It's Another Pun... but in FRENCH!

As you know, I can never resist a diabolical pun in ANY language; thus when I got my hands on the lovely new Colored Daisy Brads from Eyelet Outlet, my first thought was to make a card with the sentiment "Merci Bouquet". So here it is:

I had envisioned this design as having several additional EO Brad styles and maybe some washi tape, as well; but in the end, the Colored Daisy Brads completely resisted taking a co-star role and demanded to have the entire card to themselves! But in future, I can see mixing in other Flower Brads, Butterfly or Mini Butterfly Brads, Mini Ladybug or Bee Brads... maybe even some Rabbits, provided they've already eaten lunch. Do scroll around the EO Blog and be sure to check out the Gallery at the EO Store, to see how the other amazing design team members are using Colored Daisies and the rest of the new brad styles in their beautiful creations!

It's FIN-tastic!

This fortnight's challenge at Shopping Our Stash is called, "Here Fishy Fishy" and if you think we're looking for projects which feature our fin-bedecked aquatic pals, you're way ahead of the game! This would be a great time to get a jump on Father's Day cards; or even maybe just a little kid birthday, as I've done here:

I've had Lawn Fawn's "Critters in the Sea" stamp set* for at least eight or nine years and I still find myself coming back to it over and over. The critters are a lot of fun to color, or... as I've done here... to paper-piece. I also make a couple of "Best Fishes" cards per year, in styles ranging from realistic to uber-cute; clearly this is the latter, so I've used Doodlebug and Pink Paislee alphabet stickers for the sentiment. I torn apart a piece of well-hoarded, not-quite-solid, Basic Grey patterned paper and layered it over a background featuring all my pale blue washi tapes, added the fishy friends, et voila: une carte avec poisson!

Swim on over to SOS to see additional aquatic awesomeness and link up your own FIN-tastic creation! 

*Out of curiosity, I checked Lawn Fawn's website and discovered that "Critters in the Sea" was released in 2010, and along with many others in the "Critters" line, it's still in print! (PS: I've now made myself crave a BUNCH more sets, especially "Critters in the Arctic"!)

Bring on the Flowers

Happy Mother's Day to everyone who is celebrating! Since this seemed like an especially good day for a beautiful female image... or flowers... (or both!) I've used Hero Arts Flower Power Layering Stamps and Die Bundle to make two fun and colorful cards. The results are on The Ink Pad Blog.

 (PS: Flower Power is also available without the die, as a stand-alone stamp set!)

Bring on the Doilies!!! :)

We're celebrating "The Spirit of Christmas Past" this fortnight at Jingle Belles, which means we're creating cards with a vintage vibe. That might mean incorporating actual vintage items; OR using new papers, dies or stamps with an old-fashioned feeling. What do we mean by "vintage"? Pretty much any timeframe in history! Your "days of old" could be Regency England, Midcentury Palm Springs, or even just the fond days of your childhood Christmases. Just in case you have nothing that will suit, I've  scanned a few vintage postcards and some sheet music from my own collection and placed them in the Jingle Belles post for you to right-click and save to your computer, then print them out at whatever size you'd like.

Meanwhile, here's what I made this week:

Some of my all-time favorite items to use on vintage-style holiday cards are sheet music and doilies. There are lots of modern versions of both of those, and I love my music-inspired patterned paper and doily dies. But in this case, I went with actual OLD sheet music, paired with the highly textureal, but slightly yellowed doilies I found at a thrift shop over the weekend. The postcard image on my card is also vintage, but in this case I scanned the original and printed it slightly smaller, to be a better fit on my A7 card. Torn mats of patterned paper, machine stitching and a little bit of Eyelet Outlet washi tape add texture and interest. 

Be sure to visit Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful card, grab scans of some fun vintage items from my own collection, and check out the sweet little prize that's on offer to one random cardmaker who links up with us this fortnight.

All Around the Town

Impression Obsession's Slim Scenes Large Town stamp set is both beautiful and useful for themes like a new home, a new job, a milestone at work, or trips into and out of your favorite city. The set has both a solid skyline stamp and an outline one, so of course I wanted to test-drive both! I've paired them with Picket Fence Studios' Slimline Nested Rectangles die set and Fancy Congratulations Sentiments stamp set; and added color with my Karin Brushmarkers. The results... in both slimline and A2 card form... are on The Ink Pad Blog today.

Comma, Comma, Comma, Comma, Comma...

CHAMELEON!!! I'm leading off with the sentiment from my second card, just in case it doesn't kick in right away. Because today's post is a blizzard of lizards, thanks to the adorable new Eyelet Outlet Reptile Brads!

When I heard we'd be getting a brad set that featured chameleons and geckos, the very first phrase I thought of was, "Leapin' Lizards"! I'm not sure why, exactly, because I don't think I've ever uttered those words before; but it struck me as both funny and useful, so I wrote it down in my little book of ideas. I used alphabet stickers to create the words on this card, but I'll also put a little jpg word art below, in case anyone would like to right-click and save it. Three blended circles of Oxide ink and some leafy "Perfect Vine" diecuts from Catherine Pooler finish off my design.

I can't take credit for the Culture Club inspired sentiment, it's yet another case of my seeing a silly t-shirt and stealing the phrase right off it! I used the five largest commas I could find in my collection of chipboard alphabets and one handsome chameleon. The original shirt design didn't have additional info beneath the word art, but I discovered in a casual poll of friends that by saying, "sing it" they got the joke faster; so I thought I'd put those instructions right on the card. I made a mat of Circle Washi Tape, because it had all the right colors and added a fun sense of movement.

Here's the word art, you can right-click and save, then print it at any size you'd like. This will also be on the Freebies Page of the EO Blog! 

Be sure to visit the Eyelet Outlet Blog often, as the design team are having a lot of fun with all the new brads: in addition to the Reptiles we've got a fun new Kennel Mix, Colored Daisy Brads, Tropical Birds and Felines; there's definitely something for everybody!

Rainbow Layers

Dare 2B Artzy's Wavy Slimline dies and Nature Backgrounds clear stamps are each lovely and useful in their own right; but when I saw them, I wondered if they might be even better together? And I think I was right about that! Read more about these two colorful cards on The Ink Pad Blog today.