SOS572: Up, Up and Away

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash, the challenge is to make a card that contains something you'd see in the sky. Such as? Well, there are birds, butterflies, balloons, airplanes, a rainbow, the sun, the moon, satellites, or... in this case... clouds!

Having decided on clouds, I had some trouble choosing WHICH of the many well-hoarded, cloud-bedecked patterned papers I should use, so I finally chose two for the card and one to stage with. I broke out one of my all-time favorite classic stamp sets (and yes, by "classic" I mean "OLD" lol!) My Favorite Things' Polynesian Paradise, colored the adorable hula girl, a pineapple, some flowers and YES, why not add a handsome toucan for one more sky-centric element.

 Hop over to SOS to see what the rest of the crew have made to inspire you. Challenge 572: Up, Up and Away runs until the evening of Monday May 4th, so you have lots of time to join the fun.

Fruity Sticker Mandala

The Ranger Shop recently added a bunch of fabulous journaling and planner items including LOTS of these Bande Washi Stickers. I only allowed myself to choose three varieties (so far!) but I'm pretty sure they're going to become an obsession. So I'll say "You're welcome" or "Sorry" in advance, lol. I've used two of my choices in this fruity mandala: Sliced Fruit & Vegetables and Strawberry Wreath. 

I added a central circle and punched hearts to beef up the design; and a few miscellaneous star stickers on the outside ring.

Bird is the Word

This is the very last page in my 6" Dina Wakley Kraft Journal, although I think there *might* be an unfinished mandala or two that needs completing before I can declare the volume officially finished. 

Some time ago, I made these little slide mounts filled with trading stamps and tiny critters cut from some of the border pages in my friend Gina's awesome Clip Art Book; I just re-found them and decided they'd be perfect to go in the very back of the book. I cut out a few of Gina's larger whimsical birds to accompany them and made a background of torn paper (English dictionary paper, Chinese dictionary paper, part of a map and part of the map's index) plus some glorious Greenstamps and called it a day

You can get your very own copy of the fabulous Gina is Arty Clipart Book on Amazon; a purchase I can highly recommend if you love collage, cardmaking, cute critters or mixed media art!

Vintage (wk 2)

We're still celebrating all things with a vintage or retro vibe at Jingle Belles and we'd love for you to come Walking in a Vintage Wonderland, by which we mean creating a card with a vintage or retro design. Either by incorporating actual vintage/retro elements; OR using new products that have a vintage style; OR using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe; whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive, we're sponsored by my very own Etsy Shop... Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky card maker who links-up their vintage design.

This week, I made quite a random collage of torn and layered vintage and found papers including: some sheet music; a dictionary page with a reindeer (technically a caribou but work with me!); an order form and an advertisement from a vintage Christmas Ideals magazine; some rather splendid S&H Green Stamps and... ok, I think that's it, lol. Since the background is quite busy, I only needed a fussycut Authentique bauble (which luckily had a bold sentiment!) and a few Katie Pertiet Christmas Collageable Banners that I machine stitched while I was doing the edges.

JB2608: Walkin' in a Vintage Wonderland runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 22nd. Hop over to the original post at Jingle Belles to see the prize and link your own vintage/retro masterpiece(s).

Stellar Blooms

Simon Hurley's Stellar Inks from Ranger are, of course, outstanding for stamping and stenciling, but I also love to use them for watercoloring! I painted these big bold blooms by (sequentially) smooshing Stellar Ink (in Rosy Cheeks, Prom Queen, Slippery When Wet, Later Gator and Fore!) onto my craft mat, picking the color up with a waterbrush, and splashing it around on Simon's smooth, bright-white Watercolor Paper. When my blooms were dry, I added a dotty background plus a few outlines and details in similar shades of marker. 

HERD It's Your Birthday

If farm cards are your jam, Eyelet Outlet has all the brads you could possibly wish for. This scene features the cows from our Cow and Goat set; plus Sun and Cloud Brads, not to mention a soaring Eagle and a Tractor Brad; all set inside a border of Farm Animal Washi Tape. The Old Barn and Tree are from an older Art Impressions stamp set that I painted with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors.

Down on the Farm Shopping List:

Cow and Goat Brads

Sun and Cloud Brads

Eagle Brads

Tractor Brads

Farm Animal Washi Tape

There are also Pig and Sheep Brads, Horse and Pony Brads, Chickens, Roosters, Llamas and more. Check out the entire selection of farm animals, jungle beasts, pets, reptiles, dinosaurs and pretty much every critter you can name... all in the Eyelet Outlet Store!

Perfect Pearls Mandala Monday

I don't always fill an entire page in my Dina Wakley MEdia Watercolor Journal, but this time I was having so much mixing Perfect Pearls powders with clear water and painting shimmery concentric rings, that before I knew it I had gone from the bottom right all the way up to the top left corner.

After my rings were dry, I added lots of lines, dots, scallops, hearts and faux stitching with my Letter It Fineliners et voila: another Mandala Monday in the books!

Stencil Testing Pages

If you're anything like me, when you get new supplies you want to use them IMMEDIATELY upon unpacking... which is often considerably before you've actually got a plan as to HOW you want to use them. So here's my solution: the stencil testing journal page! 

This could not be easier, because it's literally just stencils in my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal. Yes, I made an attempt to line them up somewhat neatly; and yes, I used shades of ink from the same family; so it makes the double-page spread look quite decorative. 

Technically, only three of these Simon Hurley Layering Stencil Sets are brand new, namely: Happy Arches, Star Tile and Trellis. I filled in the rest of the page with some older sets: Geo Leaves, Geo Circles, Deco Diamonds and Tiny Diamonds, to be exact. To make the page look more cohesive, I used Archival Inks in greens and blues: Avocado Toast, Olive, Emerald, Best Dressed, Beach Cruiser and Seafarer... with a little bit of Graphite to anchor them.

Next time you open that box of new goodies, have a journal or sketchbook handy and have some fun!

JB2608: Walkin' in a Vintage Wonderland

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're Walking in a Vintage Wonderland, which means creating a card with a vintage or retro design. 

That could mean incorporating actual vintage/retro elements; OR using new products that have a vintage style; OR using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe; whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive to your endeavors, this week we are sponsored by my very own Etsy Shop... Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky card member who links-up their vintage design.

My card is a mix of actual vintage and vintage-inspired papercrafting products, it breaks down like this: Background paper, mailbox, sentiment and holly are 49 and Market; the funky steampunk Santa and present are Graphic 45; I've added real vintage sheet music and S&H Green Stamps to bump it up a bit. Then I did loads of edge-distressing on everything and a bit of wonky machine-stitching to finish off. Not to brag or anything, but I love this card, lol!

JB2608: Walkin' in a Vintage Wonderland runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 22nd. Hop over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's gorgeous vintage-inspired card and check out the little vintage holiday prize pack!

Got Maps?

Before you recycle your paper maps, you should know that they are the perfect background for Eyelet Outlet Classic Car and Driving Brads! As well as cards, old maps work brilliantly as gift wrap; which, in this case, has been adorned with some EO Road Washi Tape to continue the car theme. 

Revved Up Shopping List:

Classic Car Brads

Driving Brads

Road Washi Tape

Whatever plans you have for your next card, Eyelet Outlet has the brads to drive you stylishly to the finish line!

(For map nerd only: this is a 1976 edition of Alexandria Maps' Street Maps of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; part of an astonishingly cool collection of my dad's that was recently gifted by my mom... who, when she saw this card, decided she miiiiiiiiiight want some of 'em back!!!) :)

SOS571: Sparkle, Sparkle!

The new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is called, "I don't Sweat, I Sparkle" and if you've already guessed that we want to see projects that feature gems, glitter, sequins or bling, WELL DONE! Let's get right to the card:

I actually made TWO cards for this challenge because the first one (might show it next week) didn't look very bling-y at all in the photo. Possibly because I started with my design and then added bling around it. So I decided to try again, but this time START with the bling... a nice big swirl of black crystals from Eyelet Outlet. Or, more precisely, several smaller half-swirls that I Frankenstein-ed and re-arranged so they'd nicely fill up the area around the butterfly. My background was a collage-look paper from 49 and Market to which I added real tickets, vintage postage and tiny fussycut butterflies. Speaking of butterflies, that big chipboard one in the center is actually accented with glitter that you absolutely CANNOT see, but... just thought I'd mention, lol.

Oh and speaking of Eyelet Outlet, ALL their bling is currently on sale for just $1 a pack! But... when it's gone, it's gone, so get a-shoppin'! 

And be sure to check out the fabulous array of sparkliness at Shopping Our Stash and start planning what you'll link up with us!

Pudgie Budgie Mandala Monday

This might be my most unusual Mandala ever... it's at least in the Top Ten, don't you think? I found this majestic (or possibly just annoyed, lol) bird-in-a-circle illustration in a fanciful coloring book I discovered at a garage sale. Pretty sure I must've ignored this guy before when leafing through the book, but for some reason when I saw him this time I thought, "Mandala Centerpiece"! So I trimmed the circle in half (there was a lot of white space) and glued him at the edge of a page in my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal. I glued on some of the abstract swirls and leafy designs from the back of the page; then went to town with my Letter It Fineliners.

I was inspired by both the pointy feathers of the bird, and also by the very swirly, detailed leaves that were outside the circle. I guess I was inspired by the whole vibe of the book, which is actually really cool and quite funky. I used my watercolor journal because I had imagined adding lots of color with either inks or paints; but the longer I worked, the more I realized that I wanted to stay with just black and white.

If you ever go to book sales or garage sales, I highly recommend checking for a box or shelf that says, "FREE". If you take the time to look, there might be something weird and wonderful that will inspire a piece of art you wouldn't have thought of any other way.

Small(ish) Collage

About a decade ago I started making what I call Cleanup Collages which is basically what it sounds like: instead of cleaning up all the random leftover scraps, offcuts, stickers and embellishments I had gotten out over the course of a day or two, I glue as many as possible to a page in my journal or sketchbook, instead. This one isn't 100% a Cleanup Collage, because when I saw where it was going, I did get out a couple of things from the same color family, such as the pre-cut-out knitting illustration and some additional blue postage to go with the blue travel stickers.

It's also possible that I'll see this again in two weeks and decide to add stamping or stenciling to the kraft background, but at this particular moment, I believe it to be finished, lol. And thus my work here is through. 

More Holiday Whimsy

As we mentioned at Jingle Belles last week, "Whimsical" describes something, "Playfully quaint, fanciful, imaginative and slightly odd; often suggesting a lighthearted, unpredictable or charmingly unusual quality not based on strict logic." So this fortnight we're asking you to use that definition and make a Whimsical holiday card… it might be mice decorating the holiday tree, a space-age midcentury modern wreath, some fun little holiday gnomes, or maybe even adorable tiny reindeer driving a red plaid car* loaded with festively wrapped holiday gifts!

I probably only use my Lawn Fawn Car Critters + Holiday Add-On stamp sets a couple of times a year. I nearly always paper-piece the little guys and use the curvy road template I made when I first got the sets; so it's a pretty similar version each time, but it always makes me smile, so I see no reason to stop now. Most of the paper used here was scrap pieces I stamped on or punched. The trees background was a freebie from Flow Magazine; the red is Carta Bella. I stamped a Lawn Fawn sentiment on graph paper and colored the gifts with Tombows.

JB2607: Walking in a Whimsical Wonderland will run until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 8th. Hop over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's amazing card and link up your own.

*In case there are any auto manufacturers reading this: I would absolutely buy a red plaid car. Just sayin'...

Hip Hop Bunnies

These adorable Eyelet Outlet Rabbit Brads are helping the Easter Bunny hide Colored Eggs in preparation for the big day. White Daisy Brads are in the mix; and while Macaron Washi Tape isn't technically holiday-related, it does have sweet treats of exactly the right colors!

Hippity Hoppity Shopping List:

Rabbit Brads

Colored Egg Brads

White Daisy Brads

Macaron Washi Tape

The Eyelet Outlet Online Store has all the cutest cardmaking embellishments you could possibly need!