Another Fancy Gift Bag Post

It's been a while since I posted any fancy giftwrapping, and since I found a couple of un-pubbed older photos, as well as the new retro-space-themed one I just made, this seemed like the perfect time to do so. 

Rainbow Flowers

There are 21 flowers (ok, actually more I guess because some are stacked up and held on with round brads!) plus 32 (I think?) styles of tape on this oversized giftbag made for niece Maddie's 21st birthday. (Maddie's favorite color is still RAINBOW; as is mine!)

In Space, There Are No Envelopes

Here's the fastest fancy giftbag idea ever: Create a nice wide band of washi and mount a handmade birthday card on top; add some extra, coordinating diecuts, if desired.

Flowers Again?

Silk and paper flowers are a category in which I have what my friend Leslie used to call, "a S.A.B.L.E. situation" by which she meant, "Supplies Available Beyond Life Expectancy"!!! So grabbing 10-12 of the same color, attaching them with Eyelet Outlet Jewel Brads (they're on sale!) and scattering white leaves plus sticky-back Pearl Bling is not just do-able and quite quick for me, I've got plenty of choice!

♥♥♥

JB2517: The Spirit of Christmas Past

The new challenge at Jingle Belles is called The Spirit of Christmas Past, which means we're creating cards with a vintage or retro feeling. That could mean incorporating actual vintage elements, using new products that have a vintage style, or using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe; whatever says vintage/retro to you. 

To add a little extra incentive to your endeavors, this fortnight we're sponsored by my very own Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff, so there's a Deluxe Christmas Ephemera Assortment of vintage holiday goodies for one lucky card member who links-up their vintage-inspired design.

This week I chose to use only commercial products to make my vintage collage, but the absence of actual OLD stuff didn't slow me down at all! I raided my stash of Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Pocket Cards, matted them on red shimmer paper and arranged them into an interestingly stacked compilation. A trimmed down TH Vignette Box Cover frames a beautiful Authentique vintage-style Santa journal card as focal image. I added everything to a background of older Ciao Bella plaid patterned paper, and finally affixed the whole thing onto a brushed gold A7 card. 

In December, this card will either be given in person or added into a holiday package, because it weighs about a pound and would be fairly expensive to mail!

Be sure to check out Stephanie's beautiful vintage collage card at Jingle Belles and take a look at the vintage holiday ephemera pack that one lucky random cardmaker will score this fortngiht... just for linking up with us! JB2517: The Spirit of Christmas Past runs until the evening of Wednesday, August 27th. 

How to Have a Happy Birthday

Just in case anyone needs a bit of advice for celebrating the happiest of birthdays, Eyelet Outlet has exactly the right brads and tapes for the job. A background of foiled Happy Birthday Washi sets the scene; while Cupcake Swirl, Computer & Headphone and Pinata Brads illustrate the important elements of treats, downtime and fun!

Shopping List:

Cupcake Swirl Brads

Computer & Headphone Brads

Pinata Brads

Happy Birthday Washi

Check out all of the fabulous embellishments in the Eyelet Outlet Online Store, or consult the Trade Show Schedule to see when the EO Booth will be coming to your neck of the woods.

SOS554: Hot, Hot, Hot

It's time for a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash and if you've already guessed that the title, "Hot, Hot, Hot!" means we want you to make a card inspired by something HOT, such as weather, food, fire, etc; then you are absolutely right, and we can't wait to see your interpretation. I went with weather, as you can see:

I've had Honeybee's Flippin Fabulous stamp set for two or three years and I've used all the shells and most of the sentiments LOTS of times, but somehow never inked up those fab flipflops? How is that even possible? To make up for lost time, I stamped them twice (on blue floral and yellow geometric patterned papers) then cut them out and paper pieced them. Oh and I added a couple of Eyelet Outlet Colored Daisy Brads to make them extra fancy. In the storage envelope with the stamps I found a bunch of pre-stamped shells and a couple of hibiscus flowers (from a different set) that were pre-stamped and pre-watercolored; so I basically had my whole focal collage. I raided 49 and Market's Vintage Artistry Sunburst collection and found the perfect background; then added the sentiment, inked and machine stitched around the edge, and called it good.

SOS554: Hot, Hot, Hot runs until the evening of Monday, August 25th and we'd love for you to link up with us. Meanwhile, check out the inspiring cards from our uber-talented Crew at Shopping Our Stash.

Big (BIG!) Mandala Monday

After two months of Index Cards, working in an art journal feels big; and working in my (12x7"ish) Dina Wakley Ledger Journal (back in stock at Ranger!) feels realllllly big... in a good way!

The mandala center, scattered hearts and first two rounds of petals are cut from Dina's Collage Sparks compilations. The petals further out are painted with Gloss Spray, then adorned with a white Posca Pen, and outlined with Letter It Fineliners. I added some transparency ladies from Focals Set 1, which are out of print, but there are lots more cool Dina Transparencies from which to choose.

Wishing you a week with LOTS of creativity and productivity; but not too much humidity! ♥

Merry SKETCH-mas

At Jingle Belles we're still getting SKETCH-y this week; here's a reminder of Stephanie's FAB sketch:

And here's my card:

This week I raided my stash of holiday cuuuuuteness, including some adorable Doodlebug stickers and papers, plus some coordinating items from Elle's Studio, Carta Bella and Pebbles. My card is all about Santa getting ready for the holidays at the North Pole and I've been about as faithful to the sketch as I could possibly be! (Of course *YOU* do not need be as literal as this; feel free to swap shapes; flip, rotate or stretch the sketch; just so long as we can see "the bones"!)

JB2516: 'Twas the Sketch Before Xmas runs until next Wednesday evening, August 13th.

Hippo*PARTY*mus!

The adorably whimsical new Eyelet Outlet Hippo Brads definitely know how to make any occasion more fun, more fab, and more colorful! On this birthday card, they dance among letters diecut from Heart Tape and adorned with birthday Balloons, a Party Hat and a fun Candle Brad swapped out for the "I" in the sentiment. A background of perfectly coordinated pink and grey Zig Zag Tape completes the design.

Happy Hippo Shopping List:

Hippo Brads

Balloon Brads

Party Hat Brads 

Candle Brads

Heart Tape

 Zig Zag Tape

The Eyelet Outlet Online Store has all the embellishments you need to make your next card extra-special!

Uno Mas

Technically ICAD ended on July 31st, but I couldn't resist making one last index card mandala for my 2025 collection!

I (sequentially) smooshed a few favorite shades of Simon Hurley STELLAR Inks from Ranger onto my craft sheet, misted them with isopropyl alcohol* and picked up the ink with an unlined index card. When I had covered the card in a tie-dye-ish series of colors, I dried it with my heat tool and then added outlines with my Letter It Fineliners and details with a white Posca pen. 

*Simon's STELLAR inks are water-based, but something I learned from the very clever and always inspiring Wendy Vecchi is that using rubbing alcohol to "watercolor" with dye based inks works pretty much exactly the same as using water, except the alcohol will not warp or pill your cardstock, no matter how wet you get it! Thanks, Wendy!!! ♥

'Twas the Sketch Before Xmas

...and all through the blog, we're busy making new holiday cards based on this clever and inspiring layout by our own Jingle Belles Sketch Diva, Stephanie! 

As always, you can interpret the sketch using any colors, stamps, papers or supplies; and you can flip, rotate, stretch or smoosh it; even swap the circle for a different shape... just make sure we can see "the bones" of the sketch in your design! 

And here's my card:

As you can see, I flipped the sketch upside down (unintentionally!) and I shifted things (on purpose) a bit to the righthand side to accommodate my square card format, but otherwise I was quite faithful to Stephanie's beautiful sketch. Unusually for me, ALL of my items not only come from one manufacturer (49 & Market) but from one collection, "Christmas Spectacular" with which I am a bit obsessed. I used parts of three patterned papers and built my focal collage from the "cut outs" sheet that's included with the papers.

There's a sweet little prize for one randomly selected cardmaker who links up with us this time. JB2516: 'Twas the Sketch Before Christmas runs until the evening of Wednesday, August 13th.

ICAD: Final Three

Hard to believe that sixty-one days have elapsed since June first when the Index Card a Day Challenge began, but the calendar indicates that is indeed the case, which means it's time to say one more giant THANK YOU to Tammy Garcia, who devised ICAD in 2011 and continues to serve as hostess, inspiration and cheerleader every June and July as we embark on our yearly quest to make art on index cards, every day, for two months! 

Day 61: Love or Wish

It's the final day of #dyicad2025 and the optional prompt is #LOVE or #WISH which is perfect because I'd like to send my LOVE to @gypsy999 aka our hostess Tammy; to all of my fellow ICADians and ICADettes; as well as all who followed along on this, my 13th year of Index Card a Day; I'm already looking forward to next year! My WISH for all the artists and makers is that you will keep painting, drawing, stamping, coloring, collaging, lettering, stitching... whatever; make time for creativity and fun, even if it's only a few minutes each day, you deserve it!

Day 60: Marquee

Nothing but a single (#marquee style!) THANKS stamp, some whimsical puffy stickers and five bold shades of Simon Hurley STELLAR Inks on the penultimate day of #dyicad2025 because I wanted this one to be about thanking all the ICADians and ICADettes for sharing their art and their comments and generally making this the best June and July ever. Of course the biggest shoutout goes to our hostess and inspiration Tammy Garcia aka #gypsy999 who devised this super summer shindig in 2011 and has been rockin’ it every summer since. THANKS Missus! ♥

Day 59: Upside Down

I'm off-prompt, but as I took this photo it occurred to me that my three-stencil + doodles card is (unintentionally) about as conclusively non-directional as it could possibly be; and thus virtually incapable of being #UPSIDEDOWN which I find sort of low-key amusing... 

♥♥♥

Ranger Dimensional Texture Paste Lemon Squeezy Card

What's better than Simon Hurley's beautiful Zesty set of twenty-one citrus-themed clear stamps with lots of uplifting sentiments? His coordinating Lemon Branch Layering Stencil Set that makes it easy-peasy to add realistic dimension with Ranger Opaque Matte Texture Paste and Archival Reinkers! Making even better than that, the Lemon Branch Stencils are ON SALE! And if you need an idea for how to use it, follow along on the Ranger Project Tutorials page as I show you step-by-step how I made this bold, bright encouragement card. ♥

Holiday Jumpstart: Winter Wonderland (NEW!)

CLICK HERE to visit the Holiday Jumpstart: Winter Wonderland page in the Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop

Holiday Jumpstart: Winter Wonderland is Paper Anthology's newest holiday card kit, which features peaceful winter woodland diecuts, serene color palette, and a vibe that perfectly fits any winter holiday your friends and family celebrate. Grab yours today in the Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop.

Paper Anthology’s Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit is our pre-packaged kit that includes everything you need (except adhesive) to complete FIVE copies of this new original holiday card design. This edition is called “Winter Wonderland” based on the sweet seasonal forest vignette.

Don’t we all adore the IDEA of making holiday cards throughout the year, instead being overloaded in November and December? But sometimes it’s hard to be inspired during the “off-season”. This pre-packaged kit features everything you need (except adhesive) to complete five bold, beautiful, colorful cards; including complete written instructions (not pictured, but included!) and a nice big photo for reference.

Check out the Holiday Jumpstart: Winter Wonderland page in the Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop

This kit contains:

Five embossed and scalloped periwinkle panels
Five pre-diecut tan forest squares
Five pre-diecut white birch tree squares
Five green shimmer pine boughs
Five large two-layer diecut pinecones
Five small two-layer diecut pinecones
Five pre-diecut "peace" sentiments
Fifteen clear dew drops
Complete step-by-step instruction sheet with large color photo
Five white topfold A2 cards

Actually, Cats Have Staff

Here are TWO versions of a cute and snarky cat card: one featuring beautiful, realistic Eyelet Outlet Feline Brads; and the other spotlighting our adorable Kitty Brads. Comical Cat Tape and Wood Washi are pitching in to make the perfect backgrounds.

Fabulous Feline Shopping List:

Feline Brads

Kitty Brads

Cat Tape

Wood Washi

The Eyelet Outlet Store also stocks Black Cat Brads and Silhouette Kitten Brads as well as lots of other critters from the backyard, the farm, the beach, and even the jungle. Check out the Animal Brads section today or better yet, check the Tradeshow Schedule to find out when the EO Booth will be coming to a town near you!

SOS553: Eat Five a Day

You may already have guessed that the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash, "Eat Five a Day" involves making a card which features at least one fruit and/or vegetable; which means I can skip the lengthy introduction and show you my card, right?

This is not just a card with multiple fruits (pineapples, orange, strawberries, cherries and watermelon, to be specific) but for sheer ancient stash-usage, it's going to be hard to beat. I don't think there's a single thing on here that is less than four or five years old; and a few things (like the faux polaroids and the Love, Elsie background paper) are probably ten or more! Basically I sat down with a neutral background, added fruity washi, and then piled on as many stickers and punch-outs as I could possibly fit on one 5.5" square card.

Be sure to check out all of the other gorgeous and inspiring cards from the SOS Crew. Then link up your own fruity- or veggie-centric card at Shopping Our Stash. SOS553: Eat Five a Day runs until the evening of Monday, August 11th.

ICAD (again!)

Rounding up the last full week of Index Card a Day, and here are the cards from the week that was: 

Day 58: Mandala Monday

I don't know why this particular brand of index card divider gives a sort of mottled effect when you apply/blend inks directly onto it, and I found that disconcerting at first, but if definitely adds another dimension to a super-inky design! In this case, the inks are the new Simon Hurley STELLAR Foam Ink Pads, which I applied in concentric circles with a Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tool. Design elements added with black Letter It Fineliners; details with a white Posca Paint Pen.

Day 57: One Staple Collage

Off-prompt with a One Staple Collage featuring Edgar Allan Poe. This one took longer to arrange than most, but I like how it (FINALLY!) turned out.

Day 56: Off-Prompt

Splitting the difference between an ogee pattern and florals, here are inky circles surrounded by brush-marker swipes and loose outlines. Simon Hurley Stellar Ink in "Prom Queen"; Tombow Dual Brush Pens in various shades of pink, orange and yellow; Letter It Fineliner (.04) in black.

Day 55: Cloverleaf or Roundabout

As anyone whose ever flown into or out of Newark Liberty Airport will tell you, New Jersey boasts many examples of both cloverleaf and roundabout traffic patterns. Here is my artists' impression of one such. In green. Which... irl they usually are not...

Day 54: River

Super-simple, very pared down version of a river featuring torn cardstock and machine stitching. Because I am emphatically NOT a minimalist, this design took me much, MUCH longer than something complicated would have done, lol. But I love the result.

Day 53: Ogee or Paisley (Part 2)

Because honestly, who can choose JUST Ogee or Paisley... I love both, so I did a version of each on successive days. This is (I hope it's obvious!!!) the Paisley one.

Day 52: Ogee or Paisley (Part 1)

The Ogee pattern is something I learned a few years ago during #ICAD and have enjoyed creating ever since! This version was rendered with Tombows; outlines and details added with Letter It Fineliners. PS: I find a gridded index card MOST helpful for making vaguely symmetrical patterns.

♥♥♥

JB2515: Tic-Tac-TWO!

It's the second week of our crafty Tic-Tac-Toe game at Jingle Belles so here's a reminder of the board:

And here's what I made this week:

My stash of classic Basic Grey holiday papers is dwindling, but being a top-notch hoarder, I do still have some medium-sized pieces (from which my two background pieces hail) and lots of little scraps (from which I diecut all of the shapes to paper-piece these adorable Impression Obsession Retro Ornaments. By which you may well have already deduced that this week I chose to work the middle row of Diecuts + Paper Piercing or Piecing + Ornaments.

JB2515: Tic-Tac-Toe runs until next Wednesday evening, July 30th. Check out the original post at Jingle Belles for all the info and the Linky tool to add your own creations!

Daisies and Dragonflies

Since it may be literally impossible to have too many birthday cards in one's stash, here's an easy, elegant one that combines Eyelet Outlet's beautiful White Daisy and Dragonfly Brads with stamped flowers and coordinating diecuts.

Shopping List:

White Daisy Brads

Dragonfly Brads 

Whether your card stash needs cards that are elegant, cute, masculine or funny, the Eyelet Outlet Store has all the embellishments you need to make it happen! 

ICAD Because I Can

Another week of making art on index cards looked a bit like this. Check out the ICAD Base Page on the Daisy Yellow website for prompts and info about this 61-day challenge; or visit @indexcardaday on Instagram. 

Day 51: Whole Lotta Lotus Mandala Monday

Not the fanciest mandala I've ever drawn but I definitely feel like I can now draw a lotus anytime, anyplace, for absolutely any reason... or no reason at all. Wahey!

Day 50: Clouds

 I adorned an unlined index card with loose random watercolor blotches by smooshing Simon Hurley’s luscious new Stellar Foam Ink Pads from Ranger onto my craft sheet, spritzing, dipping the card into the ink, and letting the colors dry. Later I went back with Letter It Fineliners to “find” the clouds and added lots of fun doodles with my Posca paint pens.

Day 49: Connection

It's a two-index-card layered collage creation in which each level is ok on its own… but they’re better (imo) together!

Day 48: Taxi 

I was thinking (again) about placing text on different angles and axises and had a bit of a play with some ancient vinyl letter stickers... which then essentially got completely covered up by the adorable children's dictionary #taxi illustration.

   

Day 47: Off-Prompt

This is my version of a cool flower zendoodle that I spotted online somewhere and apparently didn't save the info for (sorry!) There is quite a bit of pale pink shading IRL that doesn't show up in the pic and I am not sure about the vast amount of white space but... it was fun to draw and chalks off another day of ICAD!

Day 46: Pivot 

Here's a card that did not come out the way I thought it would; I was basically trying to #pivot the heart and background to be interestingly contrasting on each side and... well... it's definitely quite flowery, lol!!! :)

Day 45: Terra Cotta

I started out with the intention of finding/mixing the best/closest shade to a true terra cotta using my Tombow Dual Brush Pens and a waterbrush; but as I was playing with the colors I started being interested in all the variations and the way the component shades of orange, tan, pink, beige and brown worked together, so it veered a bit into Deconstructed Terra Cotta... with doodley flower(ish) shapes.

♥♥♥

Wishing you a wonderful, productive and creative week!

Treeskirt Tic-Tac-Toe

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're playing Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe, which is kind of like "Beach Blanket Bingo"...but Christmassy... and with a lot more embellishments! We'd love for you to join us; all you have to do is pick a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) and create a lovely new holiday card featuring all three elements in that row. 

and here's my card:

I chose the left-hand column, which gave me: Animal + Diecut + Red, so I went with the sweet bunny (plus a couple of trees) from Pretty Pink Posh's Holiday Pals stamp set; Diecuts in the form of Penny Black's Trees and Hills in the background and MFT's Happy Holidays frame; and three different patterned papers (plus a mat) in Red. 

I'm joining the Christmas in July fun at Addicted to Stamps and More, which runs until July 29th if you'd like to, as well!

JB2515: Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe runs until the evening of Wednesday, July 30th. Join us today at Jingle Belles!

Life is Better at the Beach

Here's a summery card idea that's SHORE to please: Diecut chunky letters from Eyelet Outlet Wide Water Washi adorned with a strip of torn Glitter Gold Tape to serve as sand. Scatter Shell Brads and Sea Shore Brads along the bottom, as if they've been washed up by the tide. Augment with Water Splats and a handsome Flamingo Brad. Place the stamped portion of the sentiment above, and surround it with a flying Seagull plus Sun and Cloud Brads.

Beachy Keen Shopping List:

Shell Brads

Sea Shore Brads

Water Splat Brads

Flamingo Brads

Seagull Brads

Sun and Cloud Brads

Wide Water Washi 

Glitter Gold Tape

Whatever your favorite summer activities are, the Eyelet Outlet Store has exactly the right brads, tapes, bling, enamels and flowers to bring them to life!

SOS552: Wood is Good

It's time for the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash and this time we'd like to see cards and projects which feature woodgrain patterned paper, wood-look stamps, or wooden embellies. Because, this fortnight, Wood is Good!

I don't think I've ever been in the same room as woodgrain patterned paper and not bought some. I have every color, every style, every variation you can think of. This card uses two of them: a chippy-peely blue-painted background (from Crafter's Companion) and a more subtle tannish brown that I diecut into a frame (from Simple Stories). I also probably own ten different woodgrain washi tapes, and I was tempted to use ALL of them, but settled for just one dark brown, somewhat translucent strip, running vertically behind my focal grouping, under a few wraps of natural twine. The grouping consists of a 1964 Porsche illustration, set atop a vintage map of London, framed by the aforementioned tan woodgrain Nestabilities label shape, over a Tim Holtz Picture Wheel, layered onto another vintage map of London. 

There are more Good (and inspiring) Wood-centric projects from the SOS Crew over at Shopping Our Stash, so be sure to check those out! SOS552: Wood is Good runs until the evening of Monday, July 28th.

More ICADs (Weekly Round-Up)

Another seven days of art-making on index cards has flown past and here are the ICADs that emerged:

Day 44: Hawaiian Eye Mandala Monday

It's a collage + doodles mandala with a vintage Hawaiiana theme and ingredients, plus color-coordinated doodle shapes made with Tombow Dual Brush Pens; on a vintage library catalog card.

Day 43: Giraffe

Giraffe(ish) spots with Zen Doodles!

Day 42: Bronze

 I painted and stamped a background with Ranger's Perfect Pearls (in Perfect Bronze of course) then added stamped seashells which were watercolored with diluted shades of Blush, Perfect Gold and Blue Patina. Alas you cannot really see all of the fabulous shimmer in a photo, but IRL it's very cool!

Day 41: Checkerboard

It's a fanciful, doodle-centric #checkerboard in shades of pink and orange. Because... ok, just because!

Day 49: Autumn

I’ve recently become slightly obsessed with layouts that are situated on a diagonal axis; its harder than it looks to get them right but I’m enjoying the experimentation phase.

Day 39: Off-Prompt

Just got my hands on the new Simon Hurley create Foam Ink Pads and believe me, "STELLAR" is absolutely the correct word! Super-juicy, super-intense, they ink a stamp or an applicator with just a couple of taps and you have gorgeous saturated color that blends beautifully. Yep, I'm gonna need them all. For the test-drive I went off-prompt and blended five rainbow shades through Simon's Deco Diamonds Stencil, then added lots of fun doodles with my Letter It Fineliners. 

Day 38: Bicycle (sort of)

You know the old saying, "When life gives you (paper-pieced) lemons, make incredibly funky riding-really-fast bicycle wheels!" Ok yeah, so: I started out with the idea of spokey, spinning wheels and... somehow... it all went a bit citrussy. But that's the beauty of ICAD, imo.