SOS538: Shining Star

It's the last challenge of the year at Shopping Our Stash, so let's celebrate like the SUPERSTARS we are! By which I mean... make something with stars on it! 

Label shapes and stars were the first sets of nested dies I ever purchased and I still use them quite a bit. The stars in the photo are a newer set of Hero Infinity Dies; but the originals have been passed along to a fellow crafter, so they're still in use! For this card I made radiating panels of Xyroned cardstock and colorful rainbow paper scraps, then I diecut them and matted each one on the next size of star in the set. I scattered a few Eyelet Outlet Star Brads around and unearthed a truly ancient set of Heidi Swapp enamel sentiment stickers. All of which is set atop a cool 49 and Market patterned paper... the only item here which is newish... from sometime last year, I think.

Get a jump on 2025's birthday cards or make some starry thank you notes for all those awesome holiday gifts. Then link it at Shopping Our Stash. SOS538: Superstars runs until Monday evening, January 13th. 

Five Faves of 2024: Mandala Monday Edition

Here's a shocking true confession: A few years ago, when I first adopted the crafters' year-end trend of picking favorites from various categories, it was mostly as a way to generate "easy" posts at the busiest time of year. But honestly, something I love even better than that, is the chance to look back at what I've made all year and start thinking about what I want to try next! 

This being the last Mandala Monday of 2024, here are five faves, in more or less chronological order. Click the bolded text under each pic to go to the original posts; there's a link at the end to visit the entire strand.

MM06

Since 2024 was the Year of the Dragon (my Chinese Zodiac sign) I was happy to have hoarded some (admittedly ancient) papers from Pearl River Mart in NYC.

MM22

When in doubt, go RAINBOW is still my motto for choosing a color scheme and watercoloring with inks or markers is always a fun choice, so I had multiple versions of both to choose from; this is the one that leapt out at me from the Mandala folder.

MM29

Another two popular categories for me are collaged mandalas and index card mandalas made during ICAD. While making this, I stumbled upon both the 1960's "executive" illustration AND a vintage business card for someone called Marvin Mandel. The result was obviously inevitable. PS: In this pic is my #1 favorite mandala tool: the Helix Angle and Circle Maker, which Stephanie and I stumbled upon in a tiny sationery shop on New York's Upper East Side. (If NYC isn't local for you, the link will take you to Amazon, tho, where you can also buy one).

MM43

I made a few diecut mandalas this year and several of my favorites involved Wendy Vecchi's Garden Party and NOT Your Ordinary Card Collections from Spellbinders. This one uses the latter's Halloween Add-On and clearly the kitty has, fair and square, stolen the show!

MM38

Something I hadn't realized I had done several times over the course of the year is build a mandala around a diamond rather than a circle. This one features Dina Wakley Gloss Sprays AND my Dina Kraft Journal. The "stacked" triangle repeats are what took it over the top for me; the Archival Inks on kraft are also very fresh. I get asked about my go-to pens which are Ranger's Letter it Fineliners, one of which is in the photo.

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I hope I picked some of your favorites from 2024 but if not, you can cruise through the whole collection HERE. Then stay tuned for 2025's crop of brand new Mandalas, coming soon to a Monday near you!

Five Faves of 2024: Ranger Edition

I'm proud to have enough favorites from my posts for the Ranger Tutorials Page to make it difficult to choose! Having said that... it WAS difficult, lol! Click the bold text under each photo to get to the full tutorial on the Ranger Blog.

Liquid Pearls and Stickles Thank You Card

...much of the time I use Liquid Pearls dimensionally and Stickles more or less flat; but as a matter of fact, you can PAINT with LP's and make ridges with Stickles. 

(Also there's always just the right shade of Archival Ink to coordinate!)

Trading Hearts Layered Embossing Cards

...apart from the fact that I'm in love with the bears from Simon Hurley's Winter Woodland stamp set, my favorite thing about this project was the realization that I could emboss sequentially on each of the three layers of Simon's Dazzling Diamonds Layered Stencil Set. 

Archival Ink Mother's Day Card

...I had a plan going in but it morphed into something completely different and much, much, cooler...  which is always exciting. Dina's Pocket Circle Stamp Set was the pivot; Letter It's Family and Loves sets were crucial.

Stickles Glitter Gels Greeting Card

...here's a shocking true confession: this was my first time using Stickles Glitter Gels; I hadn't realized how much more dense the colors are, that they look fab on dark cardstock, or that each shade has a different combo of chunky glitter shapes. Needless to say I was immediately HOOKED!

Glossy Accents Shower Cards

...in this case the occasion (baby or bridal shower) and featured product (Glossy Accents) were suggested by Patti Behan, I love getting a "headstart" that way. Letter It's Shower Clear Stamp Set made it work.

BONUS PROJECT

(I did say it was hard to choose lol)

Liquid Pearls Celebration Cards

...have serious amounts of stenciling and use the fab Liquid Pearls in several different ways!

Five Faves of 2024: Wendy Vecchi Edition

This year we saw not one but two fantastic releases from Wendy Vecchi and Spellbinders (From the Garden and NOT Your Ordinary Card Collection) making it extra hard to choose just five projects, but... in no particular order... here goes!

This mandala card features nearly all the sets in the From the Garden collection. A favorite background (closeup below) was made with Wendy's Ranger Archival Inks and multiple repeats of the Garden Party Layered Stencil Set used WITHOUT the stamped outline. I used the Flowers and Foliage 3D Embossing Folder on the central circle, diecut the "petals" with dies from Heartfelt Thanks and Scallops; and tiny flowers from the Vintage Florals set.

The sweet kitty from the Halloween Add-On, is definitely one of the stars from NOT Your Ordinary Card Collection; the only problem is deciding what colors and accessories to use. The multicolor background was made with Wendy's Ranger Archivals and the Build-a-Plaid Layered Stencil Set, which is both useful and very, very fun! The sentiment is from the Pinking Edge Birthday Add On (plus extraneous diecut letters spelling "PURR"). 

This super-collagey ATC set has its own special pocket that I made with the Essential Envelops Die Set. The tuck-in tag uses two of the three frames in the Pinking Edge Birthday Add On; I love that the scale of the pinking is perfectly appropriate to each size of frame.

I could easily have done FIVE faves featuring the sweet kitty from the Halloween Add-On, but I restrained myself to just two... and two quite different ones, at that. This one actually IS Halloween themed; I love pink and orange (especially the Archivals from Wendy's Designer Series) so that's how I used the the Build-a-Plaid Layrered Stencil Set this time. Again I've used two of the three frames in the Pinking Edge Birthday Add On; this time WITH the largest frame from Garden Collection's Heartfelt Thanks and Scallops. I think they look exponentially even cooler when used together.

Yep, it's another mandala! This one involves probably 15 shades of Archival Ink and 6 or 7 older Studio 490 background stamps and stencils (some of which are available at SB!) paired with the large floral from the Garden Party set. With Petals out of Heartfelt Thanks and Scallops.

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Many thanks to Wendy for designing some of my favorite products of 2024. By the way, if you're a WV fan and you don't watch her Tip Tuesday videos on Instagram and check out the Make Art with Wendy Vecchi group on FaceBook, you are really missing out!!!

Merry Christmas

Wishing the happiest of holidays to everyone who is celebrating today!

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Five Faves of 2024: Eyelet Outlet Edition

It's time to pick my (Lauren's) five favorite cards of 2024 featuring fabulous Eyelet Outlet Brads, Tapes and Bling; so here they are, in no particular order. Click the bolded italic text in each description to visit the original posts, which contain all the details and direct links you need!

I've made A LOT of cards with Book Tape + Book Brads and loved them all; but Books, Cats from August is currently my favorite!

Unicorn Sanity might be the silliest EO card I've ever made (ok, possibly tied with last year's Put My Foot Down, lol) but I couldn't resist... and I love how it came out.

I saw the idea for One Door Closes on one of the humorous "Sign Guys" social media sites and instantly thought, "I have the PERFECT brads and tapes for that!!!" :)

Despite being quite recent, this Angelic card from the beginning of December had to make the list!

Another card made from a funny meme on Instagram, the Unsuccessful Chameleon still makes me chuckle.

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Wishing you the happiest of holiday seasons, 

followed by your most creative year yet in 2025!

Lauren Bergold

is looking forward to new year of brads, tapes and diabolical puns!

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Five Faves of 2024: SOS Edition

'Twas the Tuesday before Christmas, which seems like a fine time to re-visit some of my favorite projects inspired by 2024 challenges at Shopping Our Stash! The captions below the photos will take you back to the original post for each.

SOS513: Once Upon a Time

I don't use it enough, but I still adore MFT's Rainbows and Unicorns stamp set, especially when paired with some of my favorite Eyelet Outlet Brads; so this was the perfect opportunity. Bonus points for using up a favorite (ancient!) Creative Imaginations paper that I once used (in 2008?! good grief!) to make amazing (if I do say so myself, and apparently I do!) Princess photo albums for the nieces.

SOS518: Spring Has Sprung

There's a whoooooole lotta Wendy Vecchi goodness goin' on here. Mostly Studio 490 stamps and stencils, with some Ranger Archivals and a few Spellbinders items; in short, too many to name here, but if you click the caption the original post has links to every single item!

SOS524: Button, Button...

Yes, I think I miiiiiiiight have a few buttons that I could use for this card! Ironically, I used only TWO buttons on the card, but made up for the shortfall by staging with literally dozens more... and these are just the ones that MATCHED!!! 

SOS530: Don't Really Need Another One

This was a clever theme, because we all know EVERY crafter has at least one type of item that we consistently over-buy. I have a few, but washi tape is probably the most blatant example. As you can see. My washi tribute card came out pretty well though, it has to be said.

SOS535: Masculine

Guy Cards ARE harder to make. Fact. I'm fairly proud of this one since it combines collage AND stamping two things I do a lot of, but (mysteriously) I rarely do them TOGETHER. Hopefully, that will change as I practice more.

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Join us next Tuesday for the final 2024 challenge at Shopping Our Stash; then we'll be back every other Tuesday of the new year with brand new inspiration!