Saturday, October 30, 2021

Fa-La-La-La Lawn Fawn!

If you're within driving distance of Paper Anthology in Kenvil, NJ, I'd love for you to join me for this adorable Holiday card class featuring oh so cute (and festive!) Lawn Fawn stamps and dies, there’s even a shaker card in the mix! 


Visit the Paper Anthology Blog for all the details, including how to reserve your spot in one of the three class dates available! There will also be a few kits available, mid-October, in the online store, so stay tuned for those.

Friday, October 29, 2021

Yeti or Not

It's week two of our Jingle Belles Christmas Creature celebration, and you still have time to join the fun! This week I've made a little winter landscape in shaker card form, for my adorable Lawn Fawn Yeti to inhabit. The background is several scraps of miscellaneous snowy patterned papers, and the shaker is full of Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Sequins.

Be sure to visit Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card, and start planning what you'll make!

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Villainous Blends

The new Distress Ink shade, Villainous Potion, has arrived at The Ink Pad in all its glorious varieties of Ink Pads, Reinkers, Sprays, Paint and Embossing Glaze, and it may actually be the ULTIMATE Purple! My favorite Distress product is Oxide Ink, and my favorite way to get acquainted with a new color is to test out lots of blends with the existing palette to see which combinations will be my favorites. 

I like to use little ATC-sized pieces of cardstock for this exercise, and I take time after each blend to write the color names on the back in the order I used them; having learned that after ten or twelve combinations, I may not remember which red I used on which combo! When all the swatches are completely dry I punch them with my Crop-A-Dile and secure them with a brad or small book ring so that the next time I want to make a background I have some awesome ideas to start me off.

When selecting colors to try together, I generally begin with those closest to the new color and work outwards. With an intense shade like Villainous Potion, that means starting with the deepest Distress colors; and with a purple, the closest "relatives" will be the other purples, the blues and some reds. The closer the colors are in either hue or intensity, the more smoothly and seamlessly they blend. As you move further out, you increase both contrast and drama. In this case, a few "slam dunk" shades you might like to try include Dusty ConcordWilted Violet and Seedless Preserves... which let you segue into all of the reds and pinks in the line; while Prize RibbonChipped Sapphire and Blueprint Sketch will serve as a bridge into lighter blue shades, as well as greens.

If you're not confident combining colors, I highly (highly!) recommend using a Color Wheel. In the meantime, remembering the order of the spectrum with the acronym ROY G. BIV: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet will at least give you a starting point, as the colors which are next to each other are always analogous, which means they're going to be blend-friendly. 

Here are the exact colors I used for my twelve favorite blends so far; working from top left to bottom right in the photo above; each blend is listed from top to bottom on its card: 1. Carved Pumpkin, Candied Apple, Villainous Potion; 2. Villainous Potion, Blueprint Sketch, Lucky Clover; 3. Villainous Potion, Seedless Preserves, Barn Door; 4. Salvaged Patina, Salty Ocean, Villainous Potion; 5. Broken China, Blueprint Sketch, Villainous Potion; 6. Villainous Potion, Aged Mahogany, Crackling Campfire; 7. Dusty Concord, Villainous Potion, Chipped Sapphire; 8. Kitsch Flamingo, Candied Apple, Villainous Potion; 9. Seedless Preserves, Villainous Potion, Weathered Wood; 10. Speckled Egg, Weathered Wood, Villainous Potion; 11. Rustic Wilderness, Prize Ribbon, Villainous Potion; 12. Pickled Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Villainous Potion.


But don't take my word for it; grab your very own Villainous Potion Ink, Oxide, Spray, Paint or Embossing Glaze from The Ink Pad and start trying out your own combinations today!

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Making SPIRITS Bright

Halloween is this Sunday, but there's still time to make a happily haunted card featuring Eyelet Outlet Ghost Brads!


I blended Oxide inks to make a suitably mysterious background (Chipped Sapphire, Prize Ribbon and Wilted Violet for the sky; Rustic Wilderness and Forest Moss for the ground; a little bit of Black Soot around the entire perimeter) then stamped the tree and added said Ghosties as well as a Pumpkin Brad, a Witch Hat and a Mini Spider just to set the scene. Wishing you a safe and spooky Halloween!

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Flower Power

As the weather starts to cool off and the colors of the garden start to fade away, we're having one last celebration of all things floral at Shopping Our Stash

I found a few sheets from Simple Stories' "I Am" line that I absolutely fell in love with at Paper Anthology a couple of years ago, brought home and... promptly forgot all about?! So this seemed like a good time to cut into those! I've used bits of two different journal cards, fussycut some flowers from another sheet and used two of the texty styles as backgrounds. A wordfetti sentiment, skinny black kromekote mats and a few Eyelet Outlet Enamels and I called it a day.

Hop over to SOS to see the amazing DT creations and start planning your own floral masterpiece!

Friday, October 22, 2021

Not a Creature Was Stirring

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're asking you to break out the animals for this week's holiday card … it could be one of Santa's reindeer, a sheep next to a manger, or possibly even a monster or a Yeti if you're in a Halloween mood and want to stretch the theme (b/c some of us are Just Like That, lol!) In this case I split the difference and went with a real creature (Lawn Fawn's adorable Winter Narwhal) at the North Pole (thanks to Pebbles' Fairly Accurate Map!)


Be sure to swim, gallop, prance, fly or stomp over to Jingle Belles to see what Stephanie has made, then start planning your own creature-featuring card!

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Under the Tree

The new Eyelet Outlet Gift Brads are fairly awesome on their own, but of course the best place for them is under a Christmas Tree, right? So that's where I've put them. See?


In this case the tree --decorated with Green Pearl Bling and a Glitter Enamel Star-- is from Lawn Fawn's "Joy to All" stamp set (from Paper Anthology) and the room is composed of five different EO Washi varieties: Gold Script Tape, Heart Washi, Wood Tape, Star Gold Tape and Christmas Pattern Washi, to be precise. But maybe my favorite thing is the art on the wall: a Nutcracker Brad, matted on a little scrap of Wood Tape, diecut into a frame shape. 

Friday, October 15, 2021

50 Shades of... PINK!

We're still celebrating PINK CHRISTMAS at Jingle Belles and you've got until next Wednesday evening to join the fun and help us raise a little money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation!

This week's card was as fast to make as last week's Pink Couch card was slow! After I made a design of seven or eight miscellaneous washi tapes featuring every shade of pink and red, on a salmon pink ledger paper background and topped it with pink poinsettias from MME's (older) Sugar Plum collection, all I needed was an anonymous diecut sentiment, a few Eyelet Outlet Glitter Enamel Dots and a bit of machine stitching.

Over at Jingle Belles you can see Stephanie's beautiful card and start planning what you'll link up with us this time!

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Cupcakes for Everyone!

New Brad Alert! We've got four new styles making their Eyelet Outlet debut today: Female Cardinals, Gift Boxes, Iced Coffee and... my personal favorite... Swirl Cupcakes!


Three flavors of Swirl Cupcakes come in each package, so of course I had to make three slightly smaller than A2 cards. It also made sense to add in other birthday-themed and/or pink brads, such as a Birthday CandleLollipop Brad (they're on sale!) a Flamingo, Colored Daisy, Birthday Sock Monkey (also on sale!) and a Heart Brad. A scattering of white Round Sequins, some torn patterned paper and a little machine stitching completes the design.


Stay tuned for more New Brad inspiration from the design team on the Eyelet Outlet Blog.

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

If you've guessed that this fortnight's challenge at Shopping Our Stash is a celebration of all things autumnal, then well done! You don't need to include a literal pumpkin (though of course you can!) just channel thoughts of Fall, Halloween or Thanksgiving and that should point you in the right direction. Here's what I made:


A couple of years ago, I made this card that featured a chevron-patterned background made from LOTS of leftover patterned paper scraps, cut into skinny strips. A couple of weeks ago, I saw that card again and was inspired to make more of those backgrounds. I couldn't decide whether to go darker or lighter, so I made one of each!


Both cards feature ColorBursted, collaged and diecut leaves (an ancient set of Provocraft dies from Cuttlebug days that I still use a lot!); machine stitching, tiny paper flowers, Prima Pretty Pale leftovers, and the perfect orange mats from Simply Stories' (older) We Are Family collection, which I may have liberated from the Paper Anthology scrap bag!


Wend your way over to SOS to see what the rest of the design team darlings have created, and start planning your own awesome autumnal masterpiece!

Friday, October 8, 2021

Pink Christmas (YAY!)

Anyone who's played along with us at Jingle Belles probably already knows this, but it's worth mentioning again anyway. As always, the first prompt of October is PINK CHRISTMAS and it starts NOW!


When I saw Lawn Fawn's 'Window Scene, Winter' stamp set at Paper Anthology I let out a little squeak of joy, because as a matter of fact, I own a couch a bit like that one and it sits directly in front of a large and dramatic window. I cannot claim that we've ever had a plaid tree, but the blue spruce that I cover with my vintage ornament collection each year actually does sit exactly where the tree from LF's 'Joy to All' is in the card. There are Eyelet Outlet Pink Pearls on this tree, and (white) snowflake sequins in the shaker that's behind the window frame, which is diecut using the add-on 'Window Frame' die set.


Here's the actual couch and window, for comparison purposes. Note that the room is much less pink than the card, due to undue influence from a certain husband.


Be sure to visit Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beeeeautiful pink card and start making plans to link up one (or more!) of your own, for a very good cause.

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

CAS Question...

...is a card still "Clean and Simple" if it features five Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape styles and nine Brads?! I say yes; but then I'm not exactly a minimalist, lol! 

Inspired by this cute tree sticker I found in my stash, I started looking through my Eyelet Outlet goodies for autumnal items in the right colors, and found Pumpkin Brads, Sunflowers, Mini Leaves, and the orange calico cat from our Feline Brads. To ground my embellishment grouping, I made a tape stack starting with Pumpkin Tape, Wood Washi, and my favorite Script Tape, to which I added some shorter pieces of solid color Skinny Tape. Since I had obviously made a tiny stylized landscape, it seemed like a good idea to finish off with Sun and Cloud Brads... so I did! 

Sunday, October 3, 2021

Weekend Round Up

In addition to hostessing some of the challenges during Paper Anthology's WCD Crop Weekend, I also participated in a few that my friends Elisabeth Ostrowski, Shari Morris and Linda Duke were responsible for, and this seems like a good time and place to post those.

Acorns and/or Pinecones Challenge

Elisabeth made an utterly luscious card for this one, featuring vellum leaves to die for! My card has text diecut leaves on which I've smooshed autumnal colors of Tombow Dualbrush Pens, dimensional Prima flowers from various older collections and Eyelet Outlet Pinecone Brads... all set atop a piece of absolutely gorgeous patterned paper from 49 and Market's Vintage Artistry collection.

Clean and Simple Christmas

CAS cards are a true challenge for me, but this time I think I've acquitted myself pretty well. That Lawn Fawn Yeti never fails to make me smile, and he doesn't really need much embellishment to make a card work. I stacked some snowy washi tapes, added a couple of punched trees and finished off with a trio of EO Snowflake Brads.

Black and Orange Challenge

I gave myself a bit of an extra challenge on this one, I wanted to use these colors but NOT make a Halloween card! I'm happy that this is seasonless but still interesting and entirely orange and black!
 (Well ok, there's some white too...)



 

Monochrome Mania

It's Day Three of our Paper Anthology Online Crop celebrating World Cardmaking Day and here's the third challenge I'm hosting:


And just in case you're wondering what color I chose... yes of course it's PINK!!! 

I own a LOT of nested die sets and use them constantly, but one shape I didn't have until quite recently were hexies. Luckily, I nabbed Hero Arts' Hexagon Infinity Dies at Paper Anthology, and used about eight of the seventeen (17!) perfectly scaled dies in the set to create a pattern from lots of lovely pink patterned paper scraps. I used my Altenew Bold Alphas on some ancient pink burlap paper and added a secondary sentiment with my Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Birthday stamps and dies. I had envisioned a bunch of other embellies making an appearance, but that was before my hexed background cast its spell, lol; in the end I decided it was finished just like it is!

Be sure to join us on the Paper Anthology Facebook Page to see all the challenges and join the fun!

Saturday, October 2, 2021

Sketch Challenge

Welcome to Day Two of Paper Anthology's Online Crop to celebrate World Cardmaking Day! I hope you've been tuning in to the PA Facebook Page for all the fun! Today I'm hosting a sketch challenge, with your choice of card sketch (on the left) or layout (on the right):


I've been totally smitten with P13's Stitched With Love collection ever since it arrived in the store, and as soon as I saw the rounded element in the sketch I knew exactly what I wanted to do:


I worked in six of the twelve patterns in the collection, then embellished with lots of 49 and Market Pixie Petals in Twilight and some ancient Prima Flowers; including a few green multi-petaled blooms that I cut apart to make tiny leaves. Accents of Eyelet Outlet Pearls tinted to match with Copic Markers and some machine stitching and that's really all you need, right?

Friday, October 1, 2021

Gift Card Holder

Welcome to our Paper Anthology World Cardmaking Day (or in this case Weekend!) Online Crop. We've got ten inspiring challenges that will roll out over the next three days, plus trivia quizzes, chats and more. Be sure to visit the Paper Anthology Facebook Page for all the details. This challenge might be self-explanatory, as the name implies, we'd like to see gift card holders. With the holiday season approaching, we'll all need at least a few of these ubiquitous items, and frankly the store-bought variety are just too expensive and not cute enough, imo! (PS: your holder need not be seasonal; any theme from wedding to birthday to all-occasion is fine!)


There are lots of dies and templates for making clever gift card holders with pop-ups, fun shapes and other cool interactive features. But sometimes we need something FAST and the ones I've made (basically just a small card with a built-in pocket) require only a 7.5 x 4.5" piece of double-sided patterned paper, a coordinating 7.25 x 1.5" strip, a scoring tool and a few embellishments. 


To make the folder, score your 7.5 x 4.5" paper at the 1.5" mark (of the long edge) and again at the 4.5" mark. 


Fold on both score lines and place a very thin line of dry adhesive (I've used 1/8" Scor-Tape) at the very edges of the 1.5" flap, to create the pocket. Of course you can move on to embellishing at this stage, and hold the little folder closed with ribbon, velcro, or a magnet closure. But I chose to make a little slide from a scrap of coordinating paper.


To make the slide-off band, score your 7.25 x 1.5" paper on the long side at the 1" point and again at the 4 + 1/8" point... yes... that makes the space inside your slide 1/*" larger than your gift card folder... which is why you can slide it on and off without tearing or getting stuck. 


Figure out where your overlap is going to be and add your adhesive there only. Slide it onto the folder and you are good to go!


Once you've got the folder and slide made, you can embellish it in any way you like. Though I suggest keeping whatever you add to the front of the folder quite flat, and making sure the decorations on the band are adhered securely. I stamped and colored four adorable Lawn Fawn Critters, stamped matching sentiments on four diecut Tiny Tags and accessorized with some diecut trees and snowflakes. 


I hope you'll be inspired to make your own version of this very easy and flexible gift card folder! Don't forget to join us on the Paper Anthology Facebook Page for challenges and other fun stuff all weekend long!

Snow Far, Snow Good

We're still celebrating snow in all its forms at Jingle Belles and you're still invited to join the fun! This week I've invited a sweet little Doodlebug snowman to the party:


The background snowstorm is an older Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card stamp which I had inked imperfectly, but I still loved the colors so I saved it thinking "this could work for... something...?" and suddenly when I saw it again I knew THIS was the "something"! I layered an ancient piece of KI Memories Snowflake Lace Paper on top and it kind of blended in too well, so I outlined around it with a purpley-blue Prismacolor pencil. I don't think Core'dinations makes that woven-effect cardstock any more (which is a bit of a pity, imo) but I still have a few scraps left and this one was perfect both for framing my Lawn Fawn sentiment and the snowy panel, as well.

Be sure to visit Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card and link up your own Snowy masterpiece!