sketch~o~licious!!!

ok, so given that we had kirsty vittetoe's amazing sketch to work with this week, of course we knew the cards would be awesome... but even so, you've managed to blow us away, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥!!! how do you keep on doin' that??!?! :) every single entry this week was a brilliant take on the sketch, and you should really scroll down and peruse the "OH CHRISTMAS SKETCH" gallery because it is just chock full of inspiration! but first here are a few cards that particularly caught our eye:

clare of miscanthus crafts

...rocked the traditional red and green seriously well in this uber-cute card that's 100% festive fun!

june houck of simply elegant paper crafts

...expresses not only "peace on earth" but also perfect papercrafting harmony with this utterly understated combination of lovely patterns and colors!

deb hickman of a world of imagination

...elevates the clean & simple christmas card to bold new heights by paring down the sketch to its bare essentials, and then making every element COUNT!

and now the moment we've all been waiting for: *WHO* will be surfing over to the pixie dust paperie shoppe to spend that lovely $15 gift certificate that miss kirsty so generously donated this week?! let's consult random.org to find out, shall we? it seems that the lucky number is... oddly enough...

*1*

which means our lovely winner is:

♥Lisa J♥

of Stamping, Crafting, Snow (& MOOSE!) Oh My!

congratulations, lisa!!!

please contact kirsty via citycrafter @ gmail [dot] com to claim your prize!

once again we renew our thanks to kirsty vittetoe for providing us with a lovely sketch, fabulous pixie dust paperie coupon codes, and an awesome prize! be sure to check out the weekly challenges at the city crafter challenge blog, where a new theme debuts every tuesday; and of course there's daily inspiration on the pixie blog as well!

thanks also to every who came along and made a card, left a comment, or just generally cheered us on this week! there's a new prompt at midnight, provided by another of your mega-talented fellow BELLES! (yay!) ♥♥♥

Oh Christmas Sketch, Oh Christmas Sketch

we ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ loooooooove card sketches, do we not? this week we're lucky to have an utterly fabulous one to work with, drawn by a very special belle indeed: ms. kirsty vittetoe!!! many of you know kirsty as the creator and lead DT of the awesome city crafter challenge blog; and i'm sure you've been wowed by the divine paper-based goodness at her own blog, handmade little things; but perhaps her favorite online role is as the owner and pixie-in-chief of pixie dust paperie, for which she puts together a wonderful collection of the latest and greatest papercrafting papers and embellishments each and every month!

this week kirsty appears not just as our lovely guest star and sketch artist, but also as our official sponsor! one lucky cardmaker will win (via random draw) a $15.00 gift certificate to the pixie shoppe and, in the meantime, she's generously offering *TWO* fabulous deals... exclusive to JINGLE BELLES:

50% off Pixie November Kit

SNOW SHOE

just use the code "jingle-belles" at check out!

(see full product listing here, and lovely DT projects here!)

JINGLE BELLES

will also receive

25% off for all other main kits from

December, January, February and March

(click the links for full details)

when you use the code "christmas-in-june"

supplies are limited... and AWESOME... so hurry to the PIXIE SHOPPE!

and now here's the sketch: and here's what we did:

Kirsty's Card

kirsty says, "I usually just scribble on my notepad whenever I have the inspiration, and when I need to make a sketch, I kind of look through my notepad at all the sketches, and mix and match them on a piece of scratch paper until I come up with a combination I really like. I have to say I love this sketch--lol! I see lots of possibility on the layering. To make my card, all I do is to pull out my Pixie Box (I have a box that keep all the past Pixie bits and pieces) and scraps mug (a mug that I keep other bits and pieces), and find things that go together, that's it!"

Stef's Card

stef says, "I used an image and sentiment from Snow Hugs

by Rogue Redhead Designs.

With the size of my main image, I designed a more

vertical version of the sketch

using October Afternoon Good Cheer papers.

I added a little paper piecing and fun pom poms on the hats."

Lauren's Card

lauren says, "one of the things i love most about sketches is that they're like jigsaw puzzles: all i need to do is look through my stash and find the appropriate-shaped pieces! in this case i started with an (older) jenni bowlin mini bingo card and a (newer) dear lizzy xmas tag for the two main elements, and then filled in the rest with coordinating papers and embellies--mostly from the "scrap" file. gotta love a card as easy as THAT, right?!"

and now it's time to see what *YOU* will do with kirsty's lovely sketch: make it tall or short, make it traditional or funky, make it minimal or load on the layers?! just be sure to have PLENTY of fun, and link up here before 6pm (EST) next wednesday, june 15th, to be eligible for the random draw which awards the $15 pixie gift certificate!!! use the code JB24 if uploading to a gallery or to our flickr group.