Banner Holiday (Week 2)

It's the second week of holiday cardmaking inspired by our Jingle Belles Blog Header:

And here's my card:

This week I've made a less literal version, but I've still embraced the colors, the florals, and the red glitter and golden metallic accents. My florals are Hero Arts' Christmas Roses, embossed with Ranger Gold Embossing Powder and watercolored. The diecut sentiment is Penny Black. The tiny star sequins are Eyelet Outlet.

You have until next Wednesday evening, December 4th, to link up with us for this last 2024 Jingle Belles challenge. There's even a little poinsettia-centric prize which will be randomly awarded to one lucky cardmaker. Read all about it at Jingle Belles!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing a very Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating tomorrow! This pretty wreath consists of several neutral shades of diecut cardstock, creating a grapevine-like base that can be embellished with all your favorite Eyelet Outlet autumnal brads. Yellow Paper Flowers are topped with Sunflower Brads, clustered with Colored Daisies, Butterflies and Leaf Brads.

♥♥♥

Happy Thanksgiving!

Layerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs

Park your tiny car collage in the tiny car collage garage! Here's a card that has A LOT of flat layers: layers of vintage map, torn sheet music and book paper; lots of 49 and Market rub-on transfers and acetate leaves; vellum stickers, vintage trading stamps, a little bit of ink and stitching around the edges et voila!

Just a reminder that the Masculine Card Challenge at Shopping Our Stash runs until next Monday evening, December 2nd; so you still have time to join the fun!

Wet and Wild

It's a splishy-splashy, super-colorful Mandala Monday thanks to my Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils from Ranger. My current favorite way to use them is to both draw and fill in the shapes with the DRY pencils (adding more color at the edges and lighter towards the center of each shape); then take a waterbrush and "activate" the awesome watercolor blendiness (yes, that IS a word!) taking care to work from light to dark and rinse the brush whenever it starts to overblend the shades. 

At the end, it's fun to apply the wet brush directly to the pencils, create a little puddle of color, and then flick it onto the piece. As with most watercolor products, you get a lot of variation depending on: 1) how much color you pick up; 2) how big your brush/drop size is; 3) whether the piece is wet or dry when you flick at it; and 4) whether or not you blot the splatters off or let them dry on their own. With a bit of practice you can definitely learn to "steer" the piece, but there will always be a very fun serendipity factor that I love!

I used rainbow colors from Sets One, Two and Three of the Distress Watercolor Pencils; and added the outlines and details with three sizes of Letter It Fineliners after the panel was completely dry.

JB2424: Banner Holiday

It's hard to believe we're heading into the last official 2024* Jingle Belles challenge; hasn't this year flown past?! We're wrapping up the year with an inspiration challenge; we'd like to see new holiday cards based on any aspect of the 2024 Jingle Belles Blog Header that inspires you. Maybe it's the glittery letters and frame; the red poinsettias and candy canes; the jingle belles (or jingle bells, lol) ...just make sure you include what inspired you in your post.

And here's my Banner-Inspired card:

For my inspiration I chose the poinsettias, the foliage, and the red + green + gold color palette. I used Wendy Vecchi's Build-a-Plaid Layered Stencils and the Christmas Add-On Stamp and Die Set (both from her 2024 Spellbinders' NOT Your Ordinary Card Collection) to make the background and focal point, respectively. For the plaid I used Wendy's Archival Inks in Carnation, Red Geranium, Fern Green and Sunflower, with a little extra sparkle from a glittery gold pen.

Here's how I used the triple holly leaf die to build the diecut poinsettias, if you'd like more detail:

Step 1: Diecut five deep red holly leaves, five medium red holly leaves and one golden cluster of berries. (By using a double layer of cardstock you'll get SIX leaves in one pass, so it's very quick!)

Step 2: Punch a small circle of sticker paper or scrap cardstock that has edge-to-edge adhesive. Peel the release paper and place the circle on your worktop with the ADHESIVE UP. Add the five dark red holly leaves to the circle, so that their points meet at the center.

Step 3: Add the five medium red holly leaves in between the dark red ones. I like to use slivers of foam tape for this round, so the flowers have some dimension, but you can put them on flat if you prefer.

Step 4: Adhere the golden berry cluster to the center of the flower, and gently curve the petals a bit for a more realistic look.

TA-DA you've got a poinsettia in exactly the right shade to match your project! ♥

Head on over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful card and a photo of the prize that one lucky random cardmaker will snag, just by linking up with us this fortnight. JB2424: Banner Holiday runs until the evening of Wednesday, December 4th.

*Just to be clear, this is only the end of the 2024 season; Jingle Belles will be back for a brand new year of holiday cardmaking, starting January 1, 2025! ♥

Hanukkah Jumpstart

Hanukkah Jumpstart is the newest holiday card kit, available only from the Paper Anthology  Etsy Shop, Paper Anthology Design. This elegant card features the beautiful Menorah from Taylored Expressions’ Bright Hanukkah Stamp Set, gold embossed for you on white cardstock; with candles, flames and a sentiment added before being diecut into a neat oval that’s ready to mat on the navy blue ovals included. There are five white A2 gatefold cardbases, with an embossed belly band made of gold shimmer cardstock for each; as well as panels which have been pressure embossed with Sunny Studio’s Moroccan Circles Embossing Folder.

Paper Anthology’s Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit is a pre-packaged kit that includes everything you need (except adhesive) to complete FIVE copies of this new original holiday card design. This edition is called “Hanukkah Jumpstart” for obvious reasons.

 

Don’t we all adore the IDEA of making holiday cards throughout the year, instead being overloaded in November and December? But sometimes it’s hard to be inspired during the “off-season”. This pre-packaged kit features everything you need (except adhesive) to complete five beautiful, elegant Hanukkah cards, including complete written instructions and a nice big photo for reference.

This kit contains:

Five pre-stamped & gold embossed oval Menorah focal points
Five navy oval mats
Five pre-stamped Stars of David
Five embossed gold shimmer cardstock belly bands
Five sky blue embossed panels
Complete step-by-step instruction sheet with large color photo
Five white gatefold-fold A2 cards

Get your copy today, ONLY in the Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop; then be sure to check out the other Holiday and Birthday Jumpstarts, plus our multi-card Class in a Kit selections.

Give Thanks

It's a week before Thanksgiving, but there's still time to send out some quick, easy cards! This super-simple CAS design features Eyelet Outlet Leaf and Mini Leaf Brads layered over stenciled leaves in fall colors. The background and diecut sentiment are made from beautifully neutral Nature Washi Tape. Change up the sentiment and this design could be used for literally ANY autumnal occasion.

Speaking of stencils: Did you know that you can easily make your own custom stencils using ANY simple craft dies you love? In this case, I've taken the three sizes of leaves from the Essential Envelope Die Set in Wendy Vecchi's NOT Your Ordinary Card Collection from Spellbinders and blended my favorite fall shades of Wendy's Archival colors from Ranger through them before adding the Leaf Brads and a simple sentiment. Job done! I made my stencils from glossy cardstock which is pretty sturdy; but to make them last forever cut the shapes out of stencil plastic. Don't forget to leave a bit of distance around each shape so that you have room to blend without accidentally getting stray ink on other areas of your project.

 

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Store today for brads and tapes that'll work perfectly for EVERY season of your cardmaking year; and check out all of Wendy Vecchi's awesome designs from Spellbinders.

SOS535: Masculine Cards

It is a fact, universally acknowledged, that Guy Cards are harder to make than Girl Cards. Or at least many cardmakers (including ME!) think so. So this fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we're challenging you to make a masculine card for any occasion you'd like, I needed a birthday card, so that's what I made.

One of my additional goals on this outing was to combine an inky stamped/stenciled background with collage elements. Because I've noticed that I either do ALL collage or all inky goodness; and I quite like the way other people (including my current Art Crush Katie Pertiet) put them together. I've used a bunch of neglected stash items on this one including Simon Hurley's Leaf Prints stamps (about a year old) and Handwritten background (maybe two years); Letter It's Alternating Chevrons stencil (maybe three years); some 49 and Market Acetate Leaves and Vellum Leaf Stickers (two years?); lots of vintage sheet music, book paper, a chart from a map and some fab trading stamps, plus a vintage car illustration; and possibly my all-time favorite crafting supply that ISN'T technically a craft supply: Drywall Tape! The sentiment is part rub-on transfer and part wordfetti sticker... the latter is five or six years old. I'm a little bit proud that I managed to squeeze alllllllllllllllll of that onto an A6 card and I still left some white showing in the background.

SOS's Masculine Challenge runs through Monday evening, December 2nd. Check out the fab makes by our Crew at Shopping Our Stash then start planning what you'll link up with us!

Will It Go Round in Circles? (YES!)

It's a Multi-Tag Mandala Monday in my Dina Wakley Kraft Journal* from Ranger. I made the shapes with Letter It Fineliners, filled in soft color with pencils, and added a few extra patterned paper circles in the background. Wishing you a happy and productive week! ♥

*The 6x6 Kraft Journal is currently out of print, but there are lots of other options in kraft, in square, and well, lots more choices; you should check them out! ;)

Collaged ATCs

My friend Linda completed The 100 Day Project this year, and then she made her beautiful collection of Artist Trading Cards into groups of three and started a swap. Of course I was excited to participate! I made three "Flower Girl" ATCs and used Wendy Vecchi's Essential Envelope die set from Spellbinders' Not Your Ordinary Card Collection to make a pocket for them, and the Pinking Edge Birthday Add-On to create a coordinating tag.

These ATCs have LOTS of layers, including: Kanada text paper from India; a map of Manhattan; vintage flower illustrations from a children's book; tiny sewing pattern ladies and some found text from a beautifully patina-ed kiddo's chapter book.

Each ATC is backed with vintage Chinese text paper fused onto plain white cardstock (for extra strength and solidity) where I've written the name of the series as well as my signature.

I used a few older gel prints and some additional coordinated collage items to create the Essential Envelopes pocket as well as the Pinking Edge pull-out layered tag.

I love the way the coordinating pocket and tag not only keep the ATCs safe and secure, they also make them look and feel like an official SET!

These are the first ATCs I've made and traded in quite some time, but I think they've gotten me re-hooked on this fun format! ♥

Christmas Feast: Week Two

It's the second week of our Jingle Belles' celebration of holiday sweets and treats and you've still got plenty of time to join the fun, so let's get right to it!

The mini journal cards from Carta Bella's Christmas Cheer collection were absolutely perfect for this theme. I chose four, made them into a grid, rounded the outer corners, added a few stickers et voila! Job done! 

The Christmas Feast challenge (#JB2423) runs until next Wednesday evening, November 20th. You can link up on the original post at Jingle Belles.

Hello, Pumpkin

Celebrating autumn with a sweet and simple card featuring Eyelet Outlet Pumpkin Brads (they pair perfectly with the pumpkin border from Lawn Fawn's Simply Celebrate Fall stamp set; just sayin') a Squirrel from the Acorn and Squirrel set and a scattering of Mini Leaf Brads.

Pumpkin-centric Shopping List:

Pumpkin Brads

Acorn and Squirrel Brads

Mini Leaf Brads

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Online Store and get inspired by all of the embellishments for fall, winter, holiday and more!

Embossing on Textured Cardstock

I love the crisp perfection of using Ranger Embossing Powders on smooth cardstock, but recently I've been experimenting with using them on on Ranger's Woodgrain and Cracked Leather textured cardstocks; and even on Dina's Stickyback Canvas Tape! I love the result... a beautifully soft, slightly worn effect, similar to vintage linens. Head on over to the Ranger Project Tutorials Page where I'll walk you through the process step by step using Ranger Embossing Inks and Powders, I think you'll enjoy trying this yourself!

Bring on the COLOR!

This Mandala Monday started off with a sort of vaguely pumpkin spice color palette... but then morphed into autumnal pastels. Is that a thing? Maybe not, but I quite like how it came out. Hope your week is off to a satisfactory start! If not, more coffee might help!

Lines by Letter It Finerliners from Ranger; color by Tombow DualBrush Pens; shapes thanks to my trusty Helix CircleMaker Tool, which you can find at art stores, office supply stores and big giant online stores too, of course. An old-school compass from geometry class also works; as does a set of nested circle dies or stencils! 

How About Some Dim Sum?!

Something which is *ALMOST* as much fun as meeting friends for dim sum is crocheting tiny dumplings, shu mai and sesame balls!

I used an excellent set of Dim Sum Playfood Patterns from the SkyMagenta Etsy Shop; this set has ELEVEN patterns. including a crocheted bamboo steamer, though I elected to purchase an inexpensive steamer instead to hold the crocheted bounty.

The official pattern didn't call for eyes, but I couldn't resist adding them; I love how the little guys seem to be peeping up at you when you open the steamer lid! The only other adjustment was to add a few more colors for variety; and, having recently remembered how to make bobbles, I worked a few into the tops or edges of some, again for variety and interest. 

I used Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice throughout with a slightly smaller hook than usual (a G in this case). Colors are Fisherman, Beige, Honey, Dusty Green, Mustard and Pink. And now I REALLY want some dumplings!!! :)

JB2423: Christmas Feast

This fortnight at Jingle Belles we are celebrating one of my very favorite aspects of the holidays: The Christmas Feast! There are lots of iconic holiday foods, from cookies and candies to gingerbread in all its forms; sugar plums, Christmas pudding, Buche de Noel, even the Grinch carving the Roast Beast! Make a holiday card in any color, style or size you like... just make sure it features a tasty treat!

As often happens when I get out my stash of adorable Doodlebug Design holiday items, I couldn't just make ONE card. In my defense, D-bug always includes a lot of sweet (in every sense lol) treats, which are perfect for this particular theme. For these cards I raided the patterned papers and sticker from the aptly named Gingerbread Kisses and Candy Cane Lane collections. I used coordinating papers from my scrap box, and couldn't resist adding a few Eyelet Outlet Gingerbread and Candy Cane Brads.

The Christmas Feast challenge (#JB2423) will run at Jingle Belles until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, November 20th and we'd love for YOU to join the fun!

New Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit: Christmas Roses

Holiday Jumpstart: Christmas Roses, now available in the Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop, is our newest holiday card kit, which features Hero Arts' Christmas Roses white embossed for you on white cardstock; pressure embossed Floral Vines panels; and a sleek "Happy Holidays" sentiment that's been diecut from gold cardstock. Five different color recipes using Ranger Distress Oxide shades have been provided or choose your own favorite ink combinations.

Paper Anthology’s Holiday Jumpstart Card Kits are our pre-packaged kits that include everything you need (except adhesive and blendable inks) to complete FIVE copies of an original holiday card design. This edition is called “Christmas Roses” based on the card's beautiful blooms.

Don’t we all adore the IDEA of making holiday cards throughout the year, instead being overloaded in November and December? But sometimes it’s hard to be inspired during the “off-season”. This pre-packaged kit features everything you need (except adhesive and blendable inks) to complete five beautiful, detailed and colorful cards, including complete written instructions (not pictured, but included!) five unique color recipes and a nice big photo showing all five colorways for reference.

This kit contains:

Five pre-stamped and white embossed Christmas Roses panels

Five pressure embossed Floral Vines panels

Five pre-diecut gold cardstock Happy Holidays sentiments

Five gold glitter cardstock panels

Fifteen golden half-pearl accents

Complete step-by-step instruction sheet with large color photo

Accent pictures showing detail of color blends and cutting

Five different color recipes using Ranger Distress Oxide or Distress Ink shades

Five white top-fold A2 cards

Get your copy of Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit: Christmas Roses, only available in the Paper Anthology Etsy Shop. While you're there, check out our other kits for holidays, birthdays and occasions!

Pumpkin Spice...

...and Everything Nice can be found at Eyelet Outlet, in the form of Pumpkin and Leaf Brads, as well as Mini Leaves and Sunflower Brads. Making the design even more autumnal are background panels made of Nature Tape, Wide Sunflower Washi and Brick Tape as well as white and green Paper Flowers.

I'm linking up with the Coffee Loving Papercrafters, whose Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop runs until this Friday, November 8th!

They have lots of awesome prizes and you absolutely cannot beat that gang for inspiration, so be sure to check it out! ♥

SOS534: Time for a Hot Drink

It's time for a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash and this time we'd like to see (as the title implies) cards and projects which feature your favorite hot beverages. Mine is (surprise!) COFFEE!

I'm fairly proud of my stash usage here, I've gathered a bunch of sadly neglected items and given them some love. Fair Warning: the three lynchpin items are sadly out of print. The Caffeinated Flamingo was one of my all-time favorites from The Rabbit Hole Designs; the Coffee Pots Embossing Folder from Darice seems to be similarly unavailable. The former was a prize I won in a Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop a few years ago; the latter a gift from my friend Michelle. I don't use either of these enough, and somehow I've NEVER used them together, so it was especially exciting to combine the pair. I stamped, colored and paper-pieced the flamingo, and I'm taking bonus points for remembering to stamp the legs onto my background paper so that I wouldn't have to cut them out. (Go, me!) I embossed the coffee pots on watercolor paper and then painted them a bit wonkily, mightily resisting the impulse to outline all of them with a .01 Fineliner. The "blahmingo" sentiment came with the flamingo; the second sentiment is from Honey Bee Stamps' Perfect Blend Stamp Set, which... you guessed it... is also out of print, but that's ok because the point of Shopping Our Stash is to unearth the older things YOU already own and I bet --like me-- you've got some awesome goodies you've forgotten all about and will enjoy reviving again!

Completely coincidentally, this theme lines up perfectly with the 2024 Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop (they have some AMAZING prizes, if you like that sorta thing; their hop ends on Friday, 11-8-24) so you can enter both by making just the one card, woohoo! The Time for a Hot Drink Challenge (#SOS534) runs until the evening of Monday, November 18th.

Plaid(ish) Stripes

Stretching the concept of Mandala Monday pretty far with a (sort of) plaid design made by masking off a few horizontal and vertical stripes with tape, watercoloring over the masked bits with analogous colors of Liquid Pearls, letting them dry, peeling the tape, and doodling mandala(ish) shapes with my Letter It Fineliners inside the unpainted bits. 

There's a bit more detail about watercoloring with Liquid Pearls on this Thank You Card post and this Birthday Card post both on the Ranger Project Tutorials Page, which is absolutely loaded with awesome ideas from a variety of papercrafting artists. Plus you can filter or search by occasion, product or project type which is handy! ♥

Creatures... Stirring

Over at Jingle Belles, Stephanie and I are heading into week two of our celebration of Christmas critters and creatures, and you still have time to join us for, "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks"! 

Here's what I made this week:

I found a beautiful (somehow unopened?!) older pack of adorable holiday animal stickers from Recollections so I immediately knew I wanted them to be the stars of the show. I didn't realize how well they'd coordinate with that very fun October Afternoon critter-bedecked washi tape; but having seen a few Team Spellbinders cards in which the smallest two sizes of Wendy Vecchi's Pinking Edge rectangle dies (from NOT Your Ordinary Card Collection's Birthday Add-On set) were used to make the most fabulous frame for a little scene, so I worked in that idea, as well. Ancient Heidi Swapp decotape and skinny mats of black glossy cardstock complete the design.

"While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks" (JB2422) runs until 6pm (Eastern) next Wednesday evening, November 6th so you still have plenty of time to join our Jingle Belles fun!