SOS538: Shining Star

It's the last challenge of the year at Shopping Our Stash, so let's celebrate like the SUPERSTARS we are! By which I mean... make something with stars on it! 

Label shapes and stars were the first sets of nested dies I ever purchased and I still use them quite a bit. The stars in the photo are a newer set of Hero Infinity Dies; but the originals have been passed along to a fellow crafter, so they're still in use! For this card I made radiating panels of Xyroned cardstock and colorful rainbow paper scraps, then I diecut them and matted each one on the next size of star in the set. I scattered a few Eyelet Outlet Star Brads around and unearthed a truly ancient set of Heidi Swapp enamel sentiment stickers. All of which is set atop a cool 49 and Market patterned paper... the only item here which is newish... from sometime last year, I think.

Get a jump on 2025's birthday cards or make some starry thank you notes for all those awesome holiday gifts. Then link it at Shopping Our Stash. SOS538: Superstars runs until Monday evening, January 13th. 

Five Faves of 2024: Mandala Monday Edition

Here's a shocking true confession: A few years ago, when I first adopted the crafters' year-end trend of picking favorites from various categories, it was mostly as a way to generate "easy" posts at the busiest time of year. But honestly, something I love even better than that, is the chance to look back at what I've made all year and start thinking about what I want to try next! 

This being the last Mandala Monday of 2024, here are five faves, in more or less chronological order. Click the bolded text under each pic to go to the original posts; there's a link at the end to visit the entire strand.

MM06

Since 2024 was the Year of the Dragon (my Chinese Zodiac sign) I was happy to have hoarded some (admittedly ancient) papers from Pearl River Mart in NYC.

MM22

When in doubt, go RAINBOW is still my motto for choosing a color scheme and watercoloring with inks or markers is always a fun choice, so I had multiple versions of both to choose from; this is the one that leapt out at me from the Mandala folder.

MM29

Another two popular categories for me are collaged mandalas and index card mandalas made during ICAD. While making this, I stumbled upon both the 1960's "executive" illustration AND a vintage business card for someone called Marvin Mandel. The result was obviously inevitable. PS: In this pic is my #1 favorite mandala tool: the Helix Angle and Circle Maker, which Stephanie and I stumbled upon in a tiny sationery shop on New York's Upper East Side. (If NYC isn't local for you, the link will take you to Amazon, tho, where you can also buy one).

MM43

I made a few diecut mandalas this year and several of my favorites involved Wendy Vecchi's Garden Party and NOT Your Ordinary Card Collections from Spellbinders. This one uses the latter's Halloween Add-On and clearly the kitty has, fair and square, stolen the show!

MM38

Something I hadn't realized I had done several times over the course of the year is build a mandala around a diamond rather than a circle. This one features Dina Wakley Gloss Sprays AND my Dina Kraft Journal. The "stacked" triangle repeats are what took it over the top for me; the Archival Inks on kraft are also very fresh. I get asked about my go-to pens which are Ranger's Letter it Fineliners, one of which is in the photo.

♥♥♥

I hope I picked some of your favorites from 2024 but if not, you can cruise through the whole collection HERE. Then stay tuned for 2025's crop of brand new Mandalas, coming soon to a Monday near you!

Five Faves of 2024: Ranger Edition

I'm proud to have enough favorites from my posts for the Ranger Tutorials Page to make it difficult to choose! Having said that... it WAS difficult, lol! Click the bold text under each photo to get to the full tutorial on the Ranger Blog.

Liquid Pearls and Stickles Thank You Card

...much of the time I use Liquid Pearls dimensionally and Stickles more or less flat; but as a matter of fact, you can PAINT with LP's and make ridges with Stickles. 

(Also there's always just the right shade of Archival Ink to coordinate!)

Trading Hearts Layered Embossing Cards

...apart from the fact that I'm in love with the bears from Simon Hurley's Winter Woodland stamp set, my favorite thing about this project was the realization that I could emboss sequentially on each of the three layers of Simon's Dazzling Diamonds Layered Stencil Set. 

Archival Ink Mother's Day Card

...I had a plan going in but it morphed into something completely different and much, much, cooler...  which is always exciting. Dina's Pocket Circle Stamp Set was the pivot; Letter It's Family and Loves sets were crucial.

Stickles Glitter Gels Greeting Card

...here's a shocking true confession: this was my first time using Stickles Glitter Gels; I hadn't realized how much more dense the colors are, that they look fab on dark cardstock, or that each shade has a different combo of chunky glitter shapes. Needless to say I was immediately HOOKED!

Glossy Accents Shower Cards

...in this case the occasion (baby or bridal shower) and featured product (Glossy Accents) were suggested by Patti Behan, I love getting a "headstart" that way. Letter It's Shower Clear Stamp Set made it work.

BONUS PROJECT

(I did say it was hard to choose lol)

Liquid Pearls Celebration Cards

...have serious amounts of stenciling and use the fab Liquid Pearls in several different ways!

Five Faves of 2024: Wendy Vecchi Edition

This year we saw not one but two fantastic releases from Wendy Vecchi and Spellbinders (From the Garden and NOT Your Ordinary Card Collection) making it extra hard to choose just five projects, but... in no particular order... here goes!

This mandala card features nearly all the sets in the From the Garden collection. A favorite background (closeup below) was made with Wendy's Ranger Archival Inks and multiple repeats of the Garden Party Layered Stencil Set used WITHOUT the stamped outline. I used the Flowers and Foliage 3D Embossing Folder on the central circle, diecut the "petals" with dies from Heartfelt Thanks and Scallops; and tiny flowers from the Vintage Florals set.

The sweet kitty from the Halloween Add-On, is definitely one of the stars from NOT Your Ordinary Card Collection; the only problem is deciding what colors and accessories to use. The multicolor background was made with Wendy's Ranger Archivals and the Build-a-Plaid Layered Stencil Set, which is both useful and very, very fun! The sentiment is from the Pinking Edge Birthday Add On (plus extraneous diecut letters spelling "PURR"). 

This super-collagey ATC set has its own special pocket that I made with the Essential Envelops Die Set. The tuck-in tag uses two of the three frames in the Pinking Edge Birthday Add On; I love that the scale of the pinking is perfectly appropriate to each size of frame.

I could easily have done FIVE faves featuring the sweet kitty from the Halloween Add-On, but I restrained myself to just two... and two quite different ones, at that. This one actually IS Halloween themed; I love pink and orange (especially the Archivals from Wendy's Designer Series) so that's how I used the the Build-a-Plaid Layrered Stencil Set this time. Again I've used two of the three frames in the Pinking Edge Birthday Add On; this time WITH the largest frame from Garden Collection's Heartfelt Thanks and Scallops. I think they look exponentially even cooler when used together.

Yep, it's another mandala! This one involves probably 15 shades of Archival Ink and 6 or 7 older Studio 490 background stamps and stencils (some of which are available at SB!) paired with the large floral from the Garden Party set. With Petals out of Heartfelt Thanks and Scallops.

♥♥♥

Many thanks to Wendy for designing some of my favorite products of 2024. By the way, if you're a WV fan and you don't watch her Tip Tuesday videos on Instagram and check out the Make Art with Wendy Vecchi group on FaceBook, you are really missing out!!!

Merry Christmas

Wishing the happiest of holidays to everyone who is celebrating today!

♥♥♥ 

Five Faves of 2024: Eyelet Outlet Edition

It's time to pick my (Lauren's) five favorite cards of 2024 featuring fabulous Eyelet Outlet Brads, Tapes and Bling; so here they are, in no particular order. Click the bolded italic text in each description to visit the original posts, which contain all the details and direct links you need!

I've made A LOT of cards with Book Tape + Book Brads and loved them all; but Books, Cats from August is currently my favorite!

Unicorn Sanity might be the silliest EO card I've ever made (ok, possibly tied with last year's Put My Foot Down, lol) but I couldn't resist... and I love how it came out.

I saw the idea for One Door Closes on one of the humorous "Sign Guys" social media sites and instantly thought, "I have the PERFECT brads and tapes for that!!!" :)

Despite being quite recent, this Angelic card from the beginning of December had to make the list!

Another card made from a funny meme on Instagram, the Unsuccessful Chameleon still makes me chuckle.

♥♥♥

Wishing you the happiest of holiday seasons, 

followed by your most creative year yet in 2025!

Lauren Bergold

is looking forward to new year of brads, tapes and diabolical puns!

Blog * Instagram * Facebook

Five Faves of 2024: SOS Edition

'Twas the Tuesday before Christmas, which seems like a fine time to re-visit some of my favorite projects inspired by 2024 challenges at Shopping Our Stash! The captions below the photos will take you back to the original post for each.

SOS513: Once Upon a Time

I don't use it enough, but I still adore MFT's Rainbows and Unicorns stamp set, especially when paired with some of my favorite Eyelet Outlet Brads; so this was the perfect opportunity. Bonus points for using up a favorite (ancient!) Creative Imaginations paper that I once used (in 2008?! good grief!) to make amazing (if I do say so myself, and apparently I do!) Princess photo albums for the nieces.

SOS518: Spring Has Sprung

There's a whoooooole lotta Wendy Vecchi goodness goin' on here. Mostly Studio 490 stamps and stencils, with some Ranger Archivals and a few Spellbinders items; in short, too many to name here, but if you click the caption the original post has links to every single item!

SOS524: Button, Button...

Yes, I think I miiiiiiiight have a few buttons that I could use for this card! Ironically, I used only TWO buttons on the card, but made up for the shortfall by staging with literally dozens more... and these are just the ones that MATCHED!!! 

SOS530: Don't Really Need Another One

This was a clever theme, because we all know EVERY crafter has at least one type of item that we consistently over-buy. I have a few, but washi tape is probably the most blatant example. As you can see. My washi tribute card came out pretty well though, it has to be said.

SOS535: Masculine

Guy Cards ARE harder to make. Fact. I'm fairly proud of this one since it combines collage AND stamping two things I do a lot of, but (mysteriously) I rarely do them TOGETHER. Hopefully, that will change as I practice more.

♥♥♥

Join us next Tuesday for the final 2024 challenge at Shopping Our Stash; then we'll be back every other Tuesday of the new year with brand new inspiration!

Putting the "Mental" in Ornamental! :)

'Twas the Mandala Monday before Christmas and all through the house, shiny, sparkly ornaments of all varieties... vintage, new or even hand-drawn... are making spirits bright as we prepare for the Big Day!

Drawn with Letter It Fineliners; watercolored with Tombow Dual Brush Pens; highlights of golden metallic marker

Brown Baggin' It

Papercrafting supplies... especially washi tape... are awesome for giftwrapping! Especially for fancying up and customizing plain bags from the big box store. 

For this pair of bags I incorporated a fabulous collage concept from one of my favorite designers, Katie Pertiet, who made Christmas tree cards by diecutting her trees from a collage of her beautiful 49 and Market tickets and ephemera. I loved this idea so much that I had to try it RIGHT NOW. There's a terrific video of Katie's process on her Instagram feed, so I won't go into a lot of detail. But I will mention that since I traced a couple of Dylusions Dyamond Board Small Trees instead of diecutting, I took the time to cut out one of each tree shape from a rectangle of scrap cardstock, and I used that as a frame to help me lay out my collage of vintage postage and tickets. I also used up a bunch of tiny leftover border and label stickers.

I have a lot of washi tape, so I often use it for backgrounds, as I've done here. You could use paper scraps or ribbons in the same way, though. 

I made a second, smaller collage of yellow postage and trading stamps, from which I diecut some happy little stars to surround the trees.

If you're looking for a last-minute card or giftwrap idea, this one is HIGHLY recommended! Thank you, Katie P!

Five Faves from 2024: Jingle Belles Edition

December is an excellent time to look back on the crafty year; so without further ado, here are some of my favorite Jingle Belles cards!

JB2404: Text Me

Stephanie gave me this awesome Uniko Christmas Block Party stamp and although I don't use it nearly enough, I always LOVE the results when I do. Oh and it's great with Eyelet Outlet Brads and Bling, too!

JB2408: Peace on Earth Day

One of my favorite prompts each year is our Earth Day Special for which, I confess, I specifically "save up" bits of pretty tissue or giftwrap, plastic packaging, old greeting cards, etc; in order to have a pool of awesome ingredients from which to choose. In this case, I also had Sunny Studio's Holiday Hugs Bear and made a shaker card, which took the whole thing over the top, if I do say so myself. 

(& apparently... I do, lol!)

JB2413: Get in SHAPE for the Holidays

Sad but true: I tend to struggle with shaped cards. A few years ago I used clipart to make a mitten-card template, which is a lot of fun to assemble layers for, especially from my well-hoarded stash of ancient Basic Grey holiday papers and diecuts. Plus there's the opportunity to add ribbon, trimmings and buttons... hard to resist, really!

JB2421: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks

When I sat down to make a punny narwhal card, I immediately grabbed my go-to: Lawn Fawn's Winter Narwhal. But in the same drawer I also found a sadly neglected LF Critters in the Arctic set, as well as Jen Long's Tons of Love Sizzix stamp and die set, AND Rubber Moon's adorable Nerdy Narwhal. And thus the entire paper-pieced pod made their debut on this A7 card.

JB2424: Banner Holiday

My favorite release of 2024 has to be Wendy Vecchi's NOT Your Ordinary Card Collection from Spellbinders. This card uses the Build-a-Plaid Layered Stencil Set and the Christmas Add-On Stamp and Die Set with all my favorite xmassy Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink shades. All I needed to add were a few pops of gold et voila!

Holiday Sampler

Nothing says, "Warm Holiday Wishes" quite as well as Simon Hurley's Nordic Knit stamped in red, green and neutral Archival Inks from Ranger, then studded with LOTS of beautiful holiday-themed Eyelet Outlet Brads! This card has thirty-seven (37!) brads from eight different brad styles... can you spot them all? Scroll down for a hint!

Working from top to bottom: 1/16" Round Brads (Brown Mix); Poinsettia Brads; more 1/16" Round Brads (Brown Mix) as reindeer eyes; Heart Brads; Pine Cone Brads; 1/16" Round Brads (Red Mix); Cardinal, Cardinal Profile and Female Cardinal Brads; Snowy Trees and finally 1/16" Round Brads (White). And in case you're wondering, "Did you really pierce a hole, place the brad, and secure the prongs for every single one?" Check out the photo below, which shows the back of the design panel.

Check out the Eyelet Outlet Store for all the holiday embellishments you could possibly need!

SOS537: My Precious

The new challenge at Shopping Our Stash miiiiiiight be slightly more challenging than usual. This fortnight we want you to use something on your card that you're been hoarding in your craft supplies for way too long... it might be a piece of specialty paper, some vintage lace, or a fancy embellishment. We're asking you to be strong and give it a home on a card or project.

I have had this Doodlebug Doodlepop typewriter sticker literally for YEARS... it was actually displayed in my Art Lair! But I have a friend who loves vintage typewriters as much as I do and I wanted to make her an extra-special birthday card, so I bit the bullet and actually UNWRAPPED said adorable 3D sticker and used it and I loooooove how my card came out. The only thing older than the typewriter itself is that yellow notebook paper scrap which is absolutely ancient "Love, Elsie" from American Crafts. I wasn't actually hoarding it on purpose, but not only was the color and style perfect, it was pretty much exactly the right size for my A6 card. I think the Tim Holtz "Typo" alphabet dies are out of print, but I still love my set and was happy to break them out to fashion an appropriate custom background. Those pink Eyelet Outlet Heart Brads come in a set with red and white ones in two sizes. Sadly, they're going to be going out of print, but until they sell out, they're ON SALE in the EO Store!

Check out the design team inspiration at Shopping Our Stash and then start thinking what precious item YOU can use to make a card you link up with us this time. SOS537: My Precious runs until Monday evening, December 30th.

Dyamond Board Doodle Trees

It's a TREE-mendous Mandala Monday featuring a terrific TREE-o of Dylusions Dyamond Board Small Trees, doodled with Letter It Fineliners and then tinted with all my favorite green shades of Simon Hurley create Dye Inks. 

To make the trees into a card, I embossed Simon's Stitched Snowflakes background with Ranger's Cottontail Embossing Powder, applied Breakup Blue ink on top, then cleaned the excess ink off the embossed flakes.

A mat of dark blue cardstock, a sentiment from the Sketched Snowmen stamp set, and a little machine stitching complete the design.

As we cruise into the final full week of holiday preparations, I hope you're having fun getting ready for the big day (if you celebrate Christmas) or the big night (if you celebrate Hanukkah)!

Dim Sum Inspired Amigurumi

My latest amigurumi ornament creation is a Laureny "wing it" special: a simple bao-style bun with safety eyes, piggie ears and a little snout. Scroll down to see the inspiration!

These sweet piggie buns are one of our must-haves at my favorite NJ dim sum palace, Qin Dynasty in Parsippany. On the menu they're called Steamed Custard Buns and they have the texture of a Steamed Pork Bun, with a filling of pineapple-y custard. 

When I had them for the first time, I not only knew that I wanted to eat them again the next time we were there, but also that I was pretty sure I knew how to make a crocheted version (...like ya do, lol...) as holiday ornaments! So (as you can see) I did. I used Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Fisherman and Pink. The edible buns sadly don't have twirly piggie tails, but I was able to correct this oversight for the crocheted ones!

If you happen to live within driving distance of Parsippany, I highly recommend Qin Dynasty. They only have cart service on Saturdays and Sundays; but their full menu of dim sum dishes is available to order at anytime for lunch, dinner or takeout. As always, the perfect number of friends to share dim sum is THREE and these two (Elisabeth and Duke) make up the ultimate festive lunch posse:

As you can see, the meal made us so happy, we got a little blurry, lol! ♥♥♥