By the Numbers (week 2)

It's the second week of our "By the Numbers" challenge at Shopping Our Stash, for which we'd like to see cards that feature at least one numeral. Here's my second take on this brief:

We've just had a 21st birthday* in our family, so I broke out my Lawn Fawn Birthday Balloons and paired them with LF's Party Balloons to make a shaker card featuring some of the birthday girl's favorite things, including rainbows, flamingos, sunshine and sweets... all cut from the big box of scraps too pretty to discard!  The background paper is from Lawn Fawn's Hello Sunshine Remix and the sequins are lots of different leftovers, plus some really fun tiny strawberry sprinkles from Dress My Craft.

SOS548: By the Numbers runs until next Monday evening, June 2nd; link your cards at Shopping Our Stash!

*I'm sure glad we grown-ups are not aging at the same rate as the kiddos or else we'd be REALLY OLD by now!!! :) :) :)

Witch Way to the Candy?!

Nothing says, "Happy Halloween" as well as a witch-shaped shaker card full of Eyelet Outlet Pumpkin Sequins, am I right? Especially one that features the fab new Black Cat and Candy Corn Brads, as well as Spider and Pumpkin Brads not to mention that beautiful new Spider Washi Tape.

Shopping List:

Pumpkin Sequins

Black Cat Brads

Candy Corn Brads

Spider Brads

Pumpkin Brads

Spider Washi Tape

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store for all the creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky Halloween Brads, Tapes and Sequins you could possibly desire! 

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. 

2023 Eyelet Outlet Favorites

It's that time again, the Eyelet Outlet Design Team is picking our favorite projects of 2023; and at the same time, we're getting ready to make brand new inspiring creations for 2024! Here are five of my personal picks... in more or less chronological order. Click the bolded text to visit the original posts for additional description and direct product links.

It's impossible (imo) to Flamin-Go wrong with EO Flamingo and Beachy Brads. When a friend sent me this hilarious pun, I literally couldn't get to my supplies fast enough!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and this vertical Girls Tape not only captures that vibe perfectly, it pairs seamlessly with pretty much any combination of Brads and Tapes that appeal to your favorite gal.

The new Sugar Skull Brads arrived at the end of the summer, and were instant faves. This Viva la Vida card, posted on Dia de los Muertos, turned out exactly like the picture that was in my head.

Eyelet Outlet Pinata Brads were also brand new this year and my first thought was to make a Smashing Shaker Card with EO Sequins inside. I stand by that decision.

The new Driving Brads pair brilliantly with Classic Car Brads, Compass Brads, and loads of tape styles; for instant Masculine Card perfection. 

Wildlife Winterscapes

Maybe the most fun you can have with our Eyelet Outlet Wildlife Brads is to build little scenes for them to inhabit. This trio of A1 cards all have stamped trees and sponged skies, with Sun and Cloud Brads to light the way and a flurry of Snowflake Sequins to set the season. Pine Tree Brads and Snowy Pines add to the foliage, then the critters arrive: a Prancing Deer, a handsome Moose, plus mama and baby Bear Brads. Two washi tape mats, of Glitter Blue Tape and Wide Wood Washi frame the designs.

There are Eyelet Outlet Animals for every taste, including Dinosaurs, Farm Animals, Reptiles, Cats and Dogs, Fish and Crustaceans, Jungle Animals, Birds, Bugs and Critters of all kinds! 

Hope Your Birthday...

...is A SMASH! The brand new Eyelet Outlet Pinata Brads are as cute as can be AND extremely pun-friendly, what could be better? This shaker card, filled with coordinating EO Round Sequins and surrounded by a mat of green, orange and blue Zig Zag Washi, captures the color and movement of an actual pinata, with no mess to clean up afterwards!

The other new Fall 2023 Eyelet Outlet Brads include the adorable fall-friendly Acorn and Squirrel set as well as beautiful Sugar Skull Brads, just in time for Dia de los Muertos!

SOS499: Sentimentally Yours

It's a bit of a tricky one this fortnight at Shopping Our Stash as we put the emphasis on the SENTIMENT. So pull out those quotation or sentiment stamps; or maybe look into your already stamped/printed stack and see if you have any waiting to be used? The challenge is to use a sentiment or quote as the focal point of your card... no colored images or stamped images. Let's make THE WORDS the focus on this project! Are you ready? Here's what I made:

Being a diecutting enthusiast, I have a few sentiment dies. Ok, it turns out I have quite a few sentiment dies! More than I actually realized until I them all out. Sooooooooo... change of plans: Instead of choosing one sentiment as my focus, how about if I filled the entire card front with diecut sentiments in a variety of sizes, shapes, fonts and colors?! After a few false starts, I actually just randomly began gluing them onto some gridded paper and hoping for the best! Amazingly, this worked pretty well, though I did wind up getting out a couple of smaller alphabet sets to fill in the spaces. I cannot tell a lie, I LOVE how this came out!

Die sets used: Penny Black's Bloom/Magical; Catherine Pooler's Spot On Sentiments; Spellbinders' Simply Perfect Mix and Match Sentiments; Lawn Fawn's Hello Border; Concord & 9th's Yay Dies; Sunny Studio's Happy; Essentials by Ellen's Totally Fabulous;My Favorite Things' Connected Alphabet; Impression Obsession's Typewriter Alphabet; Lawn Fawn's Henry's and Cole's ABCs. Other supplies: colorful scraps of cardstock (mostly My Colors and Core'dinations) in too many shades to list; Tim Holtz Idea-ology Metallic Kraft-core; gridded patterned paper of unknown origin; Eyelet Outlet Sequins.

Head over to SOS to see how the other Crew Members have tackled this challenge, then start thinking what YOU will make to link up with us this fortnight!

NOT Just for Cards!

Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape, Paper Flowers and Brads, that is. You can also use them to make customized gift bags, like this one. Just cover plain white cardstock with neat strips of tape (this variety is Happy Birthday Foil Washi)... print out an initial in your favorite font (this one's called Chicken Pie and was free on dafont.com)... trace and cut. Embellish with a few shades and sizes of Solid Color Paper Flowers held on with Candle, Party Hat and Cupcake or Cupcake Swirl Brads. For even more color and pizazz, diecut hearts from a coordinating tape, like Pink Checked Washi and use one repeat of the Birthday Tape to create your sentiment strip. Scatter a few Round Sequins and you're good to go. And yes, all of the above looks pretty good on a matching birthday card, as well!  

There are brads, tapes, flowers, sequins, bling and more for every style, theme or occasion you can possibly imagine in the EO Store... you should probably check that out!

Cheers!

Did you know that some Eyelet Outlet Brads have coordinating Washi Tape? Case in point, Beer Brads and Beer Tape were quite literally made for each other (there are Beer Stamps, too!) and thus work perfectly for the fastest ever card... just add a few diecut letters, some Round Sequins et voila! 

Cheers to Beers! And cheers to the Eyelet Outlet Online Store which is open 24/7 for crafty shopping joy!

SOS491: Week Two

We're still looking forward to Spring at Shopping Our Stash with the challenge, "Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere" so here's another card I made to celebrate:

Having become somewhat obsessed with the combination of collaged vintage paper and patterned paper motifs, I made another (appropriately floral!) version, this time using an ancient SEI paper with vertical chains of blossoms. I layered them with torn and inked English and Chinese text, plus part of an index that had an interesting typeface. I matted on some Basic Grey "Out of Print" plaid, sewed around the perimeter and scattered some coordinating Eyelet Outlet Round Sequins about for a little sparkle.

"Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere" runs at SOS until next Monday evening, March 13th and we'd love for you to join us!

Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere!

You may well have already guessed that Challenge #491 at Shopping Our Stash has a floral theme, which is handy because it saves me explaining and thus I can get right to my cards:

Not only is nearly everything on both of these cards about ten years old, I have cut into my LAST piece of Basic Grey "Marzipan" paper (with the roses) which I have hoarded with Golem-like intensity for about a decade, lol. It kind of helps that I have pretty much used it one flower at a time... it's not that I didn't like the soft purple background, I just always think the roses look cool in a collage, so that's what I made.

The first card features three roses that were at the edges of the page, so I went with that. I've put them at the edge of a collage of torn vintage paper topped with Pavilio's gorgeous White Lace Tape (a leftover from The Ink Pad) with a little bit of Spun Sugar Distress Oxide added on using the tape as a resist. The background mat is from BG's Out of Print collection (now even more aptly named, alas). The sequins are from Fun Stamper's Journey and leftover from a class at Paper Anthology.

The second card has just one freestanding rose, layered over another vintage collage. This one's topped with super-cool translucent postage stickers that my craft bestie, Stephanie, gifted me; they're Matchbox Stickers from an asian company called Candy Poetry and I adore them. The round white sequins are from Eyelet Outlet and probably the only thing on either card that you could still purchase, lol!

Be sure to visit SOS to see what the rest of the Crew have come up with, then start planning your own card for, "Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere"!

WTHeck Embellishments

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we have an especially interesting challenge: we want you to search through your embellishment stash and find something that makes you think, "WHY the Heck did I acquire this??!" And then... (here's the tricky part!) ...use it on a card or project! 

Thanks to Paper Anthology's Annual Papercrafters' Garage Sale, many of my most puzzling items have already crossed the crafty rainbow bridge, but I did find a this plastic sorter* full of metal shapes, tags, keys, tiny frames, bookplates, miscellaneous hardware and enough charms to make a Victorian lady swoon. Plus... some strange but beautiful embossed metal stickers, whose origins completely elude me. I expected the adhesive to be long gone, but no, the backers peeled right off and they stuck magnificently well to my funky collage of torn vintage paper and white lace tape. I added machine stitching, a scatter of Eyelet Outlet Sequins and a gel print mat that my friend Gina made and declared my A7 card fini! I have to say that I didn't expect to create ANYTHING remotely interesting for this challenge, but now I'm slightly wondering, "Why the Heck didn't I buy more of these??!" 

I hope you'll visit SOS to see the other designers' WTHeck items and cards (it's well worth the trip, I assure you!) and then start delving into the weirder side of your stash to play along!

*Having discovered said sorter, OF COURSE I promptly dropped it, broke the lid, and spent twenty minutes retrieving tiny metal things from the floor of my art lair; which is why everything is now arranged kinda neatly... sigh... 

Christmas in July: Snowy Woods Edition

I don't know about you, to me the time that snow and ice really start looking good is NOW... when New Jersey's hot (90F) and humid (75%+) weather makes Christmas in July seem very appealing indeed. Luckily Eyelet Outlet's frosty, glitter washi tape, Snowflake Sequins and winter critters are happy to be featured on cards and tags no matter what the temps happen to be!

I saw some mini shaker tags on Instagram and immediately knew what I wanted to make. I used a set of Sunny Studio Tag Dies and my trusty 1.5" square punch to create homes for my Polar Bear Brads, Deer Brads and even a Handsome Snowman; plus a few Snowflake Brads, of course.

I backed the insides of the shaker windows with Glitter Tall Tree Tape, Glitter Star Tape and Glitter Tree Tape; then filled the shakers with Snowflake Sequins and Gold Star Sequins. After I sealed up the shakers, I backed the tags with contrasting cardstock, added some jute twine, a few sticker sentiments and called it good.

Whether it's hot or cold where you are, this is definitely a good time to get started on some Winter Holiday makes with your favorite EO items!

Have an ICE Day!

I have to confess that, in real life, I'm not overly fond of snow and ice; but... I am a huge fan of Eyelet Outlet Polar Bear Brads, for whom snow and ice are the ideal habitat, so I've tried to recreate it in card form. See?

In addition to said handsome Polar Bears, this card features Twig Washi Tape and tiny silver Star Sequins. Be sure to check the EO Blog often, the design team are always coming up with awesome ideas to inspire you!

It's January First...

...so it's time to start making Christmas cards!!! Ok, yes, to a civilian, that probably sounds insane; but to any papercrafter who's ever spent a big chunk of December making 50+ cards, trust me, this is a GREAT idea! So once again, at Jingle Belles, we'll be publishing a new prompt every other Friday, and Stephanie and I will each be making two cards for each. By December first (or thereabouts) we'll have at least 48 unique handmade cards; so if we're not actually finished, we'll be in excellent shape. Of course this is definitely a case where more is merrier... so we'd love it if you'd join us! No need to make a commitment or participate every single week, just jump in when you can and have fun along with us!

First up, we KNOW you have some brand new goodies you're dying to use, so break out those gifties (whether they came from Santa, or you treated yourself in the pre- or post-holiday sales!) and use them to make your first holiday card of 2022! Be sure to mention what you've used, so we can be suitably jealous!

Miss Stephanie gave me a beautiful Spellbinders' Woodland Wreath Die Set which I've used to frame up some paper and stickers from Photoplay's Christmas Cheer line, to which I treated myself at Paper Anthology in December. I filled in with an older plaid from Photoplay, some gorgeously realistic Prima Holly Leaves and a scattering of round red Eyelet Outlet Sequins.

Be sure to hop over to Jingle Belles to see what Stephanie has made, then sort through your holiday bounty and start making something fun to link up with us!

How Many Yeti Fit in One Blog Post?

The answer is: Six! Each one has brought along some favorite Eyelet Outlet Holiday Brads, a scattering of Round Sequins, and a selection of festive Washi Tape... See?

The first yeti has brought his (or possibly her... on yeti, it's frankly hard to tell!) favorite holiday treat: a Candy Cane Brad and has chosen Gingerbread Tape, Heart Washi, Red Dots and some solid color Skinny Tapes.

The second yeti likes being vertical and chose Red Tree Tape, Christmas Pattern Washi, Heart Tape and two shades of green Skinny Tape. A Holly Brad coordinates perfectly.

Yeti number three likes a bargain, so a Holiday Tree from the sale section was just the thing. Santa Tape, Merry Christmas Washi, Trees Tape, Music Notes and green Skinny Tape complete the ensemble.

The fourth yeti is wishing us Happy Holidays with a Holiday Saying Bubble. Red Dots, Gingerbread Washi, Foil Stripes, Merry Christmas Washi, and Fun Pattern Tape coordinate nicely.

Yeti number five is also embracing verticality, perfectly enhanced with Red Tree Tape, Christmas Pattern Washi, Heart Tape and two shades of green Skinny Tape, enjoying a Holiday Coffee. 

The final yeti is ready to hang up his Stocking Brad (also on sale!) against a background of Santa Tape, Trees Tape, Music Notes Washi and green Skinny Tape.

Whatever aspect of the holidays YOUR favorite yeti loves most, I'm pretty sure we've got some Eyelet Outlet Brads and Tapes that will suit him (or her!) perfectly.

A Good Day

According to my favorite Stamplorations' coffee-related stamp set (designed by my lovely friend Becca Cruger for her Big Grins line) "A good day has both coffee and you"! Of course a truly GREAT day might have coffee, you, and the awesome Coffee Loving Cardmakers' Fall/Winter Blog Hop!   

The seasonal theme requirement of the Coffee Lovers' recent hops has been suspended, but we're in the midst of some beautiful fall weather here in central New Jersey, plus I had some Colorbursted collage leaves leftover from another project, so I went autumnal.

I used Becca's Literary Caffeine-ations for my sentiment, and that adorable to-go cup (which I paper pieced from appropriately colored scraps) is from a set appropriately called A Cuppa Love. By the way, Stamplorations is having a "Season of Thanksgiving" sale until November 30th with LOTS of things 25% off, so you should probably check that out!

While you're at it, hop over to the Stamplorations Blog and take a look at their current challenges, including the November Theme and Photo Prompt which inspired my choice of colors! 

Then be sure to go over and check out the cards linked up for the  Coffee Loving Cardmakers' Hop... there were already over 800 amazing cards when I added mine to the list!

Trick or Treat

There are few things more adorable, in my opinion, than tiny children dressed up for Halloween; unless it's tiny MONSTAS wearing Eyelet Outlet Brads as part of their disguise!

The Yeti, Dragon and Unicorn from Taylored Expressions' Mythical Grumplings stamp set are seemingly already at the top end of cuteness, but then I decided to give them (from left to right) a Witch Hat and Wand from the Wizard Set; a Men's Hat and Mustache; and Groucho Eye Glasses. A Pumpkin Brad and a Frog complete the scene, which turned into the world's fastest shaker card thanks to a set of nested oval dies and some EO Star and Pumpkin Sequins. 

Happy Birdie(s)

Flamingos are not the only beautiful and vivid bird featured on Eyelet Outlet Funky Bird Washi, but they are my favorite (who doesn't love a bright pink bird with really long legs?!) and since I also had a pack of Flamingo Brads, I decided to make them the stars of my cards.

I lined up a few strips of Funky Bird Tape on some plain white cardstock and used my Altenew Bold Alphabet Dies to cut out the keyword. I added the rest of my sentiment in stickers and then embellished with Flamingo Brads, Tall Palms and White Round Sequins.

For my second card I added the tape directly to my graph paper background, on top of some Pink and Green ZigZag Washi. Another sticker sentiment, Flamingo Brad and a few Sequins complete the design.

Prefer your flamingo tape a little less funky? We've got five other varieties* so I'm pretty sure you'll find at least one to love!

*for the record... I own three of those five tapes! :)

I Like You a Latte

I never get tired of making coffee cards, especially when I can use my Eyelet Outlet Coffee Brads, Heart Brads, Sequins and Paper Flowers! 

This card is extra special because I used a STAMPlorations set called A Cuppa Love* designed by my amazing friend Becca... aka the Damsel of Distressed Cards... and an ARTplorations stencil called Dots 'n Beans; both of which I was lucky enough to win in last fall's Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog Hop. So it seemed only fitting to use them in the Spring/Summer Hop, which is taking place right now!

I tried literally all of my brown and tan Oxide colors with the Dots 'n Beans stencil, and every single one looked awesome. But I wanted a slightly lighter, brighter, Spring vibe, and eventually I had a brainwave to try Spun Sugar. Weirdly enough, that was The One, lol! I stamped the sentiment in (appropriately enough) Ground Espresso, colored the mug with Tombows, cut it out and added a Heart Brad. I was happy with my cluster of mug, Paper Flower (with Coffee Bean Brad center!) and sentiment, but somehow it needed just one more thing. I'm not saying the answer to, "What does this card need?" is *ALWAYS* Eyelet Outlet Sequins, but that does turn out to be true a fair amount of the time, and they did the trick here!

Be sure to visit the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Hop to see all the amazing cards, then start planning what you will make to get a shot at all those awesome prizes!!! ♥

*Becca's A Cuppa Love stamp set is so awesome that it has sold out at STAMPlorations. 

Luckily she has a whole line called Big Grins, and I predict you will love them as much as I do! ♥