Brads of a Feather Flock Together

Eyelet Outlet Bluebird and Robin Brads are a fine addition to pretty much ANY card, but when teamed with a sweet set of birdhouse dies, cut from our Wood Washi they have literally found the perfect home. Sun and Cloud Brads set the scene, a bright blue Heart Enamel adds another pop of color and Script Tape makes an excellent mat.

This design could easily be adapted to make a lovely Valentine OR an anniversary greeting, and there are lots more embellishments perfect for either in the Eyelet Outlet Store.

Jingle Belles "Creature Feature" (Week 2)

Nothing says, "Happy Holidays" quite as well as a reindeer road trip, am I right? And since this is Week Two of our "Not a Creature Was Stirring" prompt at Jingle Belles, this seemed like the perfect time to pull out my Lawn Fawn Car Critters stamp set and Christmas add-on to do some paper-piecing.

I come from a long line of quilters, so perhaps that's why I find that stamping the car, accessories and deer on subtle patterns is very appealing; certainly I always have LOTS of little scraps that are perfect for this sort of card. Additionally, all of the background pieces on this card came from the scraps box as well, including that perfect A2-sized panel of ancient MME Cozy Christmas with the cars on it! Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads and various sizes and colors of Enamel Dots round off the design.

Be sure to visit Jingle Belles to see what Stephanie has made this week to inspire you, then start planning your own Creature or Critter card!

Oh Deer!

The new Eyelet Outlet Brads just get better and better, don't you think? Today's card features the Deer from our new vintage-inspired Santa and Deer set, as well as the Snowy Tree Brads. 

Of course, the new items pair really well with the older ones, too! Such as Holly Brads, Heart Pearls, two styles of Tree Tape, Wood Washi, Sparkle White Glitter Tape and Glitter White Enamel Dots!

There's lots more cardmaking inspiration on the Eyelet Outlet Blog and in the gallery at the Online Store, as well as our Facebook Fan Group and Instagram pages!

HB2U

Is there anything more festive than Birthday Sock Monkeys? I kind of doubt it, especially when they're Eyelet Outlet Birthday Sock Monkey Brads AND they're on sale! I've paired mine with some colorful Happy Birthday Washi Tape, Pastel Balloon Brads (also on sale!) and Heart Enamels.

If Sock Monkeys are not your idea of birthday joy, there are plenty of other styles of brads, tape, flowers, bling and enamels at Eyelet Outlet!

Gulls Just Wanna Have Fun*

It's officially summer, school is out, and thus my (Lauren's) thoughts have turned to all things beachy! Here's a card that features Eyelet Outlet Seagull Brads, Ocean Tape, Glitter Gold Tape, Sea Shore Brads, Pearl Bling and Glitter Enamel Dots: 

No matter what your idea of Summer Fun is, I'm absolutely certain there are Eyelet Outlet brads, bling, enamels, flowers and washi tape to go with it! 

*Note to non-East Coast dwellers: on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, what GULLS really want is to steal your french fries!!!

BIG Initials!

One of the easiest ways that I (Lauren) have found to quickly customize a plain store-bought gift bag is with giant initials, covered in Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape of which... fortunately... I happen to have quite a bit! I've also got some fun Enamel Hearts and Stars, which I've scattered around the bags for even more texture and interest.

It seems counter-intuitive to start with the tape rather than the initial, but in fact, that's sort of what I did. I did size and print my initials on plain white cardstock first, but... I didn't cut them out. Instead, I took my 4x6" outline letters (the font is called Storybook) and stapled them to 5x7" pieces of cardstock covered in neat strips of washi. Then, I cut them out!

Between my three initials, I've used about three dozen different tape styles, and I'll name and link a bunch of those in a minute, but really... this idea will work with ANY combination of tapes you like! You can organize them by color, as I have here; or by theme, or in rainbow order, or create patterns with the tape or... well, this is quite a flexible method and thus perfect for making the initials as unique as their recipients! I adhered my finished initials to some solid cardstock to create a skinny outline, then added some of the same tapes to each bag to complete the design.

And now here's a fairly thorough list of the tapes I used, from top to bottom, for each letter!

Letter K: Flower Washi, Pink Foiled Rose, Skinny Calendar Tape, Unicorn Washi, Zigzag, Pink Checked, Macaron, more Skinny Calendar (the set has three different styles), wide Funky Bird Tape, Heart Tape from the Valentine set, Tiny Hearts, the third of the Skinny Calendar Tapes and Pink + White Dots.

Letter R: Star Tape, Owl Washi, Script Tape, Skinny XO Foil Tape, XO Washi which is sadly out of print, Foiled Silver Dots, Antique Car Tape, Tire Tracks, Road Tape, Wood Washi, Music Keyboard Tape and a repeat of XO, Script and Stars.

Letter S: Cloud Washi, Skinny Tape, Purple Zigzag, Rainbow Tape, Purple Checked, Skinny Calendar Tape, Purple Gingham Check and Purple/Green Stripe Tape have, alas, gone; Llama Washi, More Clouds, Foiled Flower Tape and finally Purple Dots and Japanese Tape are also out of print, but... You can see the entire (huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!) selection of Eyelet Outlet Washi, just by clicking this link!

Lauren Bergold

has quiiiiiite a bit of

EO Tape!!!

Everybunny's HOPPY!

Oddly enough, this Eyelet Outlet Easter card has NO brads on it... HOW is that even possible? Well of course I (Lauren) love our Brown Rabbit Brads and our Pastel Rabbit Brads, but there are also quite a few awesome Bunny Tapes and Rabbit Washi styles, and I've used two of them here:

I applied both styles of tape in neat strips onto plain white cardstock. Then I used two alphabet die sets (Altenew's Bold Alphas and Lawn Fawn's Henry's ABCs) to cut out the sentiment from the colorful Bunny Tape. I fussy cut five sweet little dudes from Wide Rabbit Washi to peep out from the letters of "Hoppy" and added a few pink Heart Enamel accents. I layered the whole design over a couple of strips of Pink Check Tape and called it a day.

Be sure to visit the EO Blog often for more Easter card ideas by the amazing design team! ♥

Hoppy Easter, Everybunny!

Eyelet Outlet Pastel Rabbit Brads are one of my favorite styles for Easter, and... they're on sale! I love how the five colorful bunnies add instant interest to my card, and how well they pair with the shades of EO Bright Stitched Flowers and Minis (the latter are also on sale!) Heart Brads and colorful Enamel Dots.

I used two sizes of circle punches to frame each Rabbit Brad with a few flowers, dots and hearts; but this design would work equally well with Chicks, Brown Rabbits, Colored Eggs, or pretty much ANY Eyelet Outlet brad style you love!

A Toast for Valentine's Day

Breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, it's also the very best for puns! When these EGG-citing cards pop up in your Valentine's mailbox, it is sure to be BACON their day! 

Eyelet Outlet's Bacon, Egg and Toast Brad Set pairs perfectly with colorful Striped Washi and some white Enamel Hearts for a pair of cards that's FRIED and true! 

Baublicious!

We're still celebrating holiday ornaments at Jingle Belles and you've still got time to join the fun! This week my baubles are chipboard, from an older My Mind's Eye collection, they're dangling from Eyelet Outlet Pearl Strips, on a Graphic 45 background, and I've scattered a few EO Enamel Stars around to add extra texture.

Whether you're ornaments are made of chipboard or paper; whether they're diecut, stamped or stenciled; if they're in a box, on a tree or just dangling on your card, I hope you'll hop over to Jingle Belles and link up your Ornamental Masterpiece with us!  

Flower Power

As the weather starts to cool off and the colors of the garden start to fade away, we're having one last celebration of all things floral at Shopping Our Stash. 

I found a few sheets from Simple Stories' "I Am" line that I absolutely fell in love with at Paper Anthology a couple of years ago, brought home and... promptly forgot all about?! So this seemed like a good time to cut into those! I've used bits of two different journal cards, fussycut some flowers from another sheet and used two of the texty styles as backgrounds. A wordfetti sentiment, skinny black kromekote mats and a few Eyelet Outlet Enamels and I called it a day.

Hop over to SOS to see the amazing DT creations and start planning your own floral masterpiece!

Happy Hanukkah!

Here's a super-easy way to make a fun Hanukkah card without any specific themed product!

I saved the blue candles from several packs of Eyelet Outlet Candle Brads, and arranged them in a line to make a simple menorah shape. I added a blue Tear Drop Bling to act as flames on eight of them, with a Heart Enamel on the Shamash candle in the center; all set atop a sticker sentiment in white, accented with some little Round Enamels.  

There's new inspiration nearly every day on the Eyelet Outlet Blog, so be sure to visit often!

It's NOT an Embarrassed Zebra!

This fortnight is our last 2020 challenge at Shopping Our Stash, and it's quite a good one! We're asking the question, "What's Black and White and Red All Over"... but in this case we already know that the answer is a cool papercrafting project. Mine's a card, see?

This is quite a stash-y card. The base is an off-cut of vintage sheet music. I've used a bunch of Eyelet Outlet Washi Tapes that have been discontinued, plus a few that are still available; plus the cool Matte Red Enamel Dots which I've had for ages but never used. The Penny Black poinsettia die is a year or two old, though Bountiful Berries is quite new; as is that excellent Non-Shed Glitter Paper from Paper Anthology. The papers are all scraps; in fact the top pattern is from Daisy D's... remember them? Definitely going back a bit with that one!

Be sure to hop over to SOS and see the amazing inspiration the DT have whipped up for you, then link up your own Black, White and Red creation!

Bake Someone Happy

Meet the latest addition to our Eyelet Outlet team of allstar brads: Gingerbread Men and Women! These fun characters made their debut in the EO Store last week and are ready to join in holiday projects of all descriptions, especially cards, like this one:

I stamped a sweet little house for my Gingerbread Brads to live in and built a background with an assortment of red and green washi tapes, including: Ho Ho Ho, Skinny Tape, Heart Tape, Christmas Pattern and Wide Tree Tape. I scattered a few Peppermint Candies and a Candy Cane Brad, affixed a red Heart Enamel to the front door and called it a day! 

Hop on over to the EO Store to find brads, bling, tape, enamels, paper flowers, and sequins for every occasion!

From Italy, Con Amore!

Ok, technically, I am in New Jersey and unlikely to leave the country any time soon. But I can still *imagine* a fabulous trip to Italy by using my Eyelet Outlet Colosseum and Pisa Brads to make some fun Italian-themed cards. Oh and to make it even better, these brads are on special for just .89 cents!

For my first card I've combined an illustration from an old book with this cool Ticket Washi, and added the Leaning Tower and Colosseum to the "I" and "O" in my sentiment, which is composed of vinyl alphabet stickers in a nice chunky font. I've matted the whole panel with beautiful antique-looking Map Tape.

My second card is a bit sillier, so I needed to make a custom sentiment on the computer. The Leaning Tower is saying, "I'll Never ROME" to the Colosseum, who replies, "You've got a PISA my heart"! In addition to the Italian Brads I've got a Compass and a background paper made by neatly lining up strips of funky yellow Text Tape on plain white cardstock.

Wherever your real or imaginary travels take you this summer, I'm pretty sure there's an Eyelet Outlet Brad and Washi Tape combination to help you celebrate!

Hoppy, Hoppy, Hoppy...

...Valentine's Day! Just in case you need a few fast card ideas before Friday, here are three takes on HOPPI-ness, Eyelet Outlet style!

My first card features the ever-adorable Frog Brads, on a background of Cloud Washi and Water Tape, with half a Paper Flower serving as a lilypad. I used nested heart dies to trim my little scene into an appropriate Valentine shape, and added my sentiment with mixed letter stickers. At the very end, I added three white Heart Pearls.

It's less obvious at first, but beer can also be described as "HOPPY" so my second card features one of the bottles and a mug from our Beer Brads on a background of Beer Tape, sitting on a bar made of Hardwood Floor Washi. A few yellow Heart Enamels and we were good to go!

Heading back into cuuuuuute territory, this sweet little pair of Rabbit Brads (the packs contain both styles) is surrounded by diecut hearts made of Tiny Heart Washi and Checked Tape, with a couple of Heart Brad accents. 

Eyelet Outlet has a brad (and a style of tape!) to make a card that embodies pretty much ANY diabolical pun you can devise. For Valentine's Day, St. Pat's, Easter and beyond! ♥

I Don't See Any Kings...

It's true there are no kings at all to be found in this post which is makes this fortnight's Jingle Belles prompt, "We Three Kings" a bit mysterious, doesn't it? In fact, we are focusing on the *THREE* aspect. We'd like to see cards with three reindeer or three trees or three... well... something on them! This is one of those times when it'll be quicker to just show you what I made, so here ya go!

tags and snowflakes: doodlebug design; heart brad, antler brads and star enamel: eyelet outlet; patterned paper: lawn fawn, authentique and some tiny scraps of old bg behind the tags; border stickers: d-bug, american crafts, echo park; glossy white cardstock: the paper cut; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, sewing machine

Ok, so, I started with THREE adorable Doodlebug tags. I intended to add THREE Eyelet Outlet Brads (one on each tag) but the obvious choice for the reindeer was a set of antlers which brought the total to four, thus scuppering that, lol; and technically the star is an enamel sticker. I settled for THREE border stickers behind the tags and finished off with THREE red snowflakes. I'd love to say I finished this at THREE pm... but... really it was more like 8:30. I do love this card, though!

Hop over to Jingle Belles and see Stephanie's card and start planning your own Trio-Centric masterpiece!

Book 'Em!

I recently enjoyed "The Library Book" by Susan Orlean and it inspired me to get out my Eyelet Outlet Book Brads --and Book Tape-- to make some fun cards!

I love that the packets of Book Brads contain both colorful books and more neutral ones.I used five of the colorful ones for my first card, and went vertical with them... to make a whole entire shelf of books. I attached my computer generated sentiment (the free font is called "Bohemian Typewriter") to a fun yellow reproduction library catalog card, added some red Heart Enamels and placed the whole thing on a background of texty patterned paper adorned with Heart Washi, Star Tape and some Skinny Washi strips.

The sentiment on my second card is one I saw on a t-shirt in a book lover's catalog some months ago, and wrote down in my ideas notebook. I printed it on a clear ink jet label in a free font called "Beach Condensed" and affixed it to another faux library card. This time I used our beautiful Book Tape as an accent on both the sentiment card and the background, added just one stack of neutral Book Brads and a single Heart Enamel.

It just goes to show that time spent reading OR crafting is NEVER wasted! ♥

When Irish Frogs Are Smiling

Sunday is St. Patrick's Day and since I happen to be about 60% Irish, here are a couple of timely cards, all dressed in green, featuring our adorable Eyelet Outlet Frog Brads!

By now I expect everyone knows that premade journal cards are my very favorite cardmaking "secret" so it's no surprise that I have employed them here. These particular ones happen to be from Doodlebug Design; I love their clear bright colors. I changed the "Happy" to "Hoppy" on the sentiment flag with the help of a green jewel brad, and added a handsome pair of Frog Brads as well as one of the cattails and waterlillies which come in the same set. A green Heart Enamel completes the little scene.

For my second card, just a single Frog Brad, a few purple Heart Enamels, and a strip of Stripe Tape trimmed with some Skinny Glitter Tape.

I hope all of my Irish friends will enjoy a very Happy St. Patrick's Day... but then EVERYBODY is Irish on March 17th! ♥

Whole Lotta Love

Something I didn't realize until I was loading up my photos, is that I have not used any Eyelet Outlet Brads this week. *HOW* did that happen?! I have, however, used plenty of bling, tape, and enamels along with a super-useful mason jar stamp and die set, to make two fun Valentines.

I don't make nearly enough shaker cards. Which is weird because any time I do make them, I really love the results. In this case, I used the mason jar die to cut the shape from my top layer of paper and backed it with clear plastic that I saved from some packaging. I used several layers of foam tape to make an extra deep pocket, so that I could use Heart Jewel Bling as my shaker contents. To do so, I had to carefully peel the adhesive off each heart, so they'd be able to move around without getting stuck. An alternative is just to cover the adhesive backing liberally with powder or cornstarch, thus neutralizing it. (FYI: This works on stickers, too!) I "labeled" the jar with clear Heart Bling, made a mat with my favorite henna-inspired Wide Flower Washi Tape and called it good to go!

For my second card, I used Staz-On ink to stamp the mason jar onto a piece of plain cardstock which I'd made into a fun patterned paper by neatly lining up strips of Love Tape. I filled the jar with yellow and red Heart Enamels and mounted it on another tape-centric "paper" which is composed of Heart Washi and Skinny Red Dots Tape, placed at regular intervals on a piece of graph paper. 

I hope you'll be inspired to find fun new ways to combine your favorite stamp and die sets with beautiful Eyelet Outlet embellishments!