More Collactober

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.

Day 19: Helping Hands

This collage started off pretty literally, with a pair of hands from an illustrated knitting book, helpfully showing us how to "cast on" our stitches. I made a background from Chinese dictionary paper, vintage trading stamps, the edge of a ledger, and part of a map. There was quite a lot of leftover space, so I added three black and white flowers from a coloring book. And... yes... a tropical fish. No, I don't know why. Except he (or she?!) is yellow and triangular and kind just FITS there. Let's not think too hard about this, k?

Day 20: Inner Vision

Vintage map of Manhattan, black and white florals, Big Dollar Trading Stamps (thank you @smilynstef for my hoard!) dictionary paper and... a Sewing Pattern Lady who is clearly experiencing a psychic vision of some description. Or possibly just a headache? 

Day 12: Together

Once again using my friend Gina's (aka @ginaisarty here on IG) gorgeous clipart book, in this case for the beautiful fishes AND those cool numerals. I've put them #TOGETHER with... some crocheted squares form a crafting book, ledger paper, part of a map of Bucks County, PA (where I grew up; my mom just gave me some of my dad's old maps and I'm slightly obsessed) and of course some vintage trading stamps that @smilynstef scored for me! ♥

Day 22: Collective Roots

Wouldja believe that the flowers AND the butterflies in this collage are stickers? From The Botanist's Sticker Anthology, a very cool, curated, DK sticker book that @smilynstef gave me last year for my birthday and despite using it A LOT I've barely made a dent in it's 200+ pages. I confess that I trimmed the images a bit because in my 3x5" format, the white border was a little too prominent and I hated to cover up my background. What's in the background? Some German text paper, part of a knitting pattern a vintage envelope, a corner of sheet music and the words, "How To" which I saw in the trash and had to "rescue" lol. 

Day 16: Universal Language

Did you know that many wild birds can make dozens of distinct songs and calls that other birds will recognize? Some birds have a "vocabulary" of a hundred different sounds, to signify danger or predators, warn others away from their territory, coordinate migration, or initiate mating. The original "twitter" users are alive and well and visiting my feeder and bird bath, I assure you!   

I made a background from some non-verbal things I thought signified a srt of language: sheet music, a map, a few pieces of foreign text paper (those are kinda verbal, lol) and finally some HEARTS! 

Day 23: Breakthrough

Here's a shocking true confession: the only way I can even marginally claim that this represents "breakthrough" is that the shape of the tiger's neck (as drawn and digitally collaged by my friend Gina @ginaisarty in her clip art book) kind of looks like he stuck his handsome tiger's head right through my background collage. Basically, I just wanted to make a freestyle collage with a tiger. What can I say?!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to @prism_voyager and @lofficinedenative for hosting #collactober2026 which I enjoyed very much! I only finished and posted about 12 collages but I loved making every single one!

Holiday Jumpstart: Ice Ice Baby

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

Christmas Critters and Creatures

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.

Make-It Candy Cane Wishes Card by Lauren Bergold

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.

New Mini Archivals and Perfect Pearls from Ranger!

New (today!) from Ranger: Three new Mini Archival Ink Kits, featuring all your favorite colors from the last year or so, now in convenient MINI size; perfect for stamp platforms and super convenient storage! Set Five has: Sweet Treat, Sea Grass, Aquamarine and Aubergine; Set Six has: Cayenne, Coastal Coral, Sun Dazed and Emerald Green; Set Seven has: Graphite, Dark Roast, Pebble Beach and Sand Castle.

Meanwhile, there are also SIX new shades of luscious, shimmery Perfect Pearls: Fire & Ice, Cherry Bomb, Snow Globe, Dragonfly, Evening Gown and Fairy Frost. 

♥♥♥

Here are a few cards I've made using the new Perfect Pearls and Archival Minis, along with some of the new Make-It Stamps and Stencils which came our yesterday:

If you'd like to WIN the new Mini Archivals and Perfect Pearls, check out my Instagram @llaurenb for a little giveaway!

New Ranger Make-It Holiday Stamps and Stencils!

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...

...because there's also a Happy Hanukkah Stamp Set and a Twinkling Stars Stencil!

Here are a few cards I made using these sets, but be sure to check out the official Ranger release post which is full of inspiration!

Stay tuned for another new release from Ranger, as well!

Floral Halloween

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. 

Pretty Pumpkins Shopping List:

Pumpkin Brads

Colored Daisy Brads

Rose Brads

Sugar Skull Brads

Mini Butterfly Brads

Wishing you a safe and Happy Halloween with lots of treats... and absolutely no tricks!

Spider Web Mandala

Halloween is next Sunday and I haven't even posted a Spider Web Mandala? Shocking! So here's one right now.

Of course a fancy zen-doodle web wouldn't be complete without providing a home for some handsome Eyelet Outlet Spider Brads, too... unless you're an arachnophobe, in which case, my apologies; come back tomorrow, when I promise this space will be entirely spider-free!

Collactober Round Up (So Far)

I'm participating (in a sporadic and random sort of way, lol) in #collactober2026 a fabulous month-long celebration of collage on Instagram, hosted each year by @prism_voyager and @lofficinedenative whose collages you definitely NEED to go check out; also you should stop by and see what @smilynstef has been making, because her entries are also outstanding! (And I'm not just saying that because we got to make some of our collages together at my house two weekends ago, but we did and it was awesome!) 

Day 4: Seeds

This collage started out quite sensibly with this sweet urban gardener posing next to her crops and yet... are there SEEDS of discord on the horizon? We see noted Garden Guerilla, P. Rabbit, at the bottom of the frame; not to mention a rather suspicious helicopter guy at the top, who is mysterious checking out the scene, and even more mysteriously, keeping a hat on despite what must be considerable wind turbulence. The background is part of a NJ Transit train schedule, some Gold Bond trading stamps, and part of a map. These were all chosen basically by color... but I confess I like the shapes and structure they add to the scene.

Day 17: Seer   

Some of my collages are verrrrrrry tangential, but this one started out pretty literally! I've got tiny tarot cards and a Chinese Zodiac; also, I think it's pretty clear that cat can see into a fourth, and possibly even fifth, dimension. The frog can see the cat... ok, it's getting a little less literal now, lol. That torn map was sitting on my worktable, having been used in an earlier collage; the crocheted flower kind of matches the pink of the map; and the Kanada text and music pieces are neutral but sort of line up nicely with the rest of the background. All of the above is probably as close as I can get to explaining my process; I'll be inspired by a prompt or idea; grab some "key" images;  and then after that I just play around with structure and composition.

BTW, the gorgeous, whimsical cat and frog illustrations are by my friend @ginaisarty and can be found in her clipart book, available on Amazon and one of my very very favorite sources of collage images.

Day 7: After the Storm

Apparently, we've arrived to this collage a few minutes too early, as clearly the intrepid Vikings are still in the midst of the storm; but I'm sure they're looking forward to calmer seas. (Well, aren’t we all?!) 

Day 13: Homecoming

 Once again I’ve found some very cute Richard Scarry characters; vintage trading stamps (thank you @smilynstef for building my hoard!); a bit of map; a mileage chart; and an oversized flower sticker. Technically these illustrations were not related or intended to be together, but I do feel like the bunnies are specifically waiting at the window to watch their cat friend arrive home.

Day 6: Joy 

What could be more joyful than Richard Scarry characters taking time to relax and read stories in a fanciful flower garden? That little mouse brought his own ladder so he could join the fun!

Day 10:  Mending 

I combined a Renaissance dude on crutches; a picket fence (“mending fences”); an embroidery diagram (sewing more than mending, but...); and then a bunch of randomness (like green stamps, a map, ledger paper) in the background. And a pterodactyl. Obviously.

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks

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'...

Hocus Pocus

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.

Happy Halloween Shopping List:

Pumpkin Brads

Witch Leg Brads

Witch Hat Brads

Candy Corn Brads

The Eyelet Outlet Store has all the magic you need to make fab and funky Halloween cards, WITCH-ever way you want!

SOS585: If the SHOE Fits

You may well have already guessed that the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to make a card that has SHOES on it; in which case, YAY... I can get right to my card:

I built my whole card around the nearly-full pack of Eyelet Outlet Shoe & Purse Brads* I had in my stash, thus the predominance of black, pink and white in my design. The grid paper (excellent for lining up a sticker sentiment and lots of brads without measuring!) is ancient Authentique; and the floral is even ancient-er Teresa Collins. Both sets of foam alphabets are older American Crafts, but still in good shape, adhesive-wise.

Be sure to walk on over to SOS in your nicest shoes, see all the Crew Cards, and start planning what you'll link up with us this time! SOS585: If the SHOE Fits runs until the evening of Monday, November 2nd.

*Shoe & Purse Brads are just one of the many deeply discounted styles in the Eyelet Outlet Store; inventory is selling down fast ahead of Suzanne and Tony's December retirement, so stock up on all your faves TODAY!

Another Coloring Book Mandala? (YES!)

But this time I colored AND cut out bits... from two different coloring books. Not to brag, but I love this whole strand; and I especially love how this one came out! Dragon Mandalas miiiiiiight just be the next big thing! ♥

In case you were wondering, these are the coloring books in question. The mindfulness one was gifted to me (thank you, Stephanie!) and the dragon one was from a garage sale.

Hope your week is off to a roaring great start!

Pink Christmas (Week 2)

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:

Frank Garcia's Candy Cane Lane collection for Prima Marketing might be my all-time favorite Pink Christmas set; it came out in 2022 and I've used the heck out of it ever since/ Luckily, I still had a few goodies left, like the adorable Santa journal card, and that pretty pink floral background with metallic accents. I paired those items with some pink washi; oversized Pink Stippled Jewel Brads from Eyelet Outlet attaching ancient velvetty flowers; and a mat I ran through Dina Wakley's Stars and Fronds 3D Embossing Folder. IRL, this card has more texture and more sparkle than you can see in the photo, but, I guess you'll have to take my word for that!

JB2621: PINK Christmas runs until the evening of next Wednesday, October 21st. Link as many newly made, predominantly PINK holiday cards as you possibly can at Jingle Belles before then!

FANG-tastic!

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?

Fangtastic Shopping List:

Bat Brads

Mustache Brads

Witch Hat Brads

There are lots more styles of Halloween Brads in the Eyelet Outlet Store; stock up on your faves today!

Watercolors and Rub-Ons

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! ♥

PINK Christmas

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!

You're Vintage!

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!

SOS584: Black Cats

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.

The Other Side

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!

Just in case you were wondering what the first mandala looked like, here it is:

Wishing you a wonderful first week of October, filled with LOTS of color; plus maybe a time-saving shortcut or two? ♥

Cupcakes, Anyone?

Here's a shocking true confession: I don't cook. At all. Having been lucky enough to marry a man who is, in addition to his many other fine qualities, an *awesome* cook; in 41 years, I've probably made dinner eight or nine times, and I'd estimate that six of those consisted of microwaving the leftovers of something he made in the first place. But... I do love to make CUPCAKES... out of yarn, obviously. 

This adorable Amigurumi Cupcake Pattern is one of the first I ever downloaded, probably fifteen years ago, and I was delighted to see that it's still available for free on Nimoe's Blog.* I used Lion Brand Yarn's Vanna's Choice, which is my favorite yarn for amigurumi. The difference in the sizes of these cupcakes is just a variation of hook size; and, for the record, the blue one is not super-crookedy irl, I'm not sure why it looks odd, lol.

I grabbed some inexpensive cupcake boxes from the confectionary section of my crafty big box store, which I think really adds to the presentation. Plus, it made the cupcakes a lot easier to wrap! 

*Where there's also an outstanding Neko Cat Pattern that I enjoyed making, as well!

Sticking with Stockings

It's the second week of our Stocking-centric fun at Jingle Belles, so we're still making cards which showcase that beloved holiday gift-giving tradition.

This week I got to use my Simon Hurley Mantel Decorations die set from Spellbinders for the first time, and I had a lot of fun. I embossed a brick background using an ancient embossing folder, cut a scrap of woodgrain paper into a mantle-shaped chunk and got down to adding dies from the set: the banners, the stockings, the large deer and greenery. Then, for some additional texture and interest to this little scene, I attached Eyelet Outlet Deer, Poinsettia, Nutcracker and Gift Brads; plus a few red Round Brads to hold the stockings and the banner.

JB2620: The Stockings Were Hung runs until next Wednesday evening, October 7th. Hop over to Jingle Belles to see what Stephanie has made this time, then link your own Stocking-centric cards, ASAP.