More Index Cards? Yup.

Time for the past week's ICAD, in reverse order, starting with today... aka... Mandala Monday!

Day 22: Off-Prompt

I haven't made a sticker mandala in a bit, so this was a lot of fun. For the limited space of an index card, it's definitely better to choose smaller stickers; luckily, I can never resist those sheets of tiny kawaii stickers, and these little puffy unicorns were perfect. I also used some rainbows, and a cute donut for the center; but for every "themed" sticker, there are a bunch of circles, triangles and hearts filling in the spaces and creating a nice base for the fancier ones to shine!

Day 21: Moon

I've gone very literal this time and combined part of a moon map… an astrological calendar… a moonflower… and my new favorite quote.

Day 20: Strata or Stripes

Or, in this case, Strata WITH Stripes... and Stitching!

Day 19: Liminal Space

From Merriam-Webster: Liminal is a word for the in-between. It describes states, times, spaces, etc., that exist at a point of change—a metaphorical threshold—as in “the liminal zone between sleep and wakefulness.” The idea of a threshold is at the word’s root; it comes from Latin limen, meaning “threshold.” Limen has served as the basis for a number of other English words, including eliminate (“to cast out”), sublime (“lofty in conception or expression”), preliminary (“introductory”), and the woefully underused postliminary (“subsequent”).

Woohoo, here's my third (so far!) and favorite (so far!) One-Staple Collage of #dyicad2026 and I'm pretty pleased with how many (admittedly loose) interpretations of liminal space I've built into it; and also with the shapes of my stacked items, which have managed to use the physical space of the index card pretty well. 

Day 18: L'Elephante (Bon Jour!)

Apparently, it's my week to paperpiece cute animals? I hadn't planned to do two in a row, but that's what happened, and since a big part of the @indexcardaday fun for me is letting myself explore whatever appealing rabbit holes present themselves... I'm just going with it.  

Animal Safety Tip: IRL, it's probably a bad idea to allow elephants, however adorable, near rabbit holes, as this could be dangerous to the rabbits. (This is my attempt at a National Park Service style of funny animal caption... I think I need more practice. In the meantime, if you're not following @nationalparkservice you are not only missing really fun captions, but also great photography and loads of fascinating nature facts. So now you know.) 

Day 17: Off-Prompt

This is Francis the Fanciful Fox; handcut and pieced from scraps of patterned paper. He and I are off-prompt on Day 17 of #diycad2026 and you can find out more about the Index Card a Day Creative Challenge at @indexcardaday or @gypsy999 or both!

Day 16: Fig

Last year, our kind neighbor gave us a sprouted cutting from her fig tree (the fruit of which she generously shares with us each year) and we tended it all summer; cut it back in the fall; put it in the cool, dark cellar all winter; then brought it out in the Spring. And whaddaya know? Newton (the only name for a pet fig, imo!) survived and started getting leaves right away this Spring; he’s already grown bigger than last year and has lots more leaves, as you can see in the photo. We’re hoping to plant him outdoors at the end of the summer, then cover and wrap when the temps go down in the fall.

Index Card Round-Up

Another week of Index Card a Day (ICAD) has flown past and here are my cards, in reverse order:

Day 15: Triple Threat Mandala Monday (Off-Prompt)

This is the slowest "fast cheat" ever, lol. Lemme essplain; no there's too much... lemme sum up*: This mandala has three layers, each made on different index cards, from previous years. They were abandoned midway through due to some aspect to them I didn't love at the time. Sometimes I throw away such experiments; but sometimes I save them, because I like the basic idea and want to revisit it. In this case I like the round center "flower" with the stripey petals, but didn't like the next round of the original mandala. On the blue card, I loved the ruffles but not the original center, and I hadn't given it any background. On the bottom layer I liked the way my stencil-printed flowers kind of peter out, I like the colors... honestly I'm not sure why this didn't get posted when I made it, but whatever. So I cut away everything I didn't like and layered the rest together et voila! A two year + ten minute mandala!!!

*(Because who can resist a completely gratuitous/ random Inigo Montoya reference?! Not me.)

Day 14: Serene (One-Staple Collage)

Here's a collage that I intentionally built around the color blue. I mention "intentionally" because, as it turns out, a lot of my collages are subconsciously inspired by a color, but I'm not necessarily aware of that while working. This time I decided that blue was a #SERENE color and proceeded accordingly. All of the elements except the lotus-y flower were already cut or torn and laying on my work table or in my collage fodder box. This was going to be a regular collage and not a one-staple collage* because I honestly didn't think I could attach everything securely with a single staple but... as it turns out... I could! So here's my second OSC for 2026-- so far!

Day 13: Lucky

I had an entirely different idea in mind for the #LUCKY prompt, but when I stumbled upon this Cormac McCarthy quote, a day after randomly cutting out funky dice from an old, falling-apart book, it seemed pretty serendipitous. I genuinely believe that there are times when NOT getting what you want is the best thing that could possibly happen to you.

Day 12: Orchestra

Somewhere in the world, I'm sure there are folks who don't love the art of Richard Scarry and didn't have a childhood in which they adored books with worms driving apple-shaped cars and rabbits conducting piccolo-playing mice. But since I am definitely not that person, here is my unapologetically nostalgic card for the Day 12 #dyicad29026 (optional) prompt of ORCHESTRA. 

Day 11: Coneflower

The last few years of ICAD I've been very much into handcutting and paper-piecing... and apparently that trend continues. I think I may have given my coneflowers a few too many petals, and possibly only the colors and foliage are keeping them from looking like very fancy shuttlecocks... but... this was fun to make!

Day 10: Birch or Gingko

I just unearthed this cute little mermaid scale stamp and realized that it's pretty close to the shape of a gingko leaf; so I stamped the unlined back of a white index card with lots of beautiful green shades of  Simon Hurley Stellar Ink, drew a gingko-ish shape inside each, and decided to LEAF it at that!  (K sorry, but I can literally never resist a diabolical pun.)

Day 9: Charm

Reading the word, "charm" my first thought was of those little milagros that you find in California and Mexico, often studding a Sacred Heart, as tokens of prayers for healing or gratitude. So I decided to paper-piece my own colorful little version. I used silver metal brads instead of actual charms, for ease of attachment; and also to reduce weight. Additionally, I built the whole thing on an index card divider for extra strength.

♥♥♥

What exactly IS the Index Card a Day Creative Challenge? I'm so glad you asked! It's 61 consecutive days of making art on index cards. This is the 16th annual event, devised and hosted by the divine Tammy G aka @gypsy999 and a time of great inspiration and creativity for all, from June 1 to July 31. But honestly, there's NO bad time to ICAD, so if you're just seeing this now and think it sounds fun: JUMP IN, everyone is welcome! Check out @indexcardaday on Instagram for more info. 

SOS554: Hot, Hot, Hot

It's time for a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash and if you've already guessed that the title, "Hot, Hot, Hot!" means we want you to make a card inspired by something HOT, such as weather, food, fire, etc; then you are absolutely right, and we can't wait to see your interpretation. I went with weather, as you can see:

I've had Honeybee's Flippin Fabulous stamp set for two or three years and I've used all the shells and most of the sentiments LOTS of times, but somehow never inked up those fab flipflops? How is that even possible? To make up for lost time, I stamped them twice (on blue floral and yellow geometric patterned papers) then cut them out and paper pieced them. Oh and I added a couple of Eyelet Outlet Colored Daisy Brads to make them extra fancy. In the storage envelope with the stamps I found a bunch of pre-stamped shells and a couple of hibiscus flowers (from a different set) that were pre-stamped and pre-watercolored; so I basically had my whole focal collage. I raided 49 and Market's Vintage Artistry Sunburst collection and found the perfect background; then added the sentiment, inked and machine stitched around the edge, and called it good.

SOS554: Hot, Hot, Hot runs until the evening of Monday, August 25th and we'd love for you to link up with us. Meanwhile, check out the inspiring cards from our uber-talented Crew at Shopping Our Stash.

Somebunny Wishes You a Happy Easter

Eyelet Outlet Brads pair beautifully with all of your smaller critter stamps! For example this Lawn Fawn Bunny is just the right size to be friends with one of our adorable Chick Brads, while the egg stamp from the same set was perfect for creating some colorful eggs from patterned paper scraps, then adorning them with a Pastel Rabbit, a Heart Brad (with stamped carrot!) and a Stitched Flower, as well as some strips of Bunny and Carrot Washi Tape. The background features Wide Sky Washi and some Zig Zag Tape.

 

The Eyelet Outlet Online Store has all the embellishments you need, for whatever holidays and occasions you celebrate!

Is it SPRING Yet?!

As Kermit the Frog once observed, "It's Not Easy Being Green" and although we've taken it as our challenge title this fortnight at Shopping Our Stash, as a matter of fact, it's not alllllll that difficult to make a card that is *mostly* green... which is what we'd like to see this time. Here's my card:

I've literally raided DECADES of fine stashular items for this one: My base is an ancient Hambly Transparency; the center panel is Prima patterned paper circa... maybe 2009? Those beautiful Dina Wakley Media Scribbly Birds from Ranger made their debut in 2014, and yet are still in print and have spawned holiday as well as mini versions. The leaves are from a Catherine Pooler die set called Perfect Foliage which I acquired at Paper Anthology during the 2020 lockdown. And finally, the scraps on the which the birds are stamped and leaves are diecut are a mixture of ancient Basic Grey and new-ish Craft Consortium. My current trusty Dymo Label Maker is only a few years old, but I have had/used one for cardmaking since at least the turn of this century!

Our SOS516: It's Not Easy Being Green challenge will run until Monday evening, March 11th; why not unearth some of your favorite older stash items and play along?

Week 9: Index Card a Day Concludes

Incredibly enough, we've (already?!) reached the end of ICAD; it seems like June and July fly by faster each and every year! Here are my cards from the past week:

Day 54: Mandala Monday

This rosy, leafy, semi-collaged mandala finds itself in Manhattan's Chinatown, at the corner of Mott and Pell Streets, which poses the deep philosophical question: Should we walk across Pell to Doyers and eat at Nom Wah Tea Parlor; or head down Mott to Chatham Square and go to Golden Unicorn? Decisions, decisions...

Day 55: Lemon or Lime

Lime, please!!!

(Handcut lime-slices made up of scraps of various green patterned papers)

Day 56: Winter

Snow and Ice (and doodle!) covered hills doodled with Tombows, outlined with a Letter It Fineliner and with sparkly bits of gel pen that utterly fail to show up in the photo!

Day 57: Bird

Inspired by all the amazing bird doodles in the Wendy Vecchi Facebook Group, I decided to make my own paper-pieced version. I may have gotten a little bit carried away...

Day 58: Illustration

This seemed like a good time to slide in one last #OneStapleCollage in this case all of the pieces in the stapled stack are vintage illustrations. From top to bottom: A 1965 Corvair; an example of hand-lettering for advertising; a gorgeous yellow rose from a gardening book; S & H Greenstamps (technically not an illustration, lol); a machinery diagram; and a black and white forest from a children's book. Attached with one staple to a funky olive green index card.

Day 59: Peaceful

There are few things that make me feel as #PEACEFUL as doodling randomly on an index card whilst watching British Mysteries on Acorn TV. Specifically, in this case, rainbow striped doodles during Brokenwood Mysteries, series nine.

Day 60: Filigree (Sorta)

I started out with the intention of doodling a #FILIGREE design for Day 60 of ICAD2023 but it morphed into more of a geometric repeating pattern in rainbow shades, so I just rolled with it... 

Day 61: Mosaic (Again... Pretty Loose)

One of my favorite things about ICAD is that you can use the prompts to get you started, but when your original idea morphs into something else entirely, it's still cool. It might, in fact, be even better than your original idea; but the main point is... you feel inspired and then can let yourself follow that inspiration WHEREVER it takes you. Maybe you'll also end up with a beautiful finished piece; even if you don't love the outcome, the process has likely given you a new idea of something to try in future. Whatever happens, you've gained something valuable. My other favorite thing is all the awesome artists I've met and interacted with over the simple act of creating art on index cards for 61 days in a row. Many thanks to everyone who has stopped by to say hi, and as always the biggest portion of my gratitude goes to Tammy Garcia, aka @gypsy999 who dreamt up this fun and inspiring shindig thirteen years ago and is still the biggest motivator and cheerleader I know. I'm already looking forward to June 1, 2024! 

♥♥♥♥♥

Week 8: ICAD Round-Up

We're getting to the end of the Index Card a Day challenge soooooo much quicker than I could have imagined, but here are my cards from this week:

Day 47: Mandala Monday

Today's mandala was 100% inspired by this beautiful bloom, which I cut out of an older piece of Vicki Boutin patterned paper.* Then I drew the outer layers of the mandala in a similar style, on a vintage library catalog card for a book about Gaugin. The flower is probably just a teeny bit too orange to strictly qualify for ICAD2023's Day 47 prompt of Vermillion, but let's just roll with it, k? 

(*The paper is called "Picked for You" and is from American Crafts' "All the Good Things" line.)

Day 48: Raindrops

An absolutely literal interpretation of today’s prompt!

Day 49: Focus

I actually had an index card nearly finished that was just concentric circles of patterned paper; and then I saw the off-cuts... circle slivers of various size, looking like funky broken piecharts and I immediately peeled everything off and changed direction!!! 

(& that is what ICAD is all about, imo!)

Day 50: Off-Prompt

Today's prompt was "Note to Self" and since mine was to clear my worktable off enough that the precarious piles were not threatened every time I got up to get something, I made a Clean-Up Collage from some of the many and various discarded bits thereon.

Day 51: Off-Prompt

Commemorating, in ICAD form, the amazing layered rainbow fruit salad we had last night. I did not include the yummy vanilla yogurt sauce, but feel free to imagine it!

Day 52: Weathervane

This eclectic collage has stickers, ancient rub-ons (that surprisingly still worked perfectly?!) part of a sewing pattern, wide washi tape and an American Eagle handsome enough to be (one suspects) a bit of a Weather VAIN...

Day 53: Museum

I *LOVE* museums! Big or small ones; wide-ranging or super-specific; traditional or modern; art museums, historical societies, botanic gardens... I'm there. My friend Barbara and I have built entire vacations around attending a specific exhibition in a far-flung city; @smilynstef and I devote a significant portion of every NYC trip to seeing what's on in our favorite museums. None of this has ANYTHING to do with my card, which features flower stickers on vintage paper, set off with washi tape frames; though the super-dense arrangement does bring to mind the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia.

♥♥♥

MM48

It's the 48th Mandala Monday of 2022 and this one is made with the leftover punched circles and hearts from a fantastic class I taught last week at Charleston Place Senior Living Apartments in Kendall Park, NJ. Many thanks for Anna Chiang and the gang at Charleston for a very fun afternoon and some extremely yummy chocolate! :)

Not a CREATURE Was Stirring!

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're asking you to Feature a Creature! That includes every imaginable animal... like a sweet sheep, a plucky little duck, or perhaps a rowdy reindeer; or YES, even a monster or a Yeti if you're in a Halloween mood and want to stretch the theme! And for a bit more fun, we're throwing in a prize for one lucky participant, so you should hop over to Jingle Belles and read about that, but first, how about a look at my card:

Stephanie got me hooked on Yeti Cards, and this one features Lawn Fawn's supercute version! I've stamped on some tiny text paper and fussycut the happy little dude so he could be part of my snowy scene, made from scraps of patterned paper. I added a diecut sun and clouds as well as couple of Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads, because super-furry Yeti like their weather on the chilly side!

Head over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card* and start planning what Creature you're going to Feature when you link up with us.

*Stephanie's card might also feature a Yeti; I cannot confirm or deny that hypothesis.

I Can, Therefore ICAD

It's hard to believe we're only seven days away from the end of ICAD 2021, but the calendar assures me that is the case. Is it just me, or has this been the fastest summer everrrrr?? Meanwhile, here's the index card art from the week:

day 46: off prompt

a very fast collage made with pre-cut-out bits from my collage box. i like it, though.

day 47: off prompt zen doodle extravaganza

bold crisp oxide ink colors inside my michelle ward hex pattern stencil from the ink pad; curvy, detailed doodle lines in between.

day 48: off prompt

another handcut, machine stitched, patterned paper pattern. this one's inspired by my favorite scaly-skinned mammal, the pangolin!

day 49: mandala monday

i've had an idea about combining layered shapes with hand-drawn mandalas. this, frankly, isn't quite it... but i'll definitely be revisiting the concept!

day 50: typography

basically an excuse to combine a bunch of texty scraps, lol... 

day 51: off prompt

having already done a few cards with handcut letters, this time i went with numerals!

day 52: ice cream

who can resist hand cutting and sewing a triple decker ice cream cone?

(not me, clearly!)

day 53: botanical

the black and white flower illustrations were my starting point for this collage, which i had envisaged being all botanical ingredients over green background pieces. then the car showed up...

♥♥♥

This Is the Week That Was

...or to put it more succinctly: Here's a round up of all my Index Card Art from this, the second week of ICAD 2021:

day 5: verdigris

my favorite example of verdigris is also my favorite nyc landmark, lady liberty. she's printed on an inkjet transparency and the centerpiece of a one-staple collage.

day 6: twist

someone on instagram pointed out that my twisty zentangle on a greenish-teal index card would also count as a second take at "verdigris" and i'm cool with that.

day 7: mandala monday

most years, my mondays go completely off-prompt in favor of mandala making. for this week's version, i invented the one-staple mandala! 

(there's a flipagram on IG showing all the layers.)

day 8: umbrella

while making this one, i was listening to a wonderful and magical audiobook called "the watchmaker of filigree street" which has a mikado-related subplot; so my umbrellas are made of origami paper and sort of japanese-y.

day 9: ampersand

i thought this cluster of ampersand stickers was going to be part of a more complicated and layery collage, but then i really liked it like this, so i just stopped. maybe the most CAS design i've ever made?

day 10: ribbon

sometimes the combination of two ideas adds up to more than the sum of its parts, and sometimes, not so much, lol. i like both my tombow-drawn rainbow ribbon AND my scrunched and stitched actual ribbon; but... as it turns out, i don't like them TOGETHER. 

day 11: library

another card where i can't say i'm in love with the end result, but there ideas here that i like, which i will definitely revisit, so it was a useful and fun card to make. (plus: ZINNIAS!)

♥♥♥

Just a reminder that all the info you could possibly need about ICAD2021 (including completely optional weekly prompt lists) can be found on the Daisy Yellow Art Blog. My individual ICADs are posted nightly on my Instagram account.

First ICAD Wrap-Up of 2021

since the month only started on tuesday, it's quite a short week of Index Card a Day items, but nevertheless, here's a review of what i made and posted each day on instagram:

day 1: off prompt

the idea for this card literally came to me in a dream and thankfully i not only remembered it when i woke up, i sketched out the details while it was fresh in my mind. you can see the sketch in the 3rd frame of my "process" collage, below:

day 2: snapdragon

i don't always use the awesome prompts from tammy at daisy yellow, but i love that they are available whenever i want one. this week's "bonus" was one staple collage, a legendary ICAD tradition we re-visit each year, and i was excited to already sneak one in, on day two!

day 3: off-prompt

during last week's family art time, my sister had the brilliant idea to pay tribute to eric carle, so i made a Very Hungy Caterpillar using 22 hand-cut ovals of various green patterned paper. and of course he needed a home... 

day 4: off-prompt

speaking of hand-cutting, lol. i have a feeling that cut and pieced illustrations, doodles and fonts are going to be A Big Thing with me this summer during icad, so i figured i'd just warn you right now! :)

♥♥♥

if you'd like more information on the Index Card a Day challenge, check out the Daisy Yellow Blog. to see my individual cards each day, follow @llaurenb (that's me!) on instagram.