Hanukkah Jumpstart

Hanukkah Jumpstart is the newest holiday card kit, available only from the Paper Anthology  Etsy Shop, Paper Anthology Design. This elegant card features the beautiful Menorah from Taylored Expressions’ Bright Hanukkah Stamp Set, gold embossed for you on white cardstock; with candles, flames and a sentiment added before being diecut into a neat oval that’s ready to mat on the navy blue ovals included. There are five white A2 gatefold cardbases, with an embossed belly band made of gold shimmer cardstock for each; as well as panels which have been pressure embossed with Sunny Studio’s Moroccan Circles Embossing Folder.

Paper Anthology’s Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit is a 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 “Hanukkah Jumpstart” for obvious reasons.

 

Don’t we all adore 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”. This pre-packaged kit features everything you need (except adhesive) to complete five beautiful, elegant Hanukkah cards, including complete written instructions and a nice big photo for reference.

This kit contains:

Five pre-stamped & gold embossed oval Menorah focal points
Five navy oval mats
Five pre-stamped Stars of David
Five embossed gold shimmer cardstock belly bands
Five sky blue embossed panels
Complete step-by-step instruction sheet with large color photo
Five white gatefold-fold A2 cards

Get your copy today, ONLY in the Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop; then be sure to check out the other Holiday and Birthday Jumpstarts, plus our multi-card Class in a Kit selections.

Give Thanks

It's a week before Thanksgiving, but there's still time to send out some quick, easy cards! This super-simple CAS design features Eyelet Outlet Leaf and Mini Leaf Brads layered over stenciled leaves in fall colors. The background and diecut sentiment are made from beautifully neutral Nature Washi Tape. Change up the sentiment and this design could be used for literally ANY autumnal occasion.

Speaking of stencils: Did you know that you can easily make your own custom stencils using ANY simple craft dies you love? In this case, I've taken the three sizes of leaves from the Essential Envelope Die Set in Wendy Vecchi's NOT Your Ordinary Card Collection from Spellbinders and blended my favorite fall shades of Wendy's Archival colors from Ranger through them before adding the Leaf Brads and a simple sentiment. Job done! I made my stencils from glossy cardstock which is pretty sturdy; but to make them last forever cut the shapes out of stencil plastic. Don't forget to leave a bit of distance around each shape so that you have room to blend without accidentally getting stray ink on other areas of your project.

 

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Store today for brads and tapes that'll work perfectly for EVERY season of your cardmaking year; and check out all of Wendy Vecchi's awesome designs from Spellbinders.

SOS535: Masculine Cards

It is a fact, universally acknowledged, that Guy Cards are harder to make than Girl Cards. Or at least many cardmakers (including ME!) think so. So this fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we're challenging you to make a masculine card for any occasion you'd like, I needed a birthday card, so that's what I made.

One of my additional goals on this outing was to combine an inky stamped/stenciled background with collage elements. Because I've noticed that I either do ALL collage or all inky goodness; and I quite like the way other people (including my current Art Crush Katie Pertiet) put them together. I've used a bunch of neglected stash items on this one including Simon Hurley's Leaf Prints stamps (about a year old) and Handwritten background (maybe two years); Letter It's Alternating Chevrons stencil (maybe three years); some 49 and Market Acetate Leaves and Vellum Leaf Stickers (two years?); lots of vintage sheet music, book paper, a chart from a map and some fab trading stamps, plus a vintage car illustration; and possibly my all-time favorite crafting supply that ISN'T technically a craft supply: Drywall Tape! The sentiment is part rub-on transfer and part wordfetti sticker... the latter is five or six years old. I'm a little bit proud that I managed to squeeze alllllllllllllllll of that onto an A6 card and I still left some white showing in the background.

SOS's Masculine Challenge runs through Monday evening, December 2nd. Check out the fab makes by our Crew at Shopping Our Stash then start planning what you'll link up with us!

Will It Go Round in Circles? (YES!)

It's a Multi-Tag Mandala Monday in my Dina Wakley Kraft Journal* from Ranger. I made the shapes with Letter It Fineliners, filled in soft color with pencils, and added a few extra patterned paper circles in the background. Wishing you a happy and productive week! ♥

*The 6x6 Kraft Journal is currently out of print, but there are lots of other options in kraft, in square, and well, lots more choices; you should check them out! ;)

Collaged ATCs

My friend Linda completed The 100 Day Project this year, and then she made her beautiful collection of Artist Trading Cards into groups of three and started a swap. Of course I was excited to participate! I made three "Flower Girl" ATCs and used Wendy Vecchi's Essential Envelope die set from Spellbinders' Not Your Ordinary Card Collection to make a pocket for them, and the Pinking Edge Birthday Add-On to create a coordinating tag.

These ATCs have LOTS of layers, including: Kanada text paper from India; a map of Manhattan; vintage flower illustrations from a children's book; tiny sewing pattern ladies and some found text from a beautifully patina-ed kiddo's chapter book.

Each ATC is backed with vintage Chinese text paper fused onto plain white cardstock (for extra strength and solidity) where I've written the name of the series as well as my signature.

I used a few older gel prints and some additional coordinated collage items to create the Essential Envelopes pocket as well as the Pinking Edge pull-out layered tag.

I love the way the coordinating pocket and tag not only keep the ATCs safe and secure, they also make them look and feel like an official SET!

These are the first ATCs I've made and traded in quite some time, but I think they've gotten me re-hooked on this fun format! ♥

Christmas Feast: Week Two

It's the second week of our Jingle Belles' celebration of holiday sweets and treats and you've still got plenty of time to join the fun, so let's get right to it!

The mini journal cards from Carta Bella's Christmas Cheer collection were absolutely perfect for this theme. I chose four, made them into a grid, rounded the outer corners, added a few stickers et voila! Job done! 

The Christmas Feast challenge (#JB2423) runs until next Wednesday evening, November 20th. You can link up on the original post at Jingle Belles.

Hello, Pumpkin

Celebrating autumn with a sweet and simple card featuring Eyelet Outlet Pumpkin Brads (they pair perfectly with the pumpkin border from Lawn Fawn's Simply Celebrate Fall stamp set; just sayin') a Squirrel from the Acorn and Squirrel set and a scattering of Mini Leaf Brads.

Pumpkin-centric Shopping List:

Pumpkin Brads

Acorn and Squirrel Brads

Mini Leaf Brads

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store and get inspired by all of the embellishments for fall, winter, holiday and more!