Peace on EARTH DAY!

Those of you who have followed Jingle Belles over the years know that Stephanie and I have a special place in our hearts for EARTH DAY.

So our "Peace on EARTH DAY" prompt each year has been all about RECYCLING, and thus, once again, we'd like you to create a holiday card that features re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements. You know you've got that stash of things that you saved because they were just too pretty to throw away: pretty packaging, super-cute gift wrap, holiday cards you've received, pages from magazines or catalogs (you get the idea, right?!); this is the perfect time to break them out and create with them. In the past we've seen everything from Kleenex Boxes & Soda Cans to Gift Wrap and plastic salad containers; and we *always* have a lot of fun making our own cards and admiring yours!

Here's what I made this week:

I was lucky enough to get not one but TWO Amazon Giftcards that came in these adorable reindeer-bedecked holders, so OF COURSE my first thought was, "I'm making these into cards" which... as you can see... I did! I cut off the logo-ed flaps and used Tim Holtz wordfetti style stickers to cover up the slot in the middle which held the flap closed. The design was already so cute that I only added a few diecut snowflakes, my favorite Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads and a couple of mats. The red layer is patterned paper, but the tan consists of a few smallish scraps of leftover giftwrap that I confess I saved especially for this challenge. ;)  

JB2609: Peace on EARTH DAY runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 6th and we cannot wait to see what you will make!

Rainbow Mandala LIVE at Ranger

Today I was honored to be invited to Ranger HQ in Tinton Falls, NJ to draw mandalas with Ranger's Social Media/ Education Specialist Patti Behan during a Ranger LIVE Video. We had lots of fun (Thank you Patti and Asia!) and if you'd like to watch the whole thing it is archived HERE as part of the Ranger YouTube Channel. Meanwhile, I had written up a basic tutorial in advance so that I would remember all the steps (b/c I was Nervous with a capital N, lol!) and if, like me, you sometimes find still photos helpful in a learning context, I'm posting it here... so Read On! ♥

Materials: 

Of course this method will work with your favorite inks, pens and paper but... I'm linking up the Ranger items I used in the samples and during the "Live". (They genuinely are my GO-TO items which I love and use every single day.)

Ranger Archival Inks in Sweet Treat, Bright Tangelo, Sun Dazed, Avocado Toast and Aquamarine (OR your own five favorite blend-friendly shades)

Mini Ink Blending Tool and five Domed Foams (During the vid we mentioned a storage tin project... you can find that HERE!)

Letter It Fineliners, Black 3-pack (assorted tips: 01, 04, and 09)

4.25 x 6" panel of Stark White Cardstock 

Large, medium and small circle stencils, templates or dies; sample uses one of Dina's Coaster Stencils, a roll of washi tape and Letter It's Polka Dotting Stencil

Pencil for tracing; ruler if you want to measure points (the sample was made by eye)

Optional Extras: Liquid Pearls, Posca Pens 

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Quick reminder of the Color Spectrum: 

ROYGBIV is a handy acronym you may remember from Junior High; it stands for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. If you blend colors that are next to each other (aka "analogous" colors; they are also consecutive on a color wheel) you'll never make mud. Alternatively, Dyan Reaveley's advice about choosing either a warm or cool color palette is handy. If you do wind up with unexpected brown, ink the edges with Dark Roast Archival and call it rustic!!! :)

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A word about creating smooth, perfect lines: 

This is called line control. Please be advised that MOST people do not naturally start out with perfect line control, BUT it really does develop as you work and practice. Some people find they have better control when pulling the pen towards them or when pushing it away, and it's worth experimenting to see if that helps you. To get best results, you will probably want to rotate the paper as you work. Dotted lines, dots, faux stitching, etc, are all strategies that help disguise this factor. But also: part of the point of drawing mandalas is to help develop line control. 

Procedure:

Step 1: On one corner of a 4.25 x 6" panel of Stark White Cardstock, lightly trace a small circle, and a larger one further into the page, so that the centers of the circles are in the same place, and more or less at the corner of the paper. Start adding concentric rings of color with the Mini Ink Blending Tool and a Domed Foam for each color. (If you try to follow the contour of the two penciled circles across the panel, this will help to keep your design on track without having to measure each set of petals!)

Step 2: The sample is in spectrum order: Sweet Treat, Bright Tangelo, Sun Dazed, Avocado Toast and Aquamarine; then we reverse the order (Avocado, Sun Dazed, Tangelo, Sweet) and keep adding color until the page is filled. Try to make some rings thicker and some thinner; remember that Archival Inks are translucent so you can get interesting effects by letting them overlap a bit.

Step 3: Start adding the basic shapes with a medium (.4) Fineliner. Outline the corner circle, use a small circle template to make round scallops, use the bands of Archival color to make your petals and rings about the same size. YES, if you prefer, you can draw every line in pencil and ink over them later. Some people (ok, ME, lol) find that process more tedious than just drawing with the pen and correcting, disguising or living with any mistakes; it's a personal choice. The more mandalas or zendoodles you draw, the more you will develop your own way to work.

Step 4: Continue adding the basic shapes, without much detail, until the panel is filled. Don't get too bogged down with any mistakes or imperfections, they can be addressed in the next step. A big part of the reason for starting with a single size of pen and NOT adding detail in this step is that, if we have any little inconsistencies to "cover up" that will help us decide where the details will go! Somewhat counter-intuitively, it's usually best to start each new ring in the CENTER of the last one and then work to the right and left; if possible, we want the "meat" of the design to literally take center stage.

Step 5: In this step, plan to be swapping between the thinner (.1) and thicker (.9) Fineliners. Start out by looking for mistakes. "Wonky" lines can be covered up with a thicker pen, or doubled to look intentionally funky. If your petals are very different sizes, you can add additional lines to pad out the small ones. Or you can opt to be really radical and add scribbles, splotches and other intentional "messy" details to create a vibe in which there are no mistakes... just exuberant mark making!

Step 6: Add white... and/or additional colors... with paint pens, liquid pearls, or markers. At this point you could also add stamps, stickers, rub-on transfers, a bit of stenciled pattern, or collage elements. It's your mandala, it can be anything you want! 

What can you do with a completed mandala? Add it to your art journal, frame it, or make it into a card. You may not be 100% in love with your first mandala, but PLEASE don't throw it away... some day you will look back and see how far you've come, you'll be happy to have saved those early ones!

Want to see more of my Mandala Monday posts? Click this link to scroll backwards through that category here on the bog; OR... drop by my Instagram account @llaurenb every Monday! Meanwhile, if you'd like to see the entire video of Patti Behan and myself drawing mandalas in real time, head over to the Ranger YouTube Channel and watch THIS VID.

Life is Better at the Beach

Maybe you can't actually spend today at the beach, but... you can use Eyelet Outlet Shell Brads, Sea Shore Brads and Sea Gulls to make a beautifully beachy card, instead. Copper Glitter Tape makes perfectly sparkly mats and, in celebration of Earth Day, the background photo was saved from a catalog cover before recycling!

Beautiful Beachy Shopping List:

Shell Brads

Sea Shore Brads

Sea Gull Brads

Copper Glitter Tape

Eyelet Outlet has all the embellishments you need to make your next card a SHORE thing!

SOS572: Up, Up and Away

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash, the challenge is to make a card that contains something you'd see in the sky. Such as? Well, there are birds, butterflies, balloons, airplanes, a rainbow, the sun, the moon, satellites, or... in this case... clouds!

Having decided on clouds, I had some trouble choosing WHICH of the many well-hoarded, cloud-bedecked patterned papers I should use, so I finally chose two for the card and one to stage with. I broke out one of my all-time favorite classic stamp sets (and yes, by "classic" I mean "OLD" lol!) My Favorite Things' Polynesian Paradise, colored the adorable hula girl, a pineapple, some flowers and YES, why not add a handsome toucan for one more sky-centric element.

 Hop over to SOS to see what the rest of the crew have made to inspire you. Challenge 572: Up, Up and Away runs until the evening of Monday May 4th, so you have lots of time to join the fun.

Fruity Sticker Mandala

The Ranger Shop recently added a bunch of fabulous journaling and planner items including LOTS of these Bande Washi Stickers. I only allowed myself to choose three varieties (so far!) but I'm pretty sure they're going to become an obsession. So I'll say "You're welcome" or "Sorry" in advance, lol. I've used two of my choices in this fruity mandala: Sliced Fruit & Vegetables and Strawberry Wreath. 

I added a central circle and punched hearts to beef up the design; and a few miscellaneous star stickers on the outside ring.

Bird is the Word

This is the very last page in my 6" Dina Wakley Kraft Journal, although I think there *might* be an unfinished mandala or two that needs completing before I can declare the volume officially finished. 

Some time ago, I made these little slide mounts filled with trading stamps and tiny critters cut from some of the border pages in my friend Gina's awesome Clip Art Book; I just re-found them and decided they'd be perfect to go in the very back of the book. I cut out a few of Gina's larger whimsical birds to accompany them and made a background of torn paper (English dictionary paper, Chinese dictionary paper, part of a map and part of the map's index) plus some glorious Greenstamps and called it a day

You can get your very own copy of the fabulous Gina is Arty Clipart Book on Amazon; a purchase I can highly recommend if you love collage, cardmaking, cute critters or mixed media art!

Vintage (wk 2)

We're still celebrating all things with a vintage or retro vibe at Jingle Belles and we'd love for you to come Walking in a Vintage Wonderland, by which we mean creating a card with a vintage or retro design. Either by incorporating actual vintage/retro elements; OR using new products that have a vintage style; OR using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe; whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive, we're sponsored by my very own Etsy Shop... Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky card maker who links-up their vintage design.

This week, I made quite a random collage of torn and layered vintage and found papers including: some sheet music; a dictionary page with a reindeer (technically a caribou but work with me!); an order form and an advertisement from a vintage Christmas Ideals magazine; some rather splendid S&H Green Stamps and... ok, I think that's it, lol. Since the background is quite busy, I only needed a fussycut Authentique bauble (which luckily had a bold sentiment!) and a few Katie Pertiet Christmas Collageable Banners that I machine stitched while I was doing the edges.

JB2608: Walkin' in a Vintage Wonderland runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 22nd. Hop over to the original post at Jingle Belles to see the prize and link your own vintage/retro masterpiece(s).