Friday, January 27, 2017

Stick With Us

We're still getting *stick*y this week with lots of stickers ... search through your stash and see how create you can be with your stickers.  Remember, you have until Wednesday, February 1st at 6pm EST to link-up.

Here's what we made this week.



Lauren says, "I love these adorable Santa and Mrs. Claus stickers from Doodlebug Design, so I was pretty excited to make them the stars of this week's card. I combined them with (mostly older) papers from a bunch of different companies and a print-at-home Jenni Bowlin holiday bingo card, using the awesome current sketch from Sketch Saturday."



Stephanie says, "I picked-up a sheet of cardstock stickers at Hobby Lobby this week in one of my favorite holiday color combinations.  Since I already had the coordinating cardstock, I went ahead and made two more cards you can see at my blog.  I love how stickers can help cards come together so quickly (and they're all mailable without extra postage)."

Friday, January 20, 2017

STICK-y & Sweet

We're getting all STICK-y and Sweet this week ... which means we're creating cards that feature at least one STICKER ... or perhaps many more!

Stickers were my (Stephanie's) first love when I discovered card making almost 20 years ago, and I still have quite a stash today (and I'm sure you do too).  Perhaps break out your oldest stickers ... or ones you just picked-up on Christmas clearance ... just use some stickers in your design.

Here's what we created:


Stephanie says, "Penny Black Stickeroos are my absolutely favorite and I have a rather (ahem) large collection of them.  I decided to use the oldest sticker in the bunch ... Snowflakes Falling from 2007 with the layout from Sketch Saturday.  These stickers are so awesome, the card almost makes itself (and since it was so easy to assemble, I made three more on my blog and used the entire set of stickers)."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I went with the "perhaps many more" strategy, lol. I've got three beautiful (ancient!) baubles from the late, great Hambly Screen Prints and four-- count 'em four-- different, layered, border stickers! Luckily I had the latest Atlantic Hearts sketch to tell me exactly where to place them!"

So after you've completed your sticker sensation, make sure you link-it-up at below before Wednesday, February 1st at 6pm EST .  Keyword for our Flickr Gallery (and others) is JB:17:02

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Wrap Stars!

We consider it one of the best gifts ever to have had so much eye candy in the gallery for our first prompt of 2017, "No Time Like the Presents". We can see that once again this year, you guys are not going to make it easy for us to choose! But after much deliberation, here are a few cards whose PRESENTation we especially admired:


...found the *PERFECT* giftwrap to use for this, she just needed to mat it, add a stamped sentiment and some glitter! LeAnne called this a "lazy" card, we call it being one smart cookie!!! :)


...is coming back to card-making (and most impressively, too!) after a break; luckily she had this BEARY cute friend to help her out!


...couldn't find quite the right image for her very clever card concept, but she managed to pull off a very clever improvisation!

If you haven't had a chance to see all them yet, we hope you'll scroll down to the first readers' gallery of 2017 and feast your eyes on all the wonderful entries! We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will make you want to stick with us this year! ♥

Friday, January 13, 2017

Wrap It Up

As we mentioned last week, this first prompt of the year, "No Time Like the PRESENTS", does run slightly longer than usual: until next Wednesday, January 18th in fact!*  Which means you still have time to scroll down to the original post and link up a holiday card that has the image of gifts on it, OR which incorporates upcycled giftwrap... or both! Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:





Stephanie says, "In case you didn't know, Lauren is the best gift-wrapper on the planet, so I knew she wouldn't let me down with something to use for this prompt.  My gift was wrapped in the silver metallic wrapping paper that I used for my card base (which seemed like an awesome idea until I tried to photograph a completely metallic card).  I added a metallic silver doily, a die cut wreath and a glittery bow.  I finished with an Ellen Hutson sentiment and heart bling from Eyelet Outlet."


Lauren says, "I've got both elements again: the presents-- which are cardstock stickers-- are pretty obvious, but can you see the giftwrap? Let me give you a hint: it's the PENGUIN! He's from the paper that the gifts from my friend Gina came wrapped in, and seriously, before I'd even really properly looked at the gifts, I was already planning to glue the least wrinkly penguins to some plain white cardstock, lol, so I could fussycut them! I've used the sketch half of the current Fusion Challenge for my layout."



*After which we'll be back to our usual fortnightly schedule!

Friday, January 6, 2017

More Presents? Yes, Please!

We're still having fun with "No Time Like the PRESENTS" for which... you may remember... we'd like to see holiday cards that include the image of an actual present... OR that use some upcycled giftwrap in place of (or in addition to) patterned paper. Link up in the original post, directly below this one.

Here's what we made this week:


Lauren says, "Again, I've got both sides of the equation: a sleigh full of gifts, as well as a background of gold polkadotty goodness that was a leftover bit of very verrrrrrrry thin wrapping paper, so i xyroned it onto a bit of scrap cardstock. And that's about it, really; nothing fancy, but with the price of postage on lumpy bumpy oversized cards fresh in my mind, I'm trying to think more about mail-ability this year!"

(Please note that the goal of making flat, mailable cards has been Lauren's primary creative resolution for the last six consecutive years. Realistically, it will last until the beginning of February...)



Stephanie says, "When I buy gift wrap I look for two things ... usable for multiple occasions & pattern that will work on a card ... that's why this metallic blue striped holiday paper was the perfect purchase (I'm sure it will be returning for a few masculine birthdays in the future).  A few pieces of cardstock, a sticker sentiment and a glittery poinsettia sticker finished this week's Mojo Monday Sketch."

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that this first prompt of the year does run slightly longer than usual: Until January 18th in fact; so that's nearly three weeks, rather than the usual fortnight; after which we'll be back to our usual schedule! Luckily, this means you've got plenty of time to link up. AND... we'll be back to remind you one more time next Friday! Meanwhile, be sure to scroll down and check out the reader's gallery, before you link up your own holiday masterpiece!

Sunday, January 1, 2017

No Time Like the *Presents*

It's January first... time to start making Christmas cards, right ♥JINGLE BELLES♥??! Ok, yes, we realize that might sound like a crazy thing to say, but if you're a papercrafter who spent the beginning of this (or any other!) December stressfully mass-producing holiday cards, then you're aware of the fact that it's a chore which can totally sneak up, and make your spirits anything but bright. OR... you could make one or two cards every fortnight, between now and Thanksgiving, in the company of friends... and TAKE DECEMBER BACK! Since you're reading this post, we suspect --like us-- you'd much prefer the latter scenario. So without further ado, let's get this card-makin' party started!

If you've read the title of this post, you already know that the first official ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ prompt of 2017 is called "No Time Like the PRESENTS" so we'd like to see holiday cards that include the image of an actual present... OR which include some upcycled giftwrap that you've used in place of (or in addition to) patterned paper. Easy, right? Here's what we made:



Stephanie says, "When I received this texty tissue paper wrapped around a gift, I knew immediately it would become some holiday cards.  I used the Faux Silk technique to create my background adding a Stampin' Up Bauble & punched bow."


Lauren says, "I decided to do both parts of the prompt, so my card has a cute little Crate Paper cardstock diecut present AND I've used some pretty pink croc-embossed giftwrap as a backdrop behind my little collage. I've even worked in an unofficial third aspect of the prompt by using one of the beautiful snow flurry transparency sheets by Hunkydory Crafts that were part of Stephanie's Christmas gift to me! Cool, right?!"

Now it's your turn to make your very first holiday masterpiece of the year. Link up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, January 18th... because yes, we're giving a little bit of extra time to this first prompt; but we'll be fortnightly the rest of the year like usual! Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:17:01.
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