Happy (Almost) Labor Day

Tomorrow is Labor Day here in the US, so this seemed like the perfect time to continue playing with my new Make-It Americana Stamp Set. Old Glory Red and Old Glory Blue are two brand new shades of Ranger Archival Ink and they really live up to their name. I used them with the Stars and Stripes Stencil and the Fireworks Stencil; then cut the larger panels I made into 1" squares and pieced them together into a fun tiled pattern. I had intended to fill the entire crimson square, but after I had completed these three rows (I started in the center and worked outward to get the spacing right) I really liked the look, so I stopped. It's hard to see in the photo, but I've added Christmas Red and True Blue Stickles from the new Liberty Kit to basically all of the red and blue inked bits, so IRL, it's quite sparkly.

Whether you're traveling this weekend, hosting a barbeque, or just chilling at home, I wish you a safe and happy Labor Dar Weekend!

Bold and Bubbly Enamel Accents Card

What's black and white and dimensional all over? Ranger's Glossy Accents! I'd love for you to hop over to my latest Ranger Project Tutorial and see how I've used them with Make-It Stencils and Stamps, plus bold pops of Archival Ink to add texture and shine to this bold and bubbly greeting.

Make-It Stamps: Fun with Fruit Card

What's fun, fresh and full of summer flavor? Make-It's Fun with Fruit Stamp Set! I'd love for you to visit the Ranger Project Tutorials Page and follow along as I pair the fabulous fruit with seven (7!) shades of Ranger's colorful Embossing Powder (there are over 50 in total); then create a dynamic gingham background using the Make-It Slanted Stencil with bold Archival Inks on this super summery card. ♥

ICAD

Another week has passed, June is just about over, so here are the seven Index Cards I've made since the last ICAD round-up:

Day 29: Shibori/ Mandala Monday

Shibori was a prompt I originally skipped over, but this week I had an idea for a shibori-inspired Mandala Monday, so I've circled back. I used Archival Inks to make a rich blue background, then added all my petals and lines with a white Posca Pen. 

Day 28: Coastline

This is what I love about prompts, you can follow them wherever they lead, however tangential. Case in point: Today's #dyicad2026 prompt is #COASTLINE from which my mind drifted to BEACH... and then BOARDWALK... and then (obviously!) CONEY ISLAND! (Best not to think about it too hard, lol!)  I had a lot of fun using ALL my colors of Posca Pens and I love how this turned out. The only problem is, now that I have Coney Island inside my head I *really* want a Clam Roll from Nathan's!

Day 27: Crane

Cranes cut from an old, falling apart bird book. "Habitat" made of hexagons punched from various scraps of book paper, sheet music, etc. and edged with green ink. Even I don't really think these two concepts "go" together... and yet... I really love how this came out. So there.

Day 26: Parterre

A very very funky take on #parterre; really just an excuse to cut somewhat shrub-shaped pieces out of green patterned paper scraps. Non, je ne regrette rien.

Day 25: Penguin

Penguins cannot fly.

I cannot fly.

Therefore... I am a penguin.

Additional evidence: I wear A LOT of black, have a tendency towards embonpoint, love fish and have a rock collection. Yep. Penguin!

Penguin illustration, Archival Ink background, manual typewriting and machine stitching on the unlined back of an index card from the dollar store. Bonus points: This is a KING penguin on a ROYAL typewriter, wahey!!!

Day 24: Atrium

Flashing back to the #atrium prompt, which I skipped the week before last. Admittedly a tangential take but... you know... it's ICAD; and there's no better time in the whole creative year to be tangential, imo!

Day 23: Pomegranate

I skipped over #pomegranate yesterday in #dyicad2026 in favor of Mandala Monday, but then I did think of a fun take, and decided to circle back. One of my favorite things about @indexcardaday is that each year, there's at least one prompt I have to Google to find out what it is. A few years ago, @gypsy999 came up with #ogee and I became obsessed with elongated, repeating S-curve patterns. I confess that it never occurred to me to add stylized pomegranates to the mix... until now, lol!

First ICAD Round Up of 2026

The first full week of the Index Card a Day Creative Challenge is complete and here are my cards from the past seven days. For all the info about ICAD, visit the ICAD Base at Daisy Yellow Art or @indexcardaday on Instagram where you can find prompts, ideas, inspiration and more!

Day 8: Off-Prompt: Mandala Monday

This week I got some of the new Simon Hurley Stellar Ink shades from @ranger_ink so obviously, I had to test drive those babies, and Mandala Monday is always a good opportunity for that. On this card, I "smooshed" the new colors, one at a time, onto my craft sheet and used a waterbrush full of Isopropyl Alcohol to pick them up and paint the basic shapes onto my index card. 

WHY would I use rubbing alcohol instead of water to "watercolor"? Well, for reasons I'm not sciencey enough to understand, alcohol will not warp or pill cardstock or paper in the same way that water does. (For the record, this is one of the many, MANY cool things I've learned from @wendyvecchi who is brilliant as well as inspiring!) This is a valuable technique for any ink that is alcohol- or oil-based like Ranger Archivals (because water just doesn't work at all with those inks); but as it turns out, you can use it with any type of ink, including Simon's gorgeous water-based Stellars.

Once all the colorful shapes were in place I used a Letter It Fineliner and some Posca Paint Pens to add details and echo the various ink colors, which are: Buzzkill, Fruitcake, Ultraviolet, Siren Song, Cry Baby and Iced Out. And who can resist a little splatter on top?

Day 7: Seahorse

This is one of the fastest (& funnest if you'll pardon my syntax) ICADs I've ever made: I started out with the intention of drawing a stylized seahorse with brush markers... got obsessed with the colors and curly-up tails... et voila! As an absolute CHAMPION of overthinking, this feels like a huge win. Bonus celebration: if there's a "Rapunzel" prompt later this summer I can re-use it, lol! :) :) :)

Day 6: Scarlet

Is this an actual collage or just a wanna-be infographic? I don't actually know and I'm not sure it matters; because either way it does firmly encompass today's (optional) #dyicad2026 prompt of #scarlet. And I've given myself the bonus joy of staging the photo with a bunch of other gorgeous red things that didn't fit onto my gridded indexcard!

Day 5: Off-Prompt

Every year, I spend a proportion of ICAD either trying to disguise the ordinary index cards' lines or using the backs or divider cards to avoid them entirely; but once in a while, I embrace the lines and let them work for me!

Day 4: Yearbook

Weirdly enough, this yearbook photo of my Dad turned up in a box of paperwork my mom recently asked me to sort through. I say weirdly enough, because the box held mostly ancient financial and legal documents, the majority of which I shredded; but there were a few tiny treasures, including my grandfather's passport, some newspaper clippings, and this photo. So when I saw the word, "Yearbook" on the prompt list, I knew immediately what the centerpiece of my card would be. I've added part of an old map from the area where I grew up; the illustration of a slide rule (my father was an electrical engineer); a library checkout card with the name William and a bee (he went by Bill); plus a bit of foliage which honestly has no narrative significance, I just wanted some color and the map had lots of green.

Day 3: Magnolia

The One-Staple Collage (OSC) is a beloved (well by me, anyway) ICAD tradition, stretching back... gosh... maybe ten years? I'm honestly not sure when it happened, but at some point in the mists of ICAD history, Tammy G typed the words "stapled collage" and I saw them and somehow instantly determined that this would mean a collage held together by ONE STAPLE. Which, as it turns out, is harder than it sounds, lol! But... also a very interesting (again, to me) exercise in both selecting interesting elements; and then arranging them so you can see them distinctly, but still attach them at a single point. 

 In this case, the staple is right on top of the butterfly's body, and yes, it's hard to see, for which I apologize. There are only five elements. They are, from furthest back: A library catalog card; an illustration of Saturn; a Georgian building from an old architecture book; a pair of magnolia blossoms between which I deliberately left a "bridge" of paper for sturdiness; and finally the butterfly... angled so his body (and thus the staple) is positioned to be able to secure everything underneath. 

Whether or not you're a fan of traditional collage, I invite you to give this fun and challenging technique a try at some point during ICAD!

Day 2: Type

I couldn't wait to get out this ancient set of wood-mounted typewriter font alphabet stamps, I just wasn't quite sure what I would stamp, lol. One of the first things I stumbled upon (via Mr. Google) was this apt quote from Gustav Klimt. A bit of serendipity there, as I had just finished a novel in which said Austrian Symbolist painter and Vienna Secessionist was a character. So... job done!

If you're interested, the strange and wonderful book in question is Anima Rising by Christopher Moore. In addition to Klimt, the real-life figures of Egon Schiele, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung appear; as well as the fictional characters of Victor Frankenstein, his Monster and the Bride... (Klimt names her Judith) ...who is the protagonist of the book. If you've read anything by Moore, you'll know that he loves to combine well known historical figures and events with plots and characters from classic literature, drama and mythology. I enjoyed this title very much, though my top three Moore books are still: Serpent of Venice (mash up of Merchant of Venice and Othello; narrated by the Fool from King Lear... obvs...); Sacre Bleu (Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and pals, in Monmartre, late 19th century, just after the suicide --or possibly murder-- of Van Gogh); and A Dirty Job (average single dad in 20th century San Francisco somewhat unwillingly takes on a side-hustle as... wait for it... a Grim Reaper??!) BTW, all of Moore's stories are outstanding as audiobooks, which is the format I recommend for maximum enjoyment.

(NOTE: This author is definitely NOT to everyone's taste; apart from unusual plots with many literary and cultural allusions, there's generally quite a bit of hardcore cursing, as well as some sex and violence; if rated like films, Moore's books would get strong PG13 or mild R ratings.) 

Day 1: Mandala Monday (off-prompt)

Technically, this card was from last week, but as I wrote this post, it felt weird to start at Day 2, so... here it is again, lol! It's a mandala, since June first was a Monday; and it's done with Archival Ink shades and a Letter It Fineliner because those happened to be sitting out when I was ready to start. (Many of my art-making decisions are determined by what is to hand at any given time, especially ICADs which I tend to work on at 10pm; a time when "not getting up again" is, frankly, a priority.)

♥♥♥

To see my cards as the get posted each day, visit my Instagram feed, @llaurenb and while you're there, be sure to check out the official ICAD page, @indexcardaday and the official hashtag, #dyicad2026 for lots more ICAD inspo from artists all over.

Ranger Bold Birthday

Make-It's Bold Birthday Stamp Set and Bold Shapes Stencil definitely live up to their name. In fact, the only conceivable downside to these sets, imo, is that there are almost too many ways to use them. (For the record, this is my favorite kind of "problem"!) I'd love for you to hop over to the Ranger Project Tutorials Page and follow along as I add Bold Archival Ink Color to the mix; for a birthday card that I'm pretty sure will brighten anyone's day.

Happy ICAD Day

It's June first, which means it's the first day of the 2026 Index Card a Day project: 61 consecutive days of making art on index cards. Like this:

It's Monday, so of course I'm kicking off with a mandala. This one features a bunch of my favorite shades of Ranger's Archival Ink; details and lines via black Letter It Fineliners and white Posca pens.

Color + Pattern

It's a bold and bright Memorial Day Mandala Monday featuring lots of gorgeous Archival Inks, a few of my favorite Make-It Stencils, and plenty of Posca Pen and Letter It Fineliner details... all in my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal.

If you're having a cookout today... save me a burger, k? ♥

SOS574: Congratulations

Graduation and wedding season is upon us, so the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is especially timely. We'd like to see CONGRATULTIONS cards: for any occasion, in any style, using any items from your stash. Then you can congratulate yourself on being ready for the next big occasion!

I raided my stash of older Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi stamps, including Delightful Art; as well as some of my favorite shades from Wendy's signature Archival Ink collection. I found that cool green leafy overstamped panel AND the pale blue embossed piece in my box of leftover bits; the silver dragonfly brads are from The Ink Pad (♥♥♥!) years and years ago; the two yellow mats are from my stash. 

"SOS574: Congratulations" runs until the evening of Monday, June 1st. Hop over to SOS to see the inspiring Crew cards and start planning what you'll link up with us this time.

Snow Far, Snow Good

We're still creating cards that feature snow this week at Jingle Belles and we'd love for you to join us. In the meantime, here's what I made this week:

One of my favorite "specialty" mandalas is a Snowflake Mandala. Because to me, snowflakes are (in a kinda sorta way) basically natural mandalas; at least, they're an arrangement of crystals in a more or less concentric circular pattern; which lends itself to being doodled and played with as a format. I feel similarly about Spiderweb Mandalas, and make at least one per year, generally in pink; but that's another story. A few weeks ago, when I was at Ranger HQ drawing mandalas with Patti Behan, someone watching the Live Video asked if I had any ideas for mandalas that would work for Christmas/ Winter Holiday greetings and I mentioned both Snowflake Mandalas and also Poinsettia Mandalas, of which I've done fewer, but I also enjoy them because you can easily make them recognizable... without having to make them realistic. I stand by this belief, lol. 

So of course, when I realized we were featuring SNOW this fortnight, I knew this would be the perfect time for the first Snowflake Mandala of 2026. I made a nice inky background with some of my favorite blue Archival Ink shades, dried it thoroughly, and then drew lots of snowflakes with a Letter It Fineliner. I added details with a few blue markers and finally put additional white in there with a Posca Pen. Since the design is quite busy already, when I turned my mandala panels into cards, I only added bright blue mats, a chunky (sparkly!) sentiment and some small Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling.

Hop over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card, check out the Readers' Gallery, and get a peek at the tiny Snow-centric prize that one lucky cardmaker will score, just for linking up with us this fortnight. JB2610: Dashing Through the Snow runs until the evening of Wednesday, May 20th.

MM18: Bold Shapes

It's possible that I am the only crafter who, upon seeing Ranger's new Make-It Bold Birthday Stamp Set and Bold Shapes Stencil, immediately thought, "Those would make a FAB mandala!" but I did think that, and I stand by my opinion. See?

For the most part, I stenciled the big shapes, outlined them with a medium tipped Fineliner, and cut them out with scissors. Then I added details and embellishments with the stamps; using (mostly) pale to medium shades of Archival Ink for the bases, and darker shades for the detail. At the very end, I came in with some additional Fineliner details and a White Posca Pen. I cut out a large circle of black cardstock to help me arrange the shapes more symmetrically, intending to discard it once the spacing was complete... but then I quite liked the way it grounded everything, so it stayed, lol!

I hope your week is off to a BOLD start. And May the Fourth be with you, Star Wars fans!

Gettin' Beachy

I'm loving ALL of the new Make-It Stencils and Stamps from Ranger, but I confess that the Beach Vibes set especially appeals to me right now. I stamped a bunch of the elements from the set (the chair and surfboard; the umbrella and sand; the sun and the sentiment) onto my go-to Simon Hurley create. Stark White Cardstock, embossed in Ranger Black E/P and then "watercolored" them with some of my favorite beachy shades of Archival Ink. 

There are quotes around "watercolored" because you cannot technically WATERcolor with Archivals since they are oil based... (you know what they say about oil and water, right?!) ...but you can do the same sort of technique by using a waterbrush full of Isopropyl Alcohol. You can dispense Archival Reinkers into a palette and dilute them; OR just smoosh the colors from the ink pads onto your craft sheet and pick them up from there. I generally do the latter, and this tag was no exception.

Since I was working on a #8 Dina Tag, I found it helpful to cut apart the chair from the surfboard, and the umbrella from the sand, for a slightly more compact arrangement. I stamped and embossed the seagulls right on the tag, then painted the background using the same method as the rest of the elements.

Check out the entire Make-It Collection at Ranger.com, where you'll also find all the inks, tools, tags and papers you could possibly need for your next project and beyond!

Make-It Stencil Page

What's the first thing you do with new stencils? If you're anything like me, you want to try ALL of them IMMEDIATELY. Which is how I came up with the idea of a stencil page. Just lay those babies out, one by one, choose a few common colors... or go crazy with random shades! No need for a particular plan or even a solid idea, but the patchwork effect makes it all come together.

The new Make-It Stencils are: Bold Shapes, Bubble Mix, Slanted and Wavy Lines, and every single one is fun, fab and (maybe my favorite part!) very useful.

I used a bunch of my favorite Archival Ink shades, and did a little blending within the stencils. Then I did some outlining with a black Letter It Fineliner. I love how some of the printing on the pages of Dina Wakley's Ledger Journal shows underneath the translucent colors.

Check out ALL of the new Make-It Stencils and Stamp Sets... (ooh and there's a new, perfectly-sized Acrylic Block in the collection now, as well!) ...in the Ranger Online Store!

NEW Make-It Stamps and Stencils from Ranger

The first set of fab products from Ranger's new Make-It line debuted earlier this year; and now here is the second wave of beautiful and super-useful stencils and stamps:

The stamp sets are: Beach Vibes, Fun with Fruit and Bold Birthday.    

The stencils are: Slanted, Bubble Mix, old Shapes, and Wavy Lines.

I'll be showing off projects using all of these fun goodies over the next week or so, but to start out with I couldn't resist the Fun with Fruit Stamp Set, which has solid and outline images of five different fruits, plus lots of excellent punny sentiments to go with: 

I had a hard time choosing which fruit to use first, so I just made ATCs with each of them!

I used some of the newest Archival Ink shades (Sweet Treat, Avocado Toast, Sandcastle, Best Dressed) plus a bunch of the old faves (Aubergine, Vivid Chartreuse, Bright Tangelo, Aquamarine, Wine Cellar) for maximum colorful impact.

Stay tuned for more projects and in the meantime, be sure to check out Ranger.com and @ranger_ink for more info and inspiration!

Rainbow Mandala LIVE at Ranger

Today I was honored to be invited to Ranger HQ in Tinton Falls, NJ to draw mandalas with Ranger's Social Media/ Education Specialist Patti Behan during a Ranger LIVE Video. We had lots of fun (Thank you Patti and Asia!) and if you'd like to watch the whole thing it is archived HERE as part of the Ranger YouTube Channel. Meanwhile, I had written up a basic tutorial in advance so that I would remember all the steps (b/c I was Nervous with a capital N, lol!) and if, like me, you sometimes find still photos helpful in a learning context, I'm posting it here... so Read On! ♥

Materials: 

Of course this method will work with your favorite inks, pens and paper but... I'm linking up the Ranger items I used in the samples and during the "Live". (They genuinely are my GO-TO items which I love and use every single day.)

Ranger Archival Inks in Sweet Treat, Bright Tangelo, Sun Dazed, Avocado Toast and Aquamarine (OR your own five favorite blend-friendly shades)

Mini Ink Blending Tool and five Domed Foams (During the vid we mentioned a storage tin project... you can find that HERE!)

Letter It Fineliners, Black 3-pack (assorted tips: 01, 04, and 09)

4.25 x 6" panel of Stark White Cardstock 

Large, medium and small circle stencils, templates or dies; sample uses one of Dina's Coaster Stencils, a roll of washi tape and Letter It's Polka Dotting Stencil

Pencil for tracing; ruler if you want to measure points (the sample was made by eye)

Optional Extras: Liquid Pearls, Posca Pens 

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Quick reminder of the Color Spectrum: 

ROYGBIV is a handy acronym you may remember from Junior High; it stands for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. If you blend colors that are next to each other (aka "analogous" colors; they are also consecutive on a color wheel) you'll never make mud. Alternatively, Dyan Reaveley's advice about choosing either a warm or cool color palette is handy. If you do wind up with unexpected brown, ink the edges with Dark Roast Archival and call it rustic!!! :)

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A word about creating smooth, perfect lines: 

This is called line control. Please be advised that MOST people do not naturally start out with perfect line control, BUT it really does develop as you work and practice. Some people find they have better control when pulling the pen towards them or when pushing it away, and it's worth experimenting to see if that helps you. To get best results, you will probably want to rotate the paper as you work. Dotted lines, dots, faux stitching, etc, are all strategies that help disguise this factor. But also: part of the point of drawing mandalas is to help develop line control. 

Procedure:

Step 1: On one corner of a 4.25 x 6" panel of Stark White Cardstock, lightly trace a small circle, and a larger one further into the page, so that the centers of the circles are in the same place, and more or less at the corner of the paper. Start adding concentric rings of color with the Mini Ink Blending Tool and a Domed Foam for each color. (If you try to follow the contour of the two penciled circles across the panel, this will help to keep your design on track without having to measure each set of petals!)

Step 2: The sample is in spectrum order: Sweet Treat, Bright Tangelo, Sun Dazed, Avocado Toast and Aquamarine; then we reverse the order (Avocado, Sun Dazed, Tangelo, Sweet) and keep adding color until the page is filled. Try to make some rings thicker and some thinner; remember that Archival Inks are translucent so you can get interesting effects by letting them overlap a bit.

Step 3: Start adding the basic shapes with a medium (.4) Fineliner. Outline the corner circle, use a small circle template to make round scallops, use the bands of Archival color to make your petals and rings about the same size. YES, if you prefer, you can draw every line in pencil and ink over them later. Some people (ok, ME, lol) find that process more tedious than just drawing with the pen and correcting, disguising or living with any mistakes; it's a personal choice. The more mandalas or zendoodles you draw, the more you will develop your own way to work.

Step 4: Continue adding the basic shapes, without much detail, until the panel is filled. Don't get too bogged down with any mistakes or imperfections, they can be addressed in the next step. A big part of the reason for starting with a single size of pen and NOT adding detail in this step is that, if we have any little inconsistencies to "cover up" that will help us decide where the details will go! Somewhat counter-intuitively, it's usually best to start each new ring in the CENTER of the last one and then work to the right and left; if possible, we want the "meat" of the design to literally take center stage.

Step 5: In this step, plan to be swapping between the thinner (.1) and thicker (.9) Fineliners. Start out by looking for mistakes. "Wonky" lines can be covered up with a thicker pen, or doubled to look intentionally funky. If your petals are very different sizes, you can add additional lines to pad out the small ones. Or you can opt to be really radical and add scribbles, splotches and other intentional "messy" details to create a vibe in which there are no mistakes... just exuberant mark making!

Step 6: Add white... and/or additional colors... with paint pens, liquid pearls, or markers. At this point you could also add stamps, stickers, rub-on transfers, a bit of stenciled pattern, or collage elements. It's your mandala, it can be anything you want! 

What can you do with a completed mandala? Add it to your art journal, frame it, or make it into a card. You may not be 100% in love with your first mandala, but PLEASE don't throw it away... some day you will look back and see how far you've come, you'll be happy to have saved those early ones!

Want to see more of my Mandala Monday posts? Click this link to scroll backwards through that category here on the bog; OR... drop by my Instagram account @llaurenb every Monday! Meanwhile, if you'd like to see the entire video of Patti Behan and myself drawing mandalas in real time, head over to the Ranger YouTube Channel and watch THIS VID.

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!

Even MORE Roses!

Spring is officially here but it'll be a little while yet until we see daffodils in our gardens, much less roses; so here are some that I painted using three of my favorite new Archival Ink shades from Ranger: Sweet Treat, Avocado Toast and Sand Castle.

I used a waterbrush full of Isopropyl Alcohol to pick up Sweet Treat ink I had smooshed onto my craft sheet, swirled it around into loose, semi-circular shapes, let it dry and then "found" the layers and petals of the roses and used Wendy Vecchi's brilliant Wonky Double Outline Trick with a Black Letter It Fineliner. For leaves, a vaguely triangular shape with the hypotenuse tucked under the flower works pretty well and a little bit of tannish Sand Castle ink mixed with the Avocado Toast adds interest and the illusion of texture. 

As with most of my watercolors (whether done with water-based or alcohol-based media) I like to use up any extra pigment by splashing it as speckles randomly on top of my design. So I did.

Chic Birthday Card Set

The exclusive new line of Make-It Clear Stamps and Stencils can ONLY be found in the Ranger Store. Today's post features a set of four minicards made with the Chic Birthday Stamp Set, Sprinkle Hearts Stencil and four of the brand new Archival Ink colors. If you'd like to see the full step-by-step photo tutorial, head on over to the Ranger Project Tutorials Page!

Bokeh Batik

One of my favorite things about working with Ranger Archival Inks is that you can do a lot of the fun little tricks I love about watercolor, but instead of working with water, you use 91% Isopropyl Alcohol. BUT... for sciencey reasons I don't entirely understand, the fact that you're using alcohol instead of water means you can be working on fairly thin paper or cardstock and it won't warp or rip or pill or otherwise hurt your substrate.

In this case, I used an ink blending tool to add all of my Archival colors, letting them overlap a bit to create new shades in between; then I flicked on LOTS of droplets of clear alcohol, over and over, blotting them each time to pick up a little color. Until I finally had this very cool effect that almost looks textured. And, as you can see, my page is not lumpy. bumpy, ripped or wrinkly. Some of the color DOES seep through to the back of the page, however, something you might like to keep in mind if you try this fun "trick".

BTW, all of the above is just one tiny little portion of information I've learned from the very awesome Wendy Vecchi, and if you aren't watching her Tip Tuesday videos on Instagram or Facebook, you are realllllly missing out!

Bunny Hugs

Eyelet Outlet Rabbit Brads, Colored Eggs and Mini Butterflies turn sweet stamps into an adorable Easter card that's sure to make some-BUNNY's day when it arrives in their mailbox!

The stamps in question are from Simon Hurley's Easter Bunnies set and have been painted with Sand Castle and Sweet Treat Archival Inks from Ranger.

Eyelet Outlet has all the embellishments you need for all the holidays you celebrate; and the EO Blog has all the inspiration you need to use them beautifully!