Let It (Continue to) SNOW!

We're still creating holiday cards that feature SNOW this week at Jingle Belles... It might be snowmen, snowflakes or just a snowy landscape; but include some snow on your cards. Here's how I got SNOW-y this week:

The other night I had fun ink-blending various shades of blue Ranger Ink Distress Oxides over several panels of white-embossed snowflake backgrounds. But then I couldn't decide which one I liked the best... so I popped a hole into one and layered it over the other... problem solved! The snowman and sentiment are from Simon Hurley's North Pole Sentiments die set by Spellbinders; the Snowflake Brads and Enamel Hearts are from Eyelet Outlet.

Link your fabulous snow-centric masterpieces on the Dashing Through the Snow post at Jingle Belles by next Wednesday evening, November 5th! ♥

ICAD 2025: First Full Week

It's Mandala Monday and time for a round-up of the first full week of ICADs... (short for Index Card a Day <--click the bold italic text to read all about it!) and here they are right now!

Day 9: Embroidery

Most of the time I go off-prompt for Mandala Monday, but in this case the official prompt of #embroidery was quite an easy fit! Vintage embroidery diagrams + some coordinating crochet photos + hand stitching + additional line drawings = joy!

Day 8: Sorbet

In retrospect, this is probably a bit more "sherbet" than "sorbet" but it's still scoops of brightness... and a good excuse to blend some Distress Oxide inks through simple circle stencils.

Day 7: Midnight

I traced one of Dina Wakley's Old School Silhouette stencils on the back of a photo of the Rosette Nebula, cut it out, then layered it onto a photo of the moon. I had planned to add a lot more layers and details, but fell in love with just the stark outlines, so I put some text on and left it there. 

Day 6: Pretzel

I've done a surface pattern of sorts by drawing a wonky-but-recognizable* pretzel on a pink index card, cutting it out, tracing it onto scraps of tan and brown patterned papers, and gluing them to a gridded card. 

*rendering is my weakest skill; my highest drawing aspiration is basically just to end up with something recognizable!

Day 5: Hydrangea

I used a waterbrush to pick up ink from a few shades of purple and green Tombows and painted my stylized blooms on an extra sturdy index card divider… the H one; obviously!

Day 4: Iguana

Fanciful lizardy letters, clouds, ground and sky… all handcut from colorful index cards.

Day 3: Cobalt(ish)

Ok technically, I just went with lots of shades of blue, because I was more interested in constructing my first #OneStapleCollage of the 2025 ICAD season. What's a One Staple Collage? Well, it's an ICAD tradition that goes back at least a decade when Tammy G. posted a brainstorming list of collage styles and one of them was "Stapled Collage" which totally intrigued me and which, for some reason, I immediately interpreted as being a collage held together with ONE staple! It's one of my favorite styles to revisit and I'd invite all ICAD-ians to try it at least once. It's a bit different than a regular collage and possibly more challenging than you think. Since there is only ONE point of attachment, you basically need to construct a stack of items with interesting edges, and try not to bury the best bits under something larger lol. In case the staple blends in a bit too well here, I will disclose that it is placed vertically at the corner of the front window of the charming vintage Lancia motorcar.

♥♥♥

Check out @indexcardaday feed on Instagram for all the official news and prompts; while the hashtag #dyicad2025 will show you what all the ICADians and ICADettes have made so far!

ABC's of Art Journaling

Or perhaps Art Journaling with ABC's would be a more accurate title. This double page in my Dina Wakley Ledger Journal started the same way a lot of my late night "recreational" pages do: without a plan; and featuring the supplies that were already out on my worktable.

In this case that included a bunch of bright and blend-able Distress Oxide Inks, some Dina Wakley MEdia Stencils and a little puddle of leftover White Gesso that needed to be used up before it dried out.

There's no particular focal point to this, but it feels finished to me, at the moment, anyway. I hope you'll find time this weekend to make some recreational art!

JB2509: Week 2

It's the second week of our Ornamental Color Challenge at Jingle Belles, and here's a reminder of the palette; of which we'd like to see you use three (or more!) colors:

And here's my card:

This week, I was inspired by the inspiration photo itself, so I made an ink-blended background using Distress Oxide Inks in the shades closest (imo) to the top three colors in the palette: Uncharted Mariner, Broken China and Speckled Egg. Then I embossed the panel using Spellbinders' Forevergreen e/f and flicked some watered down Liquid Pearls (in White Opal and Gold Pearl) on top. I made a large snowflake stack to stand in for the fancy bauble in the photo and finished the whole thing with some clear gems that look a bit like the bokeh fairy lights.

Check out Stephanie's card and the little prize one lucky random cardmaker will score by linking up with us at Jingle Belles this fortnight. JB2509: Ornamental Color Challenge runs until the evening of Wednesday, May 7th.

MM09: Oxide Ink Blending

Sometimes you just want to sit and blend your favorite analogous Distress Oxide Inks in a big concentric circles, am I right? Ok, maybe that's just me... but after I finished blending and splashing and speckling with the Oxides, I drew a mandala on top with my Letter it Fineliners and added accents to some of the detail shapes with coordinating colors of Tombow Dual Brush Pens. And thus we have a Super Sunshiney Mandala for the first Monday of March!

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.

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.

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!

SOS536: Winter Wishes

Here's a December challenge with a TWIST from Shopping Our Stash: Make a card with a winter theme but... NOT Holiday!!! Here's what I made:

I went with a snowy theme so I could use my older-but-still-beloved Taylored Expressions Winter Wishes stamp set for the sentiment. The rest of the card is just diecuts from scraps of specialty cardstock: Impression Obsession's awesome Birch Trees and Deer Trio have to be 15 years old, but I still use them a lot; The woodgrain frame is from a set of Hero Arts Infinity Dies from maybe three or four years ago. The Simon Hurley Stitched Snowflakes Background Stamp (the very bottom layer of the collage) is probably only a year or so old, but already feels like a permanent "go-to" item. I embossed it with Ranger's Cottontail Embossing Powder which puffs up a bit more than ordinary white e/p and a matte/spongy texture that I love. The snowy ombre blue sky was made by blending Prize Ribbon, Uncharted Mariner and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxides really well; then splashing clear water on top, waiting thirty seconds and blotting it off with a tissue. I'm thinking about making a few more versions of this in different colorways, so that when it's time to write those post-holiday thank you notes, I'll be READY! 

SOS536: Winter (But NOT Holiday) Challenge runs until Monday evening, December 16th and we'd love for you to join us. Why not check out what the rest of The Crew have made, then start planning your own Wintery masterpiece?

Aall & Create for One and Aall!

New Jersey crafters, I'd love for you to come and get INKY with me at Paper Anthology! In my new class, "Let's Get INKY" we’ll blend Ranger's Distress Oxide Inks on plain cardstock, through a stencil and atop white-embossing; then we’ll stamp, we’ll stencil, we’ll overstamp in Ranger Archivals, we’ll stencil a bit more, we’ll do a little bit of coloring (with Tombow Dual Brush Pens), we’ll diecut and… well, we will generally celebrate all the stamping techniques that made us love this hobby, but we’ll revisit them in new ways for a fresh, eclectic look. This class features stamps, stencils, dies and gorgeous butterfly ephemera from Aall & Create as well as Ranger Inks. Details dates and sign-up info on the Paper Anthology Blog!

B is For...

Wouldja believe it's our 490th challenge at Shopping Our Stash?! I didn't join the team until a year or so in, but nevertheless, I love the way we're celebrating: We went back and looked at what we did for our 49th challenge, and it was "Starts with B" and could encompass any image, product or technique which starts with that letter. So for SOS490, we're going BACK to B; which could include plenty of cool things, including (in my case) Blue, (ink) Blending, Beautiful Blossoms, Butterflies, Brads, Birthday (card), Blush (there's some pink in there!)... ok, you get it, right? Find something(s) that start with B and use 'em in your card!

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should confess that I didn't just make the cool ink-blended panel with the stamped collage on top; I actually found it in a box where I keep hand-painted, ink-blended and gel-printed papers. I'm not positive WHEN I made this or WHY I didn't make it into a card at that time, but... when I saw it, I was excited because it's exactly right for my eldest goddaughter's birthday, woohoo! I diecut and stamped the butterflies (the die is ancient Tim Holtz/Sizzix; the texty stamp is equally old Glitz Design) inked them with Wendy Vecchi's Night Sky Archival and attached them with brads of indeterminate origin. The Poppy Stamps whimsical Happy Birthday die is pretty new. I diecut four or five different coordinating colors of sentiment and butterflies before realizing that, on this background, I really needed some white, so in the end I went with a scrap of watercolor paper which happened to be on my work table.

I'd love for you to join us in celebrating SOS490, so I hope you'll start thinking about items from YOUR stash which "Start with B". If you need more inspiration, there's LOTS to be found from the design team... you should probably hop over to Shopping Our Stash and see those right now!

Jingle, Jingle, Jingle

It's the second week of our "Christmas Bells" prompt at Jingle Belles and this one is extra special for me as this design is part of my very first Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit from Paper Anthology. I'll tell you more about that in a minute, but first, here's the card:

Admittedly, there's only one jingle bell in Creative Expressions' Jingle All the Way die, but the sentiment is also bell-related, so I feel good about my choice. I cut the centerpiece from silver metallic paper and backed it with a perfectly sized diecut oval (also in the die set) on which I've ink-blended Distress Oxides in Chipped Sapphire, Prize Ribbon and Salty Ocean. I added texture to the background with Taylored Expressions Sheet Music Embossing Folder, which I softly inked as well. A few accents of Liquid Pearls, and a seam binding bow complete the design.

So what's this Holiday Jumpstart Kit from Paper Anthology? It's basically everything you need (except ink and adhesive) to complete FIVE copies of the card above. To illustrate, I chose to make the five sample cards using five different colorways, and I've included the recipes for those in the kit, but you can make them all the same OR rock your own favorite shades. For that matter, this design will work with ANY combination of blendable dye or hybrid inks you love. In the kit, you'll get: 

• Five white A2 tent fold card bases; 
• Five white panels embossed with the Sheet Music design; 
• Five plain white ovals of nice sturdy cardstock to create your own blendy goodness; 
• Five silver metallic cardstock "Jingle All the Way" diecuts;  
• Enough white seam binding to create five bows; 
• Complete directions, product details and full color photos. 

These kits are available in-store and online at Paper Anthology. If you'd like a little bit of a (ahem sorry, gotta say the name again lol) Holiday Jumpstart, I hope you'll check them out.

Meanwhile, the "Christmas Bells" challenge runs at Jingle Belles until 6pm on Wednesday, 1/25/23, so I hope you'll go and see what loveliness Stephanie has created to inspire you!

Flashy, Splashy Mandala Monday

I've been shamefully neglecting my Dina Wakley MEdia Blue Edition Journal, and this page isn't nearly mixed media enough to do it justice. But I had a lot of fun blending (and blending and blending) lots of blue and green shades of Distress Oxide Inks, both wet and dry, on one of the super-heavyweight cotton rag paper pages, then flicking it with White Gloss Spray and adding outlines. I almost feel like this needs... one... more... thing...; so if you see it again in a few weeks' time, act surprised, k?

Uncharted Mariner, Tumbled Glass, Salvaged Patina, Cracked Pistachio Twisted Citron 

and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxides; Black Letter It Fineliner; White .7 Posca Paint Pen

 

Hello, Sketchbook!

It's a Wide Horizons Mandala Monday as I jump back into my 7x10" sketchbook after two months working on 3 x 5" index cards. This mandala morphed itself out of a mistake: as I started to softly ink the rings, the edge of my fingertip dauber caught the paper and made a big dark streak. I thought about flipping over the page, but then I decided to add streaks to some of the other rings et voila... it turned out way cooler than my intention of a smoothly blended pastel rainbow. Chalk one up for serendipity, it's a nice way to start another hot (HOT!) summer week!

Streaky rings of Distress Oxide Inks in: Tumbled Glass, Salvaged Patina, Cracked Pistachio, Squeezed Lemonade, Dried Marigold, Spun Sugar and Saltwater Taffy; Lines added with Black Letter It Fineliners; White Posca Pen details.

Hello, Inky Goodness

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we are, "Blending In" by which we mean we'd like to see cards and projects that feature ink blending. Dye inks, pigment inks, alcohol inks... any kind of ink you feel like using. I chose Ranger's Distress Oxides because they are the creamiest; and because I just got my hands on the newest shade, Uncharted Mariner and I was excited to see how it fit in with the rest of the line. Don't worry though, even though the ink is new, everything else involved in this card is exceedingly elderly, I promise!

First the blends: I don't suppose anyone will be surprised to hear that Uncharted Mariner pairs very well indeed with all of the darker blues and greens in the Ranger Distress lineup. Blueprint Sketch, Prize Ribbon, Rustic Wilderness and Evergreen Bough make for especially nice transitions, imo. From there you can happily head into lighter blues, purples and more. I also liked the color shift from Broken China into Uncharted Mariner, but I found that I needed to do a bit more overlapping of the two colors because there is a bit of a gulf between the intensity of the two shades.

Once I had a bit of a play with the blends themselves, I started adding more inky goodness in the form of stamping and stenciling. (Sorry, I used too many different items to list them all AND most are no longer available anyway; on the plus side, you could do this with ANY combination of stamps and stencils you like!) I also added another layer of texture by using some of my favorite (also ancient!) embossing folders and on a couple of them I rubbed my Glacier White Pigment Ink Pad on top for extra definition. I had seen this done on top of darkish watercolor and admittedly the white stood out with more contrast than it does on top of the un-set Oxide blends, but it's still a cool technique.

When all of my panels were finished and dry, the hardest part was choosing which one to make into a card first. But then I stumbled upon my old, but still beloved, Dina Wakley Scribbly Birdies and Small Scribbly Birds and that made it pretty easy. I stamped them on some older gel-printed panels, cut them out, and added them --with a bit of vintage sheet music and some Big Chat Stickers to complete the design.

Be sure to check out the Crew Cards over at Shopping Our Stash, then start planning how you'll be "Blending In" with us!

It's Ombre, Hombre!

We're cruising into our second week of ombre-centric cards at Jingle Belles and this time I've created my own version by blending six different shades of Distress Oxide Inks from Ranger through an older Hero Arts Stencil.

There are many lovely shades of green in the Distress line, and it's totally possible to make an absolutely seamless series of tone-into-tone. But instead, I decided to work the overlapping blend to include some of my favorite shades in order of intensity rather than strictly by hue. I used Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Mowed Lawn, Evergreen Bough, Pine Needles and Rustic Wilderness. Hero Arts' Forest Scene stencil is no longer in print, but honestly, this technique would work with ANY stencil; or alternately as an emboss/resist technique using any larger background type stamp.

Be sure to check out Stephanie's beautiful card at Jingle Belles and start planning what you will make!

It's an Inky Birthday Bash

I'm so happy to be back on the Ranger Blog with a brand new, super-colorful project featuring Wendy Vecchi's MAKE ART Birthday Bash Stamp, Die and Stencil Set and Chippies embellishments. See how I made this vibrant inky background with Wendy's signature series Archival Inks in analogous shades of pink, yellow and orange; topped off with my all-time favorite cake... Red Velvet! On the Ranger Blog today... just click this link!

Step 1: Gather your supplies, including Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Birthday Bash Stamp, Die and Stencil Set; Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Bases and Frames Chippies; plus assorted Archival Inks in analogous shades of pink, yellow and orange; rubbing alcohol and white Yupo Cardstock; plus your favorite coloring media.

Step 2: Working on a Ranger Silicone Mat or other non-absorbent surface, "smoosh" one shade of Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink onto the mat by turning the ink pad upside down and randomly applying a bit of color directly to the work surface. Lightly mist the area with Isopropyl Alcohol (91% is ideal but 70% also works fine) then place your cardstock face down on the mat and "grab" some of the color. It's best to apply shades individually, to avoid staining your ink pads. To use multiple colors at a time, dispense a few drops from several Archival Reinkers, remembering that the pigment is much more concentrated, and you might want a bit more alcohol to dilute it.

Step 3: Wipe the mat, apply another color, mist with alcohol, and dip your paper into the diluted ink. Change directions with the paper a few times for better coverage. Repeat this step as many times as you'd like, or until the entire paper is covered. This card features shades of yellow (Buttercup and Chrome) and orange (Tea Rose and Bright Tangelo) at the edges, with a patch of pink (Pink Peony and Vibrant Fuchsia) towards the center. 

Step 4: Using the two solid stars in Wendy's Birthday Bash set, stamp them randomly, over and over, in Magenta Hue Archival, concentrating on the diagonal area of pink towards the center of the paper.

Step 5: Using the confetti stencil from the Birthday Bash set, apply Sunflower Archival, starting towards the center of the inky panel and working outwards. Move the stencil several times and change position as needed to achieve a pleasing arrangement of confetti.

Step 6: Stamp the Cake, Candle and "Make a Wish" sentiment in Potting Soil Archival. Color the cake and candle with markers and/or pencils in a style that represents your favorite type of cake (the sample is Red Velvet, with Cream Cheese Frosting) and diecut or fussy-cut. Stamp the two solid stars multiple times in Vibrant Fuchsia, and use the coordinating dies to cut them out. Mount the images and sentiment on foam adhesive and set aside.

Step 7: On a scrap of Wendy Vecchi Perfect Cardstock, apply Pink Peony Archival Ink through the striped portion of the coordinating stencil in the Birthday Bash set. Add darker stripes with a fine-tipped pink pen, if desired. Trim the strip to 5.5 x 1" and adhere to a skinny mat of Magenta cardstock.

Step 8: Using a Ranger Domed Ink Blending Foam, apply Sunflower Archival to the Heart from Wendy Vecchi's MAKE ART Chippies Bases and Frames set. Trace the heart on a piece of coordinating Sunflower cardstock and cut out. Adhere the cardstock heart to the Chippie, slightly offset, using  Perfect Card Adhesive.

Step 9: Assemble the card: Trim the inky panel to 5" square and ink the edges lightly with Magenta Hue. Add a few scattered dots and doodles with a white paint pen, if desired. Affix the stripey stenciled strip to the base with Perfect Card Adhesive, approximately 1.5" from the bottom of the panel. Add the Chippie Heart to the strip using double stick tape and add the cake, candle, sentiment and stars in a cluster. Affix the finished panel to a 5.5" square card and machine stitch around the edges, if desired. 

Step 10: Decorate an envelope to match, using the stamps in the Birthday Bash set and coordinating colors. This way you'll be ready to mail the finished card to your favorite Birthday Girl or Guy!

"Oh Christmas Stencil...

...Oh Christmas Stencil!" Admittedly, there's no such song, but nevertheless, this fortnight at Jingle Belles we are making holiday cards that celebrate stencils, whether they are used as the focal point of the design, an interesting custom-color background, or just a pretty accent. Don't have any stencils? Make your own, like I did, using just my ancient circle punches and some sturdy cardstock! The details on that process are below, but first I should probably show you my cards... because yes... my blue-ish bokeh background turned out to be big enough for two cards!

I made my Bokeh "Stencil" by using my four smallest circle punches (pretty far apart) on a scrap of glossy white cardstock. Then I blended Villainous Potion and Prize Ribbon Distress Oxides onto a piece of bristol board, and randomly added circles of various blue, purple and pink Oxides through the punched circles with a fingertip sponge dauber. Easy peasy!

When the background was finished, I blotted it very gently with a tissue and set it aside for a few minutes to dry while I assembled my snowflakes, created with Tim Holtz's Stacked Snowflakes die. I've got layers of textured cardstock, shimmer cardstock, glitter cardstock, even some pretty purple giftwrap. The sentiments are from Elizabeth Craft Designs' "Winter Wishes" word set and the mats are various offcuts of coordinating cardstock.

Head over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card, then start sifting through your stencils to decide what you will make!

Hexies + Doodles +Thanks

Michelle Ward's Stamps and Stencils designed exclusively for The Ink Pad have a great NYC vibe, but they don't necessarily need to be used only for New York themed cards and layouts. For example, the Large Hex Pattern Stencil makes a fantastic pattern that works for any occasion; and Michelle's Dance Line Stamp Set has some fabulous art deco detailing as well as the two beautiful Dance Line silhouettes AND two very useful sentiments, as well. This card is on The Ink Pad Blog today, I hope you'll head over there and read all about it!