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 Swir 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.