Tinsel Embossing Powder For the Win!

Ranger's Tinsel Embossing Powder does for holiday cards what tinsel rain does for Christmas trees: makes them exponentially more sparkly and festive! I'm on the Ranger Project Page today, using Ranger's gloriously glittery Holiday Tinsel Embossing Powder Bundle to "paint" on Simon Hurley's Bold Holiday Blooms Background Stamp and I'd love for you to check out the full tutorial!

Candy Canes and Cookies, Oh My!

We're heading into week two of our Jingle Belles Hard Candy Christmas, for which we'd like to see your favorite holiday sweets and treats... in card form! 

This week, I've got candy canes, Christmas cookies, hot cocoa, cupcakes, Christmas pudding and more, thanks to a partial page of older American Crafts mini journal cards I found in my xmas stash. I trimmed them down, popped them onto foam tape and added a couple of patterned paper layers... Pebbles' black text and Dare 2B Artzy's red dots, to be exact. There were too many for just one card, so I split them up and made 2 A7s; because in mid-November it's literally IMPOSSIBLE to make cards too quickly, right?!

This challenge runs until next Wednesday evening, November 15th. Be sure to head over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card and link up your own!

Thanks For Always Having My Back

Eyelet Outlet's awesome new Sugar Skull Brads are not just for Dia de los Muertos, they are pretty fabulous in a fanciful tattoo cluster, as well! Here they're paired with Rose Brads, a white Heart and the handsome blue lizard from our Reptile Set.

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store to see ALL the options for Brads, Bling, Washi Tape and more; your next brilliant card idea is just a click away!

Emboss Like a Boss!

If you've already guessed that the new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to emboss (whether it be with powder and heat OR by using an embossing folder) then well done you; we can get right to my card:

I grabbed one of my all-time favorite Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 stamp sets (Delightful Art) and embossed the primrose-ish flower a few different ways, so that I would have options. I stamped it singly in a few different powders (of which my favorite was Wendy's Watering Can) then I also did a couple of backgrounds where I stamped the same image multiple times to make a repeating pattern. Again, one of my faves was Watering Can, but I also liked the White one. I used the coordinating stencil (all of Wendy's Studio 490 stamp sets came with coordinating stencils, I think she might've been the first to do that, several years before it became A Thing!) to add Tea Rose Archival (with Orange Blossom shading) and Prickly Pear (with Fern) on the focal image and white background; on the other panel, I just added some Watering Can ink very lightly around the edges. I matted both panels on Fern Green, added some machine stitching, a scattering of Eyelet Outlet Pearl Bling and one of the sentiments from the same stamp set et voila! 

PS: Just to brag a tiny bit, there's also a little strip under the sentiment which has pressure embossed leaves on it; via an ancient C-bug embossing folder. Admittedly it's hard to hard to see on the finished card, but still... :)

Be sure to head over to SOS to scoop up some of the Design Team's abundant inspiration, then start planning what you'll make to link up with us. The "Emboss Like a Boss" challenge runs until the evening of Monday, November 20th.

Swatchin'

It occurred to me the other day that I hadn't made swatches for my growing collection of Simon Hurley create Dye Inks, so clearly that had to be done! Of course, there is an entire section of the Ranger website dedicated to Organizing your Ranger Products, and it includes color charts and labels, so I didn't actually NEED to make my own little tag book. But I happened to have some new inks and some new stencils... Oh ok, yeah, true confession: I was looking for an excuse to play with my new stuff, lol.  

I don't have any rules for making swatch books, but I nearly always use a single ring to bind them, to make it easy to add or subtract colors as needed. I'd also highly suggest NOT using the same stamp or stencil on every single page; in future you might like the freedom to swap out and play with new products. I also try to make the pages a little bit footloose and funky because if you really USE your swatches (which I do!) the pages may get wrinkled or smudged or whatever... and built-in imperfection helps accommodate that. Plus... it's just so much more FUN!!! 

Stencils used in this project include: The Loo!, Pretty Petals Layering set, Deco Diamonds, Candles Layering set, Grand Greenery and Sweater Weather. See all the Simon Hurley Ink Colors and Stencil Sets on the Ranger website!

Hard Candy Christmas

This fortnight at Jingle Belles we're celebrating the sweet treats of the season, including our favorite holiday candies and cookies. 

There are lots of awesome ways to approach this prompt, but seeing as how Doodlebug's Gingerbread Kisses line has just arrived at Paper Anthology, it seemed silly not to let those fabulous papers, journal cards and stickers do most of the work for me. I was having so much fun I made not one but two 5.5" square cards to celebrate. For extra sweetness, I added Eyelet Outlet Gingerbread, Peppermint and Candy Cane Brads.

Be sure to stop over at Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card and then start planning what you'll link up with us. The Hard Candy Christmas challenge runs through Wednesday evening, November 15th.

Viva la Vida!

It's la Dia de lost Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, on which we remember and pay homage to those who have departed before us. One of the best ways is to, "Viva la Vida!" or celebrate life. The gorgeous new Eyelet Outlet Sugar Skull Brads arrived just in time to participate in this beautiful tradition and here they are paired with other colorful symbols of love and life, including Heart Pearls, Rose Brads, and lovely Flower and Pink Foil tape styles.

Eyelet Outlet has brads, tapes, flowers, bling and embellies to help you celebrate every season, holiday and occasion!