MM13: Sew Far, Sew Good

It's a quilt-inspired Mandala Monday, featuring a doodley, but somewhat symmetrical mandala watercolored with my Simon Hurley Dye Inks and then outlined with Ranger's Letter It Fineliners.

I started out with just cutting it into four squares, but... then I went a bit further by making triangular cuts...

Then I took the outer triangles and split them one more time!

And finally, I used a tape runner to tack the centers of each segment onto a backing panel, so I could machine-stitch around all of the main perimeters.

Of course I can never resist a photo with the resplendent 1970's avocado green Sears Kenmore sewing machine which formerly belonged to my Mom Mom; my mother loving lugged this baby all the way home from Florida for me 20+ years ago and I have loved using it ever since! ♥♥♥

JB2507: Flat Feliz Navidad

This fortnight at Jingle Belles we're embarking upon that most challenging of challenges (at least for ME, lol!) that is generally called the One Layer Card; though some folks refer to it as the No Layer Card. What does that mean? It means your entire design is flat... your elements get stamped, drawn, embossed, etc directly onto the cardbase; so basically you're not taping or gluing ANY additional papers/diecuts/layers to that base. This is NOT my natural metier, but I'm always up for a challenge so here's what I made this time:

I started with a white 5.5" square card, taped off all four edges with some low-tack washi, then broke out the awesome Wendy Vecchi Build-a-Plaid Layered Stencil Set from Spellbinders and my MAKE ART Stay-tion to create a diagonal Christmassy plaid in Archival Inks of the red, green and gold variety. Then I added some of Hero Arts' Winter Foliage Rub-On Transfers, which are as wonderfully glitch-free as they are beautiful to look at. (I mention this because I know that some folks are nervous about rub-ons.) The sentiment is from another set of HA Rubs called Holiday Messages. I like the way you can very very faintly see the plaid inking underneath the transfers AND the fact that this baby is even flatter than the average credit card bill, which will be a great advantage when I hit the post office in December!

Head over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's fabulous card and to link your own One/Zero Layer card. Flat Feliz Navidad runs until the evening of Wednesday, April 9th. 

Fluttering By to Say HI!

The new Eyelet Outlet Mini Butterfly Brads are beautiful on their own OR mix them with original Butterfly Brads and some gorgeous Butterfly Washi. Yellow Rose Brads and a framed oval panel of Wide Sky Tape complete the design of this "Just Because" card.

Shopping List:

Mini Butterfly Brads

Yellow Rose Brads

 Butterfly Brads

Butterfly Washi

Wide Sky Tape

All of the brads, tapes and embellies you need for Spring card-making... and beyond... are in the Eyelet Outlet Online Store!

SOS544: Fun Folds

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash, we'd like to see cards that feature "Fun Folds" by which we mean something other than a regular hinge-on-one-side card. Gatefolds, Easels, Pop-Ups, Stair-Steps, Matchbooks... are all fair game. We found a FAB blog with lots of examples and tutorials, so if you need a little more inspiration or assistance, try the Fun Fold Archive at Simply Simple Stamping. Meanwhile, here's my card:

I am emphatically NOT an engineer, so this sort of challenge is... ummmm... challenging for me, lol. Before starting, I looked at A LOT of examples, read some tutorials, and then sorta/kinda went my own way afterall. This is on my own special variation of a Z-Fold Card that I'm calling a Stand-Up Diorama. It's more or less A2 sized; I cut my 8.5x11" sheet of plain white cardstock down to 4.25x11", then scored at the 5.5" mark, the 7" mark and the 7.75" mark. (In retrospect, I think I'd make that last fold a bit wider; aiming maybe for the 8" or 8.25" mark instead; but this layout definitely gives you plenty of depth!) I folded on all the creases and got on to The Fun Part of decorating all those little planes and surfaces. 

I used almost entirely 49 and Market papers and diecuts that are a couple of years old, from various collections, including Kaleidoscope, Vintage Artistry Sunburst, and Spectrum Gardenia and Spectrum Sherbet; there's a little bit of EVERYTHING here... and lots of it is PINK which is always a bonus, imo!

Visit Shopping Our Stash to see the fabulous and fancy fun folds the rest of the Crew have used, then start planning what you'll link up with us this time. SOS544: Fun Folds runs until the evening of Monday, April 7th.

MM12: Mondrian Mandala Monday

Inspired by my blogging and cardmaking friend Becca Sadler, who has just started a series of abstract journal pages she's calling Mondrian Monday (using the fun, linear, utopian style of the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian) I decided to try my hand at a Mondrian Mandala Monday in which I doodled Mandala(ish) motifs inside the series of (admittedly wonky) squares I drew in my 6x6 Dina Wakley Kraft Journal. I did not go with Mondrian's palette of primary colors, but I tried to stay inside a limited range of shades: in my case, pink, green and white.

I drew my "squares" and details with Ranger's Letter It Fineliners; filled in with Tombow Dual Brush Pens and finally adding accents with a few coordinating Poscas.

Oh Say, Can You Sepia?

Would this be a good time for a random collage card that's mostly tan, brown ecru and ivory? (Be a sport and say, "YES!" otherwise this post falls a bit flat, doesn't it?) Hope your weekend is off to a good start. Do something creative today if you possibly can! ♥

 

 

JB2506: Going Green

It's the second week of "Get Your Grinch On" at Jingle Belles and thus we're still making holiday cards that are predominantly green! Here's mine:

This week I went a bit collagey, and if you say the words, "collage" and "green" to me in the same sentence, I immediately think about my stash of vintage S&H Greenstamps, obviously. (Thank you, Stephanie!) These have been layered over a 4x6" piece of 49 and Market's Spectrum Sherbet Lace Washi, to which I added a strip of drywall tape, some Eyelet Outlet Silver Pearl Swirl Bling and the diecut tree (Sizzix Christmas Tree #2) made of torn and layered scraps of green cardstock that I stumbled upon in the diecuts box last week. Some edge distressing, a sage green mat and a bit of machine stitching complete the design.

JB2506: Get Your Grinch On continues until next Wednesday evening (3/26/25) at Jingle Belles and you are invited to join the (mostly green) fun!

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

The new Eyelet Outlet Tulip Brads are as bright and beautiful as Spring itself. Here they are growing tall on diecut stems against a landscape made of Wide Sky Washi and Grass Tape. A Butterfly Brad, a Mini Ladybug and some (new!) Mini Butterflies are all enthralled by these lovely blooms.

Shopping List:

Tulip Brads

Butterfly Brad

Mini Ladybug Brad

Mini Butterfly Brads

 Wide Sky Washi

Grass Tape

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store to see all of the new March 2025 Brads (Tulips, Yellow Roses and Mini Butterflies) and be sure to check out the Tradeshow Schedule to see when the Eyelet Outlet Booth is coming to a town near you! 

Don't Have a Cow, Man!

Have TWO! Crocheted Highland Cows that is, outstanding in their field. Made by special request, for two special little ladies who've just had birthdays. 

The pattern for these shaggy beauties is called Highland Cow Crochet Pattern and is available in the Knot Nook Etsy Shop. I used Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice Yarn in Honey and Chocolate, respectively; with Black hooves and Beige horns and snoots.

MM11: Happy St. Patick's Day

It's a mean, green, Pusheen Mandala Monday, as my favorite Irish-American* kitty and I wish you a very Happy St. Patrick's Day, in stickers! 

*Pusheen's name is an easier-to-pronounce version of the word puisín, which means kitten in Irish.

JB2506: Get Your Grinch On

At Jingle Belles, we're celebrating the fortnight which encompasses St. Patrick's Day by making cards that are predominantly GREEN! Does that sound like fun? Then you should probably join us! Here's what I made:

I actually had a (seemingly firm) plan going in that involved a Christmas Tree layered with about six different shades of torn green cardstock. But then... I found this little quartet of adorability on a sheet of journal cards and the next thing I knew my card had four snowmen, two green dotty papers, three EO Snowflake Brads and eight washi tapes. Because that's the way I roll, lol. Not to worry, I can make the other card for next week because...

...JB2506: Get Your Grinch On runs until Wednesday evening, March 26th. Hop over to Jingle Belles for the details, the Linky tool and Stephanie's gorgeous card. (Spoiler Alert: It's mostly GREEN!!!) :)

Stop and Smell the Roses

The roses in question being the brand new, absolutely gorgeous Eyelet Outlet Yellow Rose Brads, o'course! Here they are accented with green Mini Leaf Brads and surrounded by a few of the (also new!) Mini Butterfly Brads; all of which is surrounded by a beautifully intricate frame, diecut from our Wide Wood Washi that's been stuck to plain cardstock.

Shopping List:

Yellow Rose Brads

Mini Leaf Brads

Mini Butterfly Brads

Wide Wood Washi

All of the new March 2025 New Release Brads... Yellow Roses, Mini Butterflies and Tulips... are available in the Eyelet Outlet Store; get yours today!

SOS543: Think Ink

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we'd like to see lots of ink, but... (here's the twist!) ...NO COLORING. Think sponging, smooshing, stenciling, brayering, splattering, gel printing, etc. I confess I was stumped for a minute, but then I realized I actually make cards this way allllllll the time, and the "no coloring" stricture isn't terribly limiting anyway. So I just got out lots of Wendy Vecchi stencils, Archival Inks and stamps and got going!

Just in case there are any fellow Vecchians reading this, I'll mention the products that I used. The big diecut flowers are from last August's Spellbinders' Essential Envelopes die set. I diecut several layers from coordinating shades of pink cardstock; randomly stamped on them with various backgrounds using Rosey Posey Archival; then flicked them with Pearl Mica Spray and added glitter enamels to the centers. The floral sidebar was made using the Garden Party Layered Stencils but without the stamped outline (the stamped outline would've still fit the challenge, but I love the soft, slightly vintage look of using the stencils on their own). The right-hand background is an older Studio 490 Stencil called Basically Bricks, and I was excited to find that my ultimate brick color (mostly brown but with a hint of  red) can easily be achieved by applying Orange Blossom Archival using a dauber that was previously used for Acorn Archival... and maybe putting a tiny bit of extra Acorn on top. Also, using varied pressure when stenciling the bricks helps to get that slightly uneven dark/light effect that real bricks have. I stamped the corners of the Studio 490 Wild Rose Collage (basically just inking the typed text and not the flower) around the edges of the brick and added very light overstamping with Perfectly Plaid and a dotty background for which I cannot find the package or a link, sorry. I added a strip of Wendy's MAKE ART Washi Tape to divide the sides, added the flowers and leaves on top, then matted on white and green before affixing the whole thing to a 5.5" square card.

SOS543: Think Ink runs until Monday evening, March 24th. Visit Shopping Our Stash to see the glorious inky creations from the Crew and to link up your own card!

MM10

It's an un-FROG-gettable Mandala Monday thanks to this adorably whimsical amphibian, almost certainly a powerful magician whose flying spell has gone somewhat awry. As you know, I adore my friend Gina's colorful anthropomorphic critters, and if you do, too, there's an impressive variety of very cool products available in her Redbubble. Zazzle and Teepublic stores, all of which can be accessed via the bolded text above OR from the linktree in her IG profile @ginaisarty ♥

Hope your week is off to a good start!

♥♥♥

Bringin' the BLING

At Jingle Belles, we're cruising into the second week of "BLING on the Holidays" so we're still making cards with gems, jewels, pearls, glitter, glitter glue, glitter paper, shimmer paper... ok, you get the idea right? Here's my card:

Believe it or not, this week's card has more BLING-centric elements than last week's... but admittedly they are harder to see. That gorgeous three-layer tree is Simon Hurley's Classic Christmas Tree from Spellbinders. I already had several holiday tree die sets, but as soon as I saw this one, I KNEW I needed another. I diecut the solid background tree layer from deep green cardstock the trunk from a rich brown and the top/foliage layer from medium green. I used a natural sponge to lightly dab both of the green layers with Bronze Liquid Pearls for a subtle (but lovely) iridescent shimmer. I diecut the tree stand, some of the ornaments and the background mat from shimmery gold cardstock. I cut more ornaments from gold metallic and gold glitter cardstock. I added small rhinestones and pearls to the tree before mounting the whole thing on a piece of Lawn Fawn's Spiffier Speckles in Leprechaun (perfect for March!) on which the speckles are gold metallic. Finally I added a layer of ancient Hambly Screenprints doily patterned paper, which is also shimmery; you can't see it in the photo, but IRL this card is pretty fab if I do say so myself... and apparently, I do, lol! :)

Stephanie's gorgeous card can be seen at Jingle Belles where the linky tool and info about this challenge #JB2505: BLING on the Holidays can be found as well.

Ahoy, Matey!

Pirates LOVE a good party, especially when it comes to birthdays! This pirate has brought along a treasure chest full of gold (aka Eyelet Outlet Glitter Enamels) as well as his trusty Compass Brad and a Parrot pal (from our Tropical Birds set). Setting the scene, Sun and Cloud Brads, a Tall Palm Tree and the Crab from our Crab and Lobster set; while Wood Washi and Map Tape make great accents.

Pirate-Friendly Shopping List:

Compass Brad

Tropical Bird Brads

Sun and Cloud Brads

Tall Palm Tree Brads

Crab and Lobster Brads

Wood Washi

Map Tape 

Glitter Gold Enamels

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store to find the perfect embellishments to enhance your favorite stamps and dies!

MM09: Oxide Ink Blending

Sometimes you just want to sit and blend your favorite analogous Distress Oxide Inks in a big concentric circles, am I right? Ok, maybe that's just me... but after I finished blending and splashing and speckling with the Oxides, I drew a mandala on top with my Letter it Fineliners and added accents to some of the detail shapes with coordinating colors of Tombow Dual Brush Pens. And thus we have a Super Sunshiney Mandala for the first Monday of March!

NEW Holiday Jumpstart: TREE-mendous!

Holiday Jumpstart: TREE-mendous is Paper Anthology's newest holiday card kit, which features a gorgeously intricate, three-layer Classic Christmas Tree, pre-diecut for you; plus all of the elements needed to make the featured card as shown.

Paper Anthology’s Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit is a 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 “TREE-mendous” based on the card's lovely focal point and festive background.

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 beautiful, detailed and colorful cards, including card bases, complete written instructions (not pictured, but included!) and a nice big photo for reference.

This kit contains:

Five background panels with scalloped corners
Five red curvy backdrops
Five solid green tree layers
Five tan tree trunk pieces
Five sets of three-part foliage
Five banner sentiments
Five banner backers
Twenty-five baubles
Five white A2 cards
Complete written instructions with large color photo

Purchase Holiday Jumpstart: TREE-mendous in our Etsy Shop, Paper Anthology Design; and check out our other Jumpstart Kits as well as three-card class kits and more!