Say YES to the (Origami) Dress!

A couple of weeks ago, a customer in the Eyelet Outlet Booth* mentioned that she had made some really fun origami dresses to fit our Hanger Brads. And when I (Lauren) hear something like that, of course I have to try it out for myself! Turns out, she was 100% correct!

I have done a few simple origami projects in the past, but I'm definitely no expert. Luckily, there is an excellent post with great photos and a step-by-step video on Red Ted's Art Blog. The folds are quite easy and straightforward, and there was only one section (making the skirt dimensional) that I had to watch more than once before I "got it". Here are a few tips I discovered as I went along: you don't necessarily need to use real origami paper, but you do want nice thin copier-weight paper; cardstock will NOT be your friend in this context. To fit the scale of the Hanger Brad I started with a square that was 3.5". And the most important thing I learned is, attach ONLY the bodice of the dress to your card, leaving the skirt section loose... otherwise it looks very flat and slightly odd. (Ask me how I know!)

I made my first dress from thin patterned paper and embellished the bodice with a snippet of clear Fancy Bling, with some pieces of Jewel Bling Strip at the edge of the skirt.

For my second card, I wanted to see if I could make a dress from some of the gorgeous new spring Flower Washi Tape we just got in to the EO Store. I lined strips of tape up neatly on a piece of thin printer paper, trimmed it into a 3.5" square and made a dress in exactly the same way as the first one. It took a little more patience to crease the folds, and I admit that I cheated and tacked the tiny collars and sleeves with a gluedot in the back, so they would stay folded... but otherwise it worked quite well! (But I highly recommend making one or two dresses from plain paper first!)

Once my dress was finished I added a Heart Brad to the bodice (this not only looks adorable, it also makes sure your folds will stay flat... just sayin'...) and attached it just under a Hanger Brad on a fun faux polaroid. I think this is the first time I've scattered one style of brad all over my background to make a sort of pastel Sunglass Brad patterned paper, but it definitely won't be the last!

I hope you'll be inspired to try some simple origami shapes, then pair them with your favorite Eyelet Outlet Brads and Bling! ♥

*Eyelet Outlet visits more than *thirty* US cities each year with Scrapbook Expo, CKC and various rubber stamp shows! Check the tradeshow schedule on the sidebar of the EO Blog or click here for a list of all the locations. Chances are we'll be somewhere near you, sometime soon!

Lauren Bergold 

has had a blast at Scrapbook Expo 

in Edison, NJ the last two years!

♥

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!

Birthday Bling!

Good morning crafty friends!  Eyelet Outlet has the most luscious bling you've ever seen!  It was exactly the thing to take this birthday card from pretty to pretty amazing!  The Fancy Long Bling Strip I used in between the stripe and floral layers of my card are available in 5 beautiful colors, too!

 

There are so many options in the Eyelet Outlet store for the center of our paper flowers and this is one I'd hadn't tried before that turned out stunning!

This pretty pearl and jewel Flower Bling fits perfectly in the center of my small white paper flower. Each package of Eyelet Outlet Paper Flowers includes 3 sizes of flowers and there are many colors and patterns to choose from, too!  

Supplies used in this project include:

Digital Paper from Huckleberry Hearts Etsy Store Red & Blue Floral Collection

Cricut Cartridges:  Creative Cards (Doily); Create A Critter (Leaves); Cake Basics (Happy Birthday)

Eyelet Outlet White Paper Flowers

Eyelet Outlet Flower Bling

Eyelet Outlet Fancy Long Pearl & Jewel Bling

Bling Strips 5 Ways

Hi Everyone, this is Rebecca with my first post here at Eyelet Outlet.  I'm very excited to join the group today. I'll be greeting everyone here on the blog on Saturday mornings (my favorite morning of the week, hands down).  Happy weekend!

For my first project, I decided to highlight one of my all time favorite embellishment options - bling strips - for a sparkly final page in my 2016 album.

Here are my 5 ideas for using bling strips:

1.  Frame a whole project with full strips. 
I used Jewel Bling in Champagne and Pink. Each strip is long enough for a 12x12, with some length to spare for later use!


2. Use a piece of bling to make your own embellishment.
I made the "X" on my title card.


3. Use a piece of Bling Strip to frame a main page element. 
I chose to frame my 5x7 picture with the same champagne color I used on the page frame.


4. Coordinate a bling strip with a Fancy Bling Strip to make a fuller frame. 
The champagne color was a perfect match! And one strip was the perfect length to cut in half and frame the top and bottom of the picture.


5. Scatter individual pieces around the page. 
Mixed with a variety of enamel dots, glitter dots, mini brads (like the tiny butterflies I used here), and ink, I like the added sparkle the little pieces bring to the page. You can cut the pieces from the strip, but I tend to just pinch a piece from the end, and the sticky back comes with it. No extra glue needed.



I am trying to get into the habit of making a couple of quick cards with any leftover bits and pieces after I make a page.  These two "Hello" note cards came together quickly with my leftover paper bits and embellishments.

  

Thanks for joining us on the blog today!  I hope these ideas spark a project idea for you, too. If you use some of these items, link us up on social media using #eyeletoutlet.

Eyelet Outlet Products:
Fancy Long Bling in Champagne
Jewel Bling Strips in Champagne and Pink
Glitter Enamel Dots in Blue Mix and Pink Mix
Enamel Dots - Mickey Colors
Mini Butterfly Brads

Rebecca @ HowIBurb

All You Need Is Love (& Maybe Some Washi Tape?)

Hi guys, it's Lauren here again. Everyone knows I love Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape, and that one of my favorite uses is to make my own patterned paper, by neatly lining up strips of tape on plain white cardstock. But did you know that some tapes can be "stacked" to make a bigger design than you can see within one strip of tape? In fact, both of today's cards are made using just one style of tape-- this gorgeous Wide Music Washi.

I made the backgrounds for both cards in exactly the same way, by adhering the Wide Music Washi to a piece of plain white cardstock in strips, and lining each subsequent strip up very neatly so that the design on each segment match perfectly and the fully assembled panel looks seamless. This is not difficult, just a little bit fussy, but if you work carefully and take your time, you get wonderful results! It took four strips of tape, layered vertically, to make the complete design of this tape. You can see below that because I was overlapping the (clear) top and bottom edges by about 1/16" there was a little "blurry" bit at each level. I think it'd be absolutely fine to leave that as is, but being a bit persnickity, I wondered if I could take a very fine tipped permanent pen and fill in the black just a little darker. And I could! After a bit of practice, I even got faster at it. I made two panels that measured approximately 4 x 5" and then started to plan my cards.

For the first card I decided to use our Fancy Long Zig Zag Bling Strips to make a frame. This meant I'd need a card big enough to hold the tape panel AND the frame, so I made an A7 card blank from glossy black cardstock and adhered my tape panel to the center of it. I "dry fit" the bling by leaving it on the clear plastic backing, laying it on top of the design and trimming it to size. When I knew exactly where I needed to place each piece (so that the "point" of the teardrop gem was just overlapping the printed panel) I removed the backing and set each section in place.

I made the rest of my sentiment on the computer, using a free font called "Vogue" at 24 point size, and printed it out on plain white cardstock. I matted the strip for the first card on a piece of Cruise Tape so that my words covered the anchors and ships' wheels that are on the tape, but left that elegant braided border, which I think is the perfect finishing touch.

My second card is a standard A2. For this one I thought I'd leave off the bling, but bump up the texture factor by making an extra partial tape panel which contained the word "Love" and the sweet bird in the design... then fussy-cutting the bird and the letters, so I could raise them on some foam tape.

I borrowed this technique from old-school decoupage, and while it seems like a small touch, it adds a bit of dimension and a lot of elegance, in my opinion. 

Once my 3D pieces were attached, I added the sentiment. This time it's trimmed into a little flag shape and framed with a scrap of the same glossy black cardstock from which I made the card base.

I'd like to write more, but now I'm kind of anxious to find out if any of my other Eyelet Outlet Washi Tapes can be stacked into a bigger design! I'll let you know what I discover!

Lauren Bergold

really likes Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape.

(A lot!!!)

One Card Three Ways: Christmas Ornament Edition

Hi folks, it's Lauren here again. I'm starting to really think about Christmas and feeling pretty excited about finishing up my cards. I know most cardmakers like to mass-produce one holiday design, but I don't enjoy that so much. Something I don't mind, though, is making a couple of different versions of the same card. So today I have a set of ornaments that represent my three favorite categories of Eyelet Outlet products: Brads, Bling and Washi Tape!

For my Bling card I used some papers I had pre-painted with ColorBurst pigment powders, and used stencils with inks and embossing paste on top. I created the bauble shapes using some hand-cut ornament templates I made for myself a few years ago, but there are plenty of beautiful dies available to shortcut that procedure for you. I wanted to work in as many bling varieties as possible, so I've got Clear Edge Jewels, Square Jewels, Single Jewels, Single Pearls, Heart Pearls and I've even used a bit of the new Fancy Long Bling on the round bauble, which I arranged as a mirror-image, then placed a few extra large Pearl Bling Jewels inside the openings created by the zig zag design. I made the tops of the ornaments from Glitter Silver Tape and constructed my own patterned paper by filling an A2-sized inset panel with Music Note Washi.

For my Brads card I pieced the ornaments from a neutral palette so the Christmas Cookies, Poinsettia and Prancing Deer would stand out really well. I made the tops of the baubles from Glitter Gold Tape this time, to fit the color scheme better.

For the Tape card I chose bright shades of traditional red and green. I covered the bauble shapes with tape, then burnished well and trimmed them neatly. I used Holly Tape (with a small Paper Flower and Enamel Dot) for the heart ornament; Red Dots with an accent of Vertical Red Tree Tape for the elongated shape and highlighted strips of Merry Christmas Tape with an accent of that cute green Santa Tape sandwiched by Skinny Stripes Tape for the round shape.

Whether you like to make your holiday cards singly, all at once, or somewhere in between, I guarantee Eyelet Outlet has all kinds of embellishments that will make your job easier... and much more fun, too! ♥

Lauren Bergold 

and Stephanie Severin 

make holiday cards all year round at Jingle Belles... 

and you can, too!

Eyelet Outlet Christmas Cards

I've been having fun making holiday ornaments with Alcohol Inks and Yupo Paper ... and Eyelet Outlet Gems are the perfect embellishments.

The Clear Square Jewel was perfect for the larger ornament ... and I trimmed the tiny flower gem from the new Fancy Long Bling.

I used the Clear Square Jewels on both ornaments for this card.

This card featured the new Flower Bling (which reminded me of the embossed snowflakes on the background of my card)

Make sure you stock-up on lots of Eyelet Outlet products to make your holiday cards.

Eyelet Outlet Products Used:

• Fancy Long Bling
• Square Jewels - Clear
• Flower Bling

Did you know we have a Flickr Gallery to showcase Eyelet Outlet Design Team Creations?

You can visit me in blogland at Ingenious Inkling,

and you can find Lauren & I making holiday cards

all year long at Jingle Belles

Give Me an "L"! Give Me an "M"!

No, I (Lauren) am not leading a cheer squad, just fancying up some plain monogram letters with Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape, Bling and Brads for my niece, Lindsay, and my nephew, Matthew, who both have birthdays coming up.

I started with plain, kraft-colored, papier mache letters from the big box store, that are approximately 8" tall. Thanks to my colorful stash of washi tape, I had a plan that did not involve any tracing, cutting, painting, or even inking of edges! I began with the "L" since it had the more straightforward shape, and wrapped tape, in more or less spectrum order, from the top to the bottom. Since all the planes are square, this just meant lining the layers up neatly and overlapping the patterns at the back of the letter.

The only tricky bit was the tippy-top of the letter and the top and bottom of the horizontal stroke at the bottom of the "L", which I covered in neat strips of whatever tape I planned to use next on the front of the letter, in this case the Red Dots Tape and Orange Fans . In addition to those, I also used: Heart Tape, Admit One Tickets, Tape Measure, Cooking Tape, Skinny Green Stripe (two strips for a chunkier look), Blue/White Dots, Skinny Blue, Blue Check (again two strips), Cupcakes, Purple Zig Zag, Rainbow Chevron, Love, Smiley Face, and Crayons.

Once the entire letter was covered, I broke out the bling to add a little bit of sparkle! I love the brand new Fancy Long Bling Strips, they come in several styles and they're not just great looking, they stick on really well AND are flexible enough to wrap around the letter! Before I started attaching them, though, I laid out the styles I thought I wanted to use, and moved them about a bit, until I got the perfect mix. Then I cut each of the strips just slightly larger than I needed, and, with the backing still on, checked my potential placement a second time, to make sure that I would not wind up with a big, un-bend-able stone right on a corner that would not be able to lay flat. Then, I peeled and stuck on the bling strips, from front to back, trimming any overlapping stones and getting them to line up as neatly as possible at the back. The designs I used include two types of Fancy Long Bling, Green Pearl Strips and Purple Jewel Strips.

After I had the strips in place, I added some individual gems, including Blue Flower Jewels, the brand new Heart Jewel Bling and Red Heart Pearls.

The slanting lines in the center of the "M" made it a little more challenging, but not overwhelmingly so. I elected to just wind the tape around in strips, the same way I did with the "L". This means there's a little "jog" at the back of the letter where the two ends of each tape meet up, but I trimmed them neatly, in the same way each time, and decided to call it a "Design Decision"! I've got a bit of a transportation theme going on for Matthew's initial, so I incorporated multiple strips of Road Tape and Map Tape into my design. In addition I used: Blue Check, Skinny Blue, Red Dots, Heart Tape, Smiley Faces, Admit One, Dots, Skinny Green Stripe and Tape Measure. Once my background was completed, I started adding vehicles to the design. I've got: a Work Truck, a Bicycle and one the brand new adorable Pickup Truck Brads that are coming to the store very very soon! Not to mention a Cupcake, some Sun and Cloud Brads and an Airplane from the Travel set. I've also got some fun sentiment Arrows from the Road Sign Set and the Bicycle Set.

You may be wondering how I got those to stay on, seeing as how I could not reach the backs to open the prongs? Since I knew the "M" was hollow, I just made a hole with my paper piercer like I would for any other project, but coated the prongs of each brad with a little bit of 3-In-1 Glue before poking the prongs into the letter. For the larger brads, I added a little more glue to the back surface of design for additional sticking power. (I should mention that all of my nieces and nephews are well above toddler age and unlikely to attempt putting monogram letters into their mouths!)

I hope you'll be inspired to try your favorite Eyelet Outlet embellishments on your next 3-D project! ♥

Lauren Bergold loves making gifts 

for nieces and nephews more than 

every other type of project COMBINED! 

♥♥♥

Fancy!

Eyelet Outlet has added new bling to its store!

Fancy is the word...and we can't wait to see how you use it on your pages and cards and projects!