Hi! (x2)

I love alphabet stamps and stencils, and I especially love when they line up with the "H" and the "I" next to each other; so you can feature them together, or "HI-light" them, so to speak. Such is the case with Tim Holtz's Mini Layering Stencil Set #29, which I've paired with Papergame Boy Stickers in a couple of fun cards which are on The Ink Pad Blog today.

LMFMO?!

Surely one of the best sentiment stamps of the past year comes from Picket Fence Studios' Bless Your Heart set: "LMFMO: Laughing My Freaking Mask Off" definitely sums up quite a few situations which arose in 2020 and 2021!  I've paired it with Eyelet Outlet Emotion, Mini Emotion and Mask Brads. By a happy coincidence, all of these items are available at The Ink Pad; and the card featuring them is on The Ink Pad Blog today!

Did You Know?

April is National Card and Letter Writing Month! At The Ink Pad, we always want to do the WRITE thing; especially when it involves our favorite type of correspondence... snail mail! We'll be celebrating throughout the month of April, by showing off some of our favorite postal-centric products, starting with this super-fun Hero Arts US Mailbox die set! Hop over to The Ink Pad Blog for all the details!

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!

"Count Your Rainbows...

...Not Your Storms" is just one of the eleven sentiments in Dare 2B Artzy's Sunshine and Rainbows clear stamp set. There are a total of twenty-nine high quality photopolymer stamps, which work modularly to achieve almost infinite variations; including birthday, thank you, and encouragement messages. The first of what I think might turn out to be quite a few different versions I will likely make in future, is on The Ink Pad Blog today!

Another New Year, Another New Journal

One of the most exciting things about the New Year for planners and journal-keepers is choosing and setting up our new book, supplies and system. Last year was my first time using a Traveler's Notebookfrom The Ink Pad (details from last January are HERE) and since my experience was 100% positive, I'll be going down that same path, using dated 2021 Traveler's Company Products.

Last year I purchased and decorated a Refill Binder, as opposed to a Leather Cover, since I knew most of my journal-keeping would take place at home. I added collage papers and stickers to the front and back covers. Since I had the intention of re-using the same cover in subsequent years, I confined my references to the year 2020 to a catalog card which slid into a library pocket. So this year, all I had to do was remove the 2020 card and my completed (and now rather fat, lol) weekly and monthly refills, archive them, and decorate a new card for 2021. I used some Pepin Vintage Fashion Stickers, MT Fab Letters Tapeand the stickers that came with my new TN. 

This year I'll be working with a 2021Weekly Vertical + Memo(which splits the year into two halves)and a 2021 Dated Monthly Diary. I treated myself to the 2021 Customizing Sticker Set(this year's theme is classic books) and a Brass Bookmark Template.

To kick off the year, I decorated the front cover of the January-June Weekly book, again with some of the stickers that came with my TN, more Pepin Vintage Fashion, beautiful White Lace Gem Tape, some letters cut from MT Fab Letters Tape, and various stickers and tapes from Pepin's Natural History, Art Forms in Natureand Classical European Tilesbooks. (There are quite a few other books in this Pepin seriesand with thirty-two 8x10" pages these are a good value as well as being both useful and beautiful!)

Since January first fell mid-week, my first layout spans the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. I did a little hand-lettering with my Karin Decobrush pensand made a little collage featuring some vintage bookpaper, sheet music, a fabulous quote (written out on my trusty Royal typewriter)and various Pepin Stickers, some of which I fussycut.

I use my Monthly Diary not to plan forward, but record my projects and assignments once they are completed. So my month of January isn't filled in yet, but I added a little more lettering, as well as more Pepin tapes and stickers.

There are so many different ways to use a Traveler's Notebook, many of which do not involve a calendar or dated pages at all! Did you know there are Gridded Refills, Kraft, Sketchbookpages, Watercolor Refillsand more. And most of these varieties also come in the handy Passport Size (which is, as the name implies, literally the size of your passport)as well as the larger Regular Size (4x 8"ish) that I have chosen! Visit the website or better yet, the Chelsea store to see the whole selection and be sure to check out the TN Master Blog Post for an overview of the basics!

Merry and BRIGHT!

You can't get much merrier... or brighter, lol... than fast and easy holiday cards made with MT Shocking Pink, Shocking Greenand Neon Gradation Slim Tape Setfrom The Ink Pad. This card and the details of how I made it, are on TIP Blog today!

It's Not Just for Traveling

It's tempting to argue that 2020 is the year in which we needed calendars and planners the least, but I to the contrary, I've found I've used and worked in my Traveler's Notebook from The Ink Pad more than ever. Because it's a system that you can customize to work perfectly for your life! For example, did you know that there are many TN refill options that don't even involve a calendar? Such as Sketchbook, Watercolor, Gridded and Kraft Paper inserts that turn your TN into a portable sketchbook, art journal, or creative writing habitat. The Traveler's Notebook Master Blog Post from the end of September lays out all of the basics about sizes, refills and covers; you might like to check it out if you're thinking about jumping into the TN universe. Meanwhile, I've got these three brand new pages on TIP Blog today!

October, in Living Color

It's hard to believe we're already a third of the way through October, but the calendar in my 2020 Traveler's Notebook assures me that's the case. So this seems like a good time to show off this month's spread and then talk about my 2021 set-up, featuring some fabulous new finds from The Ink Pad. All the details, pics and product links on TIP Blog today!

Washi Wonderland!

There are so many great washi tapes, but one of our very favorite brands at The Ink Pad has got to be MT, who make high quality tape in just about any design you could possibly imagine. Tape is fantastic for accents and for actually attaching things, but have you ever used it to make your own custom patterned paper? It's easy and fun and I' up on The Ink Pad Blog today, talking more about that!

Flowers, Everywhere

And one of the best and most convenient forms that beautiful blooms can take, from a cardmaker's perspective, is to be made into stickers; like these Vintage Flower Stickers from The Ink Pad. I've combined them with some very cool MT Die Cut Letters Tape, that I'm entirely smitten with; you can read all about these cards on The Ink Pad Blog today! ♥