Arachnophobes, Look Away!

It wouldn't be October if I didn't make a Spider Web Mandala... in pink, of course! So here's this year's model:

Spider webs are fun and easy to draw; they can be any size and shape; they can have doodles or not; they can have Spider Brads or not; this is a fun seasonal art project, even for folks who believe they cannot draw! If you'd like to see some other versions, click the italic text! ♥

SOS558: Hey, Ghoulfriend!

You've probably already guessed that the title, "Hey, Ghoulfriend" indicates that this fortnight's challenge at Shopping Our Stash is embracing a Halloween theme, right? So I can skip right to the part where I show off my card:

I still have some well-hoarded pink & black papers and accoutrements from Prima's Luna Collection a few years ago, and I am just going to keep on using them until they're gone! In this case I paired the "Spooky" journal card with the adorable ghosts and spiders from Lawn Fawn's Build-a-House Halloween Add-On. I popped on an Eyelet Outlet Pumpkin Brad and mounted the whole thing on Prima spider web paper adorned with (sadly out of print) EO Halloween Washi Tape. Glossy black mats and a bit of machine stitching complete the design of this 5.5" square card.

Be sure to check out the fabulous cards our talented Crew have made to inspire you, then start planning what you'll link up with us this fortnight! SOS558: Hey, Ghoulfriend runs until the evening of Monday, October 20th.

Enamel Accents Googly Eyes Halloween Card

What's more fun than a Halloween card covered in googly eyes? A card covered in googly eyes you've made yourself, in every size and shape you could desire, using Enamel Accents! Hop over to the Ranger Project Tutorials Page and follow along as I show YOU how to do it... then stay to see how I add the eyes to this fun and funky (pink!) Halloween card.

Spoiler Alert: Dina Wakley's Scribbly Ravens and Block Alpha Stamp Sets also play a crucial part in this project, as does Simon Hurley's Moroccan Tile Background Stamp, some fab Archival Inks, and a few shades of Ranger Embossing Powder, including Glow Up, which is very cool in two ways: #1 it glows in the dark(!); and #2 in ordinary light, it makes the perfect neutral, especially when used on Black Heavystock (just sayin').

Too Cute to Spook

Halloween is just around the corner and one of the best trends of recent years is the GAL-o-ween category, which gives us a chance to make pretty, feminine Halloween cards for our girl friends! Eyelet Outlet Brads are, of course the perfect addition to any Trick-or-Treat theme; this one sports Pumpkin Brads, Spiders, a Witch Hat and some super cute Black Cat Brads peeping out here and there, not to mention a few Rose Brads and Mini Butterflies to glam things up.

Sweet and Spooky Shopping List:

Pumpkin Brads

Spider Brads

Witch Hat Brads

Black Cat Brads

Rose Brads

Mini Butterfly Brads

Eyelet Outlet has all the brads, tapes, bling and embellies you need for Halloween and beyond!

SOS532: Halloween

It's time for a brand new, super-timely challenge at Shopping Our Stash. This fortnight's theme is Halloween, so you can either rock that holiday OR go your own way but use Halloween colors: orange, black, green, lime and/or purple. I went with the former, so that I could work in one of my own favorite Halloween colors: PINK!

I actually had an entirely different plan, but when I got out my Halloween stuff, I discovered a little un-remembered cache of Frank Garcia's Luna collection from Prima Marketing a few years ago, so obviously I immediately switched gears! The witchy and webby papers only needed a bit of distressing; the pumpkins, ghost and sentiments I fussy-cut from a few journal cards that were in the set. I added a Hero Arts' diecut black cat and half a dozen (sadly discontinued) Eyelet Outlet Mini Spider Brads and called it good.

This challenge (SOS532) runs until the evening of Monday, October 21st. I hope you'll hop over to SOS to see what the other Boo Crew Members have made to inspire you!

Too Cute to be Spooky

These sweet witches in their spooky scene are already pretty cute, but they're exponentially more adorable when Eyelet Outlet Halloween Brads join the fun. The addition of a Witch Hat, a handsome Bat Brad, a mischievous Kitten checking out a Pumpkin, a cute but creepy Spider and some pink Rose and Colored Daisy Brads make the illustration come to life; then a double mat of Glitter Black Tape and Halloween Dot Washi tie it all together.

Stay tuned to the Eyelet Outlet Blog for more Halloween and Thanksgiving projects to make your Autumn Crafting FALL into place!

SOS507: Franken-Card

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we're embracing the season and creating cards featuring something Halloween related; that could be bats, witches, monsters, costumes... whatever says Halloween to you! 

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit that most of the ingredients on this card are only about a year old, but I was longing to use the leftovers from Prima's super-sweet Luna collection and I have absolutely no regrets, lol! The black Kromekote cardstock, assorted washi tapes and black gingham ribbon are all fairly ancient, however, so I feel I've redeemed myself on the Stash-Shopping front a little bit.

Be sure to head over to SOS to see the creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky cards the rest of our awesome crew have dreamt up to inspire you, then start planning your own Franken-Card masterpiece. Link up by 7pm on Monday, October 23rd.

WITCH Way to the Candy?

Eyelet Outlet seasonal Brads added to pre-printed journal cards make for Halloween cards so quick and easy, you won't even need a magic wand! Especially if you make coordinating tags and backgrounds using a few of the hundreds of gorgeous styles of EO Washi.

By neatly applying strips of tape to plain white cardstock, you are, in effect, designing your own patterned paper! For this trio of Halloween cards, I started with just three sweet witch tags out of Prima Marketing's Luna collection from Paper Anthology, plus a few small scraps of ribbon. I traced the tag shape onto cardstock covered with bright Orange Halloween Tape, charcoal grey texty Halloween Tape and Halloween Dot Washi, to make companion tags for each witch. I made some slightly larger background panels using the orange and grey tapes again as well as Coloring Book Washi; with mats of Glitter Black Tape beneath each. Then it was time to add brads to all the tags: pink Heart Brads, Pumpkins, Bats, Witch Hats (which fit the sweet witches perfectly!) as well as Mini Spiders and Mini Candy Corn... both of which are on sale! Et Voila: Three flat, mailable Halloween cards in less time than it took my favorite British TV Detective to solve this week's crime. 

Adorable cards for any occasion are no mystery... the perfect Brads and Washi for your next project are waiting for you in the Eyelet Outlet Store!

Oh, What a Stylish Web We Weave

Because ordinary spiders make everyday webs, but Eyelet Outlet Spider Brads (and Mini Spider Brads!) demand something a little fancier... like a beautiful mandala web on a gorgeous pink card:

I stamped an older Mandala from MFT onto plain white bristol board, and embossed with white powder, letting the design go off the top corner of the panel, to make it slightly more spider-web-like. Then, using the white embossed image as a resist, I colored in the panel with a blend of Picked Raspberry and Spun Sugar Distress Oxides. Then I let my Spider Brad and Mini Spiders move in and make themselves comfy. I added panels of Glitter Black Tape, Pink Foil and Coloring Book Tape... (which is actually leaves and flowers, but looks rather web-like if you trim it down to mat size!) ...and affixed the whole thing to my A7 card. The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions' Halloween Pennant Parade Set.

I'm joining in one of my favorite challenges of the year: Pink Halloween at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers; and you have until 11:55 this Friday (10.30.20) to join the fun over there!

I hope you'll be inspired to get out your Eyelet Outlet goodies and see what kinds of Halloween fun you can cook up!

SOS407: Halloween

There's just over a week until Halloween, so if you're making cards and haven't finished them yet, it's time to get moving! Luckily you'll have a place to link them up since this fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we are ALL ABOUT Halloween!

blendy background made with distress oxides and picket fence studio life changing brushes; zen doodle drawn with several sizes of pitt artist pen by faber-castell; spider and mini spider brads from eyelet outlet; alphabet stamps: inkadinkado and american crafts; glossy black cardstock: ranger; stamping ink: gina k amalgam ink; shadows drawn with tombow N60 dualbrush (arguably the best grey ever!); adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, sewing machine

I've made at least one *PINK* Halloween card each year for the last several years, because I love to join the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers P is for Pink Halloween challenge!

My Pink Halloween cards are almost always a zen doodle spider webs, because I love drawing those and let's face it there aren't that many occasions for which they are appropriate! This year's version features some adorable Eyelet Outlet Spider and Mini Spider Brads. It's set on top of a super-blendy background made with several pink and orangey shades of Distress Oxides and the Picket Fence Studio Brushes I finally caved and purchased at Paper Anthology. Everyone who had them before me (which is pretty much EVERYONE lol) swore they were the best thing ever and honestly I cannot argue with that. I've got a stamped sentiment using one older alpha set I've had for years and a second one I just scooped up at the Paper Anthology Paper Crafters' Garage Sale in September. I wish I had planned my second line of text better because it kinda looks like "Haltoween" but other than that I'm happy with the results.

Be sure to hop over to SOS and check out all the fabulous inspiration from the design team! ♥

the witching hour

we're feeling so SPOOKtacular this week at shopping our stash, we thought we'd take the chance to make one last halloween card! i was pretty excited to have an excuse for one more since i realized belatedly that i had somehow missed out on the sisterhood of snarky stampers' PINK HALLOWEEN earlier this month. so this one is especially for those gals:

tattered angels and heidi swapp spray ink background on strathmore watercolor paper; web drawn with faber-castell pitt artist pens and highlighted with black machine stitching; sentiment sticker: bella boulevard; spider brads: eyelet outlet; ink for edging: colorbox; pink shimmer mat: hambly; black glossy cardstock: paper accents; adhesives: 3m foam tape, sewing machine

i've done a pink halloween spiderweb the last two years, i think, and it's becoming one of those things that i enjoy seeing how many different ways i can pull it off. this time i masked off the heart and used my super-neglected spray inks to create the background. then i drew in the web and added a bunch of machine stitching before finishing off with a sticker sentiment and some super-cute eyelet outlet spider brads!

there's lots more bewitching inspiration over at SOS... you should (trick-or) treat yourself to some eye candy! ♥

oh what a tangled (♥PINK!♥) web we weave...

it's time for one of my very favorite challenges of the entire cardmaking year: ♥PINK HALLOWEEN♥ at the sisterhood of snarky stampers! here's my card:

background painted in peony colorburst on strathmore watercolor paper; zendoodles done with faber-castell's pitt artist pens in sizes XS, S and 1.5; alphabet stamps: echo park (brush lettering) and studio g (typeface); spider brads: eyelet outlet; glitter paper mats: american crafts POW papers; ink: ranger archival; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, sewing machine 

i've done zen-doodle spider webs* before, but they're always a lot of fun, so i see no reason to stop now, lol. especially when i can watercolor the exact perfect background shade of pink (thank you, peony colorburst) and i'm kind of a bit besotted with my eyelet outlet spider brads, who look very handsome in their custom-made habitat, don't you think?

i'm linking up (again!) with the simon says stamp monday challenge blog's "walk on the dark side" as well as the craftaholics-r-us #39 halloween themed challenge.

*my apologies to the arachnophobes out there; tomorrow's post will be completely and entirely spider-free, i promise!