Bags and More Bags

I've made a lot of fancy giftbags using my cardmaking supplies: patterned paper, washi, stickers, diectus, you name it, I've probably used it on a card and also on a bag or wrapped gift at some point. At the moment I'm a bit obsessed with stencils, and here are a few examples:

Stellar Inks, blended through a big big Donna Downey (I think) flower stencil; pen outlines around the whole thing and Stickles Glitter Gels for the center.

Stellar Inks blended ombre style, through an Anna Griffin stencil; Eyelet Outlet Swirl Bling plus miscellaneous florals and a butterfly from the big box store.

Stellar Inks plus Stickles Glitter Gels through an Anna Griffin Stencil; with small flower bling throughout the design.

Stellar Inks blended outward through a Paper Smooches Succulent stencil that I turned into a stylized flower; outlined and studded with tiny pearls.

Two-toned Stellar Inks through an unknown stencil, with ancient Prima gems placed stragegically. (This isn't my favorite bag but... I love the positioning of the patterned stencil as a diamond that stretches to all the edges of the bag; so I'm going to remember that trick, at least!)

 

Summertime

The calendar might say that summer is almost over, but there are enough summery Eyelet Outlet Brads to last all year! This card features Mini Bee Brads, Beach Umbrella Brads, Flip Flops, Ice Cream, Sunglasses, and a Flamingo.

Bold and Beachy Shopping List:

Mini Bee Brads

Beach Umbrella Brads

Flip Flop Brads

Ice Cream Brads

Sunglass Brads

Flamingo Brads

You'll find brads for every occasion, season, and milestone in the Eyelet Outlet Store. There are lots of clearance items (including some of the brads on this card!) so make sure you stock up before Suzanne, Tony and the website retire at the end of 2026.

Stickers and Pens and Washi, Oh My!

If you haven't checked out the Stationery Zen tab at Ranger Ink, you have a treat coming up. Because there are soooooo many fabulous varieties of Japanese stationery; plus pens, pencils, markers and refills; kawaii stickers, stamps and washi; planners and notebooks; totes, pen cases, tools, accessories... it's like someone took the coolest stationery store ever, and put it right into your computer or smartphone. 

Did I mention the STICKERS??! Yes, you've caught me, I'm a stickerholic, have been since I was about ten; which is like half a century of sticker love, so it'd just be silly to stop now. This trip I was pretty restrained, I only got four sets and I've opened two of them (Palettone Konpeito Candy and Poko Time Seal Animals; plus a brand new Bright pack of Zebra double-tipped Mildliners) to make a sticker mandala in my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal:

There are new things added all the time... and, alas, some things do sell out... so you should probably take a little scroll through Stationery Zen ASAP. Oh and did I mention that since it's part of the regular Ranger Ink website, you can stock up on your favorite inks, pastes, stamps and stencils from Make-It, Tim Holtz, Dina Wakley MEdia, Simon Hurley create, Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions and 49 & Market, plus treat yourself to some Stationery Zen for just one (domestic) shipping fee if you're in the USA... just sayin'... :)

Watercolor Journals

I'm embarrassed to say I haven't touched my Bind-It-All in about a year, but this week it saw quite a bit of action! I made three watercolor journals to give as gifts.

The square ones are 6x6" and the rectangle is about the same as an A6 card. I top-bound them, thinking that gives the best access for both right- and left-handed folks; though in this case the cover designs don't really need to be positioned in any particular way.

The journals are different sizes because the cover paintings (mandalas and/or abstract watercolors of my own) were different sizes. Since I knew to whom each book was intended, I could pick artwork with colors and designs I thought each recipient would like.

Each journal is filled with nice sturdy 140lb cold press Canson watercolor paper; and has 31 pages, since there have been some really cool month-long watercolor challenges and events lately; and if the recipients want to participate they can fit a whole month's worth of artwork into their journal without needing to use the backs of pages.

I used Zutter's 1.25" white wires; with six coils for each book, so that a single punch of the BIA completed each page. The backs have coordinating artwork, and for the endpaper wraps I used some lovely oversized quilting pattern design pages.

Shout-out to my husband, Jeff, who always helps me do the binding; thus saving my wrists for something else... like maybe working in my own watercolor journal, later!

JB2617: Masculine Merriment

It's time for a brand new prompt at Jingle Belles and this time we're making holiday cards in one of the most challenging (imo!) genres: Guy Cards; aka Masculine Merriment! I don't struggle with them as much as I used to, but... yeah... leaving off the flowers, the glitter and the tendency to use PINK does slow me down a bit. I think I did ok this time, though.

I've had Doodlebug's Winter Wonderland stamps for several years, and I really don't use them enough because just LOOK how cute that yeti is! I found two inky embossed backgrounds in my "leftovers" box and they seemed perfect for this card. The paper with the trees is Pebbles I think (and ancient!); and the tiny 1/16" Round Brads are from Eyelet Outlet. 

Speaking of Yetis, I was given a second helping of this super-cute stamp set for my birthday, it's brand new and unopened, and it's looking for a good home, so I'm putting it up as a little prize for one lucky, randomly-selected cardmaker who links up with us at Jingle Belles this fortnight. JB2617: Masculine Merriment runs until the evening of Wednesday, August 26th, and you can link as many newly-made MASCULINE cards as you'd like to!

You're One in CHAMELEON!

If, like me, you can never resist a diabolical pun, the Eyelet Outlet Reptile Brads are an excellent choice. In addition to the gecko and chameleon hiding in the background foliage; the sentiment panel boasts another Chameleon, a Cactus Brad, our Sun and Cloud Brads and a Mini Butterfly.

One in Chameleon Shopping List:

Reptile Brads

Cactus Brads

Sun and Cloud Brads

Mini Butterfly Brads

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Store for lots more fun brads, bling, eyelets and more; and be sure to stock up on all your faves before the website retires at the end of the year! 

SOS580: Back to School

The new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is called Back to School and I bet you can guess what we'd like to see, right?! Well, just in case you can't guess, here's the official blurb: "Make a card that features something you would see at school: pencils, paper, alphabet, lockers, playground equipment; OR a card for a teacher or student." There are lots of choices here so let's get right to it:

I raided LOTS of seriously older stash for this one, so I'm patting myself on the back a tiny bit. I've got loads of Echo Park Stickers, a few seriously old (but beautiful) washi tapes, a bunch of Eyelet Outlet school-themed brads, and... wouldja believe... that background graph paper is Love, Elsie?!

Visit SOS to see what the rest of our very inspiring Crew have made, then start planning what you'll link up with us this time! SOS580: Back to School runs until the evening of Monday, August 24th.

Super Punchy Mandala Monday

I think I'm probably about two thirds through my Dina Wakley MEdia Ledger Journal; I've been working in it quite a bit, as it's such a nice size, shape and quality of paper. Being quite a big journal (7x12") it gives me a chance to try ideas that literally would not work in a smaller space, like this all-neutral mandala, made almost entirely from circle and heart punches! This is a fun style of mandala, literally ANYONE can do it, and it's a fab way to use up some of my (many, MANY!) patterned paper scraps!

Tic- Tac-TWO?

For the second week at Jingle Belles, we're playing Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe, which is kind of a holiday cardmaking version of  "Beach Blanket Bingo"! You still have time to join us; all you have to do is choose a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) and create a holiday card featuring all three elements in that row. Please note that it's fine to use more than one snowman; more than one diecut; red AND green; or a single flower, even! If this sounds like fun, then let's get going:

Here's my card this week:

I chose the right-hand vertical column, which gave me: Dry or Heat Embossing + Ribbon + Stamping. I'll admit I did that partially because I unexpectedly rediscovered my Dina Wakley Soaring embossing folder and once I saw it, I HAD TO use it immediately. My ribbon is of the gorgeous, pink, semi-sheer May Arts variety (which I think you'll agree stages really well!) And finally, my stamping is just the sentiment (from Taylored Expressions' Flip the Snowflake set) but I chalked up a second type of embossing by using Ranger's lovely Pink e/p. I diecut Hero Arts' Snowflake Corner twice (from pale pink and also silver glitter cardstock) and added a single Eyelet Outlet 1.5" Snowflake Bling to give it even more sparkle.

JB2616: Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe runs until 6pm (Eastern) next Wednesday, August 12th. Link your totally terrific Tic-Tac-Toe cards at Jingle Belles! 

Three Cheers

Make crafting time more efficient when you create a series of similar cards in a single session. Eyelet Outlet has loads of different drinks brads; this trio of "CHEERS" cards features Beer Brads, Cocktail Brads, Wine Brads and Grape Brads, as well as tiny 1/16" Round Brads and 1/8" Classic Eyelets.

Cheer-y Shopping List:

Beer Brads

Cocktail Brads

Wine Brads

Grape Brads

1/16" Round Brads

1/8" Classic Eyelets

If you're favorite drink isn't here, don't worry, there are LOTS more styles. Click the "Food, Drink and Cooking" tab so see the whole selection, which includes Wine, Sodas, Coffee, Liquor, Lemonade and more!

I'm a Christmas Kickstart Guest ELF!

My fellow Jingle Belle, Stephanie Severin and I are excited to be Guest Elves for the latest Christmas Kickstart Challenge with our friend and fellow enthusiastic holiday cardmaker, Jo. The theme this time is... Friendship, which seems especially appropriate!

I had a lot of different ideas for the theme, but when I saw this super-cute Doodlebug journal card, I knew it was The One:

I matted the journal card on glossy white, added some fun patterned paper flags, and mounted the whole thing on this fun gingerbread themed patterned paper, which is also (older) Doodlebug Design. I thought it needed one more thing, so I did a bit of machine stitching which always makes things feel "finished" to me!

We'd love for you to join in this month's Christmas Kickstart Challenge #113 A Friend is for Life and Not Just Christmas, so please hop over and see Jo's card and consider linking up one of your own! 

It's a Big, BIG, Mixed Media Mandala Monday

After two months of index cards, working in my fabulous BIG (7x12") Dina Wakley MEdia Ledger Journal is quite a leap. Luckily I had some of Dina's new colorful Chroma Transparencies (this set is called Painted Elements) and Flutters Rub-On Transfers, which I couldn't wait to break open... so I did!

I used some older Dina goodies too, including an older set of her Washi Tape, my new favorite color of Acrylic Paint (Mineral), and Gloss Sprays in Fuchsia and Marine.

I had so much fun making this! I'd write more about it, but I think I'd prefer to go back and play with more of these amazing, colorful, exuberant elements! Meanwhile, I hope your week is off to a beautiful start!

ICAD2026 Wrap-Up

Hard to believe the entire 61 days of the 2026 edition of the @IndexCardaDay Creative Challenge have already elapsed, but the calendar says August 2md, so I guess we have to believe it's true. I am so grateful to Tammy @gypsy999 for starting this inspiring shindig sixteen years ago; and I am proud to have completed the last fifteen years. But honestly, the numbers are really the least of it; the point is to co spend some time prioritizing process over outcome, experimenting, and just generally making art on a regular basis for oneself. So if you participated, whether you made 61 cards or 16 or 6... I salute you!

Many thanks to all who followed along, left comments, dropped hearts and generally acted as cheerleaders to your fellow ICADians and ICADettes. I didn't do as well at that part as I had hoped to, but I truly loved seeing all the cards that came up in my feed and interacting (however limitedly) with this fab community!

Here's my #icadeverything photo. Each year I like to make a small ring-bound mini-book, which I fill up with finished cards as the challenge progresses. I like this format because it allows me to keep my cards together and in order as I work; also, on days when my time or energy is limited, the thought of adding another card to the ring kind of keeps me going. Plus I confess I really love taking this "fan" photo of the finished book each year!

PS: I'm already looking forward to #dyicad2027 ♥♥♥

Here are the last few cards from the past not-quite-full week of ICAD2026!

Day 62: Bonus Card

I always like to finish the ICAD festivities with a big bold THANK YOU (on an index card, obvs) to Tammy @gypsy999 and all my fellow ICADians and ICADettes for making this June and July the best @indexcardaday event so far! ♥

Day 61: Off-Prompt

Could not resist making one more freestyle collage that combines ink, a little stamping, some ancient rub-on transfers and a few vintage goodies.

Day 60: Beatles' Song

Octopus' Garden is one of my favorite Beatles' songs, not just because it's one of a very few written by Ringo, although the older I get, the more I appreciate his sense of humor and whimsy. I made a "smooshed" background with Isopropyl Alcohol and some analogous shades of Stellar Ink, then added bubbles and ripples and coral and flowers. (The last is not technically correct, but if an Octopus had a garden, I think there'd be flowers in it. So there.)

Day 59: Cobblestones

There is something really soothing about filling an entire index card with a semi-realistic pattern, then adding depth and color and shadows, etc and these cobblestones were especially fun to draw!

Day 58: Off-Prompt

This card combines three different half-finished, temporarily abandoned pieces that serendipitously added up to more than the sum of their parts. The sewing pattern lady collage layer was part of a bigger piece that I didn't like much... so I tore away the "excess" and started over. The layer beneath that is a  flower(ish) illustration from a book of fabric designs that I had outlined but then got a bit stuck, and set aside. Oddly enough, the colors match the SPL's flower perfectly. The tabbed card has some Perfect Pearls doodles that (once again... almostly spookily!) match really really well. You can't see much of it, but both structurally and design-wise it makes a perfect base for the rest. 

JB2616: Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're playing Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe, which is a bit like "Beach Blanket Bingo"... but much more Christmassy... and with a lot more embellishments! We'd love for you to join us; all you have to do is pick a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) and create a lovely new holiday card featuring all three elements in that row. (Please note that you can, of course, use more than one snowman, more than one diecut, etc. etc.) Sound like fun? We thought so! 

Here's how I played the game this week:

I chose the center horizonal row, which gave me: Flowers + Red or Green + Ribbon. I couldn't wait to use my new Simon Hurley Festive Holly Layering Stencil set for the "red or green" portion; I used Simon's Iced Out and Tropical Tango Stellar Inks for the holly leaves and stems, with Prom Queen for the berries. My "flowers" consist of the single white silk poinsettia I had left, stacked with two layers of Tim Holtz's Tattered Poinsettia die, which I cut from deep pink felt and held on with an ancient holly themed brad. For "ribbon" I used two different patterns from an older set of Doodlebug Design holiday ribbons. At the very end I sewed around the perimeter (those ribbons are ON THERE lol!) and added a couple of mulberry paper ivy leaves of unknown origin.

JB2616: Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe runs until 6pm (Eastern) on the evening of Wednesday, August 12th. Link your totally terrific Tic-Tac-Toe cards at Jingle Belles!

Snowflake Kisses: NEW Holiday Jumpstart

 

Visit the Paper Anthology Etsy Shop or CLICK HERE to get your copy of the Snowflake Kisses Holiday Jumpstart Kit!

Holiday Jumpstart: Snowflake Kisses is Paper Anthology's newest holiday card kit, which features a fabulous fall of flakes and flourishes.

Paper Anthology’s Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit is our pre-packaged kit that includes everything you need (except adhesive and optional ink) to complete FIVE copies of this new original holiday card design. This edition is called “Snowflake Kisses” because of the abundance of delicate snowflakes and the soft color palette of pink, white and silver.

We all love 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”. That issue is solved by this pre-packaged kit, which features everything you need (except adhesive and optional ink) to complete five copies of this original design. Also included are complete written instructions (not pictured, but included!) and a nice big photo for reference.

This kit contains:

Five 3.75 x 5" sturdy white cardstock panels embossed with fluttering birds and text
Five 4 x 5.25" mats of light pink floral cardstock
Five silver glitter diecut Snowflake Corners
Five medium pink diecut Snowflake Clusters
Fifteen matte silver small snowflakes
Five silver diecut label shapes
Five pink floral Peace diecuts
30" of pale pink ribbon
Twenty-five white stickyback pearls
Five white A2 cards

Visit the Paper Anthology Etsy Shop or CLICK HERE to get your copy of the Snowflake Kisses Holiday Jumpstart Kit!

Tulips in Bloom

Eyelet Outlet Tulip Brads look bloomin' beautiful wherever you use them. On this card they're planted in front of quite a fancy greenhouse, where they're attracted the attention of three curious Dragonfly Brads.

Gorgeous Garden Shopping List:

Tulip Brads

Dragonfly Brads

Click the Flower, Fruit and Trees tab on the sidebar of the Eyelet Outlet Home Page to see ALL the bloomin' beauties in the EO garden.

SOS579: What's the Good WORD?

The new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is called, "What's the Good Word?" for which we'd like you to design a card around a WORD. You could use a Word Die, Stickers, or a Word Stamp - just make sure it's clear what your WORD is.

I have A LOT of alphabet die sets, so I used this opportunity to break out half a dozen of them, diecut the letters for "HAPPY" from a cool old street map, and make a super wordy background for a birthday card that also features fun vintage car illustrations and an Eyelet Outlet Compass Brad. 

Alphabet Die sets used:  Altenew Bold Alphabet Lowercase; MFT Essential Alphabet and In Stitches Uppercase; Sizzix/ Tim Holtz Alphanumeric Thinlits and Typo Lowercase; Impression Obsession Typewriter Lowercase. 

While I had all my car-related stuff out, I made a gift bag to coordinate: It's got pieces of several maps, a map index, the title page of a vintage Road Atlas to Britain, loads of (out of print) washi tape, some cool tape measure ribbon, and Eyelet Outlet Classic Car and Driving Brads.

SOS579: What's the Good WORD runs until the evening of Monday, August 10th. Head on over to SOS to check out what the rest of the Crew have made, it's definitely worth the trip!

ICAD. (Again)

We've just completed the last *FULL* week of @indexcardaday (though the official wrap-up is not until Friday) so here are seven more cards from my own personal ICAD-iverse:

Day 57: Off-Prompt

(Mandala Monday)

I've had so much fun with my Posca pens this summer. One of my goals was to use them more often (check!) and... more difficult for me... NOT to outline all of the colors (also check!). This design made me think of a tagline Tammy G (aka @gypsy999 on IG) wrote for one of her mandalas early on in my ICAD participation. She called it a, "100% free-range, cruelty-free, organic mandala" and I think this fits that description pretty well!

Day 56: Board Game

When I read "Board Game" I flashed back to playing Candyland with my brother when we were very young. Something I didn't really notice or appreciate until I was much older, is the brilliance of Candyland's logistics: there's no reading; and you really don't even need to be able to count reliably, as the spinner and board direct you to advance to the next square on the board that is the correct color.  Whoever thought that up was both a genius, and a person who understood that kids will enjoy playing a board game together without adults, it's the reading and strategy that makes many games "too old" to play without a grown-up. I'm guessing a MOM invented Candyland?! 

My card is inspired by both Candyland and another game we (or possibly our neighbors) had, which I can only remember very vaguely; but I know you drew a card and then advanced to a place on the board which had the matching symbol. I have no idea what it was called... it's even possible I am retrospectively making it up, lol (But I THINK it was a real game; does anyone else remember it?!)

Day 55: Mirror(ball)

I made a nice dark inky background with three of my favorite shades of Simon Hurley's Stellar Inks, using Isopropyl Alcohol instead of water, so my flimsy index card would not get warped or pilled. When it was dry, I added slightly darker ink around the edges; then went wild with ancient white rub-on transfers. I cut that cool rose sticker into three parts for maximum coverage, then added a vintage ballerina and what I think might be the best caption ever. I generally try not to pick "favorite" ICADs based on the finished product, rather than process, but... I have to admit... I *really* like this one!

Day 54: Diagonal

Last year during ICAD, I made a bunch of pretty random backgrounds; some of which did not get used. Including this one that has skinny blue and green washi tapes arranged in a diagonal plaid pattern. Tonight I added some funky fruit illustrations and a daffodil. I feel like it needs one more thing, but since I have absolutely no idea WHAT that thing might be; for now, at least, I'm calling this (provisionally) done.

Day 53: Unwind

I glued the car, the flower, and the foliage to a plain white index card and then got stuck and set it aside. Later I thought, "Maybe the background should be zen doodles?" I'm still not sure if that was the right idea or if these are the right doodles but they were quite relaxing and fun to do; thus I count this as "Unwinding".

Day 52: Season

I think I've used my Posca Pens more consistently in the last two months than at any time previously, and it feels really good. I had intended to add all four seasons to this... but I got carried away with Spring and Summer, and ran out of room for Fall and Winter, lol. Maybe later I'll make a Part Two?!

Day 51: Off-Prompt

Here's another collage where the three background elements (a large photo of malachite, yellow flowers with stripey leaves, and green butterflies) almost blend together too well. But whenever Alice in Wonderland joins the convo, serendipity tends to reign, right?!

Unicorn Holiday Color Inspiration (week 2)

It's the second week of our Unicorn Holiday Color Challenge at Jingle Belles, so here's a reminder of the palette. You don't need to reference the photo... or the unicorn... as part of your inspiration; just use three (or more) of the colors placed below the graphic. You can add in neutrals, too, of course.

I couldn't decide between recreating Stephanie's amazing card from last week or using my new Simon Hurley create Tangled Lights Layering Stencil Set; so I did a bit of both! I used Simon's Inks in Piggyback, Prom Queen, Love Bomb, Over Zealous and Cry Baby for the lights; with some Black Widow for the cords and sockets.

Then I used a set of nested dies to make the four graduated circles from Stephanie's design. I considered a yeti... or a narwhal... even Hello Kitty; but in the end I chose the snow person from Simon's North Pole Sentiments set from Spellbinders, and had fun dressing him up using scraps from the same colors of cardstock that make up the circles.

Be sure to check out Stephanie's latest card over at Jingle Belles. JB2615: Unicorn Holiday runs until next Wednesday evening, July 29th, so you have plenty of time to join the fun!

Shelf-Centered

How many Eyelet Outlet Brads can you fit on a pair of paper shelves? In this case, twelve brads from eight different sets; all of which are listed and linked below in a Handy Shopping List. Diecuts and brads are the perfect card companions... and the combinations are almost endless!

Handy Shopping List:

Bluebird and Robin Brads

White Daisy Brads

Dragonfly Brads

Book Brads

Sea Shore Brads

Cactus Brads

Telephone and Fan Brads

Mini Ladybug Brads

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store to find all of these styles and many more!\

ICAD is Nearly Over? Already?!

It seems like every year of the Index Card a Day Creative Challenge goes by a little bit faster, and this year is no exception. I'm planning to savor the remaining time... one 3x5 card at a time! Here are the most recent seven:

Day 50: Off-Prompt (Mandala Monday)

Layers cut from scraps of patterned paper, with minimal outlining, on my last red index card.

  Day49: Street

Possibly the most literal collage I've ever made! I love how this came out, but my one regret is that the four different street maps I pieced together very carefully, so that the big routes joined up with each other, can literally not be seen AT ALL after I layered the car, index, compass, etc, on top. Ah, well. 

Day 48: Margin

Admittedly a very tangential take on #dyicad2026 Day 48's prompt of #margin in that really only a thicker black line forms the margin between each of my layered, rainbow doodle circles.

Day 47: Backgammon

Circling back to the prompt I skipped on Mandala Monday, with a funky, hand-cut, rainbow version of a backgammon board.

Day 46: Farmer's Market

Technically speaking, I've never seen any PLAID flowers at any Farmer's Market I've ever attended but... a girl can dream, right? Brush markers and Letter It Fineliners on the unlined back of an index card.

Day 45: Thunderstorm

This card has all the ingredients I love: hand-cutting, hand-stitching, and a whimsical approach to the prompt. That said, I can't say I love the finished product very much; but it was fun to make and tomorrow is another #dyicad2026 day!

Day 44: Pewter or Steel

I started out with the pocket watch, the sundial and some of the cogs; thinking, basically "metal circles". Then I found other circles (blackwork lace, celtic knots, horoscope wheels, stylized flowers, geometric patterns, etc) at which time it kind of morphed into "circles of various origin" and I'm fine with that. Let's call this one, "Pewter OR Steel... and Friends"!