recycle... reuse... and JINGLE!

happy earth day,

jingle belles!!!

♥♥♥

this week we have a very special--and totally appropriate--prompt to inspire your christmas card-making! but first let us introduce the lovely guest star who suggested it: kathe deck has been jingling along with us since our debut on january 1st! she is a fabulous cardmaker, clever papercrafter, and stampin' up demonstrator. you can visit her stampin' up blog and her flickr gallery to see more of her wonderful work!

kathe's theme idea was inspired by the junk mail she received one morning at her office; she threw away (recycled) the innards, but the envelope was red vellum! she had to take it home, thinking "It would be good for something...oh, it would be great for a Christmas card... wouldn't it be really great if the Jingle Belles gave us reuse/recycle theme? Maybe they'd tie it to Earth Day or something like that..." since we actually hadn't thought of that yet, we are thrilled she sent it along!

so this week we'd like to inspire you to look around your house--or your office-- and see what you can re-use, re-purpose, re-cycle or up-cycle. maybe there's a fabulous red vellum envelope in YOUR mailbox, some string or twine in the kitchen, or even a bit of corrugated cardboard in the garage? Is there a gorgeous glossy advertisement in the magazine you've just finished, or some packaging from your art supplies that is so beautifully designed you can't bear to throw it out? it's time to think outside the box, belles... or even about the box, itself!!! :)

here's what we did:

kathe's card

kathe says, "for my card i used the red vellum that inspired me to begin with; i also found an old report bound in brushed gold which i used for the card base. i used a scrap of chipboard cut in an oval shape as a template to cut the opening (i kept the template for re-use another time, too) then glued on the inside some lace trim salvaged from an outfit i sewed YEARS ago for my daughter. the lace and vellum are held in place inside the card with a piece of white card to give the stamped image (from the retired Stampin' Up! set Yuletide Christmas) a little more contrast. since i cut the oval off-center (let's just say 'i meant to do that'), i added the bow using trim i've had in my stash a few years."

stephanie's card

Stef says, "Who knew having a cold could lead to artistic inspiration. When I finished my box of Kleenex with Vicks & Lotion, I discovered the entire inside of the box was covered in silver metallic chipboard. I recycled the metallic chipboard by embossing it with snow flakes & punching out a scalloped circle for my sentiment ... here's to stuffy noses! Since we're "going green" this week, I designed my card in greens."

lauren's card

lauren says, "i wanted to see how many re-purposed items i could work into one card, and the answer turned out to be, 'quite a few!' the reindeer is die-cut from an empty soda can (instructions here!); the snowflake is rescued from a store-bought xmas card i received in december; the ribbon was off a gift i got over the holidays; everything else, except for the kraft background, is from my scrap box! i am a very proud--and very GREEN--belle right now!!!"

and now it's time for the very best part: to see what ♥YOU♥ will do and what sorts of fabulous goodies you will "rescue" in honor of earth day in order to: re-cycle, re-use... and JINGLE! as usual, inlinkz will be open until 6pm (EST) next wednesday (4-27) and the keyword for flickr or SCS is JB17!