Just For *EWE*!

WARNING: the diabolical pun level of this post is VERY HIGH; pun-haters look away now!

I (Lauren) have a pair of extra-punny cards today, featuring our adorable Sheep Brads and a few other cool Eyelet Outlet goodies!

Last week I posted some Llama Brad cards that were inspired by a pair of novelty socks. Continuing in that same vein, my first Sheep Brad card was inspired by this cute pouch my sister gave me. (Because yes, there does seem to be a Pun Gene, and our family definitely has it!!!) :)

My first thought (of course!) was, "Hey! We have Sheep Brads AND Eye Glass Brads!!!" so obviously I had to use both. I created the sentiment with a mixture of stamps (spectac and lar) and alphabet stickers. My original idea for the card did not involve Star Brads, and would have had the specs right next to "you're". But because the Eye Glass Brads are open at the center, they have their prongs off at the edges, and actually need two small holes, and I didn't punch the holes precisely enough. Of course I could have started over, but at times like these, I will usually try to come up with a fix. In this case, it was to move the glasses up, and place a white star over the resultant holes; then add a couple more stars to make the placement seem more intentional. In the end, I think they look really good, and if I was going to make a second card like this, I'd plan on stars from the beginning!

The thing about puns is, it's hard to stop at just one, lol. So while I was making the "Spectac-EWE-lar" card, I kept thinking of other words with "EWE" in them. One of which was, "EWE-phoria". At first I wasn't sure how that would translate into a card, but when I was retrieving the Star Brads for the first card, I saw my Knitting Brads and thought about how much I love yarn, some of which --coincidentally-- comes from sheep. I drew the long tangly trail verrrrrrry lightly in pencil and stitched over it twice with my sewing machine. Then I added my alphabet stickers and finally set the Sheep Brad, plus two balls of blue yarn (the packs also contain yellow, purple and green) and the needles from the Knitting Brads.

That's all for today. If you need me, I'll be right over there, near the air conditioning vent, knitting! ♥

Lauren Bergold

really really really

loves yarn!

Down on the Farm

There's nothing more fun than a series of something, at least not to me (Lauren). Especially a series of swap-able altered rolodex cards. With adorable Eyelet Outlet Farm Animal Brads... and... diabolical Farm Puns, lol!  

I was super-excited to see that Heidi Swapp recently re-released her Memorydex dies, which had been out of print for nearly a year. So I decided to celebrate by making some fun farm cards. 

These are similar to ATC's I made when the Cow and Goat Brads, Pig and Sheep Brads and Horse and Pony Brads first came out. But afterall, you don't sing a favorite song only once, so why not re-visit a favorite craft project from time to time? 

I like the larger size as a home for the vintage slidemounts, and also I chose a slightly lighter color palette this time, which I think brightens them up a bit. 

Plus we had fun new Brick Washi and Red Checked Tape that I think conveys the farm feeling really well, especially when mixed with some scraps of red gingham patterned paper.

For the diabolically punny sentiments, I used my old-school Dymo Labelmaker. The trick to finding the analog ones that go "click-click-click" instead of the type which print a neat font on a flat label, is to search for an embossing label maker. 

I hope you'll be inspired to make some fun cards or swaps with our Eyelet Outlet Farm Brads. I'm sure they will be Outstanding in Their Field! ♥

Lauren Bergold

absolutely cannot resist a pun!!!

(You may have noticed that...)

Down on the Farm

Have you seen the awesome new brads in the Eyelet Outlet Fall Release? There are some really great ones this time, and I confess that the series of farm animals are some of my (Lauren's) favorites. There are Roosters, Cow and Goat Brads, and Pig and Sheep Brads. There's even a cool Truck Brad that coordinates pretty well and of course we already had Ducks and Chickens (and Eggs!) and a bunch of other Animal Brads so the possibilities are pretty endless. I stuck with just the farm animals this time, though, and made a set of Artist Trading Cards.

I love the smaller size of ATC's. They are typically 2.5x3.5" ...the size of standard playing cards. In fact I've used some old playing cards as the base on which to build these.

I also like that ATC's are often created as a series of related cards, because you can choose one set of supplies, but make a bunch of different ideas.

For each of the cards in the farm series I've featured one of the new Farm Animals inside a vintage slide mount, then added them to a playing card covered in torn bits of ledger and map paper, as well as bits of dictionary pages with animal definitions on them.

I've added strips of Red Dot Washi and Skinny Gold Pattern Tape as accents.

Finally I used my old school Dymo Labeler to create an appropriate farm animal pun for each card: "Legendairy" for the Cow Brad, "Fowl Play" for the Rooster and Chicken, "No Kidding" for the Goat, "Sheep Thrills" for the Sheep and "Hogs and Kisses" for the cute Pigs.

I hope you'll be inspired to try out a smaller format like ATC's; and be sure to remember that Eyelet Outlet Brads are the perfect accents for this size!

Lauren Bergold

can be found here on Wednesdays

on her own blog the rest of the week,

and at Jingle Belles-- with Stephanie-- every Friday! 

Are you CURED yet?

Living in the Midwestern farmland, I love all of the fun farm animal brads from Eyelet Outlet.

I gathered the entire herd of Farm Animal Brads together for this fun birthday card using sentiments from My Favorite Things The Whole Herd.

I couldn't find a fence die or punch in my stash, so I created a birthday-fence using a Stampin' Up Candle Border Punch.  It's hard to pick a favorite, but I love that little piggie.

I used more of those cute little piggie brads for my next card.

I grounded my piggies with some fun skinny grass washi tape.  Sentiments are from the same MFT The Whole Herd Set.

The new brads will be in the store very soon.

Eyelet Outlet Products used:

• Chicken Brads
• NEW - Cow Brads
• NEW - Goat Brads
• NEW - Pig Brads
• NEW - Rooster Brads
• NEW - Sheep Brads
• Skinny Washi Tape - Grass

Did you know we have a Pinterest Board to showcase Eyelet Outlet Design Team Creations?

You can visit me in blogland at Ingenious Inkling,

and you can find Lauren & I making holiday cards

all year long at Jingle Belles