Circling Back

A lot of my collages are built around a particular color; but some are built around a shape... and as you can see, this is one of the latter. Dina Wakley has quite a few designs that feature circles, and the script transparencies from Pattern Play and some older Collage Paper icons that look a bit like extra large postmarks are two such, so I started with those; and then added circles of varying sizes cut from Typed Ledgers and dotty Chroma Transparencies from the Grunge Specimens pack. 

I don't always have a plan when I start a collage... (and I don't always follow the plan even when I have one, lol!) ...but in this case I had started out with the intention of combining the beautiful lady (from an older set of Transparencies that's, alas, out of print) and the multicolor butterflies from the Flutters Rub-On set, and that's exactly what I did.

I thought the collage was finished at that point, but when I came back to it later, the whole thing felt a bit "floaty" (super-precise collage term there) and so I anchored it with a few strips of Dina's Washi Tape (from an older pack; Set 2, probably) running vertically at the top of the page and horizontally at the bottom. Et Voila!  

Masculine Merriment (Week 2)

It's the second week of making "Guy Cards" at Jingle Belles, by which we mean holiday cards with a masculine vibe. Here's mine:

This card is 99% composed of gorgeous vintage-themed elements from Tim Holtz's Idea-ology Christmas Emporium Layers, a curated collection of elements that I snagged on the Ranger website. I've added in a few paper scraps, some twine, and woodgrain background. I distressed the edges of literally every single piece, which might arguably be considered "too much" but it was quite relaxing and soothing to do, so there's that. 

JB2617 Masculine Merriment runs until the evening of next Wednesday, August 26th. Link your newly made, holiday "guy cards" on the Masculine Merriment post at Jingle Belles.

Bags and More Bags

I've made a lot of fancy giftbags using my cardmaking supplies: patterned paper, washi, stickers, diectus, you name it, I've probably used it on a card and also on a bag or wrapped gift at some point. At the moment I'm a bit obsessed with stencils, and here are a few examples:

Stellar Inks, blended through a big big Donna Downey (I think) flower stencil; pen outlines around the whole thing and Stickles Glitter Gels for the center.

Stellar Inks blended ombre style, through an Anna Griffin stencil; Eyelet Outlet Swirl Bling plus miscellaneous florals and a butterfly from the big box store.

Stellar Inks plus Stickles Glitter Gels through an Anna Griffin Stencil; with small flower bling throughout the design.

Stellar Inks blended outward through a Paper Smooches Succulent stencil that I turned into a stylized flower; outlined and studded with tiny pearls.

Two-toned Stellar Inks through an unknown stencil, with ancient Prima gems placed stragegically. (This isn't my favorite bag but... I love the positioning of the patterned stencil as a diamond that stretches to all the edges of the bag; so I'm going to remember that trick, at least!)

 

Summertime

The calendar might say that summer is almost over, but there are enough summery Eyelet Outlet Brads to last all year! This card features Mini Bee Brads, Beach Umbrella Brads, Flip Flops, Ice Cream, Sunglasses, and a Flamingo.

Bold and Beachy Shopping List:

Mini Bee Brads

Beach Umbrella Brads

Flip Flop Brads

Ice Cream Brads

Sunglass Brads

Flamingo Brads

You'll find brads for every occasion, season, and milestone in the Eyelet Outlet Store. There are lots of clearance items (including some of the brads on this card!) so make sure you stock up before Suzanne, Tony and the website retire at the end of 2026.

Stickers and Pens and Washi, Oh My!

If you haven't checked out the Stationery Zen tab at Ranger Ink, you have a treat coming up. Because there are soooooo many fabulous varieties of Japanese stationery; plus pens, pencils, markers and refills; kawaii stickers, stamps and washi; planners and notebooks; totes, pen cases, tools, accessories... it's like someone took the coolest stationery store ever, and put it right into your computer or smartphone. 

Did I mention the STICKERS??! Yes, you've caught me, I'm a stickerholic, have been since I was about ten; which is like half a century of sticker love, so it'd just be silly to stop now. This trip I was pretty restrained, I only got four sets and I've opened two of them (Palettone Konpeito Candy and Poko Time Seal Animals; plus a brand new Bright pack of Zebra double-tipped Mildliners) to make a sticker mandala in my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal:

There are new things added all the time... and, alas, some things do sell out... so you should probably take a little scroll through Stationery Zen ASAP. Oh and did I mention that since it's part of the regular Ranger Ink website, you can stock up on your favorite inks, pastes, stamps and stencils from Make-It, Tim Holtz, Dina Wakley MEdia, Simon Hurley create, Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions and 49 & Market, plus treat yourself to some Stationery Zen for just one (domestic) shipping fee if you're in the USA... just sayin'... :)

Watercolor Journals

I'm embarrassed to say I haven't touched my Bind-It-All in about a year, but this week it saw quite a bit of action! I made three watercolor journals to give as gifts.

The square ones are 6x6" and the rectangle is about the same as an A6 card. I top-bound them, thinking that gives the best access for both right- and left-handed folks; though in this case the cover designs don't really need to be positioned in any particular way.

The journals are different sizes because the cover paintings (mandalas and/or abstract watercolors of my own) were different sizes. Since I knew to whom each book was intended, I could pick artwork with colors and designs I thought each recipient would like.

Each journal is filled with nice sturdy 140lb cold press Canson watercolor paper; and has 31 pages, since there have been some really cool month-long watercolor challenges and events lately; and if the recipients want to participate they can fit a whole month's worth of artwork into their journal without needing to use the backs of pages.

I used Zutter's 1.25" white wires; with six coils for each book, so that a single punch of the BIA completed each page. The backs have coordinating artwork, and for the endpaper wraps I used some lovely oversized quilting pattern design pages.

Shout-out to my husband, Jeff, who always helps me do the binding; thus saving my wrists for something else... like maybe working in my own watercolor journal, later!

JB2617: Masculine Merriment

It's time for a brand new prompt at Jingle Belles and this time we're making holiday cards in one of the most challenging (imo!) genres: Guy Cards; aka Masculine Merriment! I don't struggle with them as much as I used to, but... yeah... leaving off the flowers, the glitter and the tendency to use PINK does slow me down a bit. I think I did ok this time, though.

I've had Doodlebug's Winter Wonderland stamps for several years, and I really don't use them enough because just LOOK how cute that yeti is! I found two inky embossed backgrounds in my "leftovers" box and they seemed perfect for this card. The paper with the trees is Pebbles I think (and ancient!); and the tiny 1/16" Round Brads are from Eyelet Outlet. 

Speaking of Yetis, I was given a second helping of this super-cute stamp set for my birthday, it's brand new and unopened, and it's looking for a good home, so I'm putting it up as a little prize for one lucky, randomly-selected cardmaker who links up with us at Jingle Belles this fortnight. JB2617: Masculine Merriment runs until the evening of Wednesday, August 26th, and you can link as many newly-made MASCULINE cards as you'd like to!