Not Enough Shelves!

Apparently, there are a few people in the world who think that some of us have too many books?! This is an understandable error, but in fact, as Mr. Bear (from Waffle Flower's Books & Coffee Combo stamp set) points out, the actual problem is NOT ENOUGH SHELVES! For this card, the shelves were created by neatly lining up strips of Eyelet Outlet Book Tape. The computer generated sentiment (created with a free font called Bohemian Typewriter) leaves room for a trio of Book Brads and is matted on a panel of Wood Tape; Cactus and Heart Brads add extra texture and interest to this cozy little scene.

Here's a Handy Shopping List featuring all the items used to create this card:

Book Brads
Book Washi
Wood Tape
Cactus Brads
Heart Brads

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Store for an incredible selection of Brads, Tapes, Bling, Enamels, Flowers and so much more!

SOS478: Animal Antics

For the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash we'd like to see animals acting like humans, so break out your baking mice, cycling cats and driving reindeer and get to work! Personally, I'm partial to bears that read, like Big Bear does in my Waffle Flower Books and Coffee Stamp Set:

Someday, I'll make a card with this set which doesn't feature Eyelet Outlet Book Tape as the background. I thought *this* might actually be that occasion, but as I was sorting through a pile of miscellaneous stuff, I came across a panel of white cardstock that already had the Book Tape neatly lined up on it, which seemed like a sign... so I just went with it. Quite a while ago, I had formatted my favorite Groucho Marx quote in a fun typewriter font and it was just the right size for this slightly-larger-than-A2 panel; so I printed it and used an ancient Nestabilities Label Die on it. I colored the cute critters and a few accessories with "base coats" of Tombow Dualbrush Pens in the lightest shades, then added a little bit of shading with my Prismacolor Pencils. Scraps of older woodgrain paper (Photoplay, I think; or possibly Echo Park?) plus EO Book and Waterlily Brads polish off the scene.

There's lots of Animal Antic inspiration awaiting you at SOS, I hope you'll hop over and check out the awesome cards that the Crew have made!

SOS 465: Full METAL Jacket

It's time for a brand new challenge at Shopping Our Stash, and you may already have guessed from the title that what we'd like to see are projects which incorporate metal or metallic embellies, papers, beads, embossing, etc. It just so happens that last week, when I was looking for something else*, I found this awesome set of ancient but unopened copper letters from We R Memorykeepers and thought, "AHA!"

It took a while longer to consider pairing said patina-ed beauties with my Waffle Flower Books and Coffee stamp set, but once I thought of it, the whole thing came together pretty quickly. Or rather, as quickly as anything which involves me COLORING multiple stamped creatures (...I'm kinda slow...) with Tombow Dualbrush Pens and accents of Prismacolor Pencil. I added a mat layer of Eyelet Outlet Copper Foil Washi Tape for good measure and confess I'm fairly proud of my not-quite A7 card!

I hope you'll visit SOS to see the fabulous inspiration from the rest of our amazing crew, then start planning what Metallic Masterpiece you'll link up with us!

*At my house, the most common time for finding previously undiscovered objects, is while looking for something else entirely; the specified thing very possibly not coming to light during the search, which might reveal 1-3 completely random objects which had been previously searched for, but not found. Is this just me, or is there a special corollary of Murphy's Law which covers missing items??

SOS454: Back to the Books

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we're celebrating back to school season with a challenge that features BOOKS! Does that sound like fun? Yep, I thought so too!

Here's a shocking true confession: I made a card similar to this in April, which also used Eyelet Outlet Book Tape, Wood Tape, Book Brads and Coffee Brads, as well as the adorable stamps from Waffle Flower Crafts' Books and Coffee stamp set (that I was lucky enough to win from Doodlebugs.wa in the last Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog Hop). But I have quite a few reading friends who would enjoy a card like this; also... I was kind of in the mood to stamp and color! So I made another version. This one features my all time favorite reading quote, from Groucho Marx, which I formatted in a nice typewriter font and printed out before trimming it into shape with one of my trusty Nestabilities Label Shape sets. I matted the whole thing up on a Beary nice page from an elderly dictionary.

Be sure to visit SOS to see what the rest of the design team have made to inspire YOU... then start planning what sort of bookish masterpiece you'll be linking up with us!

"Happiness is...

...a cup of coffee and a good book". Or, as I have interpreted it in this wish-fulfilling card, happiness is a pot of coffee, a room full of books and a few close friends! I made this fun scene using Eyelet Outlet Book Tape, Book Brads and Coffee Brads, and populated it with the adorable characters from Waffle Flower Crafts' Books and Coffee stamp set, which I was lucky enough to win from Doodlebugs.wa in the last Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog Hop.

I stamped the sweet reading Bear, tiny Bird, left-facing Deer, right-facing Bunny and potted plant on sturdy watercolor paper and colored them with both watercolor and ordinary layers of Tombow Dualbrush Pens; with a little bit of extra shading on top via Prismacolor Pencils. Then I fussycut all of them, including the deer's antlers, which I'm not planning to do again anytime soon (or ever!); though there is a matching die set, which I was slightly kicking myself for not getting. I was disappointed that Bear's glasses were just a tiny smidgeon too big to work with our Eye Glass Brads; but I was able to add a Heart Brad to the cover of the book, swap the large stack of books that Bird is sitting on for two colorful Book Brads, replace the potted cactus with a yellow lotus flower from the Frog Brad Set and add a Coffee Brad and Funky Bee to the foreground.

I made the "Library" by affixing strips of EO Book Tape to a panel of plain white cardstock and adding a strip of skinny tape under each to work as shelves. I made a table from Hardwood Floor Tape (it's out of stock now, but we still have some great Wood Tapes); assembled the entire thing, added the fun sentiment (framed with ancient nested dies) and matted the panel on Foil Copper Tape before adding it to the front of my white A6 card. 

Of course, you could make a room setting for pretty much any character stamp you own, with just some Washi Tape as wallpaper (we have pretty much every style you could imagine!) and Eyelet Outlet Brad accessories; I hope you'll be inspired to create your own interiors!

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!