An Old-Fashioned Xmas

At Jingle Belles we're heading into the second week of The Spirit of Christmas Past, which means we're still 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've got a background comprised of actual vintage bits (the vintage poinsettia illustration from an old Christmas Ideals Magazine, book paper, sheet music, etc) with a few images cut from Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Pocket Cards, a couple of golden rub-on transfers, some wordfetti stickers and coordinating washi tape. The frame is also TH/Idea-ology and it's surrounding a little vignette from Ideals. I inked the edges and machine-stitched the whole collage to a white 5.5" square card. 

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

Camping in the Great Outdoors

Eyelet Outlet's Adorable new Camper Brads pair beautifully with our Camping Brads. This outdoorsy card is also accessorized with Pine Tree Brads, white Stars, a Sketched Owl and a Compass Brad; as well as an accent of Wood Washi.

Shopping List:

Camper Brads

Camping Brads 

.Pine Tree Brads

Red, White and Blue Star Brads

Sketched Owl Brads

Compass Brads

Wood Washi Tape

All the brads, tapes, flowers, bling and embellishments you could possibly desire for cards and scrapbooks are available at Eyelet Outlet!

Inchie Mandalas?!

It’s a Micro Mini Mandala Monday featuring 1… 2… 3… 4 (!) tiny one-inch square mandalas, built around the circles made with my Zig Dot markers, purchased many moons ago at @theinkpadnyc which I still really REALLLLLY miss! ♥♥♥

Hope your week is off to a good start, but if not, there are only 4.5 more days until the weekend! ;)

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.