Dashing Through the Snow (Week 2)

It's week two of our snow-centric Jingle Belles challenge for which we've teamed up with our friends at The Double Trouble Challenge. Thus giving you a chance to participate in TWO challenges with ONE card! As the title implies, for "Dashing Through the Snow" the brief at Jingle Belles is merely to make a card that features SNOW, whether it be snowflakes, snowmen or a snowy landscape.

As you may know, the "Double" in "Double Trouble" refers to the fact that there are several parts to their challenges, though the only requirement is to play along with Thing 1, which in this case is to make a window or aperture card. But the Double Trouble Gang encourage you to add some fun... try their options by participating in Twisted Sister's Thing 3 and/or Double Dare's Thing 2 to earn additional chances in their random drawing. This time, those twists are as follows:

Here's what I made this week:

I had made a few extra white-embossed panels during our Jingle Belles' "EMBOSSING" challenge, and since they happened to be snowy, when I found them again, I decided they were perfect for making an aperture card. I used an ancient set of Nestabilities' Labels 20 to cut the largest size from a panel I had inked with Wendy Vecchi's Night Sky Archival; then the next size down to cut a smaller version of the same shape from a  Sky Blue Archival Panel; then I layered both of those over a third panel inked with Violet Archival. I embossed the "Noel" from Wendy's Statements Chippies, inked it with Night Sky, added it on top, embellished with a few diecut snowflakes, et voila. Since all of my supplies were still sitting there, including the beautiful label shapes cut from the apertures of card one, I decided to build a second card with the leftovers and another Chippie from the same set.

Head on over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card and a picture of the prize and all the links to Double Trouble's half of this special Crossover Challenge!

Calling All Angels

 The lovely and cherubic new Eyelet Outlet Angel Brads have arrived just in time for Christmas in July festivities! This card features both shapes from the set, hovering near the sentiment, which is backed by two strips of gorgeously glimmering Glittery Tape in Copper. Below are a few golden diecut baubles, decorated with a Pearl Brad and a Snowflake Brad.

Shopping List:

Eyelet Outlet Angel Brads

Copper Glitter Tape

6mm White Pearl Brad 

Snowflake Brad

In addition to these beautiful Angel Brads, the brand new July Release also includes colorful Retro Trees, yummy Candy Corn and mischievous Black Cats. Check them all out in the EO Store.

Yet Another ICAD Round-up

Another week has passed and thus seven new index card artworks have transpired:

ICAD24-22: Mandala Monday 

I'm off-prompt in favor of Mandala Monday, for which I've drawn a bunch of nested/clustered mandalas on a neon orange index card.

ICAD24-21: Off-Prompt

Definitely not the best hibiscus I've ever drawn, but I quite like my stripey leaves and I'm awarding myself bonus points because the whole thing takes place on a library catalog card for a book called, "A Backyard Flower Garden for Kids"!

ICAD24-20: Off-Prompt

Freeform curves made out of layered neon index cards. With plenty of machine-stitching on top!

ICAD24-19: Off-Prompt

Best Fishes on Day 49 of ICAD2024; for which I've made a super-random collage from some of the bits that were sitting on my worktable.

ICAD24-18: Off-Prompt

 A random collage in (mostly) pink and white. Vintage ticket background, washi strips, rub-on transfers and fussy-cut butterfly, horoscope wheel and rose... the latter from a book about Cath Kidston fabrics.

ICAD24-17: Plum

Flashing back to a prompt from earlier this week, for which I've doodled with black Letter It Fineliners and white Posca paint pens on a glossy plum/purple color swatch.

ICAD24-16: Calm

At first glance, this might look like a seriously tangential take on the prompt, but, as any oceanographer will tell you, there's literally NOTHING calmer than a squid playing solitaire in a mushroom garden. Obviously!

Dashing Through the Snow

It's the middle of July, which seems like an excellent time for Jingle Belles to team up with our friends at The Double Trouble Challenge, so that you have a chance to participate in TWO challenges with ONE card! As the post title implies, for "Dashing Through the Snow" the brief at Jingle Belles is merely to make a card that features SNOW, whether it be snowflakes, snowmen or a snowy landscape.

As you may know, the "Double" in "Double Trouble" refers to the fact that there are several parts to their challenges, though the only requirement is to play along with Thing 1, which in this case is to make a window or aperture card. But the Double Trouble Gang encourage you to add some fun... try their options by participating in Twisted Sister's Thing 3 and/or Double Dare's Thing 2 to earn additional chances in their random drawing. This time, those twists are as follows:

Remember, you need only make a card featuring some sort of SNOW to enter at Jingle Belles; and the only requirement at Double Trouble is to make a window or aperture card. BUT... if your card has both SNOW and a WINDOW... you can link up on both blogs for a chance at two different prizes!

Here's how I approached both of the challenges this week:

Generally speaking, when I set out to make a window card, I go all out and make it a shaker; so that's what I've done here. Stephanie gave me the adorable Doodlebug Winter Wonderland stamps and dies for my birthday, and I was excited to be able to use them so quickly. I found a few sheets of D-bug's Polar Pals patterned paper to coordinate and used an older set of Spellbinders' Nestabilities to build up that fun scalloppy frame. Inside the shaker I placed a background of pale blue snowflakes, a glittery hill, a handsome yeti and a mix of Eyelet Outlet Snowflake and Round Sequins.

To make this gala Christmas in July celebration even more festive, we have a fun little prize for one randomly selected cardmaker who links a snowy card up at Jingle Belles:

Sunny Studio 6x6 All is Bright paper pad, Inky Antics Winter Song stamp set 

and some gorgeous Crafter's Square gems.

"Dashing Through the Snow" runs at Jingle Belles until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, July 31st. Hop over to see Stephanie's card and link up your own snowy masterpiece.

TREE-Mendous!

The TREE-Mendous new Eyelet Outlet Retro Tree Brads have arrived just in time to celebrate Christmas in July!

 This card features a cluster of said Retro Trees layered over Snowy Trees for a feeling of depth, creating a little forest glade in which the vintage-inspired deer from our Santa and Deer set feels right at home. The background consists of neatly aligned strips of Holly Jolly Washi in traditional red and green.

In addition to these fabulous Retro Trees, the brand new July Release also includes vintage-inspired Angel Brads, Candy Corn and Black Cats. Check them out in the EO Store.

SOS526: Summertime!

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we're celebrating SUMMER which means that we'd like to see cards and projects with a summer theme. That could be traveling, gardening, camping, BBQ, beach... whatever says summer to you! 

During most of my childhood, one of my favorite summer activities was going to the beach, or, as we said in the Philadelphia suburbs where I grew up, "down the shore". In my family's case, we often went to Wildwood, NJ and later to Cape May, both of which I still love today. To my knowledge, there are NO flamingoes at the Jersey Shore, nor are there tropical flowers and foliage; but there are lots of seashells. In the case of my card, the shells are from HoneyBee's Seashells Stamp Set c. 2022; the flamingo paper is from 49 and Market's Sunburst collection; the sentiment and foliage stickers are from an older Dear Lizzy line via American Crafts; and the ancient hibiscus stickers are from EK Success. I added brushed gold and pale pink mats, plus a bit of decorative machine stitching and my A7 card was complete.

Visit SOS to see what the rest of the Crew have made, then dust off one (or more!) of your older-bust-still-beloved craft items and make a card to link up with us! The SUMMER Challenge runs through Monday evening, July 29th.

Index Card a Day (Week 7)

We're rounding the corner into the second half of July (already?!) and here's my own output of Index Card Art from this past week:

ICAD24-45: Mandala Monday

Wouldja believe... It's a Marvin Mandel Mandala Monday?! In perhaps the most stunning case of vintage-paper-related serendipity EVER, I found this business card stuck into one book, and the illustration of this (completely unrelated) gentleman in another book about ten minutes later. I went looking for the name "Mandel" in an old telephone book I rescued to use in collages and did NOT find a Marvin, but there were half a dozen others which are partially obscured by the mandala petals. I used a combination of Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks, a white Posca pen and Prismacolor Pencils to add color; and Ranger's Letter It Fineliners for all the shapes. As always, my Helix Circle Maker Tool was invaluable.

ICAD24-44: Seashell

Super-literal take on the prompt: I white-embossed a set of HoneyBee Seashell stamps; blended some of my favorite Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks on top; then splattered and outlined and played with the results.

ICAD24-43: Fragile

 My collage admittedly has a #FRAGILE connection to both the prompt and to reality. But… you know… in a good way! I am especially proud of the way most of the design is built around a similar color palette; AND, especially the fact that the banana, the ballet dancer and the Chinese character for banana all have a similar shape to them. 

ICAD24-42: Off Prompt OSC

And here we have world’s most random One Staple Collage! FYI, One Staple Collage is an ICAD tradition; the brief is to create a collage which is held together with… wait for it… one staple! Slightly trickier than it sounds but a lot of fun!

ICAD24-41: Forest Green

I set out with the intention of working on today’s prompt of #FORESTGREEN and thus handcut some beautiful wonky leafy shapes from every green EXCEPT forest green… then branched off into altered/doodled patterned paper scraps in various shades of blue. But that’s why they’re called “prompts” rather than assignments… they’re meant to get you started and you can go in any direction from there! 

ICAD24-40: Off-Prompt

Today's is actually not my favorite card, although I love the funky ink-splotch colors; and stand by my decision to cut around the flower edge on the right hand side. Plus… to enjoy and learn from the process rather than focusing purely on outcome is (to me!) the true spirit of ICAD, so woohoo!

ICAD24-39: Off-Prompt

Yes, I do tend to save my scraps of patterned paper, even quite small ones that I probably shouldn't bother with, but they're excellent for stamping and paper-piecing, not to mention for those nights when I just feel like cutting out random shapes, stacking them, and arranging the result into a funky pattern.