THANK-ful for the holidays

we are getting close to the end of our ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ year, so this is a great time to take stock of how many cards we've completed, go back and add sentiments inside the cards, make sure they all have envelopes, etc etc. being as we're coming up on thanksgiving, it's also a good time to think about the cards we're all going to need after the holiday... so this fortnight we're making thank you cards!

colorburst-ed snowflakes made with tim holtz's "layered snowflakes" die, from painted, embossed and modelling paste-ed strathmore watercolor paper; patterned papers: basic grey, my mind's eye, hambly, autumn leaves + sheet music; doily scraps from my stash... ok technically some are from my mom's stash, lol; glitter paper: best creation; extra storebought snowflakes: recollections + october afternoon ; brads: mme, eyelet outlet; ink: colorbox; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, sewing machine 

i have a shocking true confession to make: there has never been a year in which i don't wind up needing at least one or two extra cards at the very last minute. usually because someone i wasn't expecting to, kindly sent me a beautiful handmade card! on the other hand, i'm not someone who always likes to put a sentiment on the outside of her cards. by now i think you may have guessed what i am getting at here, right?  the cards you see above are exactly the right tone to be thank you notes. they will almost certainly be thank you notes. but i haven't put a sentiment on the outside or the inside yet... just in case i need a couple more cards at the last minute. it's called "hedging your bets" lol!

as for the cards themselves, i'm still pursuing my, "make a few similar cards while you've got all the stuff out" strategy. in this case, "all the stuff" for the bases consisted of some dearly hoarded ancient basic grey not-too-xmassy blues and greens, the very last sheet of shimmery hambly snowflake paper, some not-very-old bright white sheet music, and the off-cuts of doilies from all the cards this year that had partial doilies on them.

here's the basic recipe for colorburst diecuts: take a piece of "extra" watercolor paper that was painted, spritzed, sprinkled or smooshed with colorburst in the appropriate colors for your project... (i wind up with these on a regular basis. in this case, my first few attempts at our embossing challenge did not turn out how i wanted at the time, but they were still colorful and fun, so i saved them for later!) ...add some stamping, stenciling, modeling paste or glitter paste randomly to the paper. allow to dry completely. use your favorite die (in this case, it's tim holtz's "layered snowflakes" bigz die) to make them into useful shapes. et voila! snowflakes for EVERYBODY! ♥♥♥

as a focal point, i diecut some super-saturated, super-textural colorburst snowflakes in a few sizes, inked the edges really well so they'd stand out from the backgrounds, and added brads as well as extra layers, extra glitter, or both!

i was very inspired by the current atlantic hearts sketch challenge (#237), though as you can see, i played with rotation and proportion quite a bit, so i admit that some of these are more like "kissing cousins" to the original, lol! i'm also linking up with the simon says stamp wednesday challenge blog whose current theme is "snow white" for which you can use either element, which is good bc my snow is blue, lol!

stephanie has a beautiful thank you card for you to drool over at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and a second tag to see on her blog, as well!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

giftwrap through the ages

although by "ages" i mean, "in the last month or so" as opposed to the eternal ages of man... which would be a much longer post. i considered the title, "two bags, one package and a tin bucket thingie (no weddings or funerals)" but that seemed kind of long. i often find titles to be the hardest part of blogging, does anybody else feel that way? anyway, to sum up the purpose and intent of this entire post, here are a few things i've wrapped recently that i quite like:

a question i get asked fairly frequently on social media is, "what do you do with all your random watercolors and collages and things?" well, a great many of them are in sketchbooks or art journals where they admittedly don't serve a continuing purpose. but since they helped me learn or practice some sort of skill or technique, i feel like they've earned their keep in that sense. i also have a big basket of loose work, some of which might eventually become cards, or if they're really big, they might get framed and given as a gift. others might become the decorative panel on a custom gift bag. in this case, a colorbust painting of loose and drippy flowers in niece lindsay's favorite color (purple!) got trimmed down, matted, and had some chunky chipboard letters sewn on top. for the record, when you see bags like this, the decorated panel is stuck on with just a few pieces of foam tape, so it can be removed easily if the recipient wants to save it. (although all my nieces and nephews have a few gift bags hanging up in their rooms somewhere, lol, which always makes me smile!)

my mother and aunt are famous for saving me "interesting" envelopes, boxes, bags... and, in this case, a tin. it's about the size of a paint can, and i think it must've held popcorn or some sort of snack? the name of the company was on the lid and also printed around the bottom of the cityscape. i made a panel to cover the former-- with nephew matthew's initials in huge metallic cardstock letters-- and two layers of washi tape to cover the latter. 

another in the continuing series of giftwrap sleeves like the one in the tutorial at the bottom of this post from july. i devised the sleeve concept-- in which the wrapping is secured only on two sides, and the gift can be slid out without undoing the decoration-- so that people who didn't want to "wreck" a fancy present by opening it, would be able to still see what i've given them. i came up with the idea of stitching multiple papers together so that i could use the sleeve idea on bigger gifts. this sleeve is composed of several wallpaper swatches, an index from a vintage atlas, and some gorgeous paper-backed asian fabric i got in chinatown and have frankly been hoarding for several years.

another bag, hooray! this one has some vintage lace hot-glued around the top, a big silk flower, and some of the extra prototype colorburst leaves from a recent mixed media card class i taught at paper anthology. i confess i especially like this one. 

♥♥♥

wishing you a wonderful weekend that involves a little bit of time doing something FUN and CREATIVE... just for yourself!!!

♥♥♥

One Card Three Ways: Christmas Ornament Edition

It's November and just turned chilly... so I'm starting to really think about Christmas and feeling pretty excited about finishing up my cards. I know most cardmakers like to mass-produce one holiday design, but I don't enjoy that so much. Something I don't mind, though, is making a couple of different versions of the same card. So today I have a set of ornaments that represent my three favorite categories of Eyelet Outlet products: Brads, Bling and Washi Tape! I'm up on the EO blog today showing those off!

For my Bling card I used some papers I had pre-painted with ColorBurst pigment powders, and used stencils with inks and embossing paste on top. I created the bauble shapes using some hand-cut ornament templates I made for myself a few years ago, but there are plenty of beautiful dies available to shortcut that procedure for you. I wanted to work in as many bling varieties as possible, so I've got Clear Edge Jewels, Square Jewels, Single Jewels, Single Pearls, Heart Pearls and I've even used a bit of the new Fancy Long Bling on the round bauble, which I arranged as a mirror-image, then placed a few extra large Pearl Bling Jewels inside the openings created by the zig zag design. I made the tops of the ornaments from Glitter Silver Tape and constructed my own patterned paper by filling an A2-sized inset panel with Music Note Washi.

For my Brads card I pieced the ornaments from a neutral palette so the Christmas Cookies, Poinsettia and Prancing Deer would stand out really well. I made the tops of the baubles from Glitter Gold Tape this time, to fit the color scheme better.

For the Tape card I chose bright shades of traditional red and green. I covered the bauble shapes with tape, then burnished well and trimmed them neatly. I used Holly Tape (with a small Paper Flower and Enamel Dot) for the heart ornament; Red Dots with an accent of Vertical Red Tree Tape for the elongated shape and highlighted strips of Merry Christmas Tape with an accent of that cute green Santa Tape sandwiched by Skinny Stripes Tape for the round shape.

Whether you like to make your holiday cards singly, all at once, or somewhere in between, I guarantee Eyelet Outlet has all kinds of embellishments that will make your job easier... and much more fun, too! Be sure to check the EO blog regularly for loads of seasonal inspiration from the amazing team! ♥

Lauren Bergold 

and Stephanie Severin 

make holiday cards all year round at Jingle Belles... 

and you can, too!

autumnal argyle

this week at shopping our stash we have a gorgeous color palette to inspire you:

i have to confess that i cheated slightly on the "stash" part because the last time i was at paper anthology i just happened to see a beautiful floral patterned paper from kaisercraft that had ALL the colors from the palette, so technically i bought something new, for a stash challenge. on the plus side i definitely got the "shopping" part right, huh?! ;)

everything else involved in making this card is quite elderly, though, so there's that. the velvetty flowers, the jewel brad, the cardstock... even the technique is a "re-run" of something i hadn't done in ages, a paperpieced argyle pattern like this one and this one. because yes, apparently hand made argyle is going to be something i return to periodically. in fact, i just asked elisabeth at paper anthology to order this set of nesties for me, so i can have an almost infinite choice of sizes.

but even without any special tools, it's actually quite easy to do. i made a little plastic template, traced it onto my patterned paper, and cut the shapes with my trusty guillotine trimmer. then i arranged them on my card... (hard to see in the pic, but my background paper has a very light ledger pattern and those horizontal lines make precision sooooo easy!) ...tacked them lightly with my tape runner, and added lots of machine stitching to enhance the look.

of course the challenge is just to be inspired by the colors, and the SOS design team has lots more cool ideas on how to do that... why not hop over and see what they have done? ♥

november/december classes

it's always an exciting day when the paper anthology newsletter comes out and we get to see all the cool new classes for the upcoming two months! if you live within driving distance of kenvil, new jersey* i highly recommend signing up for the newsletter! in addition to classes, it'll tell you about cool events like next weekend's gala 6th anniversary party, for which we'll have food, make and takes, special sales, a fun take-home gift and the ever popular spinning wheel of prizes! but today, i wanted to show off my own two classes for november and december:

Piece on Earth:

  

We'll create three unique and lovely holiday cards that incorporate paper-piecing, die-cutting and just about every textural “special effect” you can think of, including woodgrain paper, embossed and sanded metallic cardstock, lace, doilies, glitter paper… we’ll even make our own patterned paper by layering washi tape over text paper! (It’s cooler than it sounds, honest!)

A Pair of Holiday Gift Bags with Tags:

Take your giftwrap game to the next level by incorporating the basic papercrafting supplies and skills you already have! We’ll transform plain jane white and kraft bags with layered diecuts, lace, washi tape and brads; then use some fun stamping techniques to make matching tags.

there are loads of other classes, too, taught by some really amazing papercraft artists, who just happen to be friends of mine! complete information as to dates, times and cost are on the class page.

*paper anthology is on route 46, in kenvil, morris county, nj. it's right off of route 80, about 30 miles due west of newark. here is a mapquest map of the location. we'd love to see you there! ♥♥♥

oh deer, oh deer, oh deer

we're still embarked on our "creature feature" at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and you still have plenty of time to join the fun! this week, alas, there are no monstas... but these impression obsession deer are pretty flippin' cute!

deer trio dies: impression obsession; tree die: echo park; circle punches: fiskars, ek success; snowflake embossing folder: tim holtz/sizzix; grey snowflake washi tape (over sheet music) little b; glitter paper: best creation; colored cardstock: core'dinations; kraft cardstock: bazzill; patterned paper: photo play, blue fern studio, echo park, graphic 45, fancy pants, bella blvd, lawn fawn + some pretty packaging from prima and pink paislee; ink: prima; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, sewing machine

yes, i made three cards. and all of them use the current sketch saturday sketch. i'm also linking up with the simon says stamp monday challenge blog, where this week's theme is "all creatures great and small".

most of the ingredients for these were leftovers and discards from making samples for my next xmas card class and also from a make-and-take i devised for the paper anthology anniversary party later this month. i always love it when i can just USE something up rather than having to clean it up! ;)

and since it seems like i'm going to need a few extra cards than i currently have on hand for xmas, it's helping me add to the pile!

the background on the blue card is my favorite thing. the squares are composed of fairly thin (like 1.25") strips of two patterned papers (plaid and flourishy) that were the offcuts from making panels for full-sized cards for the card class. i struggle with throwing away pretty paper, lol. even when it's narrow strips that don't really seem useful. in this case, i had the idea to tape them together at the back and use them as one bigger piece... which i then trimmed into squares to fit the sketch. for the record, i love how that turned out!

stephanie has another awesome critter card to show you over at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ why not treat yourself to that delight, darlings?

thrilling yarns, redux*

i was sorting through photos on my phone the other day, when i realized i had a bunch of un-blogged yarn projects. which led me to wonder if i had at least printed out pics to put in my little amigurumi playing card book? nope. and since i spent the time cropping and printing the pics, finding the names of the patterns, and making atc-sized pages for each one, i'm at least getting a post out of this, lol! also, it's much easier for me to go back and find a specific photo/project thru blogger's searchable index than it is on my phone, where i just have to scroll for all eternity. so feel free to skip this and come back tomorrow when i'll have another christmas critter card for ya!

a big smooshy cupcake for our grand-niece maddy's second birthday. made with bernat's chunky chenille yarn and an M hook, from a pattern intended to be a tiny amigurumi. (this is what's great about yarn... for the same number of stitches you can make something adorably tiny OR huge and awesome, using the same pattern, just by changing yarn and needle combinations)

nearly all the niece and nephew gifts are collaborations between the kid and myself. i like for them to choose the project, and then we decide between us what kind of yarn, colors, etc should be used. riley fell in love with "the smooshy yarn" i had used for something else, and decided on a small blanket with a chevron pattern. i found this zig zag afghan pattern by bernat on ravelry. since the chenille doesn't come in quite as many colors as some yarns do, we had to finagle a little bit to find a great combo, but we got there in the end! (obviously it made my day when my SIL sent this pic of riley snuggling under the present in question, lol!)

this uber-large BB8 was made for matthew's 9th birthday, last september, from a pattern my sister found on pinterest. it's meant to be approximately the size of the one in the movie, which is about 15" tall or so. i started working on it with one strand of chenille, and somehow decided, based on the gauge, that it was going to be too small. so i plussed up to two  strands and a Q hook. it's flippin' HUUUUGE as you can see, and needed nearly three bags of fiberfill stuffing. matthew didn't complain, tho... ;)

flash forward to my september 2017 vacation in nyc with stephanie. i'd started working on a chunky afghan for lindsay that was already too big to be a take along. despite gentle nudging thru the summer, matthew hadn't chosen a pattern yet. so i "helped" him, lol. but really, who could fail to love this amazingly realistic cheeseburger by joyce overheul?! 

this crocheted mandala is called sophie's garden and it's been my interim project all year long. i love that it's challenging without being actually difficult. it's definitely cool to change up with something where every round is different, in between highly repetitive projects like ami's and afghans. 

lindsay marie picked this strawberry milkshake pattern by super cute design last fall for her birthday, and asked me to "supersize" it!

the emoji pillow i made for maddie's 12th birthday is one of the very very few crochet projects on which i winged it. for the record, i don't love to innovate with yarn. it's my relaxation craft, so having really good instructions (with pics!) is totally awesome. believe it or not, getting the basic size and shape-- a flat circle rather than an orb, in a vaguely throw pillow type of size-- was the hardest part.

a few years ago i made matthew a minion using this pattern by pops de milk. last year, my niece jessica saw it and was pretty crazy about him. so i made another.

once i had all the photos printed, the dates remembered, the names of patterns and types of yarn at my fingertips, i added each of the projects above to my little ami book, which is not so little any more, actually:

the pages of the book are ATC-sized (3.5 x 2.5") and built on top of old playing cards. on the front of each card is a photo of the project:

on the back is the date, the pattern source, the type of yarn and hook or needle size and any other relevant information i want to remember about the project.

if you make a lot of gifts, i highly recommend having a place where you note down all of these things, even if it's just a storebought photo album or a little spiral-bound notebook. because if you're anything like me, there are a couple of things i can totally guarantee: one is that you think you'll remember the details... but you won't. and the other is that you will ♥LOVE♥ looking back through all of the presents you've made and remembering the people for whom you made them. 

♥♥♥

*sorry if this is a "re-run" post! i accidentally scheduled it for october 2nd instead of november 2nd and didn't notice it until 24 hours later when it didn't show up in my schedule. so of course anyone who uses a reader has seen this already, but i'm putting it back where i had intended it to go anyhow. because *I* am the boss of mr. blogger, dang it, lol!