If you've played along with us at ♥
JINGLE BELLES♥ over the last few years, you already know there are two prompts that
never change: at the beginning of October we honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month with "Pink Christmas"; and the end of April
we celebrate Earth Day by making holiday cards that feature re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements. It's time for the latter, and this year we're thrilled to have a very special lovely guest star along with us, as winner of the Guest Designer spot from our "Lucky Day" giveaway in March. Please meet
(and be sure to go visit!) our very talented friend and fellow Belle,
Lorraine of Paper Vernissage:
"What fun to be chosen as a guest designer for one of my favorite annual Jingle Belles Challenges. Not only do I get to use up some of the “stuff” I’ve been hoping to repurpose over the years, but I get to make a Christmas card out of it which makes it all the more fun. The very first “art class” I took was during a summer program many moons ago (like in the 60’s before Earth Day was born) and one of the projects that we worked on involved, even at that time, using things that would normally go into the trash in our project. I actually won a prize for my creation (sorry no pics) – a book entitled “Making Something From Nothing”. Seeing how people take everyday trash and turn it into treasure fascinates and inspires me and I can’t wait to see what everyone will reuse and recycle in their creations for this challenge."
Here's what we made this week:
Lorraine says, "My goal was to use as much “rescued” materials as possible on this card and I think I did pretty good. The only recently purchased item is the crocheted lace. The cardstock is a retired color and the printed panel is part of a printed paper bag. The corrugated materials came from packaging and from one of those fast food coffee sleeves and I just swiped them with some gesso. The ribbon was on a Christmas gift and the ornament is an embossed foil covered cardboard tartlet base (you know those cardboard bases that they put cakes and pies on in the bakery, just smaller with that tab). I scrunched up some brass pot scrubber with a gold foil twist tie for the ornament decoration. So it’s got a little bit of sparkle with a rustic feel."
Stephanie says,
"These gorgeous metallic opalescent trees were recycled from a Christmas card that I received last year ... they were just too pretty not to have a second-life. I trimmed the panel from the front of the card, added a wrap of Not Quite Navy ribbon and an SRM Sticker sentiment before attaching to the navy card base with foam tape for dimension using this week's Deconstructed Tall & Skinny Sketch (flipped on its side). I was able to trim the back of the card and use the blank space for the inside of the card."
Lauren says, "This intricately cut leafy panel was part of the holiday card sent us at Christmas by my brother-in-law, who freely admits he chooses cards that have interesting bits I might like to re-use... and he's usually right! :) In the original card, that pretty frame surrounded a little poem/sentiment, but I've opted instead for some light-colored vintage sheet music to show off the lacy branches, and a reindeer I diecut from a scrap of wood veneer leftover from a different project. (If you look really closely, you'll see that his legs are not full-length... because the scrap was too small!)"
Now it's your turn: grab those lovely old Christmas cards, hoarded bits of gift wrap, cool magazine pictures, bits of pretty packaging... and re-use them creatively as brand new hand-made holiday masterpieces! Appropriately enough, this link-up ends at 6pm (EST) on Earth Day, April 22nd. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:15:08. ♥
