Optimal Orange

We loved seeing all of the creative ways you interpreted our inspiration photo.

Here are a few that were optimal.

Vintage Scraps Canada

you know we're suckers for punny sentiments ... and little puppy tracks in the snow ... and perfect use of the colors to decorate both the tiny village and cute little doggie ... and did you see those fabulous clouds?

Steffi H.

really rocked the white space with the perfect amount of texture from embossing and stitching ... and the orange ties it all together.

Crafting Junky

created with snowflakes from all three colors with the wonderful pop of color from orange stripes and an orange sentiment ... wonderful combination of elements.

See you back at Midnight for our annual ode to the Earth.

Old-Fashioned Perfection

Clearly we are not the only cardmakers who enjoy a vintage vibe at Christmas. Judging by the amazing gallery, everyone was especially inspired this fortnight! Here are a few cards that made us particularly happy:

Sue C of Paper Pleasure
...combined many gorgeous bits and bobs in a beautiful "collagey" style, made even better by the uniquely shaped card base!



Susan B of Cardmaker's Garret
...stamped what might be the Best Sentiment Ever, then let it shine by making it the star of this lovely card!

Barbara of The Knackered Grouse
...posted three of seven (!) cards she made featuring gorgeous vintage Santa illustrations teamed with just the right embellishments!

♥♥♥

And now what about that fun prize from Lauren's Etsy Shop,
Just Enough Stuff?

Prize includes a Deluxe Christmas Ephemera Assortment
like this one and  a $10 credit to select anything else
you'd like from Just Enough Stuff 

The fine folks at Random.org have selected the magic number of...
*22*
which means our Lucky Winner is:

*Janis Lewis*

please email Lauren at llaurenb@hotmail.com
to claim your prize!

Many thanks to everyone who played along this fortnight! We'll be back at midnight with a brand new inspiration we hope will color your holiday cardmaking world in a brand new way! ♥

An Old-Fashioned Holiday

We're still celebrating all things vintage OR vintage-inspired and you still have plenty of time to join us, which we hope you will! Remember that although we (especially Lauren, lol!) tend to embrace the antique, shabby-chic style of "vintage", there are all sorts of eras and styles that would work, including mid-century modern, 1960's psychedelia, 19050's sock-hop chic... pick a timeframe you like and go with it! Scroll down to the original post (just below this one) for all the details, including the fun prize from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff!

Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I've had these vintage red doilies in my stash for quite some time, and it was about time I used them. Torn layers are always a fun way to combine a few different papers, especially if you have smallish offcuts of various pages from old Ideals magazines, as I did in this case. The Santa image is a trimmed down postcard that (as you can see) was no longer in good condition, but still too pretty to toss. I backed it with red cardstock to frame it out, and also frankly to reinforce it, because the crease across Santa's face is on the verge of splitting in two. The nice thing about finding rather "distressed" vintage items is that they're much less expensive AND you needn't feel they're "too nice to use" lol!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I had so much fun with my glue-as-I-go collage last week, I made another one.  This time I started with a page from a vintage Pressure Cooker Recipe book.  I added some gum drops and vintage stamps before finishing with a vintage Santa, some champagne gems and a metallic sticker sentiment."

Remember, you have until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, April 4th to link-up your card.

Spirit of Christmas PAST

Description:This week we're celebrating the look and feel of Christmas long ago by making cards with an old fashioned feel. You might incorporate actual vintage paper or lace, or use any of the many beautiful vintage-inspired papers and embellishments on the market; even a stamp or illustration with an old-fashioned vibe as your focal point will work ... whatever speaks vintage to you!

Here are our vintage holiday creations:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I did a *glue as you go* collage with lots of vintage bits and bobs from my stash ... sheet music, Ideals pages, and trading stamps.  I did add a bird punched from a journaling card, a metal wreath, a sentiment sticker & a piece of flair (with vintage looking script on it) before adding a few stamped images from Seth Apter's Post Office collection."

(Lauren says, "I confess I'm secretly *hoping* this card of Stephanie's will be in MY mailbox come December!!!")

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I've hit all the categories for sourcing this time: I've got some actual vintage sheet music and lace from my stash, but the doily paper and doily scrap are new, commercially produced papercrafting supplies. The angel image kind of splits the difference: I scanned an actual vintage postcard from my collection, reduced it slightly to fit my not-quite-A7 card, and hit the edges with a bit of Antique Paper ink and a distressing tool."

Just in case you have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING even vaguely vintage-inspired in your stash, here are a couple of scans from Lauren's personal collection of ephemera for you to use if you'd like:

To further inspire you, we've got a little prize for one (randomly selected) lucky cardmaker who links up with us this fortnight:

A Christmas Ephemera Assortment

 like this one and a $10 credit to select anything else you'd like 

from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff

♥♥♥

Link up as many times as you'd like to, between now and 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, April 4th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:18:07.

An InLinkz Link-up