Halloween is a month away, but there's still time to make (and send!) some fun Halloween cards adorned with Eyelet Outlet Monster, Candy Corn and Kitten Brads.
Visit the Eyelet Outlet Store for more Halloween Brads and scroll through the Blog and the Idea Gallery for lots more all-occasion inspiration!
Last week's mandala featured repeating motifs that I cut from coloring books and arranged in a mandala design; this week I found a large mandala shape that was filled with, and surrounded by, zen-doodles. I thought it might be interesting to cut out just the large mandala, open up the center circle, and fill it with a little collage of vintage goodies. I stand by that decision!
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I hope that your week ahead will be full of cool weather and fun ideas to try!
If, like me, you have LOTS of washi tape, paper flowers and journal cards, then you also have the antidote to expensive gift bags, because all of the above are AWESOME for wrapping!
If you've already guessed that this fortnight at Jingle Belles we want to see cards which feature Christmas Stockings, then HOORAY you're right! If you're feeling ambitious, you could make a stocking-shaped card, for which we've found you some fun templates. But I elected to go with a journal card that has a stocking on it... and then I collaged lots of fun stuff around it. See?
That's an Authentique journal card from a year or two ago, and as soon as I saw it in my journal card stash, I was already pulling the colors and the vibes out for a little collage. I've got some nicely patina-ed sheet music; a page from an old Ideals Christmas magazine plus some poinsettias from another page (backed with cardstock and adorned with Sunflower Stickles in the centers); some text paper; a little border strip with the days of the week; a Graphic 45 sentiment; some miscellaneous holiday washi and a few super-skinny red mats.
JB2620: The Stockings Were Hung runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, October 7th. Visit Jingle Belles today to see Stephanie's inspiring card; then start planning your own Stocking-centric masterpiece!
Fall has officially arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, so here's a card that celebrates some autumnal favorites, in Eyelet Outlet Brad form. There are quite a few different brad styles here, so please jump down to the Handy Shopping List for direct links to each one. Just a reminder that the Clearance Event has now been in progress for a few months, so apologies if any of these have gone out of stock. There are still loads of bargains to be had though... stock up on your favorites today!
Wishing you an autumn that is full of all YOUR favorite things!
At Jingle Belles this is our second week to CASE (Copy and Selectively Edit) any of the cards that Stephanie or I have made for any of the previous Jingle Belles prompts. You don't need to make a card exactly like the one you choose as your target (the acronym CASE does contain the words "Selectively Edit" after all) just be sure we can see "the bones" so to speak; and remember to tell us which card inspired yours!
This week I chose a card of Stephanie's from our Jingle Belles' prompt last February called Red Christmas; which looked a bit like this... ok technically, it looked exactly like this lol:
Once again, I was attracted by the perfect balance and bold simplicity of Stephanie's card; but also... honestly... knowing I had ingredients which were fairly close to the same vibe definitely makes the job easier. I had a journal card with a similar Doodlebug Santa; I had two coordinating red patterned papers: one texty, one not; I added skinny black mats between my layers; and I had a red sentiment with "believe" in it... though rather than stamping, I used a Tim Holtz Sticker. I think this captures the vibe of Stephanie's card pretty well and obviously I have consider it a big bonus that its flat, lightweight design is strong in the mail-ability genre!
JB2619: CASE-ing Christmas runs until next Wednesday evening, September 25th. Come join the fun at Jingle Belles!
Cardmaking is smooth sailing with Eyelet Outlet Boat and Lighthouse Brads. In this design, our Sun and Clouds Brads highlight the sentiment, with Sea Shore and Shell Brads in the foreground; giving this sweet beach scene (made with Simon Hurley create Treescapes backdrop, Watercolor sky, and Smooth Sailing sentiment) lots of texture and interest.
Visit the Eyelet Outlet Store and stock up on your favorite brads, bling, enamels and flowers... while supplies last!
My Dina Wakley MEdia Ledger Journal is getting pretty full, and I've enjoyed working in it so much that I'm considering doing something I never have before: buying a second copy of the same journal. In the meantime, I had a blast adding layer after layer to this page, including the large Stenciled Queenie (the only thing here that is, alas, out of print); which I covered in ancient, miscellaneous alphabet and numeral rub-ons (the only non-Dina products used); a Passport Photo Chipboard Shape adorned with a perfectly fitting face from the On Their Mind Rub-On Transfer Set; some butterflies from the Flutters set; a few scraps of Grunge Specimens Chroma Transparencies; and finally a few beautiful, colorful birds from the Fly High Stamp Set.
Since September 7th was Labor Day here in the US, we've decided to celebrate that at Jingle Belles by giving you a bit of a head start with this fortnight's card designs. We're asking you to CASE (Copy and Selectively Edit) any of the cards that Stephanie or I have made for any of the previous Jingle Belles prompts. Which means you've got 16.5 years worth (times two!) of ideas from which to choose! You don't need to make an EXACT duplicate of the card (the acronym does contain "Selectively Edit" afterall); Just be sure to tell us which card inspired yours!
I chose quite a recent card of Stephanie's because I love it, of course; but also because I realized I had almost all the exact same "ingredients" so it seemed like too good an opportunity to waste, lol! Here's her take from the Unicorn Colors prompt in July:
In retrospect, I wish I had made my card a bit smaller but... (shrugs) ...hindsight is 20/20. right? I used the same adorable Lawn fawn Yeti as Stephanie, I diecut circles from four sinimlar shades of cardstock and debossed them, albeit with a slightly different snowflake folder. I swapped in an Eyelet Outlet Santa Hat and Candy Cane Brad in place of the stamped versions; then I added red and black mats and a similar Lawn Fawn sentiment. Et voila!
JB2619: CASE-ing Christmas runs until the evening of Wednesday, September 25th. Come join the fun at Jingle Belles!
...Make Lemonade! On the other hand, an encouraging, all-occasion card featuring Eyelet Outlet Lemonade and Citrus Brads is considerably easier to mail. A few White Daisy and Leaf Brads add to the design, under a sprig of Simon Hurley "Zesty" Lemons that I made with tinted Texture Paste*.
Just a reminder that as items in the Eyelet Outlet Store sell out, they will not be replaced; the website is being retired at the end of the year. Case in point: I had planned to make a version of this card that ended with "Make Margaritas" but the Cocktail Brads are (alas) already gone. So this is definitely the time to stock up on your favorites!
*There's a tutorial on the Ranger Project Page detailing the (EASYT!) process for making the textured lemons, just sayin'...
There's a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash: for "Who's Who" we'd like you to use some sort of "person" image on your card. Man or woman... old or young... sweet or funny; all the details are up to you! Here's what I made:
My first thought was to make a collage card featuring a sewing pattern lady, so that's exactly what I did! As it turns out, the finished collage is 8x10" which is admittedly big for a card, but I found so many fun, interesting, older stash items that worked, I just kept adding them in. I worked partly thematically (Paris, nature, lace) and partly by color (white, cream, tan). There are lots of "found" papers (sheet music; an old ledger) and images from vintage books and magazines (those cool birds are from a Peterson's Field Guide Coloring Book!); but I also used most of a sheet of lace stickers (so old they don't have a package or brand name but thankfully are still perfectly sticky; and finally bunch of ancient rub-ons. The last are one of my favorite collage ingredients because, let's face it, older rub-on transfers are not always 100% reliable, are they? On a regular card that can be very disappointing, but on a maximalist collage... if they don't rub on perfectly, it just looks like part of the vintage vibe! I inked the edges and some of the ingredients with Antique Linen Distress Ink and finally matted the whole thing on textured white cardstock, then machine stitched all around the edges to absolutely guarantee that nothing will come unstuck at a later date.
SOS582: Who's Who runs until the evening of Monday, September 21st. Visit Shopping Our Stash today to see the fabulous Crew Cards; then start planning what you'll link up with us this fortnight.
I was sorting through some older (storebought) cards that folks have saved for me, and I sort of fell in love with these sprigs of blue, silver, gold and black flocked leaves... I thought they were the beginning of a collage but nope, they decided to be part of a mandala, instead!
It's the second week of our Stuck on You prompt at Jingle Belles, so Stephanie and I are still making holiday cards with one of our favorite embellishments: STICKERS! Here's what I made this week:
I love the big 12x12 sticker sheets that coordinate with various holiday patterned paper collections. Shocking true confession: I don't always feel like I need the papers themselves; sometimes I just buy the sticker sheet. Case in point: Simple Stories' Snow Pine Lodge provided all of these cute stickers (that camper, tho!); the papers, which I chose by color, are all just older scraps from my stash!
JB2618: Stuck on You runs until next Wednesday evening, September 9th. Link your sticker-centric cards with us at Jingle Belles!
Upcycling a birthday card that was way too cute to chuck in the recycling bin with an adorable frame of Eyelet Outlet Kitten, Cat, Star and 1/8" Round Brads for a design that's PURR-fectly delightful!
Here's another card I made with Ranger's new Americana collection, part of their Make-It line of affordable, practical, absolutely fabulous stamps, stencils and accessories.
I added dots of the appropriately named Firecracker, White Opal and Blue Velvet Liquid Pearls to the centers of the fireworks and adorned it with stamped balloons and sentiment from the Americana Stamp Set.
All of these new red, white and blue products are in the Ranger Store now, just waiting for you to try them out in your next papercrafting project!
