bring on the sketch miss ♥AMY♥!

hello, all--it's lauren here! are you ready for CARD FIVE?! this week we have an amazingly lovely guest star for you, so i am even more than usually anxious to get started!

if you're a card-making blogger, then i'm pretty sure ♥AMY TSURUTA♥ needs no introduction: this lady has pretty much single-handedly raised the art of both making cards...and friendly blurfing around to see the cards of others, to a whole new level, hasn't she?! she's been on LOTS of design teams... (currently card patterns, skipping stones, and EAD designs are lucky enough to have her talents) ...not to mention the fact that she has her own fabulous blog and now a second one for her awesome friday flashback challenge, too! stephanie and i have both been lucky enough to count her as a friend for several years now, and so of course we wanted her to be one of the very first people to join us here at JINGLE BELLES! not only was she gracious enough to do so, she brought one of her lovely SKETCHES with her. see?

so you've probably guessed that CARD FIVE is AMY'S LOVELY SKETCH, right?!

here's what we did with it:

amy's card

amy says: Okay, this is truly an easy smeasy sketch...let me tell you my theory on that: I love panels...layers of colors and funky patterns.....BUT for Christmas cards I'm all about clean & crisp {translation=easily mass produced and no extra postage}. For Jingle Bells, I thought we should start with a clean and simple design... and then my fellow cardmakers can load it up or not...

stephanie's card

stef says: My card started with some fabulous Webster's Pages paper cut with the Stampin' Up Top Note Die. I added some ink and mounted it on striped holiday cardstock. Next, I stamped the Ledger image from Artistic Outpost's new Ephemeral Backgrounds set on light blue DP and punched out my Christmas tree. I sponged some more & adorned it with a champagne pearl garland. I finished with a sentiment from Artistic Outpost's Snowy Woods.

lauren's card

lauren says: amy's gorgeous sketch and her fabulous style inspired me to attempt a (relatively...for ME, lol!) "clean and simple" design. i started with the fun jukebox graphic (which miss stef found!) and paired it with a santa cut from a holiday catalog; a few "recollections" xmas lights and some puffy alphabet stickers later and i was done!

and now it's time to see what YOU will do for

CARD FIVE: amy's lovely sketch!

make it plain or fancy; go traditional or step out on a limb; keep it minimal or load it up...just make a holiday card and link it below by 6pm on wednesday, february 2, 2011!

remember, this is the last prompt before the big giveaway closes out, and i know you want a shot at the prize!!!

it's a random draw in which you get TWO chances for every card you've made and linked during january and ONE chance for every comment you've left on a january post; we're keeping it open until this challenge ends (6pm on 2-2-11) and will announce the winner in the shout out post on thursday, february 3rd! good luck!

♥LAUREN♥