It's Ombre, Hombre!

We're cruising into our second week of ombre-centric cards at Jingle Belles and this time I've created my own version by blending six different shades of Distress Oxide Inks from Ranger through an older Hero Arts Stencil.

There are many lovely shades of green in the Distress line, and it's totally possible to make an absolutely seamless series of tone-into-tone. But instead, I decided to work the overlapping blend to include some of my favorite shades in order of intensity rather than strictly by hue. I used Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Mowed Lawn, Evergreen Bough, Pine Needles and Rustic Wilderness. Hero Arts' Forest Scene stencil is no longer in print, but honestly, this technique would work with ANY stencil; or alternately as an emboss/resist technique using any larger background type stamp.

Be sure to check out Stephanie's beautiful card at Jingle Belles and start planning what you will make!

"Watercoloring" with Archival Inks

I'm very happy to be back on the Ranger Blog with a tutorial for a fun way to "watercolor" with Archival Inks, featuring one of Wendy Vecchi's newest MAKE ART Stamp Sets, Doodle Celebration. I hope you'll head on over and check it out!

More Rainbow Ramblings

It's the second week of my (Lauren's) Eyelet Outlet Rainbow Brad project, and this time we're embracing all things Brown, Yellow, Purple and Black!

The brads for each color are as follows:

BROWN: A Compass, a Lion from the Lion, Tiger, Zebra set hanging out with a Monkey and Giraffe from the Jungle Mix, the Doghouse from our Kennel Mix, plus a few sweet Puppy Brads, a Sandcastle and Shell Corner, a vintage Fan from the Telephone and Fan set and a pair of Champagne flutes from the Wedding set. Two strips of Wood Washi and a Skinny Glitter Tape in dark copper.

YELLOW: A background strip of Tape Measure Washi and Chicken Tape holds Work Trucks, Tissues from the TP & Tissues set, a School Bus, the Sun from our Sun and Cloud Brads, a happy little Chick, a Birthday Candle, a Party Hat and finally a Sunflower.

PURPLE: Unicorns from the Unicorn and Rainbow set, some Butterflies and a Mini Butterfly, Grape Brads and a glass of Red from the Wine set, a Fairy Brad and some Water Lillies from the Frog set. The washi selection is Purple Check Tape, plus purple glitter from the Skinny Glitter Tape set and purple flowers from the Skinny Foil Tape set.

BLACK: Our adorable Sushi Washi is flanked by Black and White Check Tape, over which we have a Zebra from the second Jungle Mix, an old-school Telephone, Eye Glass and Sunglass Brads, Music Notes, a Graduation Hat, Video Games and a handsome Spider.

And here's a snap of how our extended rainbow is shaping up so far:

Next week I'll be back to finish up with the good old Red, White and Blue! Until then, brads and tapes of every conceivable color, shape and style can be found in the Eyelet Outlet Store.

SOS 472: Dad Jokes

At Shopping Our Stash we're mad about dads, and with Father's Day just around the corner, this seems like a good time to make a humorous card that celebrates just such an occasion. I'm pretty sure I got my love of Diabolical Puns from my own dad, so this was pretty easy for me.

I used a free font from DaFont.com called Paper Flowers to format my jokes and printed them out on plain white cardstock. Then I added Eyelet Outlet Saw and Tool Box and Tool Brads to the construction card and a Grill plus some Beer Brads to the hoppy card. I matted with ancient Basic Grey Skate Shoppe papers, affixed my punny panels to a pair of white A2 cards and called it good to go!

Head on over to SOS to see what the gang have made to inspire you, then start planning what you'll make for this fun challenge!

Mandala Monday + ICAD Round-Up

I'm easing back into the Index Card a Day project and here's my first week of cards, in reverse order, starting with today's mandala:

Day 6: Mandala Monday

I chose a sturdy divider tabbed card so that I could add watercolor to this; 

but in the end, I kinda fell in love with the lines.

Day 5: Pink or Flamingo

The first one-staple collage of the 2022 ICAD season, woohoo!

Day 4: off-prompt

Last year I made quite a few index cards that featured hand-cut patterned paper shapes layered, arranged in patterns, sewn upon, or... as in this case... all of the above.

Day 3: Maze or Labyrinth

Doodles and scallops on a green index card. 

I can't say I'm in love with this, but it was fun to draw.

Day 2: Peony

I'm not particularly good at drawing realistically, but I think I somewhat captured the basic shapes with my most delicate Letter It Fineliner; and then scribbling with Tombows onto a plastic palette and picking up the color with a waterbrush.

Day 1: Asterisk 

There were a few scraps leftover from my colorful mandala-painted cover, so I cut them into letters for the title page of my ICAD book. Oh yeah, and I used one of my vintage typewriters to put an asterisk in every single box of that gridded index card. Like ya do... :)

♥♥♥

You can find more information about ICAD on the Daisy Yellow Art website, or via Tammy Garcia's account, Gypsy999 on Instagram. 

Ombre 'Oliday

This fortnight at Jingle Belles we're making cards that feature an "Ombre" effect; that is, which move from light to dark in a single color family. You can achieve this with one of the many beautiful patterned papers out there, or with a bit of ink blending, or, (if you're ME!) by cutting and overlapping 3/4" strips of cardstock in a whole bunch of shades of red and/or green!

After I had constructed my red and green ombre backgrounds, I added clusters of punched patterned paper circles and holiday stickers. Easy, Peasy!

Be sure to visit Jingle Belles to see what Stephanie has made to inspire you, and then start planning your own Ombre Masterpiece!

It's an EO Rainbow

Would this be a good time for some Eyelet Outlet Brads, arranged by color? If so, here are some fab brads that are Pink, Green, Grey and Orange; and there's some coordinating EO Washi Tape, as well.

The brads on each of my 5 x 3.5" cards are as follows:

PINK: A Tiara from the Crown and Tiara set, a Flamingo, a Colored Daisy, an Easter Egg, some Flip Flops, two happy porkers from the Pig and Sheep set, a Heart Brad and a Cupcake Swirl; plus a bit of Unicorn Tape and Pink Dots Washi.

GREEN: There's a lovely base of a newer wide Grass Washi, on which we have a Frog and some Cat Tails from the Frog Set, a Tractor Brad, a Chameleon from the Reptiles set, some Beer, green Thread, and a pair of lovely Summer Trees.

GREY: A Dress Form, some Scissors (because silver counts as grey in the Laurniverse!), a Ring from the Wedding set, some Pipes, an Elephant from the Jungle Mix, a Laptop from the Computer and Headphones set, a Saw from the Saw and Toolbox set, a Wrench from our Tool Brads and a handsome Sketched Owl; with Road Tape and Silver Star Glitter Washi.

ORANGE: Ticket Washi and Orange Fan Tape make a base for: a handsome Ginger Cat from the Feline Brads, a Dinosaur, a Ticket from the Popcorn and Ticket set, Tigers from the second Jungle Mix, Leaf and Mini Leaf Brads, a Witch Hat, a Pumpkin and some yummy Candy Corn.

Stay tuned for four more awesome colors next week. In the meantime, all of these and MANY more are available in the Eyelet Outlet Online Store, or can be found in a trade show booth coming somewhere near you this summer! Complete list of dates and venues can be found HERE!