Five Faves: Eyelet Outlet Edition

Here are my personal faves (in no particular order) from my Eyelet Outlet cards in 2025. Click the link under each photo if you'd like to visit the original post, which as a handy linked shopping list for all the EO products used!

Cozy Fall Vibes

I have lots of Reading Friends, so I make at least a couple of cards per year with EO Book Brads and Book Tape. It's exciting that I can still think of new twists!

Home and Away

These adorable retro Camper Brads were brand new this summer and I was instantly smitten. (I still am, actually!)

Life is Better at the Beach

I never get tired of the actual ocean OR of ocean/beach themed cards. And since there are so many great EO beachy brads (Shells, Gulls, Flamingos, etc) the possibilities are nearly endless. 

Kind of a Big Deal

Card Suit Brads were new in 2025 and as soon as I saw them, I knew exactly what I wanted to make!

Ahoy, Matey!

I cannot tell a lie: I was given-- and couldn't wait to use-- this pirate-themed stamp set, and so I deliberately sat down and thought about how many brads I could incorporate. The answer was six... (the parrot from our Tropical Birds set is my fave!) ...plus some Glitter Gold Enamels.

♥♥♥

Stay tuned for more Design Team faves on the Eyelet Outlet Blog; then c'mon back next week for lots of brand new cardmaking inspiration!

SOS564: FREE is Good!

It's time for the last Shopping Our Stash challenge of 2025 and this time we'd like you to use something you got for free. Think: an RAK from a friend, a freebie included with an order, something you got as a door prize at a crafty event, something gifted to you because people think you can use just about anything on a card... you know: FREE!

I had to laugh when at the last sentence above, because I am SO lucky that my friends and family (and sometimes THEIR friends and family) are always showing up with a little bag or box or envelope of miscellaneous "stuff" they thought I might like... and a surprising amount of the time they are CORRECT! So I was able to make almost my whole card from such bounty, including: old sewing patterns and a phonebook from my mom; tiny sunflowers and buttons from my aunt; pieces of vintage road map from my friend Barb; part of an old, falling-apart Chinese dictionary from my friend Liz; and Hambly Transparencies and vintage Tall Corn Trading Stamps from my chosen sister, Stephanie! 

Be sure to check out the other Crew Members' cards at Shopping Our Stash. SOS564: FREE is Good! runs until the evening of Monday, January 12th.

Five(ish) Faves: Mandala Monday Edition

Not to be braggy, but I had a hard time only picking FIVE of this year's fifty-one mandalas; not because I'm conceited (well maybe a little, lol!) but because I love drawing/ composing/ dreaming them up. My advice to artists and makers who want some time to make something for themselves: start a weekly, fortnightly or monthly post based on something you LOVE doing; whether it's coloring or collages or frosting cakes or... WHATEVER; create a regular strand for your blog or socials and honor it like any other deadline. You'll be glad you did!

MM05

Using Ranger's Perfect Pearls as watercolors is a lot of fun and the results are SO SHIMMERY!

(Shout out to Dina's Watercolor Journal which has VERY sturdy watercolor paper!)

MM08

I love the concept of viewing a traditional mandala through a cluster of "windows"; I'd like to try some more of these with different shapes next year!

MM11

For a sticker-loving, cupcake-eating Irish American girl, a Mandala Monday which falls ON St. Patrick's Day MUST be made of Pusheen stickers, right?!

MM15

Becca Sadler had the GENIUS idea of starting a weekly strand called "Mondrian Mondays" in which she posted journal pages inspired by Dutch Utopian artist, Piet Mondrian. And when I saw how creative and cool her interpretations were, I wanted to try it in Mandala form. I did five or six versions throughout the year (you can see them together HERE) and this one miiiight be my fave!

MM42

My friend Gina has published her first clipart book on Amazon, I was lucky enough to get an advance copy, and I had a blast making cards and mandalas and all sorts of things with it this year.

(You can see all my Gina is Arty stuff HERE!)

MM45

I sometimes neglect my Posca Pens quite shamefully, but truly, there are few artful things more dramatic than drawing a bright and colorful design on BLACK paper... so luscious!

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To read more about the process and supplies used for any of these Mandalas, just click the link beneath the photo. To see ALL fifty-one Mandala Mondays of 2025, click THIS LINK!

I (heart) Goodreads

If you're NOT a "Book Nerd" just go ahead and skip this post right now; there will be more "art stuff" tomorrow! But as a lifelong reader, I LOVE doing the Goodreads Challenge each year, and I especially love getting the email with all my stats in it. Full Disclosure: 99% of my reading is via audiobooks, hence the fairly high total of 125. Oh yeah, and I read a truly embarrassing number of Sherlock Holmes pastiches this year, even for me. If you're on Goodreads, I'd love for you to tag me as a friend there... I love seeing what other folks are reading and what books they LOVE!

Here are all of my 4 star reads from 2025, in reverse chronological order:

The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict

I love holiday mysteries generally, and this one kept me guessing until the end. I fell in love with Edie, the grumpy protagonist; but the characters, all round, were great!

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

This one popped up as a recommendation on SO MANY Bookstagram posts, I had to succumb... and it is indeed a beautiful and original story. I suggest the audiobook, as it has an outstanding narrator AND original music and singing by the author and her sister.

The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie

Technically I've read this before, but it somehow never made it onto my Goodreads list. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Sean Pratt and it was every bit the classic, cozy, Golden Age mystery I remembered.

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

I honestly didn't think he could write a set of quirky characters I'd love more than the gang from Thursday Murder Club, but I was wrong. (Note that this book is less "cozy" by which I mean stronger suspense/danger and some realistic violence; probably NOT a good bedtime book!)

A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages by Anthony Bale

If you're not a hardcore history-lover with an interest in the Middle Ages, this won't be the book for you; but I am and it was!

Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett

I have read ALL of Discworld, multiple times, and have no intention of stopping any time soon. Death and The Watch are my favorite characters and this book is a stand-out, imo.

Tourists by Lucy Lethbridge

Again, if you're not into sort of "niche" history, you probably won't love this. I happen to love historical travelogues and this taps a lot of unpublished first person sources (letters, diaries etc)  to give a great overview of the relatively recent time when we humans started traveling for fun.

The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen

Again with the niche history. I find these hyper-specific types of "round up" books fascinating; and this one was especially well-written and narrated.

Vermeer's Hat by Timothy Brook

Surprise! More funky history! This time the "filter" is a survey of some of the more status items in Vermeer's paintings, pointing up the fact that the seventeenth century is when global trading originated and the Dutch were leading the way.

Gods, Wasps and Stranglers by Mike Shanahan

Everything you never knew you wanted to know about fig trees! Surprisingly fascinating; tho I confess that I LOVE fresh figs AND am lucky enough to have a neighbor who generously shares her fig tree with me, so I was basically this guy's target audience!

Unruly by David Mitchell

This is the British David Mitchell, half of the British comedy team Mitchell and Webb. But first, he was a history major at Cambridge University and this is a fun, fast, funny (but accurate) history of the monarchy up to Elizabeth the first.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

(NOT the same David Mitchell as above!) It is hard to believe this book is 20+ years old; it feels VERY current and it's hard to imagine a better example of metafiction. I recommend the audiobook because it has six different (excellent!) narrators; one for each of the interconnected stories. 

Wrap It Up

I love fancy giftwrapping all year round... but I go all out for Christmas. As a papercrafter, I have LOTS of paper scraps, diecuts, texture paste, ink, bling and washi tape... all of which comes in very handy for wrapping and making unique gift bags!

Five Faves of 2025: Jingle Belles Edition

My 2025 Jingle Belles cards stand out as the year when I managed to make the fewest cards that needed a padded mailer and $7 worth of postage* go me! To read more about any of these choices, click the link underneath each card, which will take you to the original posts.

JB2506: Get Your Grinch On

(make a predominantly green card)

JB2507: Flat Feliz Navidad

(make a one-layer card; traditionally my bete noir, but this time I loved this one AND my week two card as well!)

JB2510: Christmas Bells, Those Christmas Bells

(make a card that features one or more bells)

JB2515: Treeskirt Tic-Tac-Toe

(incorporate three consecutive items on the provided crafty tic-tac-toe board)

JB2517: The Spirit of Christmas Past

(make a card that's vintage in style, or uses vintage elements)

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Jingle Belles festivities will resume on January 1, 2026 and YOU are invited to join the fun; hope to see you at then! In the meantime, check out Stephanie's picks on the official JB Five Faves post!

I am always a bit torn on the issue of "going postal" because I really loooooooooove big, lumpy, bumpy heavy cards; but am increasingly disenchanted by the cost of mailing them. My mission for 2026 is to continue finding ways of making flatter, more postage-friendly cards that I truly love!

Decor Galore

Wishing everyone who is celebrating today, your merriest Christmas yet! If you're not celebrating, then I hope you have an Especially Nice Thursday. Either way, here's a whole bunch of holiday decor coming your way! ♥♥♥

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone who is celebrating a calm and peaceful Christmas Eve, followed by the happiest of holidays! This card features a wreath sporting Eyelet Outlet Poinsettia and Holly Brads, and is set on a background of beautiful Holiday Garland Washi Tape.

Shopping List:

Poinsetti Brads

Holly Brads

Holiday Garland Washi Tape.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from everyone at Eyelet Outlet!

♥♥♥

Ornamental Mandala Monday

'Twas the Mandala Monday before Christmas, and thus it seems the perfect time for Dylusions Dyamond Boards... )Small Trees and Small Stars, to be exact) ...zen-doodled with my Letter It Fineliners, o'course! These are going to be tags on a few holiday presents; there is a possibility I will add a bit of color first, but I want to see them next to the wrapped gifts before deciding. 

In the meantime, I hope your Week Before Christmas is off to a productive and stress-free start! ♥

TREE-mendous

Christmas trees are always colorful, but their foliage is usually only available in green. Which is fine in real life, but in art life, we might like to consider a few additional options. Luckily I have a nice palette of Ranger's Perfect Pearls, which, when mixed with a bit of water become the loveliest, sparkliest sheer watercolor paints you can imagine.

These trees were inspired by an Instagram post by @andrea.nelson.art in which she painted a piece of watercolor paper with streaky colors; then added some gold acrylic. After the sheet was dry, she hand-cut triangle trees, circle ornaments and funky letters. 

I followed her lead, but used my Perfect Pearls as the paints. (Note, when mixed with water, you don't need to use Perfect Medium and the PPs do not need to be "set" afterward!) Since I knew I wanted to make a bunch, my trees are slightly larger and diecut with Memory Box's Marvelous Pine die. (It's retired... sorry ...but literally ANY tree die; or the aforementioned handcut triangles, will work really well.)

I went with four colorways: Pink (obviously!), Purple, Blue and ok yeah Green is admittedly a nice color for trees, so why not? I used multiple shades of each color and painted them in random stripey swooshes. I initially left a bit of white on each panel so that, when the colors were dry, I could come back in with Perfect Gold. (You can add the gold while your colors are wet, but I felt it stood out more when done as a separate step.) 

After all the panels were dry, I did the diecutting; and now they are ready to be used in... a couple of very cut projects I will show you later this week! ;)

PS: If you haven't seen @andrea.nelson.art in action, I insist you hop over and check out a post or two. In addition to being a fantastic artist (and a very good teacher!) she's a sunny, bubbly, sparkly person and her videos are fast, fun, colorful and inspiring. (Warning: there's a pretty good chance you'll get hooked on watercolor and want to make EVERYTHING she demos ASAP, so plan accordingly lol!)

Surfin' Santa

Santa's taking a break from all the holiday prep to enjoy a bit of surfing, and maybe a few treats, too.  Santa's tropical island has am Eyelet Outlet Tall Palm Tree Brad behind a Sandcastle; and Santa's brought a Candy Cane Brad along, just in case he needs extra energy. The background features Gingerbread Washi and Ho Ho Ho Tape, adorned with Gingerbread and Peppermint Candy Brads. Surf's up!

Surfin' Santa's Shopping List:

Tall Palm Tree Brads

Sandcastle Brads

Candy Cane Brads

Gingerbread Brads

Peppermint Candy Brads

Gingerbread Washi

Ho Ho Ho Tape

The Eyelet Outlet Store has all the embellishments you (and Santa!) need for fabulous holiday cards and decor!

SOS563: My Sweet Embossable You

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we'd like to see cards and projects that feature pressure embossing, heat embossing or both. The can be any size, shape, theme or color, just make sure they've got a bit of whatever sort of embossing you like!

I couldn't decide which kind of embossing to do, so I compromised by doing both! I stamped Wendy Vecchi's Perfect Plaid with Ranger's clear Emboss It Ink, sprinkled on their White Embossing Powder, and then blended some of my favorite green Distress Oxide shades (Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio and Evergreen Bough) in a sort of mirror-image ombre effect. I used Wendy's Flowers and Foliage 3D Embossing Folder (it's on sale at Spellbinders!) then tore a section to put on top. Since I had everything out for heat embossing, I embossed the big floral bouquet from the Garden Party Stamp, Die and Stencil set and colored it with coordinating (Spun Sugar, Kitsch Flamingo and Picked Raspberry) Oxides.

SOS563: My Sweet Embossable You runs until the evening of Monday, December 29th. Hop over to Shopping Our Stash to see what the rest of the Crew have made and to link up your own Embossed creation!

More Modrian Mandala Monday

Probably the last Mondrian Mandala Monday of 2025, so once again I'd like to thank Becca Sadler for coming up with her brilliant Mondrian Monday Journal Page thread... and not minding when I hijacked it from time to time with my own mandala-centric version! ♥

Bookmarks!

Sometimes I wonder if I like making bookmarks because it's an excuse to give books as gifts... or if I like giving books because it's an excuse to make bookmarks. But since both are true, I suppose it doesn't matter, lol.

I've made A LOT of bookmarks in the last few years, a fact which is mysteriously somehow NOT apparent by clicking the BOOKMARKS label in my blog, but there are a couple of goods ones there, made from stamping, collage or washi tape. Collaged bookmarks miiiiiight be my favorite, though, so that's what I used on these. Often I just put a plain piece of paper on the back, but these happen to be double-sided, because, as usual, I had gotten out and fussycut waaaaaaaay too many images and it seemed a pity not to use them.

I'm taking a tiny bit of extra pride in the fact that the bits of vintage map I used happen to feature places near where the two recipients have lived. Also, I broke out my vintage bus tickets and my greenstamps... both of which make any collage even better, imo!

Winter Wildlife Ornament Tags

As the holidays approach, we don't just need cards, we need tags, too. And if they're Dylusions' Bauble Shaped Dyamond Boards adorned with Eyelet Outlet brads and washi, so much the better! These bauble-shaped beauties feature EO Snowflake Brads, Moose, Polar Bears and Deer; all set in a sparkly landscape of Glitter Winter and Glitter Tall Trees Tape.

Winter Wildlife Shopping List:

Snowflake Brads

Moose Brads

Polar Bear Brads

Deer Brads

Glitter Winter Tape

Glitter Tall Trees Tape

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store to find all the bards, tapes, flowers, enamels, bling and sequins you could possibly need; for the holidays and beyond!

The Best Place for SNOW...

 ...is on holiday cards. In this case, it's a Superior Snowflake Mandala Monday and I'm very much hoping it's the ONLY snow I see this week!!! ;) I'll let you decide if you'd like to see actual snow in your location or not.