JB2617: Masculine Merriment

It's time for a brand new prompt at Jingle Belles and this time we're making holiday cards in one of the most challenging (imo!) genres: Guy Cards; aka Masculine Merriment! I don't struggle with them as much as I used to, but... yeah... leaving off the flowers, the glitter and the tendency to use PINK does slow me down a bit. I think I did ok this time, though.

I've had Doodlebug's Winter Wonderland stamps for several years, and I really don't use them enough because just LOOK how cute that yeti is! I found two inky embossed backgrounds in my "leftovers" box and they seemed perfect for this card. The paper with the trees is Pebbles I think (and ancient!); and the tiny 1/16" Round Brads are from Eyelet Outlet. 

Speaking of Yetis, I was given a second helping of this super-cute stamp set for my birthday, it's brand new and unopened, and it's looking for a good home, so I'm putting it up as a little prize for one lucky, randomly-selected cardmaker who links up with us at Jingle Belles this fortnight. JB2617: Masculine Merriment runs until the evening of Wednesday, August 26th, and you can link as many newly-made MASCULINE cards as you'd like to!

JB2613: 'Twas the Sketch Before Christmas

One of my favorite prompts each Jingle Belles year is the Sketch Challenge because the sketch is always devised by Stephanie and it's always awesome. And guess what? This one is no exception! See?

You can stretch, smoosh, flip or rotate the sketch; just make sure we can see "the bones"! Here's what I made:

I started by embossing Hero Arts' Christmas Rose in white on kraft cardstock; then colored the blooms with Prismacolor Pencils. I trimmed the panel to slightly smaller than journal card size, and matted on a scrap of shimmery hot pink cardstock. The background of the sketch is composed of three coordinating papers: the top and border are actually giftwrap I had saved and backed with thin cardstock; the pink stripey paper is ancient Kaisercraft. I did some machine stitching, punched a circular sentiment from another journal card, added some Eyelet Outlet White Matte Enamel Dots and called it a day. I've been very nearly 100% literal in my interpretation of the sketch, though I did have to move the sentiment circle as it was covering up too much of my fancy coloring!

JB2613: 'Twas the Sketch Before Christmas runs until the evening of Wednesday, July 1st. Link your cards at Jingle Belles.

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.

SOS565: Out with the Old and in with the New

This might be one of the longest-ever titles for a challenge at Shopping Our Stash, but all we really want is for you to take some lovely OLD stash and pair it with something NEW you got over the holidays... or even something that you've had for a while but haven't used yet. Sound good? Here's what I made:

Stephanie, who knows how much I LOVE narwhals, gave me this super-duper-cuuuute Whimsy Stamps' Be Unique Stamp Set which has not one, not two, but three adorable narwhals; plus a tail and a bunch of great sentiments... which I didn't use this time, lol. I colored them with my Tombows and paired them with faux polaroids, alphabet stickers and cardstock buttons from Echo Park's Sweet Day collection, circa ten-or-so years ago? (Not sure exactly how old it is but it's OLD!) I added a plaid background from Photoplay and some yellow cardstock accents and called it good. 

SOS565: Out with the Old and in with the New runs until Monday evening, January 26th. Hop over to Shopping Our Stash and join the fun!

SOS562: Forever Young

There's a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash and this time we're making kid-themed cards. Which just happen to be one of my favorite cardmaking sub-genres, so without further ado, here's my card:

I've had MFT's Rainbows and Unicorns stamp and die set for ages, and can never resist an excuse to use it. Often I paper-piece it, but this time I was in the mood to color, so I did. I'm not sure how many pieces of Simple Stories' Puddle Jumper patterned paper I have owned, but I'm pretty confident I've never used it whole... I just like cutting out the clusters of whimsical clouds! This card is destined for a grand-niece with a January birthday, so for once I'm ahead of the game! 

Head on over to Shopping Our Stash to see the adorable young-at-heart cards our Crew have made to inspire you, then start planning your own kid-centric creation. SOS562: Forever Young runs until the evening of Monday, December 15th.

SOS557: With Sympathy

The new challenge at Shopping Our Stash (#557) tackles one of the hardest types of card to make (imo); those expressing Sympathy or You're in My Thoughts/Prayers. So it's not a bad idea to have one or two on hand when you need them, right?

I started with a blank 5x7" piece of Simon Hurley Stark White Cardstock (my go-to) and added a torn piece of graph paper* that spans two opposing corners. Then I broke out quite an eclectic mix of stamps to make a collaged background: Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 Botanical Register (stamped in Cobalt Archival); Stampendous Leaf Prints (in Sea Grass and Olive); and Stampendous Postage Creations (in Pebble Beach). Altenew's Paint-a-Flower Sweet Peas have center stage; they were embossed with Ranger's Bubbly e/p and watercolored with Tombows that I scribbled onto a mat and picked up with a waterbrush full of isopropyl alcohol**. When the flowers were dry, I added a bit of additional shading with my Prismacolor pencils. 

If you hop over to SOS you'll see the inspiring cards our Crew have made and you can link up your own. SOS557: With Sympathy runs until the evening of Monday, September 22nd.

*If I'm making a collage and suspect I might want to line some of the elements up neatly, it's super-helpful to add in an element that has fairly consistent horizontal lines: text paper, graph paper, sheet music, even patterned paper with subtle lines or checks is perfect for this; you can then stamp words, add alphabet stickers or line up strips of washi perfectly with NO measuring! ;) 

**One of my favorite tips from Wendy Vecchi is to use rubbing alcohol instead of water for watercoloring and smooshing, even when the inks are water-based. For some reason, the alcohol DOES NOT warp or pill cardstock the way water does. I assume this involves something sciencey, like the fact that alcohol dries and evaporates much more quickly...? (Honestly I have no idea WHY; I just know it works, lol!)

Treeskirt Tic-Tac-Toe

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're playing Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe, which is kind of like "Beach Blanket Bingo"...but Christmassy... and with a lot more embellishments! We'd love for you to join us; all you have to do is pick a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) and create a lovely new holiday card featuring all three elements in that row. 

and here's my card:

I chose the left-hand column, which gave me: Animal + Diecut + Red, so I went with the sweet bunny (plus a couple of trees) from Pretty Pink Posh's Holiday Pals stamp set; Diecuts in the form of Penny Black's Trees and Hills in the background and MFT's Happy Holidays frame; and three different patterned papers (plus a mat) in Red. 

I'm joining the Christmas in July fun at Addicted to Stamps and More, which runs until July 29th if you'd like to, as well!

JB2515: Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe runs until the evening of Wednesday, July 30th. Join us today at Jingle Belles!

Nature's Noel: NEW Holiday Jumpstart Kit

Holiday Jumpstart: Nature's Noel is Paper Anthology's newest holiday card kit, which features Stampendous' beautiful flowers, vases and chickadees pre-stamped for you to color.

Paper Anthology’s Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit is our pre-packaged kit that includes everything you need (except coloring media and adhesive) to complete FIVE copies of this new original holiday card design. This edition is called “Nature's Noel” based on the card's beautiful florals and the coordinating sentiment.

Don’t we all adore 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”. This pre-packaged kit features everything you need (except coloring media and adhesive) to complete five beautiful, detailed and colorful cards, including complete written instructions (not pictured, but included!) and a nice big photo for reference.

(Please note that the images in the kit were stamped with Ranger's Jet Black Archival ink, which is an alcohol-based ink formula. Thus, it's recommended to color with water-based markers or colored pencils, or BOTH! Using alcohol-ink markers like Copics or Spectrum Noir may result in the black stamped images smearing.)

This kit contains:

Five pre-stamped vases for you to color
Five pre-stamped flower clusters for you to color
Five pre-stamped chickadees for you to color
Five pre-diecut scalloped lacy patterned paper mats
Five pre-diecut green "Noel" sentiments
Complete step-by-step instruction sheet with large color photo
Coloring key listing Tombow Dual Bush Pen shades used in samples
Five grocer's kraft A2 cards

CLICK HERE to find Holiday Jumpstart: Nature's Noel in the Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop

Hippity Hop (week 2!)

At Shopping Our Stash we're still making cards that have bunnies or chicks or both. They don't have to be Easter Cards... but... they can be, if you like!

I'm not always in the mood to color (and it hardly ever happens two weeks in a row!) but when I am, I love to color tiny, cute critters doing human-style activities. And it's difficult to find a company who captures that vein as well as Lawn Fawn does, imo. (Their "Carrot 'Bout You" set has a tiny bunny driving a carrot car... I rest my case!) This card is a combination of several different Easter/Spring themed LF stamp sets, and also incorporates their Picket Fence and Henry's ABC's die sets as well. Once again, I've made a bunch of random items into a scene by adding two appropriately colored patterned papers to serve as sky and ground. The critters are colored with my Tombow Dual Brush Pens and shaded with Prismacolor Pencils. 

SOS545: Hippity Hop runs until next Monday evening, April 21st. Why not join us!

SOS545: Hippity Hop

As you may have already guessed from the title, this fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we'd like to see cards that feature bunnies; but... we'd be happy to see chicks, as well. Oh and it can be an Easter card if you want; but... it doesn't have to be. Here's what I made:

I will pretty much take any excuse to break out my Avery Elle Feels Like Home stamps and add-on sets. They are several years old (and sadly out of print, sorry) but I still adore stamping and coloring (or paper-piecing) them and making a little scene of adorable reading critters. I love how just adding a soft patterned paper print at the top two-thirds of a circle, and a brown geometric at the bottom third, makes the whole thing instantly look like a room instead of just a background; almost as much as I love stamping the armchair with Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink on top of a piece of cardstock covered in Eyelet Outlet Strawberry Washi Tape. (I would seriously love to have such a chair in my home!) Please note that I have included a bunny, a chick and even A CARROT... but it's definitely not an Easter card. :)

SOS545: Hippity Hop runs until the evening of Monday, April 21st. Check out the fabulous cards the Crew have made to inspire you at Shopping Our Stash.

Hello, Pumpkin

Celebrating autumn with a sweet and simple card featuring Eyelet Outlet Pumpkin Brads (they pair perfectly with the pumpkin border from Lawn Fawn's Simply Celebrate Fall stamp set; just sayin') a Squirrel from the Acorn and Squirrel set and a scattering of Mini Leaf Brads.

Pumpkin-centric Shopping List:

Pumpkin Brads

Acorn and Squirrel Brads

Mini Leaf Brads

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store and get inspired by all of the embellishments for fall, winter, holiday and more!

SOS525: NBUS

In case you're wondering, NBUS stands for Never Before Used Stuff; and this fortnight at Shopping Our Stash, we're asking you to create a card that features items in your stash which are more than one year old, but haven't, for whatever reason, been used yet. Here's my card:

In the photo below you can see my Never Before Used item: a fabulous IO stamp set called "Aloha" which Stephanie gave me for my birthday last year (or possibly the year before?!) which I absolutely LOVE but somehow, despite the fact that I've gotten it out periodically and re-admired it, I had still never inked up?! I did my own variation of "spotlight stamping" by using the MISTI (also a gift from Stephanie, quite a few years ago, which I do actually use ALL the time!) to stamp a panel of tropical flowers and leaves. Then I carefully lined up my Altenew Bold Alpha dies to spell "ALOHA" and cut them from the background. I left the surrounding area plain, but used my Tombows to color the flowers and leaves of the diecuts, which I then shadowed with a second set of diecut letters in bold blue, before placing them back in the holes from which they came. I added tiny (ancient!) Prima paper flowers with Eyelet Outlet Pearl centers; added a bold blue mat and a surrounding panel of 49 and Market's Sunburst collection and called it a (sunshine-y, tropical) day!

Take a look over at SOS at what the rest of the Crew have made, then dust off one (or more!) of your Never Before Used items and make a card to link up with us! The NBUS Challenge runs through Monday evening, July 15th.

Tic-Tac-TWO

We're moving into our second week of Crafty Tic-Tac-Toe at Jingle Belles, and doubtless you already know that the brief  is to pick a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) and a create a fabulous new holiday card featuring all three elements in that row; so here's another look at the board with ALL of its inspiring possibilities: 

This week I chose the diagonal that runs from top left to bottom right, which gave me Snowman + Red or Green + Tree(s). And here's my card:

I was gifted Lawn Fawn's "Snowball Fight" stamps and dies, and of course I couldn't wait to play with... AHEM... use them artistically in my card (that's better!) so I approached the board and the card with that aim in view. Technically I've got a snow-mouse rather than a SNOWMAN, but I am unrepentant about this minor example of cheating, lol! My GREEN comes in the form of said snowrodent's scarf as well as the TREES which I punched from scraps of one of my all-time favorite Lawn Fawn lines, Spiffier Speckles. I'd planned on making this into a shaker card, and thus created the raised heart aperture, but in the end I felt like the shaker sequins would've obscured the adorable details of the stamps, so I opted for the slightly simpler design you see here.

JB2411: Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe runs until next Wednesday evening, June 5th; so head over to Jingle Belles now to see Stephanie's card and start planning what you'll link up with us!

Peace on Earth Day!

April 22, 2024 marks the 54th celebration of Earth Day, so this fortnight we Jingle Belles are asking you to help us celebrate by creating holiday cards that feature at least one recycled element.

Here's how I recycled this week: 

I managed to incorporate quite a few recycled items into my card, and am thus feeling quite obnoxiously proud of myself: the pink leopard tissue and snowflake paper were saved from holiday gifts (I backed them with plain white cardstock run through my Xyron machine to make them sturdier); the white and silver layer is the front of a greeting card I received last year; and I made a shaker box using Hero Arts' Woodgrain Frame Infinity Dies cut from the backs of old greeting cards, covered with a piece of clear plastic packaging. In fact, the stamped Sunny Studio Holiday Hugs bear and cup, ancient glitter snowflake, and Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads (plus Sequins) are the only new items I've used.

I'm linking up with the Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge's April event (#CCCC28) Coffee or Cocoa since my bear is drinking a delicious cup of hot chocolate, with a candy cane!

Need more inspiration? Check out the Jingle Belles Earth Day thread to see what we've made for this theme in years past! Then create your own masterpiece featuring a recycled element and link it on the Earth Day post at Jingle Belles by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 24th. 

You Are SEW Amazing

What's cuter than Lawn Fawn mice who can sew? Lawn Fawn mice who can sew and are surrounded by Eyelet Outlet Thread Brads, Scissors, Dressform and Dress Brads... with accents of Bright Stitched Flower Brads, of course! 

Check out ALL of the amazing Brads, Washi Tape, Flowers, Bling and more in the Eyelet Outlet Online Store; then check out our Tradeshow Schedule to see when the Eyelet Outlet Booth will be visiting a town near you!

SOS515: Put Your Best Face Forward

Time for a brand new challenge at Shopping Our Stash, and if you've surmised, from the title, that the brief is to include a human face on your card, well done, you're exactly right!

Something I learned while choosing supplies for this challenge is that I have A LOT more cute critter stamps than I do humans. I'm sure that says something about me, but let's move on! I've definitely had MFT's Polynesian Paradise stamp set for years and years (possibly a decade?) and I suspect it's probably out of print, but I still love it and use it, as you can see. This time I stamped all the elements on scraps of ancient, Basic Grey not-quite-solid-colored papers, then added a bit of shading on top with my Prismacolor pencils. I diecut that super-chunky Lawn Fawn sentiment twice, so that I could add the white layer behind the red and have it pop out a bit more. I also used a black brush pen to add just a tiny bit of depth around the edges for the same reason. The square panel with the foliage is from a company called Paperhouse and I have no idea how I came to have it; behind that is more Basic Grey solid-not-solid goodness. 

SOS's Put Your Best Face Forward challenge runs until the evening of February 26 and we'd love for you to join the fun!

Old and New, Redux

At Jingle Belles, we're headed into the second week of "Something Old... Something New" and there's still time for you to join the fun!

This week, my new item is this fabulous Simon Hurley create Winter Woodland Stamp Set from Ranger, which I've colored with my trusty (older) Tombow Dual Brush Pens from Paper Anthology. But the oldest thing here is the set of Spellbinders' classic Nestabilities Labels 2 die set, probably the second or third thing I purchased, back in the day, after I got my Cuttlebug! There's a mix of old and new foliage diecuts, old and new papers and of course I had to add a couple of Eyelet Outlet Poinsettia Brads.

"Something Old... Something New" runs at Jingle Belles until next Wednesday evening, January 31st.

SOS513: Once Upon a Time

Welcome to the first Shopping Our Stash challenge of 2024. If you've guessed by the title that we're looking for cards and projects inspired by fairy tales, well done, we can get right to what I made:

I think MFT's Rainbows & Unicorns stamp set is out of print, but I still love it; it's hard to imagine a better set of images for this challenge, and it also has half a dozen cute sentiments in the perfect font. I colored with my Tombows and was able to sneak in an Eyelet Outlet Frog Brad, a Sun, plus the Crown & Tiara set. I cut the clouds out of some uber-cute Simple Stories paper, added scrap mats and used up the last scrap of Creative Imaginations' paper, purchased when my eldest niece Riley (who's currently a senior in college!) was about nine and deeply into princesses. Luckily I now have grand-nieces (from the other side of the fam) who are the right age. 

The "Once Upon a Time" challenge at Shopping Our Stash runs until Monday evening, January 29th so why not unearth some of your older stash items and join the fun?

JB: Creature Feature (week 2)

We're still celebrating Holiday Creatures at Jingle Belles, which means we'd love to see cards with dogs, cats, polar bears, penguins, moose, cardinals, yeti, gnomes, etc.; but of course there's no critter that says, "Traditional Xmas" more than reindeer, right? Case in point:

Admittedly, not all reindeer are portrayed driving home for Christmas, but luckily Lawn Fawn's Car Critters have fixed that crucial gap in the stamping market. I've had my original set (which has sweet little bears) and the Holiday Add-On (which has the reindeers) for a couple of years, but I'm still not tired of thinking up little scenes for them. In this case, I've used patterned paper for everything but the deer themselves, which I colored with my Tombow Dual Brush Pens from Paper Anthology.

I'm entering this card into Lawn Fawnatics Challenge #159 as it is both Lawn Fawn centric AND Monochromatic!

Be sure to check out Stephanie's awesome card at Jingle Belles, then start thinking which Creature YOU will Feature when you link up with us! Challenge ends next Wednesday evening, November 1st.

SOS506: Color Me Beautiful

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we're busting out our favorite coloring techniques (watercolors, pencils, markers, etc.) and using them to make fun and fanciful cards. Here's mine:

I have several favorite coloring techniques, but my go-to is to "basecoat" the images with the lightest possible shade of Tombow Dual Brush Pen, then add a little shading and detail with my Prismacolor Pencils. For this card I've used all of the above on one of my favorite stamp sets, Taylored Expressions' Mythical Grumplings. I've used mostly scraps of patterned paper, all of a goodly age... for example... that paper with the candles and also the one with the cupcakes are both from Junkitz, which, if you remember them, you may have been a papercrafter for as long as I have! ;)

Be sure to check out what the crew have made at Shopping Our Stash, then start planning how YOU will "Color Me Beautiful"!