Cruisin' in to Your Birthday...

...In Style! And it doesn't get much more stylish than Eyelet Outlet Classic Car Brads, paired with beautiful wide Map Tape, and accents of Tire Track, Road Washi and Skinny Glitter Tape. There's also a Compass Brad to guide our travels and it's all held on with EO Screw Brads.

The Eyelet Outlet Online Store has all of the brads, bling, pearls, enamels, flowers, eyelets and washi tape you could possibly imagine; but so does the Eyelet Outlet Booth; check out the Tradeshow Schedule to find out when we're coming to your town! 

Spotted: STRIPES!

It's possibly the boldest EVER Mandala Monday, as I have tried out a coloring technique I saw on Instagram: instead of filling each shape with a solid color, I've used stripes of pink, yellow/orange, green, blue and purple. This post should probably come with a free pair of sunglasses, but until I figure out how to swing that, you might just want to grab your own eyewear, or poke a hole in a piece of paper and view it like a solar eclipse! ;)

Tombow Dual Brush Pens and Ranger Letter It Fineliners in my Canson sketchbook

Spring Lawn Fawn Tags

It's definitely a good week when I can sneak in a bit of coloring practice, especially when there are super-fun new(ish) Lawn Fawn stamps (and washi tape!!!) from Paper Anthology involved.

That hot air balloon from the Fly High set is A LOT of fun to color, I tell ya! The Elephant Parade Stamps and Dies sold out FAST, but will be back in the store this week. I've used a bunch of different sets for the sentiment combos, including Gnome Sweet Gnome and some of the characters from Car Critters (still possibly my all-time LF fave!) though I have to say that the chunky font in Everyday Offset Sayings is very appealing too. But that washi... HOW can anyone resist??!

Cardstock Christmas, Week 2

We're still eschewing patterned paper at Jingle Belles, and celebrating Cardstock Christmas! This week I've used one of my favorite "scrap-busting" techniques: cut them into strips of various size and arrange them in quilt-like patterns.

It's also quite an addictive process, so I'm not sure I've ever sat down and only made just ONE panel. In this case, I made a red and a green; then pressure embossed them (the green used Spellbinders' Forevergreen; the red features an older Sheena Douglass folder that seems to be OOP) and added a little sanding and Unicorn Ink to emphasize the texture. Large fabric flowers, ancient ribbon and brads, bold cardstock mats and machine stitching complete the design(s).

Cardstock Christmas continues at Jingle Belles until 6pm next Wednesday night (3/22/23) so there's plenty of time for you to join the fun!

Having a Ruff Day?

If so, Eyelet Outlet Puppy Brads are guaranteed to cheer you right up! Here they've made a happy home on a pair of preprinted wordart journal cards, along with the supper bowls from our Kennel Mix, some Paw Brads, Heart Brads, and a background of adorable Paw Washi! Anodized Quicklet Eyelets add a little extra touch to the corners and (surprise!) Quicklets don't even need a setter... you can use a pen to attach them!

Not a dog person? We've also got Felines, Reptiles, Tropical Birds, Horses, Farm Animals, Jungle Critters, Fish; not to mention Lions, Tigers and Bears... plus lots more! It's a pretty safe bet you'll find your favorite pet at Eyelet Outlet!

SOS492: Somewhere Over the RAINBOW

If you've already guessed* that the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to add rainbows to your creation OR use the rainbow color palette in your design, then well done; I'll skip right to my cards:

As I may have mentioned before, I have a lot (srsly A LOT!!!) of washi tape and I enjoy playing with it, so for this challenge I made a few panels of rainbow tape strips and made them the catalyst for the rest of the design. 

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I also have a lot of patterned paper scraps, which I save especially for diecutting, so I decided to use my ancient Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Butterfly dies to create a flutter of butterflies (...according to Mr. Google, a group of butterflies is either a Flutter or a Kaleidoscope; the latter seems more predominant but the former is so much easier to spell...) which I've attached with small Eyelet Outlet 1/8" Round Brads in rainbow colors.

As you can see, I got a little carried away with the tape panels and butterflies, so I wound up making not one, not two, but three A-6 sized cards. I've left off sentiments for now, so that these can be used for pretty much any occasion, whenever I need them.

I bet you have "too much" of something that's a bit older, but still beloved in your cardmaking stash. Why not re-discover it, color it appropriately, and join our "Somewhere Over the RAINBOW" challenge at SOS, which runs through Monday, March 27th. In the meantime, hop over to see the gorgeous cards the DT have made to inspire you!

*If you had NOT already guessed that the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to add rainbows to your creation OR use the rainbow color palette in your design, then SURPRISE! Because that is, in fact, the brief this fortnight. :)

MM11

It's a flashy, splashy, watercolor Mandala Monday featuring the brightest, warmest colors in my repertoire, in an attempt to ward off any additional snow. (You're welcome!) 

I used my Tombow Dual Brush Pens to outline each series of shapes, then "pulled" the color inwards with a waterbrush. At the end, I flicked water all over the piece and used a paper towel to lift off little splotches of color. 

A (Daisy) Heart-felt Gift!

Papercrafting is, of course, my favorite creative pursuit, but it's not something you can do in a waiting room, or riding in the car, so my "portable" sub-craft involves yarn. I can knit and crochet, though in the last few years I've done more of the latter. This sweet little purse is a birthday present I made for one of our grandnieces and I think it turned out nearly as cuuuuuute as she is!

This adorable Daisy Heart Granny Purse Crochet Pattern is free from Daisy Cottage Designs and she has lots more patterns for all kinds of projects. I changed the strap slightly and used Vanna's Choice Yarn from Lion Brand.

JB2306: Cardstock Christmas

It's time for a brand new prompt at Jingle Belles and this one (imo!) is a bit challenging! For "Cardstock Christmas" we're asking you to step away from commercial patterned paper and create with CARDSTOCK; of course you can stamp it, emboss it, paint it, diecut it, glitter it, tear it and do pretty much anything else you can think of, so put your thinking cap on and join the fun!

At first glance, you may think I've cheated and used a cloudy patterned paper, but no... it's Avery Elle's Cloud Mat Die, on which I've used the "inset" diecutting technique. I cut the background from a rich colonial blue cardstock, the clouds from bright white and the frame from a pebbly texture of lime green. I used an older Memory Box pine tree with an appropriately deep green cardstock, and Tim Holtz's "Reindeer Flight" on copper glitter cardstock. The snowflake is Impression Obsession and cut from ivory shimmer cardstock, held on with an Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brad. The sentiment flag is from Making Memories, I think, which gives you an idea of juuuussssst how many years that thing has been lurking in my stash, lol!

"Cardstock Christmas" runs through March 22nd. Stephanie and I would love for you to join the fun at Jingle Belles!

Wendy Vecchi Clover All Over Card

I'm up on the Ranger Project Page, going green the week before St. Patrick's Day, with Wendy Vecchi's MAKE ART Stamps, Stencils, Dies, Chippies and (of course!) Archival Inks. I'd love for you to hop over and read all about it!

KOALA-tee Reading Time

Here is my* ideal day off scenario, in card form: I'm reading, surrounded by books, with a friend or two for company! In this case the books are Eyelet Outlet Book Brads and Book Tape, the friends are a Koala Brad and a Mini Ladybug, there's a Telephone Brad in case I feel like chatting, and some Rose Brads for extra color and inspiration. I've also used Wood Washi to construct the bookshelves and Text Tape as a background.

The stamped elements are from Avery Elle's "Feels Like Home- Add On" stamps and dies, which I acquired at Paper Anthology; I've colored them with Tombow Dualbrush Pens (also from Paper Anthology!) and shaded with Prismacolor Pencils.

What does YOUR ideal day off look like? Because whatever it is, I bet Eyelet Outlet has brad and tape styles that would help you recreate it in card form!

*Technically, I am NOT a Koala Bear (I don't even like eucalyptus!) but otherwise, this is a fairly accurate representation, lol!

SOS491: Week Two

We're still looking forward to Spring at Shopping Our Stash with the challenge, "Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere" so here's another card I made to celebrate:

Having become somewhat obsessed with the combination of collaged vintage paper and patterned paper motifs, I made another (appropriately floral!) version, this time using an ancient SEI paper with vertical chains of blossoms. I layered them with torn and inked English and Chinese text, plus part of an index that had an interesting typeface. I matted on some Basic Grey "Out of Print" plaid, sewed around the perimeter and scattered some coordinating Eyelet Outlet Round Sequins about for a little sparkle.

"Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere" runs at SOS until next Monday evening, March 13th and we'd love for you to join us!

MM10: Sketchbook Play

It's a fanciful, fractured Mandala Monday, for which I chose the shapes (and later the colors) quite randomly, then tried to tie them together in a way that made sense. Or was, at least, vaguely harmonious? I think I miiiiiight have done slightly better with the "random" aspect than the "harmony"... but all of it was FUN which is the main thing, right? Hope your week will be full of pleasant surprises and unexpected inspiration!

Tombow Dual Brush and Pitt Artist Pens in my Canson Mixed Media Sketchbook

Tag! You're It!

Coloring (somewhat realistically; with shading, etc) is not my BEST thing and probably won't ever be but... practicing definitely helps and (me being me) each time I improve a bit I enjoy it more, which makes me want to do it more, which helps me improve. It's like the reverse of a vicious circle... what would we call that?* A virtuous circle? A benevolent circle?? Well, whatever, it helps!

At Paper Anthology, Elisabeth and I have been making Thank You tags to put inside online orders, which turns out to be an excellent excuse to break out pretty much ANY stamp or die set we feel like using. In this case that was, for the bears, Lawn Fawn's Den Sweet Den and Avery Elle's Feels Like Home Add Ons. As usual, my favorite way to do this kind of coloring is to "basecoat" all of the elements with Tombow Dualbrush Pens, then add shading and detail with Prismacolor pencils.

*While trying to work out what the opposite of a vicious circle would be, I Googled the phase, "Vicious Antonyms" which I think would be an awesome name for a band. If you have a band, and you're looking for a name, please feel free to use it!

I Can See CLEARLY...

We're heading in to the second week of our Jingle Belles transparent element challenge, "It Came Upon a Midnight CLEAR" and once again, I've de-hoarded an ancient Hambly Transparency, this time as a base for a cluster of vintage postage, stickers and other xmassy odds and ends:

In the past, when I've posted cards built upon a clear base, the two big questions I get asked are, "HOW to you attach things?" and "Can you see the adhesive on the inside/back of card?" The answers to these are, respectively, I use the clearest available adhesive for the job, depending on what I'm attaching; and as long as it looks NEAT from the other side, I don't get too worried about it not being 100% invisible. In this case, the stickers took care of themselves and they look beautiful from the other side. For the vintage postage stamps, I used gluestick, which is likewise invisible. For the patterned paper circles I used Scor-Tape and Foam Tape, cut neatly into squares, and yeah... if you realllllllllllllly look carefully on the inside you can sort of see those, but... I'm not very bothered by it. The third question in this realm is, "How do you add a sentiment or signature?" The answer to that is I put a diecut label shape on the inside, placed in such a way that it enhances the design on the outside. I will try to put my writing behind the stickers, and I'll write a little smaller and neater than usual, but again... I'm not going to stress if it's slightly visible.

Some additional attachers for clear cards include: brads, staples, the special "invisible" gluedots or photo corners they make for using with vellum and... maybe my favorite... machine or hand stitching! If you want to short circuit ALL of these concerns, you can build a card where only a central window is made of clear acrylic; OR you can make it so that only a border of the acrylic shows. Hope that has given you a few ideas, and I'm happy to answer questions in the comments or via email!

Remember, you do not need to make a card that's entirely clear for this challenge, you just need to add a clear element... so shaker windows, vellum panels, vellum stickers, lucite or plastic elements, etc; are all fair game! Make sure to check out the reader's gallery on the Midnight Clear post at Jingle Belles to see what Stephanie has made and also how the other participants have interpreted the idea of "CLEAR"!

Hi (and Hi Again!)

I am still slightly obsessed with Eyelet Outlet's huge selection of Pearl and Jewel Brads, which come in pretty much every size, color and style you can imagine. This week I've used them on two all-occasion cards that also feature EO Flower Petal and Multicolor Dot Washi Tapes:

I built the first of these cards on top of a polka-dot transparency, so that the blooms I backed with cardstock and cut out of the Flower Petal Tape would appear to drift down the card, held on only by a variety of Pearl and Jewel Brads, ranging from tiny 5mm size to substantial 12mm. There are two strips of Multicolor Dot Tape wrapped around the front of the card and a small strip of cardstock inside, to hold a greeting and signature.

For the second card, I used one of my favorite diecutting tricks, which is to keep an entire set of alphabet dies intact, and use the negative space, after the letters are cut out, to use as a background. When the letters H and I happen to be next to each other, this makes an instant greeting! This time I used only 5mm Purple Pearl Brads (they come in five other shades!) with silver bezels to attach the Flower Petals.

Remember that ALL Eyelet Outlet Pearl and Jewel Brads are currently on sale; so I'm pretty sure you'll want to collect an assortment of styles, too!

Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere!

You may well have already guessed that Challenge #491 at Shopping Our Stash has a floral theme, which is handy because it saves me explaining and thus I can get right to my cards:

Not only is nearly everything on both of these cards about ten years old, I have cut into my LAST piece of Basic Grey "Marzipan" paper (with the roses) which I have hoarded with Golem-like intensity for about a decade, lol. It kind of helps that I have pretty much used it one flower at a time... it's not that I didn't like the soft purple background, I just always think the roses look cool in a collage, so that's what I made.

The first card features three roses that were at the edges of the page, so I went with that. I've put them at the edge of a collage of torn vintage paper topped with Pavilio's gorgeous White Lace Tape (a leftover from The Ink Pad) with a little bit of Spun Sugar Distress Oxide added on using the tape as a resist. The background mat is from BG's Out of Print collection (now even more aptly named, alas). The sequins are from Fun Stamper's Journey and leftover from a class at Paper Anthology.

The second card has just one freestanding rose, layered over another vintage collage. This one's topped with super-cool translucent postage stickers that my craft bestie, Stephanie, gifted me; they're Matchbox Stickers from an asian company called Candy Poetry and I adore them. The round white sequins are from Eyelet Outlet and probably the only thing on either card that you could still purchase, lol!

Be sure to visit SOS to see what the rest of the Crew have come up with, then start planning your own card for, "Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere"!

Best Fishes for a Fabulous Week

It's a funky, fishy Mandala Monday. Inspired by a great Collage Social at Second State Press with my neighbor Deb and her daughter Heather on Sunday afternoon, I came home and made another collaged library card for Mandala Monday. With fish... obviously... 

And here's a mid-collage action shot. Many thanks to our hostess, Heather Steckler for snapping and sharing photos; I've never seen myself collaging before!

Here are a few more backgrounds I made during the event; I think in the photo above I'm working on the one with all the Green Stamps.

It Came Upon a Midnight CLEAR

This fortnight at Jingle Belles we're celebrating one of my favorite types of cardmaking product: CLEAR/see-through elements, like transparencies, vellum, acetate, glass, lucite... you get the idea, right? You definitely don't have to build a card on an ancient Hambly transparency or add a shaker window, but you can... and I have! 

Right off the bat I should probably mention that nearly everything on this card is ANCIENT and unavailable, though I did find the adorable Pretty Pink Posh critters, whose stamp set is called Holiday Pals, at Buffalo Stamps and Stuff. That just happens to be the place where my friend Elisabeth from Paper Anthology got hooked on stamping; so if you live anywhere near Buffalo, NY, you should probably check it out. I've colored the Pals (plus trees from the same set) with Tombows from Paper Anthology and built a shaker window on top of the card by diecutting that Nesties frame half a dozen times and stacking them up with a snowy Hunkydory Crafts Acetate Sheet holding in a mix of Eyelet Outlet Snowflake and Round Sequins. Oh and there are a few styles of truly elderly washi and decotape, including some from Heidi Swapp, who anticipated the tape craze by like ten years; in much the same way that she was doing fabulous stylized brush lettering way before that was A Thing. We owe much to Heidi! 

The Midnight CLEAR challenge will run at Jingle Belles until Wednesday evening, March 8th. Head over to see Stephanie's card and start planning what you'll link up with us this fortnight!

EGG-stravaganza!

Do you know how many styles there are of Eyelet Outlet Pearl and Jewel Brads? Ok, as a matter of fact, I don't know either, but it's A LOT! They range from quite small (5.5mm) to extra large (16mm) though the biggest one shown here is the 10mm Soft Pink Pearl Brad attaching a few Paper Flowers on the medium sized egg. Meanwhile, many styles are available in both silver and gold bezels; there are smooth and bumpy styles; some have fancy edges... and by the time you factor in all of the different colors, there are literally hundreds of variations! But the most important thing for you to know about EO Pearl and Jewel Brads is that they are ALL on sale for just .75c a pack!!! The second most important thing for you to know is that they are all beautiful and useful. In this case, I've decorated Easter eggs with them:

As you can see, we also have quite a few styles of Sticky-Back Bling, as well. On this card and tag we see individual Pearls (there are Jewels as well), Bling and Pearl Strips, and several styles of Fancy Long Bling, and I've hardly scratched the surface of what is listed under "Bling and Sequins" in the EO Store. By the way, there are also FOUR styles of Eyelet Outlet Washi on this card: Bunny Tape, Chevron, Rainbow Dot Washi and my current fave: a wide, rainbow blossom-bedecked style called Flower Petal Tape, from which I have cut out individual flowers and added them with Pearl Brads to the largest egg. Of course they work for lots of other occasions besides Easter, so you should probably head over to the Eyelet Outlet Shop and browse around for a bit!

Back to B (Again!)

We're still celebrating our 490th challenge at Shopping Our Stash and as you may remember from last week, the theme is "Starts with B" and could encompass any image, product or technique which starts with that letter. I made a card I really loved, but... as often happens to me... I tried several versions of stamps and diecuts before settling on my faves, so there were leftovers. Enough, in fact, to make TWO more cards!

Once again I've used butterflies, brads and the color blue to make beautiful, blossom-bedecked bonus birthday cards with interesting backgrounds. Once again the butterfly die is ancient Tim Holtz/Sizzix; and the texty stamps are equally old Glitz Design. My Poppy Stamps whimsical Happy Birthday die is pretty new; the brads are older Doodlebug and the backgrounds in question are (on the left): sheet music with the offcuts from trimming last week's card; and (on the right): a digital collage I made in Photoshop Elements using blending layers to combine photos of a tiled wall, chunky knitting and a macro hibiscus flower.

There's still time for you to join us in celebrating SOS490, so I hope you'll start thinking about items from YOUR stash which "Start with B". Hop over to Shopping Our Stash and see what the crew have made to inspire you!

MM008: Soft and Scribbley

This one is what I believe Tammy Garcia would call a, "Free-Range, Organic Mandala Monday". No rulers, no circle tools and no erasers were employed; just scribbled Pitt Pen outlines filled in with messy Tombow coloring and topped off with a few random patterns. Super-relaxing pre-bedtime activity. Happy Presidents' Day!

Are We There Yet?*

Rev up your engine and race to join me at Paper Anthology this March, for a brand new, fun-fueled FIVE Car(d) Class featuring Honey Bee’s Car Show Stamps and Dies, called (as you may have guessed) "Are We There Yet?" 

We’ll color the cars, add them to simple collages of pre-cut map and patterned paper shapes, add washi tape, then construct the easiest ever presentation folder (seriously, it’s two score lines and one cut!) to hold them. 

The only problem will be deciding whether to send the cards to five different friends… give them as a set to one special person, or… keep them for ourselves! 

Cruise on over to the Paper Anthology Blog for details and dates available!

♥♥♥♥♥

*When I was working on this class, I was mentally using the title, "VROOM with a View"; luckily Elisabeth talked me down, lol! :) 

Peace. Love. Joy. (& Embossing!)

It's week two of our Embossing Challenge at Jingle Belles and this week I've brought in all the possiblilities. By which I mean pressure embossing (via Taylored Expressions' Rosy Posey e/f); heat embossing (thanks to Ranger's Vintage Pearl Powder) and I've even got some pre-embossed paper (again Ranger... I love their Cracked Leather Cardstock!) and the results look a bit like this:

I used the Vintage Pearl Embossing Powder with the pretty poinsettia from Wendy Vecchi's Doodle Christmas Stamp Set, then "painted" the flowers using Pink Peony and Viridian Archival Inks and a waterbrush full of rubbing alcohol. I used the embossing folder on pale pink cardstock, then used a dauber loaded with Pink Peony to make the texture stand out a bit more. I traced a heart from Wendy Vecchi's Bases and Frames Chippies set onto the Cracked Leather Paper, then covered it with Rosey Posey Archival and lightly flicked it with Pearl Mica Spray. The sentiment was cut from an ancient journal card, the felt snowflakes are trimmings from a big box store and I've scattered some Eyelet Outlet Clear Bling around for extra sparkle.

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is also embossing-centric, so, like me, you can make one card and use it for both challenges!

Don't forget that there's a fun little embossing-related prize this fortnight, for one lucky random cardmaker who links up with us. So head on over to Jingle Belles where you can also see Stephanie's beautiful card.

Vitamin SEA

The third of our brand new Eyelet Outlet brad styles, arriving in the EO Store later this week, are Cruise Brads, featuring lovely large boats, plus colorful red and white life preservers. Here they're set on a background of Ocean Washi, with a small accent of tiny Pearl Brads (which just happen to be on sale!):

Cruise Brads pair perfectly with our other nautical (but nice!) brads, including Sailboat and Lighthouse Brads (the Lighthouses are included here); Ship Wheel Brads, Anchors, Red, White and Blue Stars; not to mention Fish and Fishing Poles; as well as beachy things like Shells and lots more... all available now in  the EO Store; the new Cruise, Rose and Cactus Brads will be there shortly!

B is For...

Wouldja believe it's our 490th challenge at Shopping Our Stash?! I didn't join the team until a year or so in, but nevertheless, I love the way we're celebrating: We went back and looked at what we did for our 49th challenge, and it was "Starts with B" and could encompass any image, product or technique which starts with that letter. So for SOS490, we're going BACK to B; which could include plenty of cool things, including (in my case) Blue, (ink) Blending, Beautiful Blossoms, Butterflies, Brads, Birthday (card), Blush (there's some pink in there!)... ok, you get it, right? Find something(s) that start with B and use 'em in your card!

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should confess that I didn't just make the cool ink-blended panel with the stamped collage on top; I actually found it in a box where I keep hand-painted, ink-blended and gel-printed papers. I'm not positive WHEN I made this or WHY I didn't make it into a card at that time, but... when I saw it, I was excited because it's exactly right for my eldest goddaughter's birthday, woohoo! I diecut and stamped the butterflies (the die is ancient Tim Holtz/Sizzix; the texty stamp is equally old Glitz Design) inked them with Wendy Vecchi's Night Sky Archival and attached them with brads of indeterminate origin. The Poppy Stamps whimsical Happy Birthday die is pretty new. I diecut four or five different coordinating colors of sentiment and butterflies before realizing that, on this background, I really needed some white, so in the end I went with a scrap of watercolor paper which happened to be on my work table.

I'd love for you to join us in celebrating SOS490, so I hope you'll start thinking about items from YOUR stash which "Start with B". If you need more inspiration, there's LOTS to be found from the design team... you should probably hop over to Shopping Our Stash and see those right now!

A Very HEART-y Mandala Monday

Practicing shading with my Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils from Ranger. I love that if you start out fairly dark at the edges and pull the color inwards, this method basically does both shading and outlining for you! I was debating what additional details to add when I spotted half a jar of pink sequins on my worktable; I dumped a few onto the page with the intention of arranging them neatly around the edge, but then I thought, "Nope, I like them scattered" so I just grabbed the adhesive and stuck them on. This mandala created in my Dina Wakley Media Blue Journal which has denim and burlap pages as well as the sturdiest and most wonderful DWM Heavyweight Watercolor Paper, which is truly luxurious to work upon.

My Sweet Embossable You

It's time for another new prompt at Jingle Belles and also for the brand new February Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit at Paper Anthology. This time (as you may have guessed from the title) we're embracing EMBOSSING... either via stamps and powders, or my particular favorite, embossing folders!

I used Sunny Studio's Cable Knit Embossing Folder on some older peacock blue Tim Holtz Kraft Core cardstock, then softly sanded the design to create even more visual interest. The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions' Flip the Snowflake stamp set, stamped on light kraft in Wendy Vecchi's Night Sky Archival Ink. The diecuts are Impression Obsession Primitive Snowflakes Die Set and the whole thing is set atop a lovely dark Grocer's Kraft A2 card. 

February's Holiday Jumpstart Kit: Warm Winter Wishes is now available in-store (and YES, it's there right now!) and online at Paper Anthology.

The "My Sweet Embossable You" challenge at Jingle Belles will run until Wednesday evening, February 22nd. Hop over to read all about it, see Stephanie's beautiful embossed card and get a look at the fun little prize one random cardmaker will score, just for linking up with us this fortnight!

Totally Tangential PS: When heading to the Paper Anthology Website to grab links, I accidentally hit the enter key a bit fast and stumbled upon a surprising variety of Paper ANTS! I've linked the phrase in case that would be of use to anyone, lol...

Wendy Vecchi Floral Valentine

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so I'm getting extra inky using Wendy Vecchi's Flower Pot and Let's Shop Stamp, Die and Stencil Sets with a rainbow of pink and orange Archival Inks on a variety of Ranger specialty paper styles, to create a floral celebration perfect for any loved one. I hope you'll head over to the Ranger Project Page and read all about it!

Make a Wish

If you wished for some brand new Eyelet Outlet Brads in the next couple of weeks, then you're in luck because we have some beauties coming out, including these gorgeous Rose Brads!

Rose Brads would be a beautiful addition to just about any card, tag or journal page; they'd be lovely in a vase, climbing up a fence or pretty much ANYWHERE you'd care to place them, but I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with how they look on top of the cake from Wendy Vecchi's Doodle Celebration Stamp Set! I've also used the "Make a Wish" sentiment from Wendy's Birthday Bash Stamp, Die and Stencil Set, and four gorgeous Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape Styles: Pink Checked, Green Pattern Tape, Wood Washi and Heart Tape from our Valentine Washi Set. I've also framed up my little tableau with some Green Pearl Strips and added a Candle Brad to boot. 

Stay tuned to the Eyelet Outlet Blog to see how our amazing Design Team are using all of the fabulous new brads, coming mid-month to the Eyelet Outlet Store!

Distinctly Doodle-y Mandala Monday

The other night I came across this circle adorned with curvy slices of five patterned papers... each enhanced with my own pen doodles... in my box of odds and ends to use later. I have no recollection of assembling it (and, for that matter, no idea why I didn't use it after assembly?) but there it was, and I thought it would make a nice center for a mandala. I added a few layers of petals around the edge, colored them to match the patterned papers, and even added a few clouds, stripes and dots to coordinate. Definitely a more unusual mandala design, but I like it!

Stuck on Stickers

We're still celebrating stickers at Jingle Belles, a pursuit I could happily do every single week, since stickers have been one of my favorite things to collect (and craft with!) since childhood.

This time I've got some beautiful small stickers based on vintage postcards, which came from an older Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Sticker Book, as well as a nearly new Photoplay sticker sentiment, and some puffy holly-shaped Thickers. All of these are layered on top of Prima graphed patterned paper, some torn sheet music, and strip of White Lace Tape, as well as a few solid mats that pick up various colors in the design.

Our "Stuck on You" sticker challenge runs at Jingle Belles through next Wednesday evening, February 8th, so you have plenty of time to join the fun. First, though, head on over to see what Stephanie has made this week!

On Point with NEW Brads!

Later this month there are some fabulous new brad styles coming to Eyelet Outlet, so here's a little sneak peek at our Cactus Brads. They are wonderful all on their own, but even better when paired with Cactus Tape, Brick Washi and Wood Tape to make a little scene, filled in with the cactus and sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Year Ten Mini Stamp Set. There's also a yellow lily from our Frog Brad Set, a small red Heart and a Mini Ladybug Brad getting in on the action.

Stay tuned for previews of these adorable Cactus Brads from the other Design Team members, as well as two additional styles coming soon to the Eyelet Outlet Store!