An Ambi... what?

I confess that I hadn't heard the term "ambivert" (which describes a person who has a mix of both introvert and extrovert personality features) until I found Everyday Explorers Co "Ambivert Life" stamp set and thought, "Hey, that's ME!" Hop over to The Ink Pad Blog to see the flip side of this fun card AND a Traveler's Notebook page I made using the same set!

Coffee Mandala

It might not be very zen to create a mandala consisting entirely of caffeinated beverages, but when I saw all of the fun little icons in Everyday Explorers Co's Coffee Snob Stamp Set from The Ink Pad, my first thought was that they'd make a really cool mandala. I stand by that belief!

I confess that I "saved" this idea especially for the Coffee Loving Cardmakers' Fall/Winter Blog Hop, because the cards that link up to that are always AMAZING and I felt like I needed to bring my A-Game! That's "A" as in Amy Tsuruta, who never, ever, fails to inspire; and like me, rarely turns down a delicious caffeinated beverage!

This is one of those times when a MISTI turns a job that would be seriously daunting, into something perfectly simple. Because while I suppose I could have hand-stamped each icon four times, I doubt I could have lined them up as precisely as this. With the MISTI, though, I just used the grid to center my first element ("more coffee") on my 3.5" square of paper, stamped it, rotated the paper 90 degrees (WITHOUT moving the stamp!) and stamped again; repeating those steps until I had all four sides completed. Then I removed the "more coffee" stamp and placed the cafetiere, heart and star in a little cluster and repeated the stamping + rotation operation four more times. I made two separate mandala layers, cut out and matted both, then finished off with a single icon ("now I'm fully awake") which I fussycut neatly and added to the center.  

To make the mandala into a card, I matted with the cloud paper from Lawn Fawn's Into the Woods Remix paper pad and made a 5.5" square card from some Distress Woodgrain Cardstock.

Now that I've mastered this technique I want to get out ALL of my Everyday Explorers Co stamp sets and see what other fun mandala designs I can create! Happy Mandala Monday and Happy Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop! ♥

Stencil + Inks + Stickers

The two newest Distress Colors from Ranger (Speckled Egg and Crackling Campfire) lend themselves beautifully to so many palettes, especially in the fall! Today I've paired them with stencils and stickers from The Ink Pad. Read all about it on TIP Blog!

TN + Stamps = JOY

This month on Instagram, The Ink Pad's friend and Journal Guru, Andy Evers (aka @storiedpages) is co-hosting a event called "You By Me" in which journalers are encouraged to try making a page in the style of a fellow enthusiast they admire. I chose Andy himself (of course!) and was pretty excited to find that since we both shop at The Ink Pad, we have quite a few products in common; which made my task fairly easy. All the details on this layout as well as my September montly spread on The Ink Pad Blog today!

Traveler's Notebook Update

August is an especially colorful month in my Traveler's Notebook, especially the Monthly Free Diary section in which I record all of my assignments and projects. Thanks to some fairly awesome Everyday Explorers Co stamps from The Ink Pad. More info and the "after" photo with all the fun things filled in on The Ink Pad Blog today! 

Snail Mail Challenge!

It's a well-known scientific fact that getting actual mail, from another human, is one of the great joys of life. So this week I challenge everyone who's reading this to send out one piece of snail mail. It could be a birthday card to a family member, a note to a neighbor, a postcard to an old friend, whatever. And before you tell me you'd like to do it, but you have no idea what to say; let me assure you that, "Thinking of you" or "Hope your day is going ok" is plenty. Seriously, it can be as simple as that. I'm pretty sure Christine Herrin, the designer behind the awesome Everyday Explorers Co, totally agrees with me on this point, since she named the stamp set I used to make today's card, "Send More Snail Mail". Coincidentally, it's available at The Ink Pad; and featured on TIP Blog.

Where Exactly Did June Go??!

Considering that many of us have spent the vast majority of the last few months AT HOME, it's surprising how quickly the weeks keep rushing by! This seems like a good time for a Travelers Notebook update. Not that I've had many plans or travels to record, lol, but since I use my TN Free Diary Monthly Refill to record all of my creative assignments, June is as full as all of the previous entries! Visit The Ink Pad Blog for all the details of this fun spread.

Mandala Monday

Here's a fun idea for anyone who'd like to start making mandalas, but doesn't want to draw: a mandala made with beautiful, tiny, round Lucille stickers, and a few circle stamps from Everyday Explorers Co; plus some other cool new goodies from The Ink Pad. All the info on TIP Blog today!

MARCH-ing On

Would this be a good time for a Travelers Notebook update? Because somehow, when we weren't looking, two thirds of March rushed past and the season changed from winter to spring! All of my supplies, of course, are from The Ink Pad.

March 2020 started on a Sunday and uses four full weeks, plus three days. This is not something I would ordinarily notice, but since I'm working in the Free (Blank) Monthly Diary and need to format each month, it's something I had to think about in order to label the days and lay them out correctly. So this month, the title of the month is at the bottom right of my spread, because there was more room to place my overview using Everyday Explorers Co Planner Months set and a bit of handlettering just for fun. The days of the week, from the Calendar Days set, are still up top.

The regular sized TN insert is slightly bigger than my MISTI, but by flipping it around and letting the book hang off the non-hinge edge, I could still use it. Which was nice, because I wanted to neatly line up a bunch of the faux postage icons from EEC's Choose Your Own Adventure set in the margin, and frankly, I would not have had the confidence to do that freehand.

I had finished my entire spread and was getting ready to put the Free Monthly Diary back into my Regular Sized Binder, but there just seemed to be something missing. I auditioned more stamps, and several styles of MT Washi Tape, but nothing seemed quite right. In the end, it turned out what I needed was just a nice bright border around the month, which I made using a Zig Dot Marker in Kiwi!

I considered not showing my TN Weekly page this time, because honestly, it's such a JUMBLE! Lots of info and updates about CoViD-19; a record of things that got cancelled, mingled with random positive stuff I made a point of noticing... really there's much more here than a well-composed page should ever have. But then it occurred to me how well this reflects exactly what this week was like!!! Which is the whole entire point of journaling, right? So here it is, warts and all:

And finally, though I've shown my cover before, I do still love the collagey goodness and especially the 2020 library card in its pocket, which will allow me to update and reuse my personalized Regular Sized Binder for years to come!

The Ink Pad's Chelsea Store is still closed for a bit, but so be sure you've signed up for the newsletter to get updates as they happen. Meanwhile, stay well and stay crafty!

New York, New York

A city so nice, as the saying goes, they named it twice! Everyday Explorers Co. has only named this stamp set once, "Passport: New York" but it is equally fab and very useful for planners, travel journals, or (as in this case) cards! Oh and it's available at The Ink Pad of course! Read more about it on The Ink Pad Blog!

Another Month Rolls By...

...and it seems like each month goes a little faster than the last one! Which is why it's nice to record life in my Traveler's Notebook from The Ink Pad. I've been using the 2020 Weekly Diary for notes on everyday events and the Free Diary Monthly Insert to keep track of the things I've made. Here's how February looks so far:

An unexpected benefit of using the Free (aka Unlabeled) Diary: I love laying out the pages myself using planner stamps from Everyday Explorers Co! I added the month and tiny calendar with the Let's Be Explorers Planner Months set; and the numerals and days of the week with the Calendar Days set.

I used rainbow shades of Tsukineko's VersaFine Clair Inks for a pop of extra vivid color. Then I filled in my various completed assignments using little snippets of paper and tape, plus specific project items like PaperGame's Boy Stickers or Vellum Flowers. To keep stamps like Michelle Ward's Taxicab inside a single date, I masked with post-it notes and used Memento's Tuxedo Black ink for a super-crisp image.  

I've been keeping up with International Correspondence Writing Month (InCoWriMo) so it's fab to have a little grid from the Planner Months set and some cute little icons from EEC's Choose Your Own Adventure and Passport. There's also a fabulous new Passport New York set that I'm planning to bust out for cardmaking purposes ASAP.

The TN Regular Sized Binder is big enough to hold all three of my current inserts and still has "room to grow"! If I'm going to do a lot of precise stamping (like all the numerals for the entire month) I take them out of the binder, but most days I write, stamp and attach things right there.

Possibly the most important date in my February spread is the 29th because that is when The Ink Pad reopens in the fab new location, 233 West 19th Street (between 7th and 8th aves). Can't wait to see you there!

Lauren Bergold 

has already located excellent coffee and 

delicious falafel in the new neighborhood!

Going a Bit Dotty?

Super-excited to find a brand new, super-easy way to make mandalas: I've combined Rubber Stamp Tapestry's "Perfect Circles" peg stamp set, my Zig Dot Markers and a few stamps from Everyday Explorers Co "School Days" stamp set. Coincidentally I got all of the above at The Ink Pad! Hop over to The Ink Pad Blog to read all about it!

What's Better Together...

...than a Traveler's Notebook and Everyday Explorers Co. Stamps? Ok, sorry, it's a trick question, because as far as I can tell they are the perfect pair! Which makes it especially awesome that you can get both at The Ink Pad! You can also read all about exactly which things I used to customize the month of January (and this past week) on The Ink Pad Blog today!