off...

Deck the Halls with... More Music!

We're still celebrating Christmas Music at Jingle Belles; so we're asking you to create a card (or tag, or gift card holder, or whatever else you'll be needing for the holidays) that incorporates music, musical instruments, or even the title of a favorite Christmas Carol.

Here's my card:

I used a vertical strip of real (torn) sheet music; some horizontal music-printed washi tape; and a tiny journal card with "Deck the Halls" on it, so I think I've covered all the bases. The background paper is from 49 & Market; the ancient slide mount frame is of unknown origin; and the foliage diecuts were leftover from another project... the dies were Tim Holtz for Sizzix Christmas Greenery. I cannot tell a lie: I love how this tuned out!

JB2605: Fa-La-La-La-La runs until 6pm (Eastern) on the evening of Wednesday, March 11th. Hop over to Jingle Belles to see the fun little prize one random cardmaker will score... just for linking up with us this fortnight! ♥

Sweet Easter Chicks

Easter is just a month away, but luckily Eyelet Outlet has all the brads you need for fast, easy, mailable Easter Cards. This one features our adorable Chick Brads, Colored Eggs, Heart Brads and Flower Washi.

EGG-cellent Easter Shopping List:

Chick Brads

Colored Egg Brads

Heart Brads

Flower Washi Tape

The Eyelet Outlet Online Store has embellishments for Easter, Spring, Birthdays and every other card-making occasion you celebrate! 

Cardinal Song Holiday Jumpstart

Holiday Jumpstart: Cardinal Song is Paper Anthology's newest holiday card kit, which features the eponymous cardinal perched on a chunky layered sentiment, surrounded by holiday foliage.

Paper Anthology’s Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit is our pre-packaged kit that includes everything you need (except adhesive) to complete FIVE copies of this new original holiday card design. This edition is called “Cardinal Song” because of the sheet music embossing and the handsome layered diecut bird.

We all love the IDEA of making holiday cards throughout the year, instead being overloaded in November and December; but sometimes it’s hard to be inspired during the “off-season”. That issue is solved by this pre-packaged kit, which features everything you need (except adhesive) to complete five copies of this original design. Also included are complete written instructions (not pictured, but included!) and a nice big photo for reference.

This kit contains all of the bits and pieces you see here. Just add adhesive and optional inking, put all the parts together and VOILA... you've got a JUMPSTART on holiday cards!

Visit the Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop to purchase Cardinal Song or any other Holiday Jumpstart Kit!

The Blues Are Still Blue

It's a bold, blue (and green!) Mandala Monday featuring precisely half of the newest Archival Ink release from Ranger; to wit: Best Dressed, Big Plans and Avocado Toast. In my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal, with some Make-It Sprinkle Hearts Stenciling on top. Letter It Fineliner and Posca Pen details.