More Collactober

Rounding up the rest of my #Collactober2026 entries, as I've been participating (sporadically and not in order lol) in this fun and inspiring October collage event, which is hosted each year by @lofficinedenative and @prism_voyager on Instagram.

Day 19: Helping Hands

This collage started off pretty literally, with a pair of hands from an illustrated knitting book, helpfully showing us how to "cast on" our stitches. I made a background from Chinese dictionary paper, vintage trading stamps, the edge of a ledger, and part of a map. There was quite a lot of leftover space, so I added three black and white flowers from a coloring book. And... yes... a tropical fish. No, I don't know why. Except he (or she?!) is yellow and triangular and kind just FITS there. Let's not think too hard about this, k?

Day 20: Inner Vision

Vintage map of Manhattan, black and white florals, Big Dollar Trading Stamps (thank you @smilynstef for my hoard!) dictionary paper and... a Sewing Pattern Lady who is clearly experiencing a psychic vision of some description. Or possibly just a headache? 

Day 12: Together

Once again using my friend Gina's (aka @ginaisarty here on IG) gorgeous clipart book, in this case for the beautiful fishes AND those cool numerals. I've put them #TOGETHER with... some crocheted squares form a crafting book, ledger paper, part of a map of Bucks County, PA (where I grew up; my mom just gave me some of my dad's old maps and I'm slightly obsessed) and of course some vintage trading stamps that @smilynstef scored for me! ♥

Day 22: Collective Roots

Wouldja believe that the flowers AND the butterflies in this collage are stickers? From The Botanist's Sticker Anthology, a very cool, curated, DK sticker book that @smilynstef gave me last year for my birthday and despite using it A LOT I've barely made a dent in it's 200+ pages. I confess that I trimmed the images a bit because in my 3x5" format, the white border was a little too prominent and I hated to cover up my background. What's in the background? Some German text paper, part of a knitting pattern a vintage envelope, a corner of sheet music and the words, "How To" which I saw in the trash and had to "rescue" lol. 

Day 16: Universal Language

Did you know that many wild birds can make dozens of distinct songs and calls that other birds will recognize? Some birds have a "vocabulary" of a hundred different sounds, to signify danger or predators, warn others away from their territory, coordinate migration, or initiate mating. The original "twitter" users are alive and well and visiting my feeder and bird bath, I assure you!   

I made a background from some non-verbal things I thought signified a srt of language: sheet music, a map, a few pieces of foreign text paper (those are kinda verbal, lol) and finally some HEARTS! 

Day 23: Breakthrough

Here's a shocking true confession: the only way I can even marginally claim that this represents "breakthrough" is that the shape of the tiger's neck (as drawn and digitally collaged by my friend Gina @ginaisarty in her clip art book) kind of looks like he stuck his handsome tiger's head right through my background collage. Basically, I just wanted to make a freestyle collage with a tiger. What can I say?!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to @prism_voyager and @lofficinedenative for hosting #collactober2026 which I enjoyed very much! I only finished and posted about 12 collages but I loved making every single one!

Collactober Round Up (So Far)

I'm participating (in a sporadic and random sort of way, lol) in #collactober2026 a fabulous month-long celebration of collage on Instagram, hosted each year by @prism_voyager and @lofficinedenative whose collages you definitely NEED to go check out; also you should stop by and see what @smilynstef has been making, because her entries are also outstanding! (And I'm not just saying that because we got to make some of our collages together at my house two weekends ago, but we did and it was awesome!) 

Day 4: Seeds

This collage started out quite sensibly with this sweet urban gardener posing next to her crops and yet... are there SEEDS of discord on the horizon? We see noted Garden Guerilla, P. Rabbit, at the bottom of the frame; not to mention a rather suspicious helicopter guy at the top, who is mysterious checking out the scene, and even more mysteriously, keeping a hat on despite what must be considerable wind turbulence. The background is part of a NJ Transit train schedule, some Gold Bond trading stamps, and part of a map. These were all chosen basically by color... but I confess I like the shapes and structure they add to the scene.

Day 17: Seer   

Some of my collages are verrrrrrry tangential, but this one started out pretty literally! I've got tiny tarot cards and a Chinese Zodiac; also, I think it's pretty clear that cat can see into a fourth, and possibly even fifth, dimension. The frog can see the cat... ok, it's getting a little less literal now, lol. That torn map was sitting on my worktable, having been used in an earlier collage; the crocheted flower kind of matches the pink of the map; and the Kanada text and music pieces are neutral but sort of line up nicely with the rest of the background. All of the above is probably as close as I can get to explaining my process; I'll be inspired by a prompt or idea; grab some "key" images;  and then after that I just play around with structure and composition.

BTW, the gorgeous, whimsical cat and frog illustrations are by my friend @ginaisarty and can be found in her clipart book, available on Amazon and one of my very very favorite sources of collage images.

Day 7: After the Storm

Apparently, we've arrived to this collage a few minutes too early, as clearly the intrepid Vikings are still in the midst of the storm; but I'm sure they're looking forward to calmer seas. (Well, aren’t we all?!) 

Day 13: Homecoming

 Once again I’ve found some very cute Richard Scarry characters; vintage trading stamps (thank you @smilynstef for building my hoard!); a bit of map; a mileage chart; and an oversized flower sticker. Technically these illustrations were not related or intended to be together, but I do feel like the bunnies are specifically waiting at the window to watch their cat friend arrive home.

Day 6: Joy 

What could be more joyful than Richard Scarry characters taking time to relax and read stories in a fanciful flower garden? That little mouse brought his own ladder so he could join the fun!

Day 10:  Mending 

I combined a Renaissance dude on crutches; a picket fence (“mending fences”); an embroidery diagram (sewing more than mending, but...); and then a bunch of randomness (like green stamps, a map, ledger paper) in the background. And a pterodactyl. Obviously.

Framed!

Last week's mandala featured repeating motifs that I cut from coloring books and arranged in a mandala design; this week I found a large mandala shape that was filled with, and surrounded by, zen-doodles. I thought it might be interesting to cut out just the large mandala, open up the center circle, and fill it with a little collage of vintage goodies. I stand by that decision!

I hope that your week ahead will be full of cool weather and fun ideas to try!

JB2620: The Stockings Were Hung

If you've already guessed that this fortnight at Jingle Belles we want to see cards which feature Christmas Stockings, then HOORAY you're right! If you're feeling ambitious, you could make a stocking-shaped card, for which we've found you some fun templates. But I elected to go with a journal card that has a stocking on it... and then I collaged lots of fun stuff around it. See?

That's an Authentique journal card from a year or two ago, and as soon as I saw it in my journal card stash, I was already pulling the colors and the vibes out for a little collage. I've got some nicely patina-ed sheet music; a page from an old Ideals Christmas magazine plus some poinsettias from another page (backed with cardstock and adorned with Sunflower Stickles in the centers); some text paper; a little border strip with the days of the week; a Graphic 45 sentiment; some miscellaneous holiday washi and a few super-skinny red mats. 

JB2620: The Stockings Were Hung runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, October 7th. Visit Jingle Belles today to see Stephanie's inspiring card; then start planning your own Stocking-centric masterpiece!

SOS582: Who's Who

There's a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash: for "Who's Who" we'd like you to use some sort of "person" image on your card. Man or woman... old or young... sweet or funny; all the details are up to you! Here's what I made:

My first thought was to make a collage card featuring a sewing pattern lady, so that's exactly what I did! As it turns out, the finished collage is 8x10" which is admittedly big for a card, but I found so many fun, interesting, older stash items that worked, I just kept adding them in. I worked partly thematically (Paris, nature, lace) and partly by color (white, cream, tan). There are lots of "found" papers (sheet music; an old ledger) and images from vintage books and magazines (those cool birds are from a Peterson's Field Guide Coloring Book!); but I also used most of a sheet of lace stickers (so old they don't have a package or brand name but thankfully are still perfectly sticky; and finally bunch of ancient rub-ons. The last are one of my favorite collage ingredients because, let's face it, older rub-on transfers are not always 100% reliable, are they? On a regular card that can be very disappointing, but on a maximalist collage... if they don't rub on perfectly, it just looks like part of the vintage vibe! I inked the edges and some of the ingredients with Antique Linen Distress Ink and finally matted the whole thing on textured white cardstock, then machine stitched all around the edges to absolutely guarantee that nothing will come unstuck at a later date.

SOS582: Who's Who runs until the evening of Monday, September 21st. Visit Shopping Our Stash today to see the fabulous Crew Cards; then start planning what you'll link up with us this fortnight.

SOS579: What's the Good WORD?

The new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is called, "What's the Good Word?" for which we'd like you to design a card around a WORD. You could use a Word Die, Stickers, or a Word Stamp - just make sure it's clear what your WORD is.

I have A LOT of alphabet die sets, so I used this opportunity to break out half a dozen of them, diecut the letters for "HAPPY" from a cool old street map, and make a super wordy background for a birthday card that also features fun vintage car illustrations and an Eyelet Outlet Compass Brad. 

Alphabet Die sets used:  Altenew Bold Alphabet Lowercase; MFT Essential Alphabet and In Stitches Uppercase; Sizzix/ Tim Holtz Alphanumeric Thinlits and Typo Lowercase; Impression Obsession Typewriter Lowercase. 

While I had all my car-related stuff out, I made a gift bag to coordinate: It's got pieces of several maps, a map index, the title page of a vintage Road Atlas to Britain, loads of (out of print) washi tape, some cool tape measure ribbon, and Eyelet Outlet Classic Car and Driving Brads.

SOS579: What's the Good WORD runs until the evening of Monday, August 10th. Head on over to SOS to check out what the rest of the Crew have made, it's definitely worth the trip!

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.

ICAD: Title Card

The Index Card a Day project starts on Monday, June 1st; the start of 61 days of making art on... you guessed it... index cards! Our hostess, Tammy G, usually posts some entirely optional "warm Up" prompts, one of which is to make a title page for this year's cards. You obviously don't need to make a book to hold your cards, but that's how I like to store mine and I find it motivational to watch the book fill up as I add a card each day.

This sweet little bus has been sitting in my collage fodder box for agggggggggggges, just waiting to be used for something cool; and that "something" has finally arrived! Its origin is a falling apart children's dictionary that I got at a garage sale some years ago. 

I built my tiny collage on an index card divider with my initial on it; I think I'd like to finish the book with the "B" tabbed card!

Big Big Collage

With two months of small-format, index card art on the horizon after ICAD starts on June first , there's time for one more BIG collage in my Dina Wakley MEdia Ledger Journal from Ranger. With pages just under 7.5 x 12" there's room for LOTS of vintage goodies like sheet music, part of an old map, S&H Green Stamps, glossy calendar page flowers, and phonebook paper; as well as some of my favorite Dina Wakley Collage Papers.

Layered Collage Mandala

The other day I was talking about Clean Up Collages, by which I mean quite random assemblies of paper scraps, tickets, and trading stamps left on my worktable at the end of a project, that I glue together instead of putting away. Occasionally, this process results in an actual finished piece that I love... (Saturday's was one such) ...but often it's more valuable as a process than an outcome. So what do I do then? I diecut the pieces and use them for something else! In this case, the heart-shaped petals surrounding the central frame are from two different Clean Up Collage panels that I didn't love on their own; but they work really well (in my opinion) in this orange, yellow, green and neutral creation, so I'm calling it a win!

I hope your Monday isn't too Mondayish, lol; and that your week in general is off to a good start.

Wildflower Collage

A Clean Up Collage for a dreary (but not yet raining) Saturday, consisting of torn scraps of vintage map, index and sheet music; lots of S&H Greenstamps; and a framed transparency loaded with watercolored wildflower diecuts and Eyelet Outlet Bling (it's on clearance!) in my 6 x 6" square Dina Wakley Kraft Journal from Ranger.

Fingers crossed that the rain holds off long enough for me to take a walk outside after lunch, woohoo!

Bird is the Word

This is the very last page in my 6" Dina Wakley Kraft Journal, although I think there *might* be an unfinished mandala or two that needs completing before I can declare the volume officially finished. 

Some time ago, I made these little slide mounts filled with trading stamps and tiny critters cut from some of the border pages in my friend Gina's awesome Clip Art Book; I just re-found them and decided they'd be perfect to go in the very back of the book. I cut out a few of Gina's larger whimsical birds to accompany them and made a background of torn paper (English dictionary paper, Chinese dictionary paper, part of a map and part of the map's index) plus some glorious Greenstamps and called it a day

You can get your very own copy of the fabulous Gina is Arty Clipart Book on Amazon; a purchase I can highly recommend if you love collage, cardmaking, cute critters or mixed media art!

Vintage (wk 2)

We're still celebrating all things with a vintage or retro vibe at Jingle Belles and we'd love for you to come Walking in a Vintage Wonderland, by which we mean creating a card with a vintage or retro design. Either by incorporating actual vintage/retro elements; OR using new products that have a vintage style; OR using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe; whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive, we're sponsored by my very own Etsy Shop... Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky card maker who links-up their vintage design.

This week, I made quite a random collage of torn and layered vintage and found papers including: some sheet music; a dictionary page with a reindeer (technically a caribou but work with me!); an order form and an advertisement from a vintage Christmas Ideals magazine; some rather splendid S&H Green Stamps and... ok, I think that's it, lol. Since the background is quite busy, I only needed a fussycut Authentique bauble (which luckily had a bold sentiment!) and a few Katie Pertiet Christmas Collageable Banners that I machine stitched while I was doing the edges.

JB2608: Walkin' in a Vintage Wonderland runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 22nd. Hop over to the original post at Jingle Belles to see the prize and link your own vintage/retro masterpiece(s).

JB2608: Walkin' in a Vintage Wonderland

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're Walking in a Vintage Wonderland, which means creating a card with a vintage or retro design. 

That could mean incorporating actual vintage/retro elements; OR using new products that have a vintage style; OR using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe; whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive to your endeavors, this week we are sponsored by my very own Etsy Shop... Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky card member who links-up their vintage design.

My card is a mix of actual vintage and vintage-inspired papercrafting products, it breaks down like this: Background paper, mailbox, sentiment and holly are 49 and Market; the funky steampunk Santa and present are Graphic 45; I've added real vintage sheet music and S&H Green Stamps to bump it up a bit. Then I did loads of edge-distressing on everything and a bit of wonky machine-stitching to finish off. Not to brag or anything, but I love this card, lol!

JB2608: Walkin' in a Vintage Wonderland runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 22nd. Hop over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's gorgeous vintage-inspired card and check out the little vintage holiday prize pack!

Got Maps?

Before you recycle your paper maps, you should know that they are the perfect background for Eyelet Outlet Classic Car and Driving Brads! As well as cards, old maps work brilliantly as gift wrap; which, in this case, has been adorned with some EO Road Washi Tape to continue the car theme. 

Revved Up Shopping List:

Classic Car Brads

Driving Brads

Road Washi Tape

Whatever plans you have for your next card, Eyelet Outlet has the brads to drive you stylishly to the finish line!

(For map nerd only: this is a 1976 edition of Alexandria Maps' Street Maps of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; part of an astonishingly cool collection of my dad's that was recently gifted by my mom... who, when she saw this card, decided she miiiiiiiiiight want some of 'em back!!!) :)

Small(ish) Collage

About a decade ago I started making what I call Cleanup Collages which is basically what it sounds like: instead of cleaning up all the random leftover scraps, offcuts, stickers and embellishments I had gotten out over the course of a day or two, I glue as many as possible to a page in my journal or sketchbook, instead. This one isn't 100% a Cleanup Collage, because when I saw where it was going, I did get out a couple of things from the same color family, such as the pre-cut-out knitting illustration and some additional blue postage to go with the blue travel stickers.

It's also possible that I'll see this again in two weeks and decide to add stamping or stenciling to the kraft background, but at this particular moment, I believe it to be finished, lol. And thus my work here is through. 

Don't Be Koi

Feeling a bit fishy this Mandala Monday, thanks to this fun vintage (octagonal!) needlework pattern I've used as a centerpiece. The petals are made from beautifully patina-ed vintage Chinese dictionary pages (thank you Liz!) and Big Dollar Trading stamps (thank you Stephanie!) while the circles are graph paper and parts of a crochet-stitch illustration. I feel like this needs one... more... thing... BUT I've been considering and trying out "one more things" for several days with no outcome. So it's possible you'll see this one again at a later date, if I ever figure out what to add, lol.

Hope your first week of Spring is off to a good(ish?) start! 

Another Button Collage

It turns out that hand-sewing buttons onto vintage paper collages is somewhat addictive. But luckily I have A LOT more buttons (...and a lot more vintage paper for that matter...) so I can't really see a downside.

I hope your weekend is off to a good start and that before it's over, you'll find a little time to indulge in whatever crafty activity you feel compulsively drawn to right now! ♥

We Three... Kittens?!

Ok, technically, the new Jingle Belles prompt is called, "We Three Kings" and we're asking you to create a card with THREE of one element: three circles... three reindeer... three packages under the Christmas Tree... you get the picture, right? But in my case, it was three kittens, as you can see:

In addition to three adorable vintage felines, my card has a few more threes: three torn patterned paper pieces and three pieces of doily. I kept trying to add "one more thing" but nothing really seemed right, so I attached the sentiment, did a bit of machine stitching and called it good.

JB2606: We Three Kings runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, March 25th. Hop over to Jingle Belles to link your card(s)!

SOS569: I'm COUNTING on You

If you've guessed from the title that this fortnight's challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to make a card with at least one numeral on it, HOORAY, you're right! Here's my card:

Lots of seriously elderly stash usage here: my numerals are from this ancient set of Making Memories Alphabet Rub-ons; I've applied them to my well-hoarded Hambly Screenprints transparency card base, so that they peep out as mirror images from the under the corners of my funky collage. There are also numerals on the tickets, and some in the various text papers as well. That beautiful orchid sticker is from DK's Botanists' Sicker Anthology, a book that Stephanie gave me a couple of years ago and despite LOTS of use it still has hundreds of gorgeous stickers in it! Not to brag, but I really love how this came out AND it's a reminder of the fact that challenges often spur me on to make something I would not have thought of, otherwise.

SOS569: I'm COUNTING on You runs until the evening of Monday, March 23rd. Head over to Shopping Our Stash to read the details and check out the inspiring cards our Crew has made. Then root around for one or two neglected craft items and join the fun!