JB2524: Blog Banner Inspiration

It's the final week of the 2025 Jingle Belles season (no worries, we'll be back on January 1, 2026!) and thus here is one more card inspired by our 2025 Jingle Belles Blog Header:

Here's what I made this week:

I had planned to use all of the elements from the banner, but put them on an all-white card this week, Thus I set about diecutting Spellbinders Bottle Brush Trees and Sunny Studio Snowflakes from various types of white cardstock. As I was getting ready to make my mostly-white background, I happened to find this torn and stitched panel that I must've made last year some time and not used, and it was EXACTLY the right size! Plus, it kind of looked like rolling hills to me; and also had the same tealish, blueish, greenish shades as the blog header... (plus a bunch of pink and brown bokeh too) ...and I thought, "All-righty then, job done!".

You have until next Wednesday evening, December 3rd, to link up your own Jingle Belles Blog Banner Inspired card and we'd love for you to do just that!

Gnome Sweet Gnome

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the USA, and whether you are staying home, heading home or missing home, we wish you a wonderful day. This card, featuring Eyelet Outlet Gnome Brads, Girl Gnomes, Sunflowers, Pumpkins, Sun and Cloud Brads, Mini Ladybugs and Autumn Washi Tape is all about celebrating the things that make holidays special: family, friends and a cozy Gnome Sweet Gnome. 

Gnome-tastic Shopping List:

Gnome Brads

Girl Gnome Brads

Sunflower Brads

Pumpkin Brads

Sun and Cloud Brads

Mini Ladybug Brads

Autumn Washi Tape

All the best embellishments are in the Eyelet Outlet Online Store, which is open 24/7 for convenient shopping without leaving YOUR Home Sweet Home! Stamped images are from Sunny Studio's Homes Sweet Gnome set.

Collage Mandala

It's a very vintage, completely collage-ical Mandala Monday before Thanksgiving; I hope you are happy healthy and looking forward to the week ahead!

Cut-Pages Doodle Spread

A couple of weeks ago I cut into a page of my Dina Wakley Kraft Journal in order to put this zen-doodle pumpkin on a background page of orange patchwork. It left the remains of an interestingly curvy border that I had been planning to remove. In the meantime I saw a couple of art journal pages on social media, where the artist had cut into a page or two, then treated that group of pages as a single spread. And I thought, "OOOOH! I have to try that!" So I did!

As you can see, I was having so much fun with the idea, that I cut waves into two additional pages. I had thought about doing layered collage or stamps or stencils... but in the end, I just grabbed my Posca Pens and had a doodle-fest.

I added different shapes to each page, but repeated the colors and a few of the patterns on more than one page. 

I tried to take advantage of the shape of the cuts, but not to let them dominate. I also found the layers most interesting when there was strong contrast between the pages.

I outlined the doodles with my Letter It Fineliners and added a little bit of Jet Black Archival to the edges to make them stand out.

And... here we are back at the beginning again. I had a lot of fun with this technique, so I suspect you'll be seeing it again before too long!

JB2524: Banner Holiday

Can you believe we've reached the final Jingle Belles prompt of the 2025 season? This year just RACED past at lightning speed! For the last few years, we've ended with a challenge inspired by the Jingle Belles Blog Banner, which this year looked a bit like this:

You can choose as many aspects of the banner as you like: maybe you can't get enough of the color palette; maybe the sparkly white letters and jeweled snowflakes rock your crafty boat; perhaps it's the watercolor vibe or the frosty trees that you love? Any or all of those are great choices; just be sure to let us know what aspect(s) inspired you if it isn't obvious.

Here's my card:

Yes, yes, my card is VERY literal; and NOOOOO yours need not be!!! As I was thinking about the header, I realized that I basically owned real-life versions of nearly every feature in the digital design, so I just grabbed ALL of them and got to work. I found an ancient Webster's Pages vellum sheet of exactly the right shade; Stampabilities' "Jingle All the Way" die looks pretty fab in white glitter cardstock; Taylored Expressions' Evergreens are each cut twice (once from white and once from scraps of blueish green or greenish blue); and the background is made sparkly with several Want2Scrap Bling Snowflakes.

Be sure to check out Stephanie's beautiful card at Jingle Belles and then link up your own Banner-inspired designs. JB2524: Banner Holiday runs until the evening of Wednesday, December 3rd.

Cozy Fall Vibes

This sweet bear has postponed hibernation in order to enjoy all the coziest parts of autumn. She's got plenty to read, thanks to Eyelet Outlet Book Tape and Book Brads; a yarncraft project, thanks to our Knitting Brads; even a Tissue Brad in case of a few sniffles. This card also sports Script Tape and Clock Washi, for a background that's simple, without being plain.

Beary Bookish Shopping List:

Book Brads

Knitting Brads

Toilet Paper and Tissue Brads

Book Washi Tape

Script Washi Tape

Clock Washi Tape

Whatever vibes YOU would like to convey with your next card or project, Eyelet Outlet has all the embellishments you need! All of the stamped images on this card are from Lawn Fawn's adorable Den Sweet Den Stamp Set.

Thirty Minute Thank You Card?

The new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is called, "A Quick Thank You" and the idea is to time yourself and make a thank you card in thirty minutes or less! This is one of the hardest types of challenges for me (I am emphatically NOT a fast crafter!) but I did my best, and only cheated a tiny bit.

Full Disclosure: I didn't count the time I spent THINKING about what to make. And even with that "head start" it took me almost forty minutes to make my first card... BUT... It only took fifteen minutes to make the second one; which averages out to 27.5 minutes per card. So I'm callin' this a win. It's actually genuine win for Stash Shopping, as I used only scraps... even the backgrounds were in the offcuts file; which is part of the reason they are mini slimlines. I used my ancient Altenew Bold Alpha Dies; Hero Arts Heart Infinity Dies; plus the "you" and tiny flowers from the Essential Envelope set in Wendy Vecchi's Not Your Ordinary Card Collection. The Matte Finish Enamel Dots are from Eyelet Outlet.

SOS561: A Quick Thank You runs until the evening of Monday, December 1st. Head over to Shopping Our Stash and get inspired by the creative... and QUICK... cards our outstanding crew have made!

Mandala Monday (& Gina's Giveaway Reminder)

It's a Turtle-y Awesome Mandala Monday thanks to this adorably romantic pair of terrapins from my friend Gina's Clip Art Book which is now available on Amazon! 

The clipart book features five hundred (500!) bright and colorful images of @ginaisarty original, digital mixed-media collage art, and has lots of whimsical animals, fish, plants, anthro characters, headings, journal spots and more. There's a flip-through of the book on Gina's Instagram if you want to see every page before you decide; and this strand of my blog has some additional projects I've made. But let's just say I'm fairly confident that if you love collage, journaling or cardmaking and would like some beautiful and distinctive images to use in your art... this is a fabulous title to have.

Gina is giving away TWO copies of this wonderful stash of colorful goodness to two lucky USA-based artists who read and follow the instructions on THIS IG POST. The giveaway ends at 5pm this Thursday, November 20th, so hop on over and enter for your chance to win! ♥

Did She Say, "Collage Box"?

Yes. Yes, I did. What IS a collage box? It's a gift box that instead of being temporarily covered in wrapping paper, gets its top and bottom permanently covered in vintage paper; in this case a large scale map of Bucks and Montgomery Counties in Eastern Pennsylvania* circa 1975.

After covering both parts of the box with the map (I like Scotch Create Gluestick for this sort of operation) I added my collage bits which consist of: torn pieces of 49 and Market Sherbet Lace 4" wide washi tape; vintage South American bus tickets; vintage Red Stamps; torn sheet music and text paper; some Chinese roses and a Sewing Pattern Lady. So what's in the box?

Is it a flower? Well, kind of. It turns out that any scarf with a ruffly edge can be twirled into a flower-like shape before wrapping, as you can see. Here's a photo where it looks much more scarf-like:

This pattern is called Open Lace Skinny Scarf (or possibly Poppy Scarf) by Emily Johannes aka @emilyj.designs who has also an Etsy Shop called Girlpower Designs. I made this one sliiiiiiightly skinner than the original because I was using up two different variegated luxury yarns, paired with Lion Brand's TruBoo and I wasn't sure if I'd have enough, which... I only just barely made it to the end, so my plan to go back and add rows to the flat edge, making it less floppy had to be abandoned. 

It's very pretty though. And VERY long. Possibly not super warm but... you can't have everything, right?

Here's the box again, I used a piece of vintage sari silk to hold the box shut. If you're NOT into collage or fancy/permanent gift wrapping, I still highly recommend using non-traditional types of paper for gift wrapping: large maps, old posters, and those cool folded infographics that are sometimes tucked inside National Geographic, are all faves of mine. Even an old standby from my childhood: wrapping gifts in the comics pages from the newspaper has a fun, distinctive look that your recipient will love and are super-economical, as well! Torn fabric, tulle, sari silk, twine and yarn all make great substitutes for ribbon... and you'll be LITERALLY thinking "outside the box"!!! ♥

*Fun fact: On the left hand side of the box's top, you can see the area where my brother and his family live... but since the map is from 25+ years before the subdivision was built, not even the roads are there yet!

Lots of Leftovers

We're still rounding up those Crafty Leftovers at Jingle Belles and using them to make fun and festive holiday cards. This week I've raided the RED section of my scrap file and made a pair of cards with lots of little pennants. See?

I found a couple of A2 sized panels in my "leftovers" box: one white with pierced snowflakes; and one red with embossed dots. I'd trimmed them to 1/3 and 2/3 respectively and started trying to decide which proportion I liked better when it hit me: I like BOTH! Luckily I had plenty of red and white scraps, which I started trimming into little flags and attaching at the dividing point... in the card equivalent of wainscotting, lol. I adhered two red metallic mats to two white A6 cards; found two red and white circular sentiments and diecut one red and one white scalloped circle from sticky back felt et voila!

Visit Jingle Belles to see how Holiday Leftovers are being used by Stephanie (and the Readers' Gallery) to make beautiful cards; then link up your own scraptastic masterpiece. 

Talkin' Turkey

Thanksgiving is on its way and here's a card that celebrates the season with lots of Eyelet Outlet Pumpkin Brads and Mini Leaf Brads, plus Sun and Cloud Brads set in a Cloud Washi Tape sky. Don't forget to save room for pie!

Shopping List:

Pumpkin Brads

Mini Leaf Brads

Sun and Cloud Brads

Cloud Washi Tape

All the embellishments and accents you need for Fall and Winter cardmaking can be found in the Eyelet Outlet Online Store!

MM45: Colors on Black

There are few things in the papercrafty world that are more magical (imo) than white and/or color on a black background. Whether it's via embossing powder or (as in this case) beautifully opaque paint pens, I always find the results impressive.

Did you know that the Ranger Store carries over thirty (30!) varieties of Posca Pens? From individual colors to variety packs; fine- medium- and thick-points; metallics, glitter pens... there are A LOT of awesome choices, just thought I'd mention it.

This mandala was drawn with colors from the Basics sets, in a mix of 1mm and 3mm points on Ranger's Black Heavystock; which, for the record, is the blackest black cardstock I have ever seen, as well as being my favorite.

Tiny Ice Cream Keychain

If you need a fun, fast and FREE amigurumi pattern, I recommend this tiny Ice Cream Cone Keychain from @seynooodesign which I made in the old school flavor trio of Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry. I used Knit Picks' gorgeous Palette Yarn (which comes in more colors than any other variety I've seen!) in Cotton Candy, White, Bark and Doe on a C hook which... let me just say that 41 year old me had MUCH BETTER eyesight than 61 year old me has, so this is definitely as small as I'm ever going to be working anytime soon again! But... there's no denying that the small scale makes this especially cute and appealing. BTW, there is an entire Seynooo Design Etsy Shop full of beautiful patterns for other foods, adorable characters and even some beautiful realistic artist dolls like Frida Kahlo and Vincent Van Gogh; you should probably check it out! :)

JB2523: Holiday Leftovers

One of the best things about a big holiday meal is the LEFTOVERS, don't you agree?! For various Black Friday lunches (generally a Family Art Day at my house) we've made Turkey Panini (with Brie and cranberry obvs), Turkey Biscuit Bombs, Turkey Pizza and even Turkey Totchos. This year we're thinking about a Turkey version of Hot Dish! 

But in a cardmaking sense, when we Jingle Belles say Holiday Leftovers, it means we're creating cards using all those leftover offcuts and scraps of patterned paper, alphabet stickers, little snips of ribbon, extra diecuts that didn't get used the first time... you know, all of those tiny things we save because they're too pretty to throw away? Well this is the fortnight to drag them all out and see how many we can use on holiday cards! 

For this card, almost all my Leftovers are older Wendy Vecchi items. The poinsettia is from her MAKE ART Doodle Christmas Stamp Set (it was embossed but not colored); the small flowers (from Floral Doodles) were stamped AND colored on sticky-back canvas tape, I just needed to cut them out. The square panel of sheet music was attached to a 6" card base that for some reason didn't get used (no idea why); and the "MERRY" (from Wendy's Statements Chippies) had been white-embossed with her Perfectly Plaid Background Stamp, but the white embossing was not very prominent... (likely why it became a "leftover" instead of an element) ...though I discovered I liked it once it had a coat of Leaf Green Archival Ink. The additional sparkly foliage is newly cut, using the Xmas Add-On from Not Your Ordinary Card Collection; I also used the negative space from one of the branches to "stencil" some English Ivy underneath where I was going to place the branches. The washi tape is from an older roll that I *thought* I'd be finishing up but no, there's still some... wait for it... leftover! ;)

Head over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful card, then get our your box (or folder, or envelope) of Crafty Leftovers and start making a card. Link it up on the Holiday Leftovers post by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, November 19th.

Merci Bouquet

I may have already mentioned how much I love Wendy Vecchi's new Tabbed Classics Collection from Spellbinders; and also that I (now) love stenciling on perforated paper. This time I used the Build a Plaid Layering Stencils (from Not Your Ordinary Card Collection) with Wendy's Archival Inks on the perforated, having cut the decorative pocket cover from the Essential Envelopes Everyday Add-On set and added more decorated stitching to the widest strip of plaid.

I decided the pocket shape was a bit like a vase (...just go with it...) and since I had a bunch of leftover blue and purple flowers (also from Everyday Add-Ons) from this post, I decided they'd be the perfect addition. I made a split background with the Polka Dot and Posy Duo Embossing Folder to set the scene. 

Check out the Make Art with Wendy Vecchi Facebook Group for lots more ideas, inspiration, tips, techniques and projects; you can thank me later!

Icons of Fall

Autumn *begins* at the end of September, but somehow it really kicks into high gear after Halloween. Here are some favorite Fall Icons, represented by Eyelet Outlet Brads: colorful Leaf Brads; an acorn from the Acorn & Squirrel Set; a Sunflower, and a Pumpkin Brad... all set off perfectly with Wide Brick Washi Tape.

Fabulous Fall Shopping List:

Leaf Brads

Acorn & Squirrel Brads

Sunflower Brads

Pumpkin Brads

Wide Brick Washi Tape

Everything you need for Autumn and Winter (and Holiday!) cardmaking can be found in the Eyelet Outlet Online Store!

SOS560: A Few of My Favorite Things

The new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is called, "A Few of My Favorite Things" and what we'd like you to do is make a card that uses two or more of YOUR favorite crafty ingredients... and make sure you tell us what they are and why. Sound like fun? I thought so, too! Though honestly, the hardest part for me was to focus in on just a FEW favorite things... 'cause I have lots, lol!

Pertaining specifically to this card/challenge, THESE are a few of my Favorite Things:

1. COLLAGE! Not a thing, as such, but a style that I always love, especially with lots and lots of layers and a combination of items that don't necessarily "go" together but I liked how they looked.

2. Stickers! All of the flowers here are from the Botanist's Sticker Anthology book that Stephanie gave me a year or two ago and despite lots of use, I still have loads left. If you love stickers and/or beautiful books, you should check out the DK Sticker Anthology series.

3. Washi Tape! I love all beautiful tape and LOTS of my faves are from Eyelet Outlet; but in this case, I broke out the BIG guns...49 and Market's 4" wide (four inch wide!) Spectrum Sherbet Lace Washi. Again, I've had this for several years and I'm maybe only about halfway through the eleven yard roll.

4. Vintage Goodies! Some years ago, I realized that I have sooooooo much vintage paper, the only way to even make a dent in it was to start my own Etsy Shop (it's called Just Enough Stuff, just sayin') and make themed packs of vintage and found collage ephemera, including illustrations, sheet music, foreign text, nature images, and lots of other stuff. On this card, there's part of a map and the map index, some sheet music and a Georgian building; plus a strip of grey and purple bus tickets that my friend Heather brought back from South America.

5. Machine Stitching! Again, a technique rather than an item, but I do love stitching on cards. Mostly, I just like the look and the texture, but in the case of collage cards, when there are lots of items that go right to the edge, stitching around the perimeter is quite useful, because you know that NOTHING is going to fall off or try to curl up. So it's win/win. I am also still in love with inked edges, and you can see that there's just a tiny bit of Frayed Burlap around the edge between the stitching and the card base.

6. BIG Cards! Kind of tangential, but I really do enjoy making larger-than-A2 cards. This one is A7 (about 5 x 7"); I also love A6's (6.25 x 4.75"ish) and 5.5" square cards. I expect this is because I'm somewhat of a Maximalist; also when it comes to collage, the images are whatever size they are and I hate to cut off too much so... (shrug) ...I sometimes make cards that are whatever size they turn out to be and then figure out the envelope issue later. :)

There are lots more inspiring cards from the Crew at SOS, and you can read about their Favorite Things as well. SOS560: A Few of My Favorite Things runs until the evening of Monday, November 17th and we'd love for you to join us!

Stickles Autumn Sparkle Card

Autumn is a season full of color and drama, but alas, not much sparkle... except, as in this case, in card form! Head on over to the Ranger Project Tutorials Page and follow along as I combine Stickles Glitter Glue and Archival Inks in lots of lovely fall shades to make...  

...this vibrant fall greeting!

Pumpkin + Patchwork

Here's a twist on the ordinary mandala: it's a zen doodle pumpkin drawn with Letter It Fineliners from @ranger_ink ...set in a patchwork of orange patterned paper. Inside my Dina Wakley 6x6" square Kraft Journal, which is no longer available but... there are lots of other amazing journal choices at Ranger; including large, small, Kraft, watercolor, square, ledger and more; you should probably check them out!

I hope your first week of November is off to a good start! ♥

Hey Little Pumpkin!

Here's a fast and easy Autumnal crochet project for which you can use ANY yarn, including leftovers (which is what I did); the pattern is FREE from Sarah Maker's website and you can choose between three sizes. There's only minimal finishing, as well, which is a big fave of mine. Also, it's worked flat rather than in the round, which I know a lot of folks prefer; and you need only know a few basic stitches, so this is a great project for beginners.

I used one strand of Lion Brand TruBoo and one strand of the leftovers of some fancy yarn store variegated yarn that I can't remember the name of; on a G or F hook... but truly, this is one of those projects where you can pretty much wing it and still come away with an adorable make!

HOPPY Anniversary

Would this be a good time for another funny, punny, fanciful card made with my Gina is Arty Clipart? (Let's assume the answer to that was, "Yes" ok? Thanks.) I've made a few "HOPPY" cards using stamps or Eyelet Outlet Brads. The pun works excellently with frogs, beers and... as in this case... BUNNIES! 

This time I used two of Gina's whimsically colored rabbits, plus a bunch of her multicolor hearts. I added a Dymo sentiment and a gel print background that I adorned with a bunch of white 49 and Market rub-ons from the Ranger store.  I matted the design panel on black and then attached the whole thing to a black A7 card featuring another coordinating gelli.

Here's a reminder what the book cover looks like and HERE IS A LINK to the page on Amazon where you can purchase your very own copy. Want to see a Flip Through before you buy? Visit THIS POST on Gina's Instagram @ginaisarty where you'll also find lots more of G's beautiful art and merch! Want a chance to *WIN* a copy of the book? Check out THIS POST on Gina's Instagram! ♥