Eyelet Outlet Gnome 2 Brads and Girl Gnomes make any occasion more fun and more colorful. Here they are moving into an adorable gnome home, with sweet Rabbit and Mini Bee Brad neighbors, under a cheerful Sun and Cloud Brad sky.
Check out ALL the fabulous fall, winter, summer and spring Brads in the Eyelet Outlet Store!
Cleaning up my worktable, I found a few small panels of cardstock that I had tinted with Ranger's Old Glory Blue Archival Ink; one was semi-solid and the other had lots of tones and highlights, so they seemed like the perfect ingredients for a mandala and a mat... which is how I used them.
How many layering stencils can you comfortably fit on one journal spread? Well, I suppose it depends on the size of both the journal and the stencils; but to save time, I will reveal, that in this case, it's FOUR. How many Archival Ink colors can you use with four Simon Hurley layering Stencil Sets? Again, I think that could vary considerably; but for this spread, it was eight... and since I still had the three new sets of MINI Archivals (Kits #5, 6 & 7) sitting on my work table, I chose to use those.
This has become one of my "go-to" journal ideas, for when I have new stencils and/or no plan. Because sometimes you just want to use ALL THE THINGS, am I right? I personally enjoy mixing patterns, playing with scale, and seeing how many colors I can use on a page; so this "patchwork" type of grid is fun, easy and super-flexible; but you could fill strips, borders, shapes or just random patches with your favorite patterns.
Would you like specifics? All the stencils are Simon Hurley create Layering Sets: Diamonds (Sun Dazed, Sea Grass) and Whimsy Flowers (Aquamarine and Emerald) are pretty new; Leopard (Sand Castle and Aubergine) and Very Berry (Sweet Treat, Cayenne and Emerald) came out earlier this year. Spread across two pages of my Dina Wakley MEdia Watercolor Journal, with doodles and outlining via Letter It Fineliners.
At Jingle Belles, one of our favorite things about a big Thanksgiving dinner, is the fact that there will be leftovers! (Turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce sandwich anyone?) So this fortnight we're celebrating Holiday Leftovers! What does that mean? We're asking you to make a card using paper scraps, offcuts, an image you colored or diecut or fussy-cut but never used, a small piece of ribbon too pretty to toss away, the last sticker in the packet or... whatever "leftover" bits and bobs you have laying around. Of course you can mix in new stuff too. Oh and be sure to tell us what your leftovers are so we can marvel at your cleverness!
Here's my card:
I had some random skate pieces and pale grey embroidery floss leftover from making and photographing the instructions for the Paper Anthology Ice Ice Baby Holiday Jumpstart kit last week; and since the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Ice Skates die is one of my favorites, anyway, of course I knew I wanted to use them up. In addition, I found this already- cut- to-size piece of 49 and Market holiday paper AND a bunch of glittery dimensional flowers I must've made several years ago and which I just unearthed again. Actually, I think only the red mat and the white 5.5" cardbase are new; this is a small but satisfying triumph of leftover usage!
JB2623: Holiday Leftovers runs until the evening of Wednesday, November 18th. Link your cards featuring Holiday Leftovers at Jingle Belles today!
Time for a brand new challenge at Shopping Our Stash, and this fortnight the brief is to make something related to Thanksgiving, OR being grateful, OR add a "Thank You" somewhere on your project. Guess which one I chose:
One of my favorite ways to use Ranger's Perfect Pearls is to add them to an eye dropper full of water in a small palette and then PAINT with them... especially... on a deep dark background of Tim Holtz's Distress Black Heavystock. So that's what I did this week, using the new colors which released on Friday: Fire & Ice, Cherry Bomb, Snow Globe, Dragonfly, Evening Gown and Fairy Frost. If you think they look fun and super-shimmery in the photo, I assure you they are WAY more intense, irl... you need to try this at home! ♥
Rounding up the rest of my #Collactober2026 entries, as I've been participating (sporadically and not in order lol) in this fun and inspiring October collage event, which is hosted each year by @lofficinedenative and @prism_voyager on Instagram.
Holiday Jumpstart: Ice Ice Baby is Paper Anthology's newest holiday card kit, which features a nostalgic pair of ice skates, on an embossed poinsettia background that YOU ink in your favorite shade.
Please note that this edition makes FOUR A6 cards, rather than our usual quantity of five A2 cards; just because the skates fit better on a bigger card. This kit also comes with four white A6 envelopes.
Paper Anthology’s Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit is our pre-packaged kit that includes everything you need (except adhesive and your choice of ink colors) to complete FOUR copies of this new original holiday card design. This edition is called “Ice Ice Baby” because it has ice skates, and we can literally NEVER resist a diabolical pun!
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 your choice of ink colors) to complete four copies of this original design. Also included are complete written instructions (not pictured, but included!) and a nice big photo for reference; plus a secondary photo showing the skate parts as they come AND as they get assembled. The instructions detail the specific Archival Ink colors used on all four versions of the background shown on the cover, as well as suggestions for swapping to Distress Ink shades, if desired; but honestly, this concept WILL work with your favorite color and brand of inks!
CLICK HERE to go to the Ice Ice Baby listing in our Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop
This kit contains:
Four embossed (uncolored!) poinsettia backgrounds
Four sets of boot, blade and heel parts to assemble four pairs of skates
Four diecut silver metallic sentiments
Enough pale grey floss to (optionally) stitch the laces on four pairs of skates
Four white A6 cards
Four white A6 envelopes
It's the second week of the prompt we've called, "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks" at Jingle Belles and thus we're still creating cards that feature animals; OR you can go with "creatures" like a yeti or monster, if you prefer.
Weirdly enough, I've gone fairly traditionally yet again this week! I was flipping through my holiday dies and re-discovered Memory Box's Serene Bird and Branch die set, which, bizarrely, I don't think I've used for a couple of years? And suddenly I just thought, "That's the one!" I've cut the bird from a really soft silver-grey metallic cardstock, then added it and quite a lot of small foliage to the center of MFT's Happy Holidays Circle Frame; then added Dare 2B Artzy's Slim-Mini Snowflake panel behind the whole thing and set it atop some ancient Basic Grey Wisteria paper. In the photo, the lavender and purple both look very strong and slightly "off" but I assure you, IRL, it's quite a nice card.
Link your critter- or creature-centric cards on the original While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks post, for a chance to win a super-cool Sizzix Reindeer die! This challenge ends next Wendesday evening, November 4th.
The holidays are right around the corner, and Ranger's Make-It line has stepped up with beautiful new Christmas and Hanukkah stamps and stencils. I've got a tutorial for this fun Candy Cane Wishes card up on the Ranger Project Tutorials Page, I'd love for you to hop over there and check it out this very vibrant card which features the Christmas Sweets Clear Stamp Set and 6x9" Peppermints Stencil, not to mention the brand new Mini Archival Inks, lots of Liquid Pearls and some of my favorite Ranger Embossing Powders.
Ranger's Make-It line of beautiful, affordable, stamps and stencils just got a Holiday Glow-Up! Introducing new Merry Greenery and Christmas Sweets Stamps, plus a lovely new Peppermints Stencil. But don't think it's just about XMAS, oh no...
Halloween isn't just for kiddos, so here's a soft, floral card that's all grown up! An Eyelet Outlet Pumpkin Brad, Colored Daisy, Rose Brad, Sugar Skull and even a Mini Butterfly adorn these pretty stamped pumpkins on their soft purple spider web stenciled background.
Wishing you a safe and Happy Halloween with lots of treats... and absolutely no tricks!
Halloween is next Sunday and I haven't even posted a Spider Web Mandala? Shocking! So here's one right now.
Time for a new prompt at Jingle Belles, and this time we're celebrating the creatures of Christmas: by which we mean the "traditional" types of animals (sheep, reindeer, camels, etc) OR go a bit silly and incorporate yetis, monsters, unicorns or... well, you get the idea!
I went semi-traditionally; or at least, I've chosen animals that actually exist, lol, namely the moose, narwhal and walrus from Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Arctic. I really like paper-piecing these guys, so that's what I did here. I built a little winter landscape for them to inhabit; then all I needed was a diecut sentiment and a few snowflakes et voila!
JB2622: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks runs until the evening of Wednesday, November 4th. Hop over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card and link up your own critter-centric masterpiece(s)! PS: There's a little prize on offer for one random cardmaker... just sayin'...
It's almost Halloween so the big question on everyone's mind is: WITCH way to the candy? This card has an Eyelet Outlet Pumpkin Brad adorned with Witch Legs and a Witch Hat, on a background strewn with sweets including almost-good-enough-to-eat Candy Corn Brads.
Over at Jingle Belles, we're still creating predominantly PINK holiday cards, and we'd love for you to do so, as well, since this is the fortnight where Stephanie and I each donate $2 per linked-up card to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, so if you're only going to join us at Jingle Belles for ONE challenge, let it be this one!
Here's my pink card this week:
Halloween is just around the corner, and Eyelet Outlet Bat Brads are just what you need to make fun, FANG-tastic cards! The background and all the brads on this card are black, so the colorful sentiment (in costume for the holiday with a Mustache Brad and a Witch Hat) stands out even more. Which of your friends would go batty for this greeting?
I've definitely re-fallen in love with rub-on transfers; the Dina Wakley MEdia ones from Ranger are, imo, especially beautiful AND they rub-on perfectly; I will continue to acquire every new set she releases. On the other hand, I still have quite a few old school rub-ons, some of which work better than others, so I've devised a few ways to use them... even when you don't know beforehand what condition they're in. One way is to add them almost randomly to a collage or a mixed media piece that has a bit of a grunge or vintage feel. Because, if they work well: Excellent, they look like they did in the package! If they don't work well: Excellent, they add to the grunge/imperfection vibe!
Another way is to use them with watercolors, as a resist. You add white rub-ons to white watercolor paper, then paint over top of them. That's what I did this time. I stuck a fun horoscope sticker at the top of my watercolor panel, drew the basic mandala outlines around it with a Letter It Fineliner, then used a bunch of different leftover rubs, which I cut into fragments, and added randomly to the background and to some of the petals. Then I painted blues and purples which coordinated with the sticker, let the whole ting dry, touched up the original lines where necessary and sewed it to a mat and then my A6 card.
And just like that... other Mandala Monday is in the bag! ♥
It's time for one of my favorite Jingle Belles events: Pink Christmas! This is the fortnight where Stephanie and I donate $2 each per linked-up card to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, so if you're only going to join us at Jingle Belles for ONE challenge, let it be this one!
Does your card have to be ALL PINK? Nope; but it should be kind of predominant.. Can you add in other colors, too? Yep. Can you link up more than one card? Yes, please! Does each card have to be in a separate post? No, we'll make sure to count however many cards you've made, whether you post them all at once or one at a time.
Here's my card:
I found this Oxide Ink-Blended panel, the large pink dotty circle, AND the "Let it Snow" flag in my leftovers box, which seems like too much serendipity to ignore. I generally position an ombre panel so that the darkest shade is on the bottom, but this time I decided to go vertical and I think it looks pretty cool. The trees and stars are from an absolutely ancient sheet of Pebbles stickers that I found when we did the sticker challenge a few weeks ago and I added tiny Doodlebug enamel hearts plus some Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads. Skinny white mats and YES, a PINK cardbase complete my A6 design.
JB2621: We're Dreaming of a PINK Christmas runs until the evening of Wednesday, October 21st. Hop over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card and link as many newly made PINK holiday cards as you possibly can!
Eyelet Outlet Classic Car Brads are always a good choice, especially when paired with a fun sentiment, funky map, coordinating patterned paper, plus EO Round Brads and Classic Eyelets. This card is all revved up and ready to hit the road to celebrate a special birthday!
Check out all the goodies in the Eyelet Outlet Store today!
The new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is Halloween-themed and called, "Black Cats" so yes, one option is to include a black cat on your card; OR you could feature any other BLACK Halloween icon: bats, spiders, a witch... you get the picture, right? I focused on the cat, but there are a couple of spiders, too, as a bonus.
As soon as you say, "Black Cat" I immediately think of the adorable version in Wendy Vecchi's Halloween Add-On Stamp and Die Set from Spellbinders (btw, it's on sale!); and yes, I realize he could be any color, but my favorite way to piece him is with black sticky-back felt, as I've done here. The background is a pink spiderweb paper from Prima's Luna Collection of a few years ago; the spiders are part of Wendy's die set; the ghost is cut from a different Prima paper; and the sentiment stamp is so old I have no idea whence it came. I did a bit of machine-stitching on some of the web, as well as around the perimeter, which is very difficult to see in the photo, but pretty cool IRL.
Hop over to SOS to see the fab and funky Crew Cards, then start planning what you'll link up with us this fortnight. SOS584: Black Cats runs until the evening of Monday, October 19th.
A few weeks ago I used my Simon Hurley Stellar Inks to paint a very bold mandala in my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal. Since I used isopropyl alcohol instead of water, it did not warp or pill the page at all, but... as sometimes serendipitously happens, a bit of the color seeped through to the reverse side of the paper. Which meant that I could basically just outline it, add additional color, et voila... two for the effort of one!
