Super-Soft Stenciling

Salvaged Patina may be my favorite Distress Oxide at the moment; it's fresh not-quite-blue, not-quite-green aesthetic seems like the perfect summer shade! I used Picket Fence Studios' Slim Lin Basket Petals Stencil as the background for a collage of Appree Lilac and Bracken Pressed Flower Stickers, clustered around a couple of Tim Holtz Wildflowers 2 Thinlits diecuts. You can read all about it on The Ink Pad Blog!

Happy (Almost) Father's Day

It's nearly Father's Day, but there's still a little time to make an extra-special card featuring some of the things Dads love: grillin'... (thanks to Eyelet Outlet BBQ Brads); chillin'...  (courtesy of our Beer Brads); and crusin' down the highway... with our Classic Car Brads!

Here's fair warning regarding my cards for the rest of the summer: I am OBSESSED with the new Extra-Wide Sky Washi Tape! At 50mm (almost 2") you can cut a nice, long, easy-peel strip and that's the whole sky on a slimline card. I punched cardstock grass to meet it about a third of the way, et voila... instant landscape! I spelled out the central word of my "Happy Father's Day" sentiment in chunky cork alphabet stickers and clustered my BBQ Brads, Beer Brads, Classic Cars, Mini Bees, Sun and Cloud Brads around them; then added a thin yellow cardstock mat and a slightly thicker one made of Wood Washi, to serve as a frame.

There are plenty of other traditional Dad-related items in the EO Store; you could rock a Camping theme... Fishing theme... a Food and Drink theme... a Motorcycle theme... or a Tool theme; and if your Dad is less traditional, I bet we still have something fun that will work!

Seeing Stars (and Half Stars, Too)

This week I've been playing with Rinea's 3D Rolled Star Die Set and a variety of their beautiful metallic foiled papers and the possibilities are nearly endless. Read all about it on The Ink Pad Blog!

This Is the Week That Was

...or to put it more succinctly: Here's a round up of all my Index Card Art from this, the second week of ICAD 2021:

day 5: verdigris

my favorite example of verdigris is also my favorite nyc landmark, lady liberty. she's printed on an inkjet transparency and the centerpiece of a one-staple collage.

day 6: twist

someone on instagram pointed out that my twisty zentangle on a greenish-teal index card would also count as a second take at "verdigris" and i'm cool with that.

day 7: mandala monday

most years, my mondays go completely off-prompt in favor of mandala making. for this week's version, i invented the one-staple mandala! 

(there's a flipagram on IG showing all the layers.)

day 8: umbrella

while making this one, i was listening to a wonderful and magical audiobook called "the watchmaker of filigree street" which has a mikado-related subplot; so my umbrellas are made of origami paper and sort of japanese-y.

day 9: ampersand

i thought this cluster of ampersand stickers was going to be part of a more complicated and layery collage, but then i really liked it like this, so i just stopped. maybe the most CAS design i've ever made?

day 10: ribbon

sometimes the combination of two ideas adds up to more than the sum of its parts, and sometimes, not so much, lol. i like both my tombow-drawn rainbow ribbon AND my scrunched and stitched actual ribbon; but... as it turns out, i don't like them TOGETHER. 

day 11: library

another card where i can't say i'm in love with the end result, but there ideas here that i like, which i will definitely revisit, so it was a useful and fun card to make. (plus: ZINNIAS!)

♥♥♥

Just a reminder that all the info you could possibly need about ICAD2021 (including completely optional weekly prompt lists) can be found on the Daisy Yellow Art Blog. My individual ICADs are posted nightly on my Instagram account.

More Layers!

We're still celebrating "All Bundled Up" cards at Jingle Belles; by which we mean cards that have three or more layers. Personally, I love layers, so this is pretty much a "gimme" in my case; but for all you minimalists out there, remember that you really just need to add a few skinny mats to achieve instant layeryness in a way that embraces a CAS aesthetic!

The tag at the center of this week's card is a combination of leftover elements (a pretty thumbnail image from a Ciao Bella paper pack, half an embossed label shape, part of a punched border, a vellum poinsettia that I drew, cut out and then didn't use, etc) that I really only had to make a card base for. I used a layer of Echo Park plaid paper into which I punched some EK Success snowflakes, then layered it onto a larger piece of Ciao Bella bokeh paper. Our "Bling" prompt might be over, but that didn't stop me from finishing off with some Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling and some Star Sequins. And of course I'll take any excuse to run the whole thing through my sewing machine to add just one more extra bit of texture!

Be sure to visit Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful and layery masterpiece, then start planning what you'll link up with us this time.

Lots (& LOTS!) of Dots

I love Zig Clean Color Dot Markers, so I'm super excited that The Ink Pad has sets of four, in bright colors and metallics; as well as a larger set of twelve bold shades. And of course there are eight individual colors, in case you're like me and you want to TRY a new style of pen before committing to a whole set! More pics featuring my experiments with dot art and dot mandalas, on The Ink Pad Blog today!

Wise Monkeys

Here's yet another example of a phrase that I (Lauren) saw on a shirt or on Instagram and thought, "that would make a fun card!" I stand by that belief in the case of this sentiment; and yes... I really did think getting old would take considerably longer!

I started out with an entirely different idea, but when I saw my Birthday Sock Monkey Brads, and remembered that I had Sprinkles Tape, I changed plans immediately! I love that the Sock Monkeys come in five colors so that if you want to use a bunch of them together, they add an entire rainbow. Oh and did I mention they're on sale?! As well as being... more fun than a barrel of (Sock) Monkeys!!!