But First... Coffee!

There's nothing better than a nice cup of coffee to start the day, unless it's a trio of Artist Trading Cards featuring Eyelet Outlet Coffee and Donut Brads studded with Heart Pearls and atop backgrounds made from Brick Tape, Giraffe Washi and Donut Tape!  

The Eyelet Outlet Store has all of the food and drink brads your projects could possibly need... plus so much more!

Lauren Bergold

hopes there's plenty of coffee (or your favorite beverage!) 

where you are today!

Blog * Instagram * Facebook

Coffee anyone?

 Hello crafty friends!  Are you a coffee drinker?  I think I shared before that I am!  It is all about the coffee in my house!  Even if you aren't a fan of coffee, I have a project that is perfect for the coffee (or cocoa, or cider, or tea) lover in your life! 

I am still on a fall kick, so I decided I would stay with that theme and create this adorable coffee cup gift card holder.   The belly band holds the gift card inside!  How clever is that? 

To create this, I used some beautiful fall floral printed paper and I added some of the beautiful brown rhinestones from the Brown 4mm Jewel Strip to the center of some of the flowers.  I used my tweezers to separate them from the strip and adhered them to the cup. 

I actually die-cut an extra belly band because I knew I wanted to use brads, so I would need to create some extra room for the back of the brad.  I used kraft card stock for the belly band and trimmed one piece from the extra die-cut and I drew in some white stitching using a paint pen, and I heat embossed the sentiment on a white circle.  I added some of the Mini Leaf brads and a few more of the rhinestones.  I popped it up onto the top of the actual belly band with foam squares, which created room for the back of the brads. 

Lastly, I added some gray to the "lid" with my Copic markers to make the white stand out more. 

 

Shopping List:

Jewel Strips 4mm - Brown

Mini Leaf Brads

Please make sure to leave a comment and let us know if you are a coffee drinker or not! 

Xoxo,  Kim

Kim - Blog - Facebook - Instagram

Whole Latte Love

Brand new Iced Coffee Brads in the Eyelet Outlet Shop are definitely cause for celebration, and obviously need their very own punny card:

I couldn't resist drawing tiny kawaii faces on the fancy Iced Coffees, but of course they are perfectly awesome without such embellishment. This turned out to be quite a CAS card, as I wanted the conversation/sentiment to really stand out, so the only other thing I added was a trio of Heart Brads and a mat of Tiny Hearts Tape.

Stay tuned to the EO Blog for more awesome ideas from the Design Team!

Lauren Bergold

is an iced coffee fiend!

"Happiness is...

...a cup of coffee and a good book". Or, as I (Lauren) have interpreted it in this wish-fulfilling card, happiness is a pot of coffee, a room full of books and a few close friends! I made this fun scene using Eyelet Outlet Book Tape, Book Brads and Coffee Brads, and populated it with adorable characters from Waffle Flower Crafts' Books and Coffee stamp set.

I did all my stamping on watercolor paper and colored with Tombow Dualbrush Pens with Prismacolor Pencil shading. I was a little disappointed that Bear's glasses were just a tiny bit too big to work with our Eye Glass Brads; but I was able to add a Heart Brad to the cover of the bear's book, swap the large stack of books that the bird is sitting on for two colorful Book Brads, replace the potted cactus with a yellow lotus flower from the Frog Brad Set and add a Coffee Brad and Funky Bee to the foreground.

I made the "Library" by affixing strips of EO Book Tape to a panel of plain white cardstock and adding a strip of skinny tape under each to work as shelves. I made a table from Hardwood Floor Tape (it's out of stock now, but we still have some great Wood Tapes); assembled the entire thing, added the fun sentiment (framed with ancient nested dies) and matted the panel on Foil Copper Tape before adding it to the front of my white A6 card. 

Of course, you could make a room setting for pretty much any character stamp you own, with just some Washi Tape as wallpaper (we have pretty much every style you could imagine!) and Eyelet Outlet Brad accessories; I hope you'll be inspired to create your own interiors!

Lauren Bergold

is still the world's 

sloooooooowest colorer...

Like You a Latte

I (Lauren) never get tired of making coffee cards, especially when I can use my Eyelet Outlet Coffee Brads, Heart Brads, Sequins and Paper Flowers! 

This card is extra special because I used a STAMPlorations set called A Cuppa Love* designed by my amazing friend Becca... aka the Damsel of Distressed Cards... and a stencil called Dots 'n Beans; both of which I was lucky enough to win in last fall's Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog Hop. So it seemed only fitting to use them in the Spring/Summer Hop, which is taking place right now!

I tried literally all of my brown and tan Oxide colors with the Dots 'n Beans stencil, and every single one looked awesome. But I wanted a slightly lighter, brighter, Spring vibe, and eventually I had a brainwave to try Spun Sugar. Weirdly enough, that was The One, lol! I stamped the sentiment in (appropriately enough) Ground Espresso, colored the mug with Tombows, cut it out and added a Heart Brad. I was happy with my cluster of mug, Paper Flower (with Coffee Bean Brad center!) and sentiment, but somehow it needed just one more thing. I'm not saying the answer to, "What does this card need?" is *ALWAYS* Eyelet Outlet Sequins, but that does turn out to be true a fair amount of the time, and they did the trick here!

Be sure to check out the other fun Eyelet Outlet coffee themed products! ♥

Lauren Bergold

has been known to enjoy 

a caffeinated beverage or two!

Peace, Love and Coffee

It's all Peace, Love and Coffee this holiday season, thanks to our Holiday Coffee Cup and Santa Hat Brads, plus some fabulous Glitter Heart Washi Tape. 

Test driving my new stamps from The Rabbit Hole Designs: Caffeinated Flamingo, Marquee Words and Tattoo Affirmations, which work surprisingly well together! I love the expression on the flamingo's face, he looks like I do before I've had my coffee. 

Visit the Eyelet Outlet Store for lots more Brads, Washi Tape, Bling, Sequins and Flowers!

Lauren Bergold

never orders decaf.

Seriously. Very Seriously.

This is not the first time I (Lauren) have made cards based on a t-shirt slogan, and it probably won't be the last. It is, at the moment, my favorite, though. Because the combination of a funny sentiment and Eyelet Outlet Coffee Brads is kinda hard to beat.

Before I go too far, I should mention that the Spring/Summer 2020 Coffee Lovers Hop is taking place right now and you have until Friday night to join the fun. There are literally HUNDREDS of inspiring cards linked up already, and dozens of very cool prizes for lucky random coffee cardmakers to win. A slight change is that the seasonal thematic requirement has been suspended; so this time you don't need to make a summery card, just a coffee (or tea, or cocoa, or boba or matcha) card! If you visit the Coffee Lovers on FaceBook, be sure to say hi to my amazing friend Amy Tsuruta, who not only does a huge amount of the admin on these occasions, she (and quite a few of the other organizers) also comments on every single card. No kidding. EVERY card!!! She is my idol! ♥

On to my cards. Technically, I've really only designed ONE card, but I've made two versions. This is one of my strategies for avoiding decision paralysis, and I highly recommend it. Instead of trying to decide whether to choose one washi tape background over another, or how to arrange the Coffee Brads, I just work on both options, simultaneously. I realize it seems like that would take longer, but generally, it speeds up my process! For the first card, I neatly lined up strips of this fun new Cat Face Tape on plain white cardstock, printed my sentiment on a subtly patterned paper, and added one white cup from the Coffee Brads set in a little circle icon, plus three beans from the same set underneath.

For the second card, I used Eye Washi for the background (a tape which embodies the phrase, "death before decaf" imo!!!) and alternated white cups and beans from Coffee Brads up top, with a pattern of green Enamel Dots below.

Just in case anyone else is as silly as I am, I made the sentiment into a jpg that you can download here, or find on the Freebies Page of the Eyelet Outlet Blog.

For some reason I'm longing for another cup of coffee, so I bid you farewell for now! ♥

Lauren Bergold

never drinks decaf!

Seriously...

Here's a shocking true confession: I (Lauren) am a bit of a coffee fiend. So when I saw this fun (and accurate!) sentiment on a t-shirt, I knew I had to pull out my Eyelet Outlet Coffee Brads and make a card.

I had originally planned to add some Donut Brads too, but in the end I settled for Coffee Beans on the card and Donut Washi Tape in the background. I printed the sentiment on a clear inkjet label using two free fonts: Bohemian Typewriter and Cafe Rojo.

And now who will join me in a cup of coffee?!

Lauren Bergold

has never really seen

the point of decaf.

Fa-La-La-La-Latte

One of my (Lauren's) favorite new Eyelet Outlet brad styles is the Holiday Coffee Cup, because the only thing I love more than caffeine or Christmas cards is the combination of BOTH! :)

Since the Holiday Cups are red, white and green, those are the colors I built my card around. I thought about adding in some everyday Coffee Cups in either white or red; and possibly some Coffee Beans, but after I added the Poinsettia Washi, I found that I wanted a bit of pink and mint green, too. I did place a Holly Brad next to the cups though. And snipped apart a red Pearl Bling Strip to hyphenate my sticker sentiment.

I'm joining the Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop, which runs through this Friday, November 8th. Maybe I'll see you there!

And now I think it's about time for some coffee-loving in real life... can I get you a cup? ♥

Lauren Bergold

has been known to enjoy a 

caffeinated beverage or two.

From Meme to Card

Last week I (Lauren) saw a very funny meme on the Coffee Loving Paper Crafters' Facebook page, and I immediately wanted to make it into a card featuring my Eyelet Outlet Coffee Brads. So I did, see?

It's quite a simple card, mostly built around the computer generated word art I made, which you can download below, or visit our Eyelet Outlet Freebies Page. I used free fonts called Bohemian Typewriter and Stamp Act. I added a nice rich brown to the word "coffee" as well as a very thin black outline and a small grey drop shadow, to make it stand out more. I lined up all of the text on the righthand side, so that I'd have room for a Coffee Cup Brad and some Coffee Beans. 

I love that the Coffee Brad sets have white cups, red cups and coffee beans, all mixed in together. They pair really nicely with the new Holiday Coffee Cup Brads, as well!

What funny memes or sayings have you seen online? Why not think about making one into a card? I bet there's an Eyelet Outlet brad style to will make it even cooler! ♥

Lauren Bergold

has been known to enjoy

a caffeinated beverage or two...

Peace, Love, Joy... and Caffeine!

Ok yes, I (Lauren) suppose that the first Wednesday of October is an odd time to post holiday cards, but for one thing: the 60 days between now and December first will go much faster than any other two month period of the year; and, for another thing: we've got some really cool new Holiday Coffee Cup Brads in the Eyelet Outlet Store and I couldn't wait to use them!

These are some of the fastest and easiest cards I've made all year, and if I mass-produced holiday cards, this might well be the design I'd choose! I stamped the sentiment on patterned paper with a GRAPH design, so I didn't even have to measure, lol! I colored the letters with red and green brush markers, affixed all three styles of Holiday Coffee Cup, plus a couple of Holly Brads, then matted the whole thing on a piece of argyle patterned paper I made myself, by neatly lining up strips of Christmas Pattern Washi Tape on some plain white cardstock. I loved the landscape version so much I decided to try portrait mode, as well. I grabbed two more coffee cups, a holly brad and this time made the mat from Poinsettia Tape. Easy, peasy! 

Is it just me, or would this be an excellent time for a delicious hot drink? Pass the Holiday Coffee Cups, please! :)

Lauren Bergold

enjoys cardmaking, caffeinated beverages, 

and making cards which feature caffeinated beverages!

Perk Up!

It's time for the Spring/Summer edition of the Coffee Loving Cardmakers' Blog Hop, so of course I (Lauren) couldn't resist showing off my Eyelet Outlet Coffee Brads. Plus a bit of Floral Washi Tape and some fun Paper Flowers, as well! I had been planning to also use my EO Coffee Stamps, but the other day my husband mentioned how happy he was that our lawn and shrubs had "perked up" this spring, and i thought, "Aha! Card sentiment!" 

I always try to incorporate the seasonal aspect of the blog hop, but frankly, sometimes I do better at that than others. This time I think I did pretty well with the Spring theme, though! I started right off with my carryout coffee cup. I wanted it to be flowery, so of course I could've used patterned paper, but I had this new Flower Washi I'm in love with and I couldn't resist! I applied it neatly in strips on a scrap of plain white cardstock, burnished it really well, then diecut the cup in the ordinary way.

Once I had the cup, I chose all of my papers based on the flower colors in the tape. I matted my label shape and the background for my A7 card, then added a little bit of decorative machine stitching. I made my sentiment flags using a nice petite size of foam alphabet letters, and then it was time for my favorite part: EMBELLISHING!

I added some Fresh Flower Brads and Mini Stitched Flowers to the cup itself and a few more to the label shape. I nestled the cup between the layers of several sizes of Solid Color Paper Flowers, held together with a Coffee Bean Brad and made leaves by snipping apart a large green flower. Then I assembles all the bits and finally scattered a few pale pink Heart Enamels at the very end.

I hope you'll check out all of the fab brads, stamps, tapes, enamels and flowers in the Eyelet Outlet Store, then come join the fun at the Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop which runs through this Friday, May 10th! ♥

Lauren Bergold

has been known to enjoy a 

delicious caffeinated beverage or two! :)

Death Before Decaf!

It's that wonderful time of year once again: by which I (Lauren) mean both the holiday season AND the winter Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop! Thus I decided to make some giftcard holders that combine my love of coffee, holiday cardmaking and Eyelet Outlet Coffee Brads and Coffee Stamps!

I made a very simple folder; it's just a piece of 3.5 x 8.5" kraft cardstock scored at the 2.5 and 6.5" point, to create a little pocket inside which can hold a giftcard OR a check, money, a little note, even some small photos. You could make these out of double sided patterned paper to save having to trim little panels to decorate the outside, but I always seem to have loads of little patterned paper off-cuts and this is a great way to use them up! 

Once I'd covered the pocket, top flap and back panel with cardstock, it was time for the fun part: decorating! I covered a small scrap of white cardstock with Eyelet Outlet Merry Christmas Tape and diecut it into a heart which is slightly narrower than the top flap, but hangs down a bit over the pocket area. This hides the place where I secured seambinding to the front, but still leaves room for the bow that literally ties the whole thing together. I used my Stephanie Barnard dies to create the coffee cup out of lighter kraft and the lid and front panel from this fun argyle-inspired Christmas Pattern Washi. I added a green Paper Flower, anchored with a Wreath Brad, decorated with some tiny red Pearl Bling berries.

In the second version, I decided to get a bit more coffee-centric, so I stamped the coffee bean from our Coffee Stamp Set in an all-over pattern and used a brown Tombow with a water brush to add color. This time my diecut heart has vertical-oriented Red Tree Washi and the cup is adorned with Santa Tape flanked by Skinny Stripes. And to hold on the flowers, one those awesome beans from the Coffee Brad Set which also contains both red and white coffee cups!

Be sure to hop over and see all the amazing cards at the Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop, and leave a little love for Amy Tsuruta and the other Coffee Elves who are working so hard behind the scenes at these events! ♥♥♥

Lauren Bergold 

would not *literally* prefer death to decaf... 

especially late in the day!

Getting Caffeinated

It's Kim from Katydid Cards with you today!

I've been enjoying working with Eyelet Outlet's new clear stamp sets.  Among them is the Coffee Stamp Set.   The cards I'm sharing with you today pairs the stamps with some great brads and I love the result as much as I love coffee...and that's a LOT!

In addition to coffee themed sentiments, the stamp set includes images of the to-go coffee cup and the coffee bean.  On this card, I used the cup to create background paper; coordinating the colors to the brad.  To fill in the open areas, I randomly applied red Nuvo Dots in various sizes.  The Coffee Cup Brad was centered in the peek-a-boo oval where I stamped the sentiment in red.  The card base was created from a cut file purchased in the Silhouette store. 

While I made this as an all-occasion card, I think it would be a great way to present a gift card to a coffee shop as well.

If you want to send a card to catch up with your coffee-loving friend, this "What's Brewing" sentiment is perfect.  I stamped it in a flourished frame which I created from yet another cut file in the Silhouette store.  The flourish was the perfect spot to place the Coffee Bean Brads, accented with Pearl Bling. 

In the lower right, I placed a coffee maker (which I managed to obscure with my watermark).  On that, I placed an adorable cup brad from the Tea Pot/Cup Brads with a Heart Pearl colored with a Copic marker.  This great digital background paper brought all the colors together.

I tried something a bit different for this shaker card.  I stamped the coffee cup image and scanned it into my computer.  Then I enlarged it to card size.  With some welding and offsets I turned it into the shaker you see here.  If you're interested in knowing the process, just ask in the comments section and I'd be happy to share the details.  The "Cool Beans" sentiment fit perfectly on the lid.

Inside the shaker, I used the Coffee Bean Brads again.  To make sure they didn't catch on each other, I snipped the prongs off and just placed a drop of Glossy Accents on the backs.  This way they shake nicely.  Just for interest, I added a few seed beads.

I hope you liked my coffee cards and are inspired to go off an make your own...or at least have a cup of your favorite blend.  And did you know that National Coffee Day is September 29th, so this post is quite timely!

Kim from Katydid Cards 

Who provided the inspiration for these cards?  Katy did!