It's a Very Vivid...

...Mandala Monday, thanks to my Karin Markers, which are absolutely outstanding for both watercoloring* and also brush lettering! I often place analagous colors next to each other, so that they will blend harmoniously if there's a little cross-migration. Sharpies, Pitt Pens, Poscas and Ranger Letter It Fineliners are all fairly waterproof, so you can, if you like, create the lines first and then fill in with color. I often do the reverse, as on this piece: I paint all of the large shapes AND THEN outline them after they're dry. A heat gun will speed up the drying process; be sure to use it on both the front and the back of your watercolor paper, so that all the fibers are nice and dry.

Wishing you a colorful and productive week ahead!

♥♥♥

*There are two methods for watercoloring with markers: #1. Scribble one color at a time onto a plastic palette, pick up the color with a waterbrush, paint the design. #2. Use the markers directly to paper, to sort of outline the areas you want to fill, use the waterbrush to pull the outline color into the rest of the space, it will automatically lighten the further you pull it. For either method, you're best off using watercolor paper-- it's specially designed to stand up to being worked on wet-- and also working on a smallish section at a time. You can use the same method with alcohol ink markers or ink pads, if you fill the waterbrush with Isopropyl Alcohol.

Flashy and Splashy

It's a Reggae Sunsplash Mandala Monday, featuring a base of ALL the brightest shades of Karin Markers laid down side to side in my Canson sketchbook, then blended with a waterbrush, then splashed and sprinkled with more water to add that fun tie-dye, color-lift effect. If this thing doesn't wake up your morning, you should probably just go back to bed, lol!

Painted Peony Power

Pink Fresh's Painted Peony Mix Stamp Set from The Ink Pad is exactly the breath of spring we need on a cold, grey, January day, I hope you'll hop over to the TIP Blog and check it out! 

Go Wild!

Is it just me, or are masculine cards actually harder to make than feminine ones? Maybe it's a sign that I rely too heavily on kawaii and floral images, but I definitely have to think a bit harder to make an awesome "guy card". Luckily, Dare 2B Artzy's Slim Tropical Leaf Border die set makes it very easy to create a jungle setting in slimline form! See more pics of this "WILD" card and read about the process on The Ink Pad Blog!

All Around the Town

Impression Obsession's Slim Scenes Large Town stamp set is both beautiful and useful for themes like a new home, a new job, a milestone at work, or trips into and out of your favorite city. The set has both a solid skyline stamp and an outline one, so of course I wanted to test-drive both! I've paired them with Picket Fence Studios' Slimline Nested Rectangles die set and Fancy Congratulations Sentiments stamp set; and added color with my Karin Brushmarkers. The results... in both slimline and A2 card form... are on The Ink Pad Blog today.

Going to the Dogs

Picket Fence Studios' This Dog is for You stamp is so adorable, it might be doggone irresistible! Here are a pair of cute canine cards which are embossed differently, but both colored with Karin Brushmarker Pros. Hop over to The Ink Pad Blog to read about both versions and see a third attempt that really (REALLY!) did not work! :) 

"Smooshing" a Rainbow

Probably your first question is, "What in the world is SMOOSHING?" and I'll get to that in a minute, but first let me mention that today's cards were inspired by and made using Dare 2B Artzy'x Slimline Curve Borders Die Set and the Mega Box of Karin Markers, both of which can be found at The Ink Pad and will be of considerable advantage to your crafting arsenal! There's a little photo tutorial and a second card made using these same ingredients, both can be found on The Ink Pad Blog, so I hope you'll hop over to see them.

If it Rains...

"...look for the rainbows" is my favorite sentiment in Picket Fence Studios' "After the Storm" Clear Stamp Set from The Ink Pad. But if you don't love that one, no worries... there are also four additional sentiments, in a variety of attractive fonts; as well as three lovely images. I've used two of the latter on this card; the details of which are on The Ink Pad Blog today:

Face to Face

I'm a HUGE Dina Wakley fan, I've been lucky enough to take both real life and virtual classes with that always-inspiring lady, and thus I'm absolutely always excited to get my hands on some fabulous Dina Wakley Media products and start creating! This card and tag are made with Dina's Vintage and Sketches Collage Paper and her Collage Words (Pack #3) from The Ink Pad; I hope you'll hop over to TIP Blog and read a bit more about the process!

It's Almost Friday!

So this seems like the perfect time for a card that celebrates the end of the work week! Picket Fence Studios' Here is Where I Work cling stamp set from The Ink Pad has other sentiments, as well; covering everything from encouragement to congratulations to employee appreciation... and in a variety of interesting fonts. But this week, Friday is definitely looking good to me! I'd love for you to hop over to The Ink Pad Blog and see a few more pics, and read about my process!

Another New Year, Another New Journal

One of the most exciting things about the New Year for planners and journal-keepers is choosing and setting up our new book, supplies and system. Last year was my first time using a Traveler's Notebookfrom The Ink Pad (details from last January are HERE) and since my experience was 100% positive, I'll be going down that same path, using dated 2021 Traveler's Company Products.

Last year I purchased and decorated a Refill Binder, as opposed to a Leather Cover, since I knew most of my journal-keeping would take place at home. I added collage papers and stickers to the front and back covers. Since I had the intention of re-using the same cover in subsequent years, I confined my references to the year 2020 to a catalog card which slid into a library pocket. So this year, all I had to do was remove the 2020 card and my completed (and now rather fat, lol) weekly and monthly refills, archive them, and decorate a new card for 2021. I used some Pepin Vintage Fashion Stickers, MT Fab Letters Tapeand the stickers that came with my new TN. 

This year I'll be working with a 2021Weekly Vertical + Memo(which splits the year into two halves)and a 2021 Dated Monthly Diary. I treated myself to the 2021 Customizing Sticker Set(this year's theme is classic books) and a Brass Bookmark Template.

To kick off the year, I decorated the front cover of the January-June Weekly book, again with some of the stickers that came with my TN, more Pepin Vintage Fashion, beautiful White Lace Gem Tape, some letters cut from MT Fab Letters Tape, and various stickers and tapes from Pepin's Natural History, Art Forms in Natureand Classical European Tilesbooks. (There are quite a few other books in this Pepin seriesand with thirty-two 8x10" pages these are a good value as well as being both useful and beautiful!)

Since January first fell mid-week, my first layout spans the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. I did a little hand-lettering with my Karin Decobrush pensand made a little collage featuring some vintage bookpaper, sheet music, a fabulous quote (written out on my trusty Royal typewriter)and various Pepin Stickers, some of which I fussycut.

I use my Monthly Diary not to plan forward, but record my projects and assignments once they are completed. So my month of January isn't filled in yet, but I added a little more lettering, as well as more Pepin tapes and stickers.

There are so many different ways to use a Traveler's Notebook, many of which do not involve a calendar or dated pages at all! Did you know there are Gridded Refills, Kraft, Sketchbookpages, Watercolor Refillsand more. And most of these varieties also come in the handy Passport Size (which is, as the name implies, literally the size of your passport)as well as the larger Regular Size (4x 8"ish) that I have chosen! Visit the website or better yet, the Chelsea store to see the whole selection and be sure to check out the TN Master Blog Post for an overview of the basics!

All Treats, No Tricks

Halloween is nearly upon us, but there's still time to make and send some BOO-tiful cards to our friends and family. Here's one that features cuuuuute Lawn Fawn critters, luscious Distress Oxide Inks, and some fab new die sets from The Ink Pad. All the details and product links are on TIP Blog!

TN + Stamps = JOY

This month on Instagram, The Ink Pad's friend and Journal Guru, Andy Evers (aka @storiedpages) is co-hosting a event called "You By Me" in which journalers are encouraged to try making a page in the style of a fellow enthusiast they admire. I chose Andy himself (of course!) and was pretty excited to find that since we both shop at The Ink Pad, we have quite a few products in common; which made my task fairly easy. All the details on this layout as well as my September montly spread on The Ink Pad Blog today!

Floral Fantasy

I'm absolutely smitten with AlteNew's beautiful Persian Motifs Stamp Set, which I got (surprise!) at The Ink Pad! The set has three different lotus-like flower groupings, plus a bunch of extra leaves and swirls, and four useful sentiments in an understated font. I had fun experimenting with several different combinations of embossing inks and powders, the results are on The Ink Pad Blog this morning!

Brush Up Your Handlettering

One of the keys to improving your hand-lettering is, of course, practice; there's no getting around that fact. But... it's also extremely helpful to have good tools! And for brush lettering, that means high quality pens like these Karin Brushmaker Pros from The Ink Pad. By the way, they're also great for coloring. Lots more about colors and varieties, including these luscious new neon shades, on The Ink Pad Blog today! 

Don't Worry, Be CRAFTY!

There's a lot of worry about right now. Understandably so. Because let's face it, even the word "pandemic" is frightening. I (Lauren) think creative people might be particularly susceptible to anxiety, because our imagination didn't come with an off switch, did it? But... sometimes it's possible to change channels, and keeping busy helps with that. Keeping busy by playing with art supplies seems to especially help me, AND at the end of it I sometimes have something pretty or fun to share with my friends. Like this:

A couple of months ago, my friend, Anna Chiang, the owner of The Ink Pad, found some really cool word art that was done on top of vintage dictionary pages. And we've both been obsessed with it ever since. So of course when I had a lettering idea I had to get out my Karin Markers and Karin DecoBrush Metallic Pens and grab some dictionary paper! I decided to make the pivotal word, "Crafty" a bit stronger and more interesting by swapping out ordinary pen letters for mixed media.

The letters are as follows:

• C: handmade paper, vintage buttons and a sequin 
• R: an experiment blending Gansai Tambi Watercolors on Canson paper
• A: skinny washi tape and two sizes of Eyelet Outlet Bee Brads
• F: origami paper stitched with embroidery floss
• T: measuring tape washi
• Y: a scrap of pink burlap, a paper flower, Eyelet Outlet Flower Brad and sequins

The lettering was done with my Karin BrushMarkers and DecoBrush Metallic pens. The outlines are Pigma Micron pen in a nice fine tip. The shadows are grey brush pen. The little pink hearts (and a few other details) are Posca Paint Pen. There are Neat and Tangled Sequins scattered about, just because I will take any excuse to scatter some sequins!

I hope that you are having a happy, hopeful day already, but if not, why not spend some quality time with your art supplies? ♥

Lauren Bergold

finds rainbow shades of ANY

media immediately comforting!

Happy Hanukkah!

The Festival of Lights begins at sundown and I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone who is celebrating a very Happy Hanukkah from everyone at The Ink Pad! This timely card is on The Ink Pad Blog today, if you'd like to stop by and read a bit more about it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you the happiest of holidays: full of delicious food, great company and stress-free travel. In keeping with the Thanksgiving tradition of eating then shopping, make sure to keep an eye out for special sales at The Ink Pad's Greenwich Village shop from Friday through Tuesday so you can get your craft fix on! (& of course The Ink Pad Online is open all the time!)

Card by Lauren Bergold

Supplies used: Karin DecoBrush Metallic Pens, Pitt Artist Pens, Eyelet Outlet Brads 

and VersaFine Clair Inks; all available at The Ink Pad!

♥♥♥

It's Pumpkins and Spice...

...and Everything Nice on The Ink Pad Blog today! I'm dishing up a card that features Eyelet Outlet Pumpkin Brads, a little bit of lettering goodness and my own handpainted plaid patterned paper. Check it out! ♥