Narwhals, Narwhals! (Plus Brads and Tape)

I don't know about you, but I (Lauren) look forward to Spring more and more every year. I love the warmer weather, watching my lawn turn green and my daffodils bloom and... I know there will be new Brads and Washi Tape in the Eyelet Outlet Store! There are about three dozen new varieties of tape, and frankly I love them all. But when I saw the Cloud Washi and Water Tape, I immediately wanted to "make a scene"! But literally. In card form. Like this:

Of course, it didn't hurt that I had a brand new, adorable narwhal stamp that I was dying to use. But this idea is a bit more flexible than it seems at first. Because you could swap the narwhal for a whale, a dolphin, a mermaid... basically ANY cute sea creature would work! I got a bit artsy with my sky, using intermittent strips of the Cloud Washi, torn to fit around lyrics from The Narwhal Song, which I happen to love. But you could skip the typing and just make a nice neat cloudy sky above a Water Tape ocean. Once I had my background finished, it was time to have some fun with brads! I added Sun and Clouds towards the top, a pair of cute Fish Brads and a pink Heart Brad. My card is a 5.5" square, but this would also work as an A2. You'll notice that at every stage of this design I've said, "...but you could do *this* instead..." which I felt was starting to sound a bit lame. So eventually I figured I'd better actually make a card using all of the "insteads". Here it is now:

A nice neat Cloud Washi and Water Tape seascape, diecut into a heart to hold my Narwhal, plus those fab Sun and Cloud Brads again. And since I keep my Sunglass Brads right next to the Sun and Clouds, I noticed that they were a pretty good size for the narwhal to wear, so I added a pair from the Colorful set. Instead of patterned paper for a background I used an older Blue and White Dot Tape in the same color family. I even added a slightly more mainstream sentiment!

I hope you'll check out all the fun new Washi Tape in the EO store (the newest styles are all conveniently located at the top of the decorative tape section, with an asterisk before their names) and maybe even "make a scene" of your own! ♥

Lauren Bergold

looooooves narwhals!

♥

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere!

That being the case, this is the perfect time to celebrate with a bit of a cocktail, in card form! Hi folks, it's Lauren here to remind you that Eyelet Outlet has many styles of adult beverage brads, from Beer to Champagne to Wine and Cocktails, there is something to suit every taste! I've made a few variations, because it's no fun to drink *alone* right?!

Lately I love to make altered rolodex cards, and I've been lucky enough to get into a fun swap group, which is helping to grow my collection. For this set of Cocktail Cards, I diecut the rolodex card shape from various bright patterned papers, added strips of Washi Tape and affixed my various Beverage Brads on little tags. For my sentiments, I printed most of the text in a typewriter font, then chose to highlight a word or two by spelling it out in letter stickers. I used neutral stickers in the same font as my bright colors, to create a sort of drop shadow effect, which made them show up even better!

For my first sentiment, "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" I wanted a party atmosphere, so I chose to combine a few different brad styles, including a mug from the Beer Brads set, a glass of white wine and a margarita from the Cocktails set, and some Colorful Sunglass Brads to add to the tropical vibe.

For "Why Limit Happy..." I used both the mug and one of the bottles from the Beer Brads, as well as an appropriately festive Emotion Brad. I've set off the sentiment with some Blue Dots tape and a Skinny Yellow tape.

On the "Cheers My Deers" card I used two champagne flutes from the Wedding Brads set, with some tiny gems snipped from a Fancy Long Bling strip, rising up from the glasses. I've drawn attention to the little tag by adding strips of bubbly-looking Pink Dots and Blue Dots washi.

To illustrate "When Life Gives You Lemons..." I used one of each shade of margarita from the Cocktail set, adorning one of them with a Beach Umbrella that is cleverly multitasking, lol.

I hope you'll be inspired to serve Eyelet Outlet Beverage Brads at your next papercrafting party! ♥

Lauren Bergold

can be found here each Wednesday, 

and on her own blog the rest of the week!

Oh Boy!

Hi guys, it's Lauren here again. We had some exciting news in the Bergold family just before Christmas: our eldest nephew and his wife are expecting a baby boy this summer! Being a cardmaker, OF COURSE the first thing I thought of was boy themed cards, lol; and I decided to start practicing right away. Luckily I found these adorable Eyelet Outlet Baby Animal Brads which seemed like the perfect set around which to build some super-cute cards.

I love BIG titles and sentiments; for one thing they're an awesome place to feature brads. For both of these cards, I diecut the appropriate letters from white cardstock that I had covered with Blue Houndstooth Tape that's listed under Dots, Patterns and edged the letters very lightly with a black brush marker before mounting them on tiny slivers of foam tape to make them stand out... both literally and figuratively. 

For my first card, I had chosen a patterned paper that looked like denim, when I realized that I had some actual denim in the form of a pair of ancient, lightweight jeans I was getting ready to send to the recycling center. Instead, I used my Xyron machine to apply edge-to-edge adhesive to a 4 x 5.25" panel of plain white cardstock, stuck the panel to the reverse side of the denim, burnished it really well, and cut neatly around the panel with scissors. Then I stitched around the edge with my sewing machine to add extra interest and keep that denim from ever being tempted to peel up.

Since some of the brads are on the very edges of the letters, I used a combination of their own prongs and some super-strong gluedots to attach them firmly, then added them to the card, with some plain white alphabet stickers to finish the title.

My second card was inspired by the current sketch at Sketch Saturday, and it immediately suggested inchies to me. I applied Blue and White Dot Washi in neat strips on some plain white cardstock, burnished the edges really well, and trimmed my tape paper down into neat one inch squares, which I matted with cardstock and then verrrrry carefully stitched around the edges. 

I added my Baby Animals, popped the squares up on foam tape, and added them to a cardfront inspired by the sketch, with the Houndstooth letters and alphabet stickers making up the sentiment once more.

I can think of lots of other uses for these adorable critters, and I bet you can, too! Why not treat yourself to some Baby Animal Brads and see what they inspire you to make? Be sure to tag your creations with #EyeletOutlet when you post on Facebook and Instagram, so we can see what you've made; and check out all the fab designer creations while you're there! ♥

Lauren Bergold is also on 

Facebook, Instagram and her own blog, 

"...all the *GOOD* blog names were taken..."

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Hi folks, it's Lauren here again. When my niece Madeline was little, any time she was asked what her favorite color was, she immediately said, "RAINBOW!" Maddie is thirteen now, but I'm pretty sure that rainbow is still her favorite color, and it's mine, as well. So today I have a trio of rainbow cards which feature some of my favorite old and new Eyelet Outlet products.

Have you seen the brand new Pipe Brad Sets? I think they're one of the coolest items in the new Fall Release, because there are just so many ways to use them! Each packet contains faucets, valves, straight pipe and elbow joints, so the combinations are nearly endless. My fellow designer, Susan made this clever card using the pipes and valves and this one that features one of the faucets quite brilliantly. Mine is not as practical, but it has a lot more color, lol!

I pieced together a bunch of the pipe segments and had them lead to a faucet that dispenses rainbow swirls which I water colored using all my favorite shades of ColorBurst pigment powders. I added a computer generated sentiment mounted on a mat of Glitter Black Washi for a bit of sparkle.

My second rainbow idea involves a bunch of my favorite Eyelet Outlet Washi Tapes, including: Purple Zig Zag, Blue Dots, Skinny Green Stripe, Tape Measure Washi, Orange Fans, Red Dots and just a few of the colors from the Skinny Washi set. I used the same sentiment as the first card, but this time I trimmed it into a little banner shape and added a Heart Brad.

For my third card, I got my ColorBursts out again, and this time painted swirling lines in colors that match the six shades which come in each pack of Crayon Brads. These are no longer in stock online, but I did manage to snag some this summer in the EO booth at Scrapbook Expo, so it's definitely worth a trip if that fun show comes to your town! (I got those fab Gingham washi tapes there, too!) My top tip for neatening up watercolor accents is to use a very fine-lined black pen to outline each element, then fill in any voids with a coordinating brush pen. I added a multi-color sentiment this time, and called it a day.

The EO design team have been super-inspired by all of the new brads in the Fall Release, so be sure and check back each day and see what we are getting up to next!

Lauren Bergold's favorite color

is still "RAINBOW!" 

♥♥♥

Just Hoppin' By...

...with a fun and easy birthday card that uses our adorable Eyelet Outlet Frog Set Brads! 

Each set includes frogs, cattails, and lily pads with both purple and yellow flowers. So you can make a whole little miniature scene! 

I've built my tiny frog habitat inside some chipboard letters that I covered with vintage sheet music and mounted on foam tape; then placed it in a "pond" made with Blue and White Dots Washi water set above a Skinny Green Washi shoreline.

Don't FROG-et to check out all the other cuuuuute critter brads in the Eyelet Outlet Store! ♥

Lauren Bergold

apologizes for the diabolical puns!

Are You Ready For Your Close-Up?

I (Lauren) never stop being amazed by the things that can inspire me. Eyelet Outlet Brads and Washi Tape are an endless source, obviously, but this week I found some cool new ways to use them, thanks to a $2 camera stamp from the bargain bin at a big box crafting store!

My first idea was to pair the camera with the Selfie Brad set. I love that the packets contain six smart phones and six "Selfie" badges, and that the phones come in a few different colors. Although obviously, my favorites are the pink ones, lol! That being the case, I paper pieced the camera stamp in some neutral grey papers with an accent of Skinny Stars Washi. I used a Pink Heart Enamel for the lens and a Pink Enamel Dot for the button, with a small clear gem as the flash.  

My next idea happened because when I made the "Beach" card a couple of weeks ago, I had a pineapple-- with adorable Sunglass Brad--  and a palm tree all ready to go, but wound up not needing them. Somehow they became the stars of their very own faux polaroid, with a sky made from Blue Dots Washi and torn Glitter Gold Tape as the sandy beach. Of course I needed a Sunshine Brad and I paper pieced another camera, this time using Skinny Green Stripe Washi with Yellow Enamel Heart and Dot accents. 

Faux polaroids are quite a favorite of mine, so my third card uses another one. The sentiment "Oh Snap" works really well for anything from a belated birthday to a get well card, so I kept the rest of the embellishments pretty simple so that it could be used for many different occasions. I used the leftover pieces from the first grey camera, but this time I used Red Enamels and Skinny Clouds Tape to accent the body. I "matted" the strip of camera-patterned paper with Glitter Silver tape, just to make it stand out a tiny bit more. I actually had the whole card put together when I spotted another pair of Sunglass Brads sitting on my work table, and I just couldn't resist adding them as well. 

The next time you have trouble choosing between more than one card idea, why not get out your Eyelet Outlet embellishments and make them all?!

Lauren Bergold

likes making selfie-inspired cards 

quite a bit more than she likes taking selfies!

Mini Card Smiles for Miles

You know how we all eat MORE candy when they come in those little fun size bars? It turns out the same is true for cards... well, not the eating part, lol, but I (Lauren) find that once I start making mini-cards it's really hard to stop! Especially since an ATC format (2.5 x 3.5") showcases Summer-Themed Eyelet Outlet Brads so wonderfully well!

In this case, my little "family" of cards was inspired by the fact that one of my Simple Stories 6 x 6" paper pads featured a bunch of scaled down journal cards, with little icons just right to be swapped for brads. Who could resist something as amazingly serendipitous as that, eh? You can see in the photo that one the cards has a smiley face EXACTLY the same size-- and expression-- as a Mini Emotion Brad and another has a sun just a tiny bit smaller than the one in the Sun and Cloud Brads. The Flip Flop Brads weren't actually pictured on their card, but the text is in the perfect colors and there was just enough room to attach them along the edges. Shifting through another collection from the same manufacturer I found a camera with an iconic center which precisely fit the Peace Sign Brads and another mini card that was a brilliant home for Mini Bee Brads... right down to the honeycomb pattern!

Once I started making the cards, I decided to combine the colors in the paper collection, add some dictionary text paper with strategically placed words, and highlight the designs with a bit of Washi Tape in coordinating shades and patterns.

Flower Tape with Cute Bugs looked adorable with the Mini Bees. Chevron Tape was a natural choice with that sweet camera and bold Peace Sign. The Blue Dots Tape always reminds me of bubbles in an aquarium (or the ocean?!) so that was perfect with the Flip Flops. And Smiley Face Tape was an obviously fab accent for the Mini Smiley. I've also used some Foil Dots tape and my very favorite, super-colorful Skinny Washi Set as accents.

When all the cards were finished, it seemed a shame not to make some tiny envelopes for them, using the leftover bits of paper and a little more coordinating tape; though these will be tucked into a gift or mailed in a larger envelope, since 3.5 x 5" is the smallest size you can mail on its own!

I hope you'll be inspired to look at your own paper collections and your stamp sets, to see which ones will pair perfectly with some super-fun Eyelet Outlet Brads! Meanwhile Miss Carri has another great project to show you, so why not scroll down and see that right now?! ♥

Lauren Bergold 

can be found here every Wednesday, 

and on her blog most of the rest of the week!

Wait... *MORE* Than Yarn??!

I suppose by now everyone knows how much I (Lauren) love paper, brads and washi tape, but something you may not realize is that I also love yarn... quite a bit, actually. So I was pretty excited when I discovered Eyelet Outlet Knitting Brads!

Each packet has a mix of knitting needles and balls of yarn in three luscious colors. The aqua ones are a perfect match for the Blue Dot Washi Tape I've used to frame up the card. It's possible this little kitty loves them as much as I do. Which explains the Heart Brads scattered among the swirly embroidery floss I've used to play the part of unravelling yarn, lol. 

I hope today you'll find a little time to do something creative with the things that *YOU* love: whether that's yarn, or paint, or super-fun Eyelet Outlet embellishments!

Lauren Bergold loves knitting, 

crocheting, papercrafting and blogging!