Thank You Jumpstart Kit: Vine and Dandy

Thank You Jumpstart is Paper Anthology Design's newest variation on our popular Jumpstart Card Kit series, which helps build your card stash by providing all the ingredients you need (except blendable inks and adhesive) to make FIVE copies of a single design. Vine and Dandy features Hero Arts' beautiful Victorian Greenhouse, already diecut for you from textured white cardstock, ready to be layered over blended ink panels you create using one of the five Distress Oxide ink-blend recipes (with photos) included. OR go your own way and create a blend with your own favorite colors. Then layer on the eponymous diecut vines, a canvas blossom and two-layer sentiment, before adding the whole thing to a white topfold A2 cardbase. 

This kit contains:

Five pre-diecut Victorian Greenhouse panels
Five smooth, extra-sturdy white cardstock panels for blending
Five Distress Oxide color-blend recipes (with photos)
Five dark green diecut vines
Five light green diecut vines
Five diecut canvas-paper hibiscus flowers
Five diecut patterned paper sentiments
Five diecut sentiment "shadows"
Complete step-by-step instruction sheet with large color photo
Extra page of tips and techniques for choosing and blending inks
Five white top-fold A2 cards

Visit the Paper Anthology Design Etsy Shop to get your Thank You Jumpstart: Vine and Dandy Card Kit today! While you're there, check out our other Jumpstart kits for Birthday, Holiday and Hanukkah; as well as three-card Class in a Kit options for various occasions.

Advice from Our Winter Friends

Polar Bears and Penguins have much to teach us and Eyelet Outlet Polar Bear and Penguin Brads help them do it in style! Snowflake Brads set the scene, as do Sparkle White Glitter and Glitter Dark Blue Tapes; accent strips of gorgeous Snowflake Tape from the Christmas Washi Bundle complete the design.

Shopping List:

Polar Bear Brads

Penguin Brads 

Snowflake Brads

Sparkle White Glitter Tape 

Glitter Dark Blue Tape

Snowflake Tape from the Christmas Washi Bundle

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Store to find more adorable critters and lovely tapes!

SOS540: Crafty Remnants

It's an extra-fun challenge this fortnight at Shopping Our Stash, as we'd like to see you take something that is already out on your desk or workable, and use it on your card. I am nearly always spoiled for choice on these occasions, and this time was no exception. There was actually a bit of a pile on my worktable, but these are the remnants I decided to use:

There's a purple ombre Oxide Ink blended panel leftover from a kit I am working on; my last really big scrap of glossy black cardstock; a Tim Holtz floral diecut that I cut out of its background; a Simon Hurley Funky Chevron panel festuned with Perfect Pearls; plus a tag and panel featuring only partially successful versions of watercolor stenciling. NOT on the worktable, but possibly my favorite part and crucial for making everything work together: a truckload of ancient black and white rub-on transfers that I am now entirely re-obsessed with!

Visit SOS to see what the rest of the crew have made and then have a good look at your own crafty remnants so you can join the fun. This challenge runs until the evening of Monday, February 10th.

MM04: Pandala Punday

It's a PAN-tastic Panda Mandala Monday,

with warmest wishes for a Happy Lunar New Year!

Candy, Candy, Candy!

At Jingle Belles, Stephanie and I are still taking our inspiration for our holiday cards this week from the fun Candy Christmas inspiration from Turtlecreek Lane:

Here's what I made this week:

I remain fixated on the tree and the candy, lol. This week I approached it in a more abstract way, with a subtle peppermint(ish) background and LOTS of bauble(ish) shapes. I used the soft blue wall coloring to make my chunky sentiment stand out, giving them a white drop-shadow for more emphasis.

Remember, you have until 6pm EST on Wednesday, January 29th to link-up your photo-inspiration card.

Perfect Pearls GAL-entine's Day Card

I love the GAL-entine's Day and GAL-oween trends; they're the perfect excuse to celebrate our closest friends! I also love Ranger's Perfect Pearls, because they are indeed the PERFECT way to add color and shimmer to light or dark cardstock. I'm on the Ranger Project Tutorials Page today with the step-by-step process for using them both wet (like watercolors) or dry (by stamping or stenciling over Perfect Medium) to make a GAL-entine's card that really shines.

Valentine's Day Down on the Farm

Love is in the air at Eyelet Outlet as our udderly adorable farm animal brads are having a field day pairing up to celebrate their favorite holiday. This pun-tastic set of mini greeting cards features the moo-velous cows from our Cow and Goat Brads, the Pig and Sheep set, Horse and Pony Brads, as well as four washi styles: Farm Tape, Red Dot Washi, Wood Tape and Brick Washi. 

Barn to be Wild Shopping List:

Cow and Goat Brads

Pig and Sheep Brads

Horse and Pony Brads

Farm Tape

Red Dot Washi

Wood Tape

Brick Washi

Check out all of farm-tastic brads and tapes at Eylelet Outlet, so you too can be outstanding in your field! :)

All That Glitters...

...doesn't necessarily show up well in a photograph. Case in point: this card, made for our Glitter Me Happy challenge at Shopping Our Stash, has three different shades of Stickles Glitter Glue on the watercolored flowers and foliage, plus a mat of salmon pink glitter paper. Can you tell that from the pic? Nope! It's still a pretty card, though, and a nice reminder that you still have a week to participate in the current challenge.

This card is a triumph of stash-usage in that nearly everything on it is not only elderly, it was mostly leftover bits that were ready to roll. I used Distress Oxide Inks to make an ink-blended sunset; placed the (leftover, white glossy) Honey Bee Palm Frond panel on top and matted on the salmon glitter cardstock. I added Stickles to the pre-diecut Lawn Fawn Happy Hibiscus and Tropical Leaf (in Sunburst, Wine Cellar and Garden State) and cut stamens from a scrap of bright yellow glitter paper which... you guessed it... doesn't show up either! The sentiment is from an older set of Paper Rose Studio Sentiment Sheets and the small scattering of bright pink sequins are from Eyelet Outlet.

SOS539: Glitter Me Happy runs until the evening of Monday, January 27, 2025, so join us today!

MM03: Deconstructed

It's a Wavy Gravy Macro Mandala Monday in which we focus on the detail of the patterns rather than an overall design.

Tombow Dual Brush Pens, White Posca and Letter It Fineliners in my Dina Wakley 6x6 Kraft Journal from Ranger. 

JB2502: Candy Christmas

It's a fabulous photo inspiration this fortnight at Jingle Belles, so we're asking you to create a holiday card (or cards!) inspired by this fun Candy Cane Christmas image from Turtlecreek Lane. You can use as many or as few aspects of the photo as you'd like: maybe you love the the white tree smothered in ornaments; or the red and blue stockings could be your fave; perhaps you'd just like to create a mantel with stockings and decor; or you might adore that handsome Nutcracker. Anything and everything in the pic is fair game, just make sure you let us know what part(s) of the photo inspired you.

Here's my card and then I'll tell you my inspo:

I was immediately drawn to the photo's gorgeous white tree, smothered in candy-themed, candy-colored ornaments, so luckily I remembered that I still had stickers left from Doodlebug's Candy Cane Lane collection of a few years ago. I employed one of my oldest dies (Sizzix's Christmas Tree #2) to cut a tree shape from white cardstock, then spent an enjoyable half hour adding pastel candy canes, gum drops and hearts, plus some tiny pearls, before adding lots of colorful presents under the tree. I made my background a soft blue similar to the wall in the inspo photo and added another mat of red and blue as a little salute to those bold stockings.

Visit Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful card and link up your own photo inspiration greeting. JB2502: Candy Christmas will run until 6pm (Eastern) on January 29th.

My Gnomie Valentine

Eyelet Outlet Gnome Brads and Girl Gnome Brads are celebrating Valentine's Day in their Sunny Studio Home Sweet Gnome. EO's extra-wide Sky Washi and Grass Tape are perfect for making a little scene that also features Heart Brad, a Mini Ladybug, Mini Leaves, a Sunflower Brad and a Mini Bee.

Love is in the air, so the Eyelet Outlet Store has all the brads, tape, bling and sequins you need for Valentine's Day and the rest of the year, as well; and adorable Sunny Studio Stamps are the perfect size and scale to use with your brads! 

SOS539: Glitter Me Happy

All that glitters... is welcome on a card for our new challenge at Shopping Our Stash! You can use loose glitter, Stickles or Stickles Glitter Gels, glitter glue, wink of Stella pens, shimmer pens, glitter paper... the choice is yours! I've used two of the above, can you guess which ones?

I made a background using one of my all-time favorite combinations: Stickles Glitter Gel in Galaxy with Simon Hurley's Grand Greenery Stencil on deep (DEEP) Matte Black Alcohol Ink Cardstock from Ranger. You can see how very very sparkly it is, even in the photo, which has probably only captured about 60% of its glitteriness. Those thin chipboard butterfly stickers are from the big box store and super-duper stashy: the last two in the pack and I bet they are ten years old? I used a sheet of DCWV black glitter paper as a lower layer; I originally had just a black cardbase, but I realized pretty quickly that since the butterflies had a thin outline of white I had better add a bit more white; which I did in the form of the cardbase and the layer directly under the design panel. The cardstock sentiment strip is from an older pack by Paper Rose Studio, and was the perfect finishing touch to my 5x6" card. 

Check out the SOS Crew's fabulously sparkly inspiration, then start planning what you'll link up with us this time. SOS539: Glitter Me Happy runs until the evening of Monday, January 27th.

MM02: Snow Far, Snow Good

It's the second Mandala Monday of 2025 so here's not one, but TWO, snowy watercolor mandalas to start off a week that I hope will be equally bright and colorful but not feature any actual snow...

...Unless you're longing for actual snow, and then, I hope you will see some this week; unless you live in Central New Jersey where I will be voting for its absence. 

Something Old, Something New (Week 2)

It's the second week of our first Jingle Belles challenge of 2025, so we are still making cards that feature Something OLD from our craft stash as well as Something NEW from Santa or the post-xmas sales, etc. Here's what I made and then I'll tell you which is which:

At the end of November, I was lucky enough to win a $30 gift card from Sunny Studio Stamps in the Coffee Loving Papercrafters' Fall/Winter Blog Hop, and the very first thing I chose was their adorable Holiday Hugs set, because I just LOVE that bear! I was already planning my card when I saw that January's Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge was "Snowflake" so I went sifting through my many (many!) snowy patterned papers and found this scrap of ancient green and white that I think was from My Mind's Eye's Bohemian collection (that's going back a bit, eh?!) and which just happened to have the perfect spot to place a coffee- or cocoa drinking bear.

I paper-pieced his knitted scarf and adorned the cup with an Eyelet Outlet Polar Bear Brad; then built in a few extra layers of soft green, tan and brown... all from older collections... before adding a sentiment from the stamp set and a few extra glittery snowflakes using a tiny die that was included as an "extra" with my Sunny Studio prize!

Our Jingle Belles Something Old, Something New challenge (JB2501) runs until next Wednesday evening, January 15th. Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge's Snowflake theme (CCCC37) wraps up the day before. Check out Stephanie's fab card and the Readers' Gallery at Jingle Belles; then start planning what you'll link up with us this time!

Good Advice!

Kicking off the New Year with a fun and colorful card featuring Eyelet Outlet Unicorn and Rainbow Brads with a background of diagonal stripes of Chevron Washi and a mat of super-shiny Pink Foil Tape. BTW, all off these items are currently ON SALE!

Magical Unicorn Shopping List:

Unicorn and Rainbow Brads

Chevron Washi 

Pink Foil Tape

The Eyelet Outlet Store has all the vibrant and beautiful tapes, brads, and bling to brighten up your January!

Ranger New Year Card

A New Year's toast to all the makers: May 2025 be our most creative year yet! Follow along as I kick off January with a super-sparkly card tutorial thanks to Stickles Glitter Glue, Stickles Glitter Gel and Tinsel Embossing Powder. It's on the Ranger Project Page, where there is literally always something new and wonderful to inspire YOU! ♥

MM01: Butterfly

It's a Magnificent Monarch Mandala Monday thanks to this beautiful glossy butterfly photo snipped from the back cover of a magazine last year and saved, "to do something with"; in this case, the "something" turned out to be a mostly symmetrical mandala in coordinating colors in my large Dina Wakley Media Journal from Ranger.

I hope your first full week of 2025 is off to a warm(ish) and wonderful start! ♥

Gift Wrap Wrap-Up

I've said it before and no doubt I'll say it again, but here it is now: Papercrafting supplies are AWESOME for wrapping gifts! Washi tape, journal cards, scraps of patterned paper or wrapping paper, ribbon, florals, chipboard shapes... they are all outstanding items to make your gifts truly unique!

(There's a tutorial for these Dylusions Dyamond Board ornaments on the Ranger Project Page!)

Cheers!

Wishing you a very Happy New Year with hopes that 2025 will be your happiest and most creative year yet! It seems appropriate to start the year with a toast... and Eyelet Outlet definitely has a fine selection of beverage brads, including, from left to right: Lemonade, Beer Brads, Cocktails, Liquor Brads, champagne flutes from the Wedding Set and Wine Brads. With Party Hats and Balloon Brads to decorate the numeral balloons, each diecut from a different shade of Glitter Tape. All on a background of extra wide Calendar Washi. 

And don't forget the Tea, Coffee and Soda Brads for those who prefer their beverages a little softer. All of these and lots (LOTS!) more in the Eyelet Outlet Online Store! ♥

JB2501: Something Old... Something New

Hello and welcome to the first Jingle Belles post of 2025 in which @smilynstef and I are asking you to create a holiday card that features Something OLD and Something NEW. For example, combine an item (or two) that you've had in your stash for some time with some of the new goodies that Santa brought you for Christmas; or maybe... like me...  you were your own Santa and you shopped those Black Friday sales and bought it yourself. Be sure to tell us what your OLD and NEW items are in your blog or social media post!

I treated myself to Simon Hurley's Sketched Snowmen Stamp Set just after the 2024 JB season wrapped up, so of course it was the NEW thing I was dying to use. For my OLD selections I've pulled out my White Ranger Embossing Powder and all my favorite blue Distress Inks to make an "old favorite" technique of emboss/resist; used my ancient Nestabilities frame dies and some tiny Eyelet Outlet 1/16" Round Brads from years ago to hold the sentiment. There's some glittery Frosted Lace Stickles on the torn paper snow, as well, which didn't show up in the photo but is nicely sparkly IRL

Head on over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful card and start planning what you'll link up with us this time. JB2501: Something Old... Something New will run until the evening of January 15th.