Journal Shark!?

Of all the random Saturday collages I've ever posted, this miiiiight be the random-iest! Whale shark, speckled orchid, and handcut, outlined and shadowed waves in my Dina Wakley Ledger Journal from Ranger. 

If, like me, you're old enough to remember the original cast of SNL, this may remind you of the classic "Land Shark" sketch and if you'd like to re-watch that delightful bit of fishy tomfoolery, I assure you it's worth clicking this link to YouTube!

I hope you''ll find time this weekend to make something silly and fun... just for yourself! ♥♥♥

JB2605: Fa-La-La-La-La

This fortnight we're celebrating one of our very favorite holiday aspects at Jingle Belles: Christmas Music! We're asking you to create a card (or gift card holder, or whatever else you'll be needing for the holidays) that incorporates music, musical instruments, or even the title of a favorite Christmas Carol.

Here's my card:

I used Ranger's White Embossing Powder with Simon Hurley's create. Sheet Music Background Stamp on white cardstock, then added a nice dark coat of Best Dressed Archival Ink on top; plus a little flick of Dina Wakley White Gloss Spray. The sweet chickadee image is an older Masterpieces Made Simple card from Penny Black, which I trimmed down just a tiny bit, and adorned with Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads. I matted both panels on gold cardstock, added a square of older Ciao Bella paper, a Tim Holtz Christmas Sticker Sentiment and a wrap of crinkly seambinding to complete this dramatic 5.5" square card.

JB2605: Fa-La-La-La-La runs until the evening of Wednesday, March 11th. Hop over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful card and the fun little prize one random cardmaker will score, just for linking up their music-centric card(s) with us this time.

Bold Bright Birthday

Birthday cards are a staple of most crafters' card stashes, it sometimes seems impossible to have too many of those! Luckily, Eyelet Outlet has LOTS of fabulous birthday-related brads; nine of which adorn this oversized sentiment, diecut from Blue Sprinkle Washi Tape. Brads include: Party Hat, Candle, the Unicorn from our Unicorn and Rainbow Set, Cupcake Swirl, Gift Brads, Star Brads and a Heart. 

Bold Birthday Shopping List:

Party Hat Brads

Candle Brads

Unicorn and Rainbow Brads

Cupcake Swirl Brads

Gift Brads

Star Brads

Heart Brads

Blue Sprinkle Washi Tape

Zig Zag Washi Tape

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store to see all of the wonderful brads and embellishments for your next card or project.

SOS568: Golden Years

Time for a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash and this fortnight we're going for the GOLD; by which we mean we'd like to see cards and projects which prominently feature that gorgeous metallic shade. Here's my card:

I used Ranger Princess Gold Embossing Powder with (parts of) three different Simon Hurley create. stamps (Typewriter, Leaf Prints and Rose Borders) on a square of a collage-style paper from Prima's Pretty Pale Collection of several years ago. To add to the distressed/ vintage collage vibe, after I applied the embossing powder to each section, I took a small paintbrush and randomly flicked some of it off before using the Heat Tool. I put a bit of Dark Roast Archival around all the edges of the 5" square panel, matted it on glossy gold cardstock and then added Memory Box's Maribelle Butterfly (cut from the same gold cardstock) and machine stitching around the edges.

SOS568: Golden Years runs until the evening of Monday, March 9th. Hop over to SOS to see the rest of the Crew's Golden goodies, then start thinking about what you'll link up with us this fortnight.

Forever and Always Card

What's better than using Ranger's awesome new line of Make-It Stamps and Stencils on your cards and projects? Combining them with six brand new Archival Ink colors and eight gorgeous new shimmery shades of Liquid Pearls. There's a step-by-step tutorial for this card on the Ranger Project Page, I'd love for you to hop over and check it out!

Archival Ink Mandala Monday

It's a bold and vibrant Mandala Monday, on which I have used all of the new Ranger Archival Inks with abandon. I took a Mini Ink Blending Tool and six Domed Foams to apply concentric circles of ink from the bottom right (Best Dressed) to the top left corner (Sweet Treat) of my A6 cardstock; with Avocado Toast, Sandcastle, Sweet Treat, Dark Roast and Big Plans in between. Then I placed the Make-It Sprinkle Hearts Stencil on top and spritzed it with Isopropyl Alcohol to lift off a bit of the ink.

After the panel was dry, I added the petals with a white Posca Pen; then I outlined and added more details with  Letter It Fineliner. At the very end, I gave the tiny dots a bit of extra texture with some Kiwi Liquid Pearls and finally I matted the whole thing on a panel of Avocado Toast.

Use ALL the Colors

This *might* be the most colorful art journal page I've ever made... and thus it's currently my favorite! I used ALL of the new Ranger Archivals and all of the new Liquid Pearls; some of the Make-It Stamps and Stencils, plus lots of lovely Dina Wakley MEdia Collage Sparks.

There are eight brand new varieties of shimmery Liquid Pearls (Firecracker, Sweet Potato, Rubber Duck, Kiwi, Emerald, Blue Velvet, Royalty and Truffle) and the reason they've been applied quite randomly on a double page in my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal, is that I'd been using them on other projects, and this is what I did with the extra Liquid Pearls I dispensed. I often use up extra paint, ink, paste or watercolor on a journal page rather than throw them out. Sometimes they add up to an interesting background... as I felt they did here; sometimes they just make mud and later I cover them up.

As for the six new shades of Archival Ink (Avocado Toast, Sweet Treat, Big Plans, Dark Roast, Best Dressed and Sandcastle); some was applied randomly when I cleaned off my Pegboard and Sprinkle Hearts Stencils; some got there quite deliberately when I stamped the numerals from the Make-It Chic Birthday Stamp Set and the big stars from the Charmed Set, to which I added some White Gesso. I also used an ink blending tool to splash a little extra color over any areas that were blank, so the entire page would be covered. 

At the very end, I felt like there needed to be some larger elements across the center of the spread, so I raided my collection of Dina's Collage Sparks and cut out lots of circles and hearts that had similar colors. PS: If you're thinking that I *should* have taken a photo before I embarked on the intentional portion of the pages, I agree!!! But alas, I forgot. Next time!