Soak Up the Sun & Snorkel

Good morning, and happy Saturday!

As I type, the sun is shining, the breeze is strong, and if I close my eyes, I can ALMOST pretend that I’m at the beach instead of Ohio. ALMOST.. 

My page project this week uses pictures from a vacation last June, and I guess the subject matter helps my fantasy :).

As soon as I saw the Swim Fin Quicklet Eyelets in the store, I knew exactly why I needed them. We had a terrific time with the beach snorkeling on this trip, and I have a couple of other pages with related pictures that will use the rest of the fins. Those pages won’t be on the blog because nobody on the internet needs to see our swimsuits!!!haha

I had a hard time deciding what to do for a title. I knew I wanted “snorkel” to be big, but I didn’t have any big, pre-cut letters. I came up with making my own letters from bling strips, and I like it! I just drew the long, skinny letters in pencil to give myself a guide. The strips cover the pencil line, so there was no need to erase.

I want to try doing some script lettering with the strips, too. Maybe next week.

I backed the arrow washi with white cardstock so it would pop off of the darker patterned papers.

Eyelet Outlet Products Used

Swim Fin Quicklet Eyelets

Skinny Washi Arrows

Blue Enamel Dots

Heart Enamel - Bright

Orange Enamel Dots

Jewel Bling Strips - Blue

Papers are from Studio Calico (background) and Fancy Pants Hello Sunshine.

One Card, Two Ways

Hi, it's Lauren here, wishing you a very Happy New Year! One of my favorite sources of crafty inspiration is this very blog: my fellow design team members *NEVER* stop impressing me with their cleverness and creativity! The other day, the Prince of Paper, Barry Lynn Snarr, used a flourish-pattern embossing folder to emphasize some Eyelet Outlet Swirl Bling on this gorgeous card, and it looked so cool, I literally had to go and grab my embossing folders right then to see what combinations I could make! Here are the cards I made, and then I'll explain:

I chose an all-over flower pattern embossing folder with quite a lot of detail. For my first card, I picked out the flower centers with Tiny Copper Eyelets. I love how they look with the Glitter Copper Washi, which I've highlighted even more by adding Pearl Bling Strips and finally set the whole thing off with all three sizes of gorgeous Dark Purple Solid Color Flowers, anchored with a 10mm Purple Pearl Brad.

I realize the tiny (1/16th inch!) eyelets create quite a subtle look in the photos, but in real life the copper catches the light and they gleam in such a lovely way; I predict you will see me using these again!

For my second card I went with a monochromatic palette that uses those same lovely Purple Blooms, surmounted with a beautiful, big (28mm!) Flatback Resin Flower in a coordinating shade. To make the textural background a little more prominent, I added Purple Enamel Dots to the centers of each of the sanded flowers.

Just a reminder that the current call for new Eyelet Outlet Designers will remain open until next Thursday, January 12th and that all of the details you need to apply are featured in this blog post right here. This past year as an EO team member has been an amazingly fun and valuable experience for me: the products are great to work with, the inspiration is abundant, and I've made some really good friends! If you've been thinking about it... even a tiny bit... I'd encourage you to apply! (You can thank me later, lol!) ♥♥♥

Lauren Bergold's blog is called,

"...All the GOOD Blog Names Were Taken..."

and she'd love for you to visit her there!

Upcycled Bottle Cap Embellishments

How many of us have tons of little beads, eyelets, brads and such at home.  We may have used 1 or 2 our of the package, but have lots still left.  Here is a fun way to use of some of those fun little btis and bob in your scrap stash!!

Here is my video tutorial on how I made these fun little embellishments.  Perfect for cards, scrapbook pages, magnets, jewelry, or to decorate home decor with!!

Here is some more pictures of these fun little gems!!

I used the following from the Eyelet Outlet Store - even eyelets can have an alternate use!!

Supplies Used

Bottle Caps

Beads/glass - Prima

Micro Dots - American Crafts

Various found objects

Eyelets - Eyelet Outlet

Brads - Eyelet Outlet

Flower Soft

Glue - Beacon

A Banner Day

Hi guys, Lauren here with a shocking true confession: I have a serious obsession with washi tape... and no intention at all of doing anything about it... except enlarging my collection and making more washi-adorned craft items. Luckily, Eyelet Outlet is here to help me in this quest. Have you seen how many different varieties of tape they stock?? It's a washi-lover's dream! Here's a card that uses two of them: Pink Flower Washi and Foil Pink Dots Tape.

Did you know Eyelet Outlet has ribbon, as well? This Fruit Ribbon is one of my all-time faves. It's so summery, don't you think? But there's nothing quite as summery as a Flamingo Flatback Resin, so I had to add one of those to my card, too. It's nestled on a few Solid Color Paper Flowers, just to be cozy.

Do you love cards with banners as much as I do? There are loads of ways to make them, but imo, washi tape is hard to beat, since you can fold it right over a piece of twine and it's self adhesive! I've used the Pink Flower Washi again in just that way on this card, as well as a few happy little clouds cut from a Cloud Tape that is, alas, out of stock in the online store... but provides you with another reason to always check the Eyelet Outlet booth at your next trade show, because there are sometimes exclusive goodies! ;)

Of course with all these wonderful new products we sometimes lose track of the fact that Eyelet Outlet's first name is EYELET... and those things are still as much fun to use as the very first time I saw them being set (with a hammer!) at my LSS, years ago. I've used the good old 5mm Round Assorted Colors Pack to secure the twine between my pennants as well as to dot the "I" in "Hi".

I hope you're already having a "Banner Day" but if not, there's still time to make some cards, which will definitely cheer you up! ♥

Hi, I'm Lauren! 

My giant tape collection and I can be found on my blog most days... 

stop by for a visit!

April Showers Bring...

...MAY FLOWERS! This year, despite a fairly mild winter here in the northeastern United States, I (Lauren) am especially excited about Spring, so when Eyelet Outlet teamed up with Rubbernecker Stamps, I may have gone a little flower crazy, lol! If I had to pick ONE favorite stamp, this divine Poppy might well be it; there's just no bad way to use it. For this card I've teamed it with a few of the flowers from the Springtime Inchies set, which I stamped over little circles of ink applied with a sponge applicator, so they'd resemble the beautiful loose style of the poppy. I added a few Grey Jewels, some Pearl Heart Brads, old school Round Eyelets (which, for the record, I still love!) and Purple Enamel Dots. I matted the whole panel over a square of cardstock edged with Glitter Black Washi Tape, added the "Basket of Flowers" sentiment, and called it a day!

I can never, ever, resist a flourish, especially a flowery one, so I couldn't wait to get my hands this gorgeous Vine Flowers stamp. When I first saw it, I knew I wanted to use it to frame a band of Pink Flower Washi Tape and this is one of those occasions where the card I made looks exactly the picture in my head! (Don't you love that?!) I added a Paper Flower stack with a Clear Edge Purple Jewel and some Purple Swirl Bling, and as soon as I was finished, a flock of Mini Butterfly Brads and the Mama Butterfly came to visit!

The Springtime Inchies set also includes some beautiful birds, butterflies, and hearts... and it occurred to me that the latter, if stamped above the Vine Flowers, might look like they were growing in a field of flowers. I used some Paper Flower petals-- painted with green watercolor-- as leaves, and this family of Mini Ladybug Brads liked them enough to make their home here!

I hope you'll be inspired to plant a garden on your cards, as well as outdoors, this Spring! ♥

Hi, I'm Lauren, and you'll have guessed that I love flowers, sparkly things, 

and bright colors. I'm also very fond of blog visitors, so I hope you'll come and see me 

in my little corner of t'internet, "All the Good Blog Names Were Taken"