Monday, September 16, 2024

Diamonds (& Speckles) Are a Mandala's Best Friend

It's a 6x6... (plus a little bit extra!) ...Mandala Monday in my Dina Wakley Kraft Journal, with Letter It Fineliners laying down the basic shapes; a combination of inks, markers and paint pens adding color; and a finishing touch of splattered White Gloss Spray.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead! ♥

Saturday, September 14, 2024

New Kit: Happy Haunting


With Halloween on it's way, Paper Anthology Design has put the focus on hocus pocus! It's not just WITCH-ful thinking, our newest Class in a Kit, Happy Haunting, really is creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky; not to mention cute as can be, and thus these cards are suitable for sending to boys and ghouls of all ages. The designs are built around some of our favorite seasonal stamps and dies from Impression Obsession, Lawn Fawn, Hero Arts and more; but here's the best part: ALL of the diecuts have been pre-cut for you; and all of the sentiments pre-stamped! You get to skip right to the FUN parts: arranging, assembling and attaching all the elements into some of the fastest (and cutest!) Halloween cards ever.

This kit has everything you need… (except adhesives and optional ink for edging) including LOTS of googley eyes! …to create all three A2 cards as pictured, as well as step-by-step instructions and a nice big color photo to help with placement. It's all treats and no tricks. Click THIS LINK (or ANY of the bolded text in this post!) to go directly to the Happy Haunting product page in our Etsy Shop, Paper Anthology Design.

Friday, September 13, 2024

JB2419-Ho Ha Ha!

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're asking you to create Humorous Holiday Cards; they can be funny, punny, snarky or silly but make sure they induce a smile, a chuckle or a laugh. 

Here's my card:

Something I only tend to realize when a humor challenge arrives is that I don't have a vast quantity of funny stamps, especially holiday-themed; I'm not sure HOW this is possible, but there ya go! As I was considering what to do, I found this TINY (1" square) HUMBUG stamp which I think has to be 20+ years old and I wondered if I could make it into a full-sized A2 card. And it turns out, YES, though it's definitely a bit more pared down than my usual style. A little matted diecut frame, some foam Thickers, a few patterned paper panels in appropriately coordinating "Humbug Green" et voila!

Hop over to Jingle Belles to see what Stephanie has created and start planning your own smile-worthy card to link up with us. JB2419 Ho Ha Ha will run until the evening of Wednesday, September 25th.  

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Unsuccessful Chameleon?

Eyelet Outlet Reptile Brads feature both chameleons and geckos, and it would be a shame if one COULDN'T see them, since they're very handsome indeed. This chameleon is proud to be the star of a "Dad Joke" style card; he's joined by a Tall Palm Brad, and backed up with Grass TapeWood Washi and Wide Cactus and Flamingo Tape.


Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store where there are creatures and critters galore!

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

SOS530: Don't Really Need Another...

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash it's time for True Confessions from the Design Team and maybe (if you dare!) from you? We're owning up to the stash items we can never resist, even when our current supply is (arguably) more than sufficient. 

I'll go first: I confess that I am AWASH in washi tape... but I have NO regrets whatsoever on this point!

When it comes to washi and deco tape, I'm in what our late great SOS DT member Leslie Hanna used to call a "S.A.B.L.E." situation; by which she meant, "Supplies Available Beyond Life Expectancy"! I've used twenty-nine (29!) different varieties on this card and I've barely scratched the surface of my collection. I've also used a bunch of paper flowers and enamel dots. It's possible that my stash in both of those categories could also have been used as my True Confession, but neither is quite as gargantuan as the washi cache, so we'll just leave it there.

Head over to SOS to see what the Crew have made and read their shocking True Confessions; then start thinking about what you might conceivably have too much of... and how you could use a bit of it to make a card you link up with us. SOS530: Don't Really Need Another runs until Monday evening, September 23rd.

PS: In case you're wondering, the trick to diecutting washi-covered shapes with NO fear at all about curling or un-stuck ends is to use a piece of cardstock covered with edge-to-edge adhesive. I like to Xyron a piece of cardstock but you can also use double-sided adhesive sheets or rolls. Then just line your tapes up neatly, burnish them a bit, and diecut like you're using patterned paper!

Monday, September 9, 2024

MM37

It's a splishy splashy Mandala Monday featuring some of my favorite shades of Tombow Dual Brush Pens with linework by Ranger's Letter It Fineliners and a few Posca Paint Pen details in white.

Friday, September 6, 2024

CASE-ing Christmas, Week 2

This week at Jingle Belles, we're still asking you to CASE (Copy And Selectively Edit) any of the cards that Stephanie or I have made for any of the previous Jingle Belles prompts (yep, you've got 13 1/2 years of cards to choose from!). Be sure to link to the card that inspired you and tell us the selective edits you made to the design. Here's my inspiration... scroll down to see my version!


This week I was inspired by Stephanie's Neutral Noel collage card from June of 2021 (above) I swapped the cool "found relatives" style photo for a scanned and re-sized vintage postcard of appropriate colors that is portrait rather than landscape-shaped; and of course my collage and vintage bits are different, but I kept to the footprint of the original card and made sure to include some sheet music, some softly patterned paper, a small piece of transparency, and... my favorite... that cool wrap of twine!

Visit Jingle Belles to see ALL of the cards we've made over the last thirteen seasons, choose one you like, make your own version and link it on the original post, Love's Labor Day Lost! This prompt runs until next Wednesday evening, 9/11/24.

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Back to School

Here in the USA, many kiddos will be heading back to school this week, so here's a timely greeting featuring just a few of our Eyelet Outlet school-themed items, including: a School Bus Brad, Book Brads, an Apple Brad, Leaf Brads, Computer & Headphones Brads, Eye Glass Brads, a Ladybug Brad, Calendar Tape, Days of the Week Tape and Tape Measure Washi.

 

Even if you're NOT heading back to class this week, this is a great time to treat yourself to a few school-themed supplies in the Eyelet Outlet Online Store!

Monday, September 2, 2024

Labor Day Mandala Monday

In honor of back-to-school week, this Mandala Monday is brought to you by a fab set of Faber Castell highlighters that I had somehow managed to forget I had; which is a pity because they're such beautiful, vivid colors! (No unicorn clicky pens were harmed... or indeed used... in the making of this mandala, but being such perfectly matching shades, it had to be featured in the photo, right?!)