SOS 267: learn something new

it's always a good idea to keep adding new tricks to our papercrafting repertoire, and this week at shopping our stash we're doing just that by trying out a new technique but using some of our older supplies at the same time. best of both worlds, right? here's my card:

a gazzillion scraps of cardstock in colorful rainbow shades: core'dinations; white kromekote cardstock: the paper cut; solid color paper flowers, heart enamels and enamel dots in lots and lots of super-fab new colors: eyelet outlet; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape

i know the inlaid diecutting technique is not new to anyone else, but this is my first time doing it, so of course i picked a die with 90,000,000 pieces and decided they should all be different colors! seriously, i don't know what i'm thinking when i embark upon these little scenarios, lol. on the plus side, i did have tons of scraps of ancient core'dinations cardstock in rainbow shades and it was great to make a dent in those. plus, i do think the finished product looks pretty flippin' cool, so there's that. another reason to bust out the rainbow shades is that i got a lovely care package of brand new eyelet outlet goodies in the mail the other day, and it just happened to be loaded with awesome enamel embellies in all different shapes and shades, so i was dying to bust those out, ASAP!

need some ideas as to which technique to try or how to do it GLORIOUSLY well? then head on over to SOS where my design team darlings are rockin' it... you know... like they do every single week! ♥♥♥

Lots of Layers

There's nothing more impressive to me than really well-done miminalist design. By which I mean someone else's minimalist design, obviously, because of course, as we know, I'm pretty bad at CAS, lol! Luckily, sometimes it's fun to go a little crazy and really pile on the layers... and that's what I'm doing on the Eyelet Outlet Blog today! For this card I started with a vintage dictionary page and added layers of stenciling, stamping and doodling. The focal point is a Solid Color Paper Flower, to which I've added a little ink and even more doodling. Since the flower packets contain three sizes, they look even better when you layer them; and a Pink Flower Jewel makes the perfect center.

To anchor the flower and direct the eye to it even more quickly, I decided to add a diecut flourish made from Glitter Black Washi. Since Glitter Washi comes in a bunch of gorgeous, sparkly shades, and some patterned varieties, as well, it's great for making all sorts of accents. For this flourish, I covered a scrap of medium weight cardstock with neat strips of tape, then diecut as usual.

One of my stenciled patterns had some little circles that were exactly the same size as the smallest Black Enamel Dots in the packet, so of course I had to add a few of those. Inked edges and a folded glossy black cardbase later, my maximalist masterpiece was complete.

I hope you'll be inspired to experiment with a few extra layers in your next card creation, darlings! ♥

hark the herald angels sing

fridays are good, aren't they? end of the week... start of the weekend... brand new ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ prompt... what's not to love, eh? this fortnight we give you "hard the herald angels sing" for which we'd like to see music conveyed in some way. for example, my card has some chipboard letters made from vintage sheet music. see?

the collage on my somewhat elderly my mind's eye 6x6 patterned paper (found during the great garage sale clearout) has a bit of sheet music in it too. the layery poinsettias were leftover from an "xmas in july... and august" class i taught at paper anthology. so basically all i did this week was gather up the bits and glue them to a couple of layers of "solid" basic grey papers. easy, peasy!

miss stephanie has also created a music-related card for your enjoyment. why not hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and be inspired by that right now?

stand up and be counted

we're crafting by the numbers this week at shopping our stash, so we'd like to see projects which feature numerals. here's what i made:

scrap of numerals paper: very VERY elderly ki memories, gosh i miss them... scraps of cartabella, doodlebug and recollections papers used for piecing, glitz design border punched with a recollections punch; brads: october afternoon, doodlebug, sei; flowers: making memories, prima; cardstock elements: simple stories; teeny tiny epoxy stickers by a variety of companies so old i have no idea whence they came; kromekote cardstock: the paper cut; ink: ranger archival (for stamping), colorbox chalk (for edging); adhesives: elmer's brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, gluedots  

this past saturday was the papercrafting garage sale at my lss, paper anthology, so i actually spent most of last week sorting thru my stash. this netted me a bit of trash, a nice pile to sell, and also quite a few re-discoveries of things i'd forgotten i had but, once i saw them again, i still liked. so clearly i piled MOST OF THEM on this card, lol. :) i did find a lot of *little* bits: tiny stickers, epoxy buttons, mini brads, etc. and i remembered how fun it was to combine a lot (or in this case A LOT) of little things into a grouping. so i did. i've been loving the challenges on the retro rubber challenge blog lately, and this week (#45) they have a very cool sketch:

 

part of the retro rubber challenge requirements is to use stamps which are at least a year old; but you also have to tell which ones they are and their approximate age. mine are the winged heart from pink paislee's "love struck" set, which i definitely remember using on cards before we moved to this house, so it's pre-2013 at least; and also the hero arts candles which has a price sticker from kate's paperie-- who haven't sold stamps in at least 4 years, alas-- so i think i'm covered on both counts. i've paper-pieced and fussy cut both of those, so they'd blend really well in the overall collage.

there are loads more number-based projects to see over at SOS... why not count on those for inspiration, darlings?!

Paris, Je T'aime

I'm up on the Eyelet Outlet Blog today with a question: How many of you have been to Paris? Sadly, I haven't... yet. But it's one of my travel dreams. In the meantime, I settle for making cards with a Parisian theme. Luckily I have plenty of Eiffel Tower Brads to help me.

I love that the packets contain both shiny silver Eiffel Towers and matte copper brown ones. The latter are great when you want to evoke more of an earthy or vintage feeling; I chose one for this card, since the premade tag from Kelly Purkey's "Mon Ami" collection was in shades of brown.

Any time my cards have a skyline or an outdoor setting I love to add Sun and Cloud Brads, they make a grouping of elements feel more like a little landscape or scene. Mini Butterfly Brads come in assorted packs with four different colors, I chose dark orange because they emphasized the red of the sentiment. To incorporate the tag into my overall card design I added some clouds punched from a vintage Paris guidebook on top of French sheet music to which I added a strip of Flowers with Cute Bug Washi for extra color.

Et voila, my card... and my post... are complete! Au revoir, mes amis! ♥♥♥

better off red

we're still celebrating the first color in the spectrum at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and you still have plenty of time to join in, which we hope you will! here's my card:

patterned paper: doodlebug, making memories, pebbles, echo park; white kromekote cardstock: the paper kut; chipboard frame and "be merry" sticker: simple stories; other stickers: doodlebug; gems: recollections; corner rounder: we r memory keepers; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foamtape, sewing machine 

the last couple of years crafty steals has had a "christmas in july" event featuring a bunch of different holiday products at verrrrrry reasonable prices, and thus the last couple of years at the beginning of august i've had a bit of an xmas supply binge. this card mixes a few of my new goodies with a bit of older stash, i love a good "all ages" fusion design, lol.

something else i love is a good sketch saturday layout, and i send hearty thanks to those good folks for the shout out on my santa card from last week. i've used the current sketch, #425, which ends this afternoon, but it's so good that you really could make a card from it that quickly:

meanwhile stephanie is, as always, quite well red, and her latest card is over at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ awaiting your admiration! ciao, darlings!

all flamingos, all the time

some people might argue that i've been making and posting a few too many flamingo cards lately. they're wrong, of course, but i do sympathize. what can i say? i like birds, generally. i like bright colors, especially pink. i like a tropical setting. flamingos tick all of the boxes. plus they have those awesome, long, bendy legs that look like they were invented by one of the more avant garde designers at ikea. i mean, really, what's not to love? 

patterned paper: pink paislee, my mind's eye, echo park, doodlebug; flamingo stickers: sonia j design via studio calico; leaf stamps from the "tiger tiger" set by sheena douglass for crafter's companion, stamped in viridian and leaf green archival inks; watercolor circle painted with ultramarine, turquoise and pthalo green color burst pigment powders by ken oliver crafts; heart stickers: sandylion; alphabet stickers: doodlebug; kromekote cardstock: the paper kut; ink for edging: blackbird chalk ink by colorbox; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, sewing machine

this time, though, it's not my fault, the current theme over at curtain call inspiration challenge is "FLAMINGO" so obviously i had to play!

there's another totally AWESOME sketch over at atlantic hearts sketch challenge this week (#173), and that inspired a lot of the elements i used for this card.

i stamped the large glossy white cardstock circle with two different tropical leaf stamps using two shades of green archival ink, then outlined them kinda loosely to give them a little more visual weight. the small circle is punched from watercolor paper painted with a few different blendy shades of color burst in blue and green. the birds, pineapple and flowers are all from the same sticker sheet, which was a bit of a splurge but i was helpless to resist such epic level cuteness. i hemmed and hawed about a sentiment because technically, the only flamingos in hawaii are at the zoo*, but in the end i went with "aloha" anyway, just because i wanted to. (so there, lol!) i used two sets of cardstock alphabet stickers in the same font so that my pink letters would pop against their black shadows. 

and now i wish you a fond flamingo farewell and a very happy thursday, darlings! ♥

*there are also a few in the exotic bird habitat at hilton hawaiian village in waikiki. because even waterfowl appreciate luxurious accomodations with modern amenities at reasonable prices.