Spirit of Christmas Past

We're celebrating the look and feel of Christmas long ago, by making cards with a old-fashioned feeling. For you that might mean dipping into a cache of actual vintage paper or lace; stamping or downloading (or scanning) vintage style illustrations to use as a focal point; or even just using some of the gorgeous vintage-inspired paper and embellishments that are available in crafting stores. Maybe you'll mix it up and use a little bit of everything? The choice is yours!

Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I don't think it's a secret that i love and collect all kinds of vintage paper and ephemera... both Christmas-themed and everyday, so obviously I was always going to go all out this week! I've used an illustration trimmed from an old holiday card, some vintage lace, old doilies and a bit of beautifully yellowed sheet music. A little bit of everything I love... all in one place!"

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with an illustration from the top of a piece of vintage sheet music.  I used colored pencils to add highlights of color ... I wanted it to look like a vintage hand-colored black and white photographs.  The layout is this week's Unscripted Sketch, but I moved my jingle bells embellishment to the right side of the layout because they looked a bit odd coming out of the fair lady's head."

Remember, you don't need to use any AUTHENTIC vintage materials on your own card, just try to capture the spirit! But if you'd like a chance to acquire a few older goodies, we do have a lovely little prize this week:

One lucky card-maker will receive a Christmas-themed ephemera packet like this one from Lauren's Etsy shop, Just Enough Stuff, as well as a $10 gift certificate to spend on anything else you'd like from the shop! So be sure to link up your newly made, vintage-vibed holiday cards before 6pm (est) on Wednesday, April 9th, for a shot at the prize. Keyword for galleries and our flickr group is JB:14:07. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Fanciful Foliage

We loved the wide variety of foliage featured in the designs for this week's challenge ... here are a few that we thought were particularly fabulous.

Margo S.

of

My Scrappy Spot

Featured her foliage with beautiful holiday candles ... 

the sparkling flames are a perfect touch ... and that sentiment is oh-so-true.

Mrs. Pink's Hobby

rocked the water-coloring with her lovely holly branch ... 

and we loved the idea of using painter's tape to mask her frame.

Fabiola

of 

Mon P'tit Monde

featured both a stunning foliage background ... as well as lovely dimensional poinsettias ... 

we loved the pearl centers.

And the random winner of a surprise prize is:

Lori Turner

of

Inklingly Yours

Lori ... e-mail us your mailing address, and we'll get your goodies in the mail.

Check back at midnight for a fun new prompt (and yes ... there will be prizes involved again).

Festive Foliage

We're still celebrating the Holly & the Ivy this week ... or any other festive foliage you'd care to feature. Here's our second take on this prompt:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I've been completely addicted to sketches again lately, especially the fortnightly one at Cardabilities! The current layout (#95) is pretty much tailor made for incorporating a cluster of assorted flowers and greenery, making it perfect for what I wanted to do this week!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a glittery gift tag that features three kinds of foliage and designed my card around it using this week's CAS(E) this Sketch and beautiful holiday papers (including even more foliage on the background paper)."

So bring on the greenery this week and share your festive foliage creations with us.  Remember, you have until 6pm EST on Wednesday, March 26th to link-up your design (and I think I will throw in a little prize for one lucky participant ... just because I can).

The Holly & the Ivy

This week we're celebrating The Holly and the Ivy ... or more specifically, we're making cards that feature some holiday foliage.  Maybe you prefer Holly ... or Ivy ... Poinsettias ... Mistletoe... or even Douglas Fir ... just make sure there's some sort of foliage featured in your design.

Here's our celebration of greenery:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I love making paper punched wreaths ... it's a great way to use paper scraps (three different greens in this case), and I find the assembly process to be very therapeutic.  I added a bit of glitz for the holidays with a sequined bow using a Deconstructed Sketch and sentiment circles from Crafter's Companion."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I started out with holly and ivy, but somehow pine, mistletoe, and a few poinsettias crept in there, too. Ah well, I find with most holiday things, more really is merrier, and certainly that little Christmas Cardinal seems happy enough in his leafy bower! My layout is based on the current Cardabilities sketch (#94), which, as always, was a dream to work with."

We can't wait to see the creative ways *YOU* will find to incorporate holiday foliage into your cards! Link up here before 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, March 26th. Keyword for galleries and our Flickr group is JB:14:06. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Sketch-O-Licious!

If you've checked out the most recent readers' gallery, then you already know that every single card this fortnight was utterly outstanding. Take a bow ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and accept our congratulations on the stellar job you did with Stephanie's sketch! Meanwhile, here are a few versions that really made us look twice:

Kathe D. of Kathe's Adventures

Combined aqua and silver perfectly, for a totally elegant CAS aesthetic! 

Deanne of Three Trees Creations

Used stitching and buttons to add country charm galore!

Rosina of Rosina's Scrapcards

Really made the sketch her own by adding flowers, stars, ribbons and stitching!

We'll be back at midnight with a new prompt we hope will grow on you! Look forward to seeing you then ♥JINGLE BELLES♥!

Sketch-ing Through the Snow

We're still having a ball with Stephanie's sketch, let's take another look at that beauty, shall we?

Here are the cards we made from it this week:

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I started with my larger panel as the focal image ... a digital image from Christmas in Mulberry Wood. Given the proportions of my elements, it worked better to flip the sketch to a horizontal configuration ... I love a sketch that's flexible like that."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I love a flexible sketch, too, and this one REALLY is! As you can see (at least, I hope you can!) I rotated it 90 degrees counter-clockwise and moved my Santa element (which is standing in for the circle) to the other side. My design was inspired by this beautiful older layout of Marcy Penner's. It took me *TWO* tries to get it right, and the other (unsuccessful) version is also posted on my blog today, if you want to see it!"

Do scroll down to see the gorgeous readers' gallery and link up your own beautiful sketch card! ♥