Sketch-o-licious

There were fewer entries for our Merry Sketch-mas Challenge, but on the plus side, every single one was outstanding! If you haven't scrolled down to see the gallery, we highly recommend the trip. In the meantime, here were a few ideas we found especially inspiring:

LeAnne Pugliese of Wee Inklings

...used a coordinated line of celestial papers and embellies for a beautifully cohesive look, with a sophisticated palette of greens, gold and white.

Vicky of Vicky's Scrapping Passion

...cleverly made the center diamond into a shaker, then used a beautiful bauble-shaped die to hold a sweet chickadee and an assortment of bead berries.

Patrice who posts on Instagram

...rotated the sketch to landscape format, made a handsome cardinal the star of the show, and added lots of golden touches for an extra elegant vibe.

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who joined our Sketch-mas fun, we loved seeing all of your amazing creations. We'll be back at Midnight for our first prompt of October, so those of you who've joined us before may already know what color of INK we might want you to THINK! ;)

SKETCH-ing in a Winter Wonderland

We've got another week of SKETCH-y fun for you this week at Jingle Belles.

Remember, you can rotate or stretch ... as long as we can see the bones of the sketch in your design.

Here's how we got SKETCH-y this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I rotated the sketch, and placed my focal point slightly off center. I also went a bit mad for plaid, with two different bold green varieties that match surprisingly well considering that they are older scraps from different companies. I trimmed down an American Crafts journal card and overlapped it on one of my oldest dies (Sizzix's Tree, Christmas #2); added some Eyelet Outlet Red Snowflake Bling, Red Star Sequins and a Poinsettia Brad, and called it a (holi)day!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a coppery patinaed Gel Press Print and accented with turquoise designer papers and a vintage focal element.  I finished with sticker sentiments and some holly leaves for the corner elements."

Remember, you have until 6pm EST next Wednesday, October 5th to link-up your SKETCH-y design to join the fun.

Merry Sketch-mas

We're getting SKETCH-y at Jingle Belles this week with a Sketch that holds lots of possibilities:

It can be clean & simple or all decked out vintage... cardstock or designer paper or stamps (or all of the above). You can flip, rotate, compress or stretch the sketch... just be sure we can see the "bones" of it in your finished card. We can't wait to see what you create!

Here is how we got SKETCH-y:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with inspiration from the Inkspirational Photo Challenge using kraft, twine, text and some dry wall tape (in place of the lace).  Next I die cut a vintage postcard for the diamond element in the layout.  I used a fun sticker sentiment and finished with red jewels that coordinated with St. Nicholas."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Arctic has been around a while, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that my friend Elisabeth at Paper Anthology was still able to special order it for me! I paper-pieced the critters on the diamond shape in the sketch, where I fashioned abstract layers of sky, snow and water. In my washi stash, I found the perfect grey tape to act as a sentiment. I matted out the design with some silvery Lawn Fawn snowflakes and a bit of stylized graph paper. My diamond got a bit bigger than I planned, so I slightly truncated the sketch, in order to make it fit a 6" square card.

Link your fabulous sketch-inspired masterpiece(s) right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, October 5th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-22-20.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Mission: Embossable!

There's seemingly no limit to the beautiful and creative ways to combine embossing with holiday cardmaking, as the Readers' Gallery for My Sweet Embossable You shows very clearly. Here are just a few cards that especially caught our eye this time:

Fabiola of Mon P'tit Monde

...cleverly (and carefully!) used both white and gold embossing powders on her gorgeous stamped bauble for a two-tone effect we can't stop looking at!

Meg of Bits and Pieces

...used just a strip of debossed snowflakes to add the perfect accent to her innovative stamped, colored and layered images!

Deb Horst of Sendable Sentiments

...made not one but two beautiful cards featuring a fabulous snowy embossing folder and we love the way it adds instant wintery vibes to both designs!

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing all of your inspiring cards! We'll be back again at midnight with a brand new prompt that might just seem a tiny bit sketchy... ;)

Embossing Around the Christmas Tree

This week we're still creating cards with Embossing ... it can be texture embossing, heat embossing or both if you're an overachiever.

Here's how we got Embossable this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Since I used an embossing folder last week, I decided to break out my Wendy Vecchi Doodle Christmas set, stamped the poinsettia over an entire background, embossed with Ranger's Vintage Pearl Embossing Powder, and then painted the flowers with Buttercup, Sunflower and Viridian Archival Inks, using a waterbrush filled with rubbing alcohol. I put Sunflower Liquid Pearls in the centers of all the flowers, added a couple of sparkly mats, a bit of White Lace Tape and a suitable diecut sentiment and called it a day."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I used a favorite embossing folder technique this week - brayering red ink on the inside of the Time Holtz Texture Fades Holiday Knit #2 embossing folder before embossing it on a piece of ivory water color paper.  I covered 2/3 of my card with the embossed texture for the Let's Squash It!: Cuz 2 out of 3 Ain't Bad Challenge.  The vintage 2002 wood-mounted sentiment from Double D Rubber Stamps is a long time favorite that I usually use on the inside of my cards, but this time stamped it on more watercolor paper to shine front & center.  I finished with a few wraps of natural twine."

My Sweet Embossable You

This week we're asking you to create holiday cards that feature embossed texture, or heat embossing, or both (if you're one of those extra-credit type of crafters).

Here's how we got *embossable* this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I went with texture embossing this week using the Spellbinders Forevergreen Embossing Folder on Green/Kraft Core'dinations cardstock.  I sanded the embossed texture and then inked the embossed texture with Catherine Pooler Deck the Halls Ink for a bit more contrast.  I attached it with foam tape to a red card base and added two sentiments from Spellbinders Mini Christmas Greetings."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I also went with texture embossing and, in fact, used my oldest embossing folder, Darice's Snowflake Swirl. Since I didn't want to cover up too much of that lovely design, I broke out my newest die set, Spellbinders' Winter Welcome Sled from Paper Anthology, framed it up with a few appropriately colored mats and finished with a sticker sentiment.

♥♥♥

If you choose to accept this Mission: Embossable, link your card(s) up right here, by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, September 21st. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-22-19.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Rockin' the Retro!

There are so many ways to interpret a Vintage or Retro vibe and we loved seeing ALL of them this fortnight! Here are a few that especially caught our eye: 

Helene aka Mummylade Made in Sweden

...created her mindblowingly lovely scene on just ONE layer by stenciling a white leaf on grocer's kraft, stamping and coloring a tiny perfect winter cabin, and scattering sequins. 

(WOW!) 

Aimslee of Paper Paisleys Art Adventures

...found the cutest ever retro reindeer, added stamping, diecuts and embellies and finished the whole thing off with beautiful, classic Basic Grey holiday papers. 

(PS: the back of her card is equally pretty!)

Majda of Majdinustvarjalninemir

...made two incredibly lovely versions of the same fun sketch, with classic holiday images and EXACTLY the right amount of inking and distressing!

(We LOVE two-fers!!!)

♥♥♥

And now we need to find out who'll be snapping up the fun little vintage Christmas assortment and $15 giftcard from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff!

The random number generator has selected #6 which means that...

Pam Sebring of Crafty Hair Lady

is our lucky winner!

Congrats, Pam!

Please email Lauren at llaurenb @ hotmail.com

to claim your prize!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we enjoyed seeing every single card! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt that we hope will make a good impression!