Christmas Down to EARTH (Day)

We're back for round two of our EARTH DAY prompt featuring RECYCLING, where we'd like you to create a holiday card that features re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements.  You know you've got that stash of things that you saved because they were just too pretty to throw away ... break them out and create with them.

In the past we've used everything from Kleenex Boxes & Soda Cans to Gift Wrap and we *always* have a lot of fun making our own cards and admiring yours!

Here's how we up-cycled this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "A couple of years ago, I bought this fun yeti gift wrap. I used most of it to wrap presents; but whenever I had scraps, I saved however many intact yeti photos there were, backed them with cardstock, and set them aside to fussycut and use on cards. The grey paper with stars came as a free gift with a craft magazine. (Not exactly recycling, but a sort of related field, I feel.) This is definitely not the fanciest card I've ever made, but it makes me smile! Also it's flattish and flexible, which means I can mail it for a reasonable price. So I'm callin' it a WIN!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started with this recycled front cut from a vintage holiday card using a stitched die cut.  Next I framed it in red and layered it on top of a piece from a tissue box and a piece of crafty packaging that covered the card front.  I finished with a stamped sentiment from Kristina Werner Pretty Poinsettias."

♥♥♥

Scroll down to the original post to link your card(s) and heck out the fabulous Readers' Gallery. JB2609: Peace on EARTH DAY runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 6th.

Peace on EARTH DAY

Those of you who have followed us over the years know that we have a special place in our hearts for EARTH DAY.

So our EARTH DAY prompt each year has been all about RECYCLING ... and we'd like you to create a holiday card that features re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements.  You know you've got that stash of things that you saved because they were just too pretty to throw away ... break them out and create with them.

In the past we've used everything from Kleenex Boxes & Soda Cans to Gift Wrap and we *always* have a lot of fun making our own cards and admiring yours!

Here's how we got EARTH=y this week.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I have a spot in my gift closet where I save all of the packaging bits from the year that look like they have potential for future cards.  This one combines an image die cut from one of last year's holiday cards together with a stiched square cut from Tim Holtz Idea-ology packaging (I swear he makes it with the intent of it finding it's way into a design).  I positioned it on a red glitter card base to pull out the foiled red metallic shimmer in my image.  I finished with a Taylored Expressions Simple Strips - Christmas that was already assembled on a mat in my UFO box."

Lauren's Card(s)

Lauren says, "I was lucky enough to get not one but TWO Amazon giftcards in December that came in these adorable reindeer-bedecked holders, so OF COURSE my first thought was, "I'm making these into cards" which... as you can see... I did! I cut off the logo-ed flaps and used Tim Holtz wordfetti style stickers to cover up the slot in the middle which held the flap closed. The design was already so cute that I only added a few diecut snowflakes, my favorite Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads and some mats.The red layer is patterned paper, but the tan consists of a few smallish scraps of leftover giftwrap that I confess I saved especially for this challenge." 

♥♥♥♥♥ 

JB2609: Peace on EARTH DAY runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 6th and we cannot wait to see what you will make! Link your card(s) right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Vintage Valedictorians

You all did such an amazing job making gorgeous cards featuring vintage and retro-inspired holiday cards, it makes it very difficult to select just a few to feature. So if you haven't checked out the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend a little scroll through all of the inspiration. In the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

Joanda Johnstone of The Inque Spot Studio

...went with a midcentury modern vibe that is so spot-on you can practically hear Frank Sinatra singing holiday songs in the background. The stamps, the colors, the gems, the speckles... YOWZA!

Valerie Kaye of VK Inkspirations

...found the absolutely PERFECT set of vintage-style papers to use; and then was clever enough to realize they only needed a tiny bit of inking and distressing to become a gorgeous card!

Cindy Beach of Stamps, Paper and Ink

...caught our eye with this soft and lovely nostalgic design, but the clincher was her confession that she started out with one idea and the supplies drove her in a different (& BEAUTIFUL) direction! 

♥♥♥

And now let's find out the winner of that fun little pack of holiday-themed ephemera from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff, shall we?

The Random Number Generator has selected...

Lucky #14!

Which means that Deb Horst is our lucky winner!

Congrats, Deb! Please send your snail mail info to

llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com

so we can get that on its way to you ASAP!

♥♥♥

Once again, many thanks to all who participated. We'll be back at Midnight with a bit of a "recycled" prompt we hope will will appeal to all fans of saving miscellaneous pretty things that non-crafters *might* be tempted no to save! ;)

Spirit of Christmas Past

This week we're still Walking in a Vintage Wonderland … which means creating a card with a vintage or retro-inspired design. That could mean incorporating actual vintage elements, using new products that have a vintage style, or using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe – whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive to your endeavors, this time we are sponsored by Lauren's fantastic Etsy Shop Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky random card maker who links-up their vintage-inspired design. (Scroll down to the original post for more details about that!)

Here's how we went Old School this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week, I made a random collage of torn and layered vintage and found papers including: some sheet music; a dictionary page with a reindeer (technically a caribou); an order form and advertisement from a vintage Christmas Ideals magazine; some S&H Green Stamps and... ok, I think that's it, lol. Since the background is quite busy, I only needed a fussycut Authentique bauble (which luckily had a bold sentiment!) and a few Katie Pertiet Christmas Collageable Banners that I machine stitched while I was doing the edges."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a full page poinsettia photo from the 1979 issue of Christmas Ideals Magazine.  I cut it into 3/4" strips and assembled it on a green card base using the layout from BYSH Cardmakers.  I used Spellbinders Essential Stylish Oval Dies to cut a vintage Tim Holtz Poinsettia image from the Vintage Christmas Paper Dolls 2023 and finished with a vintage-like Tim Holtz label sentiment sticker."

Remember, you have until 6pm EST on Wednesday to link-up for a chance to win.

Walking in a Vintage Wonderland

This fortnight we're Walking in a Vintage Wonderland … which means creating a card with a vintage design. 

That could mean incorporating actual vintage elements, using new products that have a vintage style, or using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe – whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive to your endeavors, this week we are sponsored by Lauren's fantastic Etsy Shop Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky card member who links-up their vintage design.

Here's how we went back in time this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a vintage holiday card illustration of ornaments and holly in a silver bowl.  I framed it with a faux-vintage Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas Layer Frames.  I added a Tim Holtz Postmarked Stamp Sticker and sticker sentiments on top of the frame.  I finished with some vintage trading stamps peeking out before attaching it to an ivory card base to help balance out the busyness of the design."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "My card is a mix of actual vintage and vintage-inspired papercrafting products, it breaks down like this: Background paper, mailbox, sentiment and holly are 49 and Market; the funky steampunk Santa and present are Graphic 45; I've added real vintage sheet music and S&H Green Stamps to bump it up a bit. Then I did loads of edge-distressing on everything and a bit of wonky machine-stitching to finish off."

♥♥♥

How about a look at the prize? One lucky, randomly chosen cardmaker will score a vintage- and found paper holiday ephemera pack, like this one, from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff just for linking up with us this fortnight.

 JB2608: Walkin' in a Vintage Wonderland runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 22nd. Link your vintage- or retro-inspired cards right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

A World of Wonderful Whimsy

"Whimsical Wonderland" was a new theme for us, but clearly it's a rich vein. There are so many sweet, funny, charming and adorable cards in the Readers' Gallery, we do hope you'll take time to check them out. For the moment, here are three that especially caught our eye:

Kate of Cards a la Kate

...proves that small details can make a big impact: her jolly jumping elf has a white felt beard, shiny shoes and a nose made dimensional with glossy accents; he's jumping (on a wobbler) out of a beautifully shaded box diecut, in front of the perfect sentiment, all set in a rather splendid (and dare we say whimsical) funky frame! (Wow!)

Chrissy (xx) from Truly Chrissy

...found this sweet and adorable image un-colored in her to-do box and built this beautiful and vibrant card around it!

Ellen of Ellen's Kaarten

...devised an entire holiday scene for us with frisky mice, lots of candy canes and a perfectly decorated mushroom home; so charming!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing ALL of your fabulous cards. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will supply you with some good old-fashioned inspiration! ;)

More Holiday Whimsy

As we mentioned last week, "Whimsical" describes something, "Playfully quaint, fanciful, imaginative and slightly odd; often suggesting a lighthearted, unpredictable or charmingly unusual quality not based on strict logic." So this fortnight we're asking you to use that definition and make a Whimsical holiday card… it might be mice decorating the holiday tree, a space-age midcentury modern wreath, some fun little holiday gnomes, or maybe even adorable tiny reindeer driving a red plaid car?!

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I probably only use my Lawn Fawn Car Critters + Holiday Add-On stamp sets a couple of times a year. I nearly always paper-piece the little guys and use the curvy road template I made when I first got the sets; thus it's a pretty similar version each time, but it always makes me smile, so I see no reason to stop now. Most of the paper used here was scrap pieces I stamped on or punched. The trees background was a freebie from Flow Magazine; the red is Carta Bella. I stamped a Lawn Fawn sentiment on graph paper and colored the gifts with Tombows."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "When I thought of whimsical animals, I was immediately taken back to one of my favorite authors/illustrators of my childhood, Richard Scarry.  I just bought a shirt with his art from Out of Print. I found a Richard Scarry book in my collage stash, so I hoped there would be the perfect whimsical illustration for a card ... and of course there was.  How cute is that little guy all bundled-up marveling in the gorgeous snowfall.  I found the perfect sentiment in Tim Holtz Tiny Text Christmas stamps.

JB2607: Walking in a Whimsical Wonderland will run until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 8th. Scroll down to the original post to add your card(s)!

Walking in a Whimsical Wonderland

Whimsical describes something playfully quaint, fanciful, imaginative and slightly odd … often suggesting a lighthearted, unpredictable or charmingly unusual quality not based on strict logic. 

We're asking you to use that definition and make a Whimsical holiday card … it might be mice decorating the holiday tree, a modern wreath, some fun little holiday gnomes, or whatever says whimsical to you.

Here is how we walked through a whimsical wonderland this week.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I got the Spellbinders Fragmented Gaze Dies by Jaycee Gaspar this week, and I thought it would be "whimsical" to try to turn her into a sassy version of Mrs. Claus (I guess you could say I went with the imaginative and perhaps slightly odd).  I started by using Mirror Ball Luxe Silver Glitter paper as the base (not realizing it would give her a rather creepy glittery eyeball, which I solved with a few cardstock scraps).  I had fun combining some designer papers with cardstock in a holiday palette.  I finished by hand-cutting her Santa Hat that I adorned with some jeweled holly and attaching her to a de-bossed minty card base.  I finished with what seemed like the perfect holiday sentiment from My Favorite Things Sassy Pants Holiday."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "My friend Gina wrapped my holiday gifts in super-cute Hello Kitty holiday paper; which of course I saved carefully and backed with cardstock. Then I cut out alllllll of those presents, trees and Kitties. (Yes, I am indeed nuts; thank you for asking.) I wanted my whole background to be that pale green snowflake paper, but alas there wasn't enough. As it turns out, I think that was a good thing, because it completely changed how I used the tiny cut out houses and trees... for the better! The pine tree background is ancient Pebbles; the scrap of plaid is, I believe, Echo Park; and also quite elderly."

♥♥♥

JB2607: Walking in a Whimsical Wonderland will run until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 8th. Link your wonderful, whimsical greetings right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thrice as Nice

Creating with trios is fun and satisfying, as everyone who linked up this ofrtnight has proven pretty conclusively! If you haven't scrolled through the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend the trip. In the meantime, here are (coincidenally!) three cards that especially caught our eye:

Helen of Helen's Craft Haven

...notes humorously in her post that she realized we did not *literally* ask for cards with Three Kings, but when she realized she could do that, it was impossible to resist. We couldn't agree more!

Robyn Oliver of Waterlily Cards

...made this trio of elegant baubles by dipping an empty bathroom tissue roll in watercolor paint, then filling in the circles with sparkly shimmering color!

Jolanda Johnstone of The Inque Spot Studio

...went all in with glorious gold: gold paper, gold foil, gold embossing; this card is most definitely "good as gold"! 

♥♥♥

Many thanks to all who participated. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will warm your whimsical heart!

Tinsel Trios

We're still creating in threes this week ... asking you to include 3 of something on your card design.

Here are our Tinsel Trios:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I have about half a sheet left of PhotoPlay's Ugly Sweater Party patterned paper, and I must confess that I've never used it in any other way than I've done here; I really only want to cut out the cute little sweaters and put them on cards. So much so, that I had cut out four or five sweaters to make my THREE-centric card before remembering I either had to put some aside or make two cards with three sweaters. Obviously, I chose the latter course. I used my Elizabethcraft Planner Filmstrip die to hold the sweater trios and I computer-generated my silly sentiment, Don we now our ugly sweaters."

 

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week's card is an homage to my grandma ... she had a desk in her living room that she filled with all sorts of papers and stickers for her grandkids to play with.  I remember these National Wildlife Association and other charity stickers and stamps.  I also spent hours filling S&H Green Stamp books and choosing what I wanted to buy with them (we saved them up to get my first Black & Decker Teflon Iron for me to take to collage).  I finished with two trios of enamel dots and a three-word Tim Holtz Label sticker sentiment on a kraft card base.  She would have loved it."

We THREE Kings

The next Jingle Belles prompt is asking you to create a card with THREE of one element: three circles, three reindeer, three packages under the Christmas Tree ... you get the picture.

Here are our THREE point shots for this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with three vintage chipboard ornament stickers from my stash that I topped with three chipboard snowflake stickers.  For my background, I stamped Simon Says Stamp White Christmas Text on the background in white ink and embossed with white embossing powder for subtle texture.  I finished with a sentiment from Hero Arts Holiday Borders and Icons.  I attached all of the pieces with foam tape on the white-on-white background."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "My card was inspired by three vintage kittens, as you can see. In addition my A6 card has a few more threes: three torn patterned paper pieces and three pieces of doily. I kept trying to add "one more thing" but nothing really seemed right, so I attached the sentiment, did a bit of machine stitching and called it good."

♥♥♥

JB2606: We Three Kings runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, March 25th. 

Link your card(s) right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Singing Along

How delightful to see so many Jingle Belles singing along with our "Fa-la-la-la-la" challenge to incorporate music, instruments or a holiday song title. If you haven't yet seen all the entries in the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend a little scroll through all of the musical inspiration. In the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

Brenda B of Brenda's Scraps of Life

...stamped a beautiful creche scene over the music for "Away in a Manger" using neutral tones with  touches of gold for a look that's soft, sweet and elegant. 

Susan B of Cardmaker's Garret

...made these bold copper-colored watercolor bells the centerpiece of her gorgeous CAS card which also features lots of background texture and a perfectly appropriate sentiment!

Jo from Jo Blogs

...chose a cute and comical caroling kitty to be the star of her charming and adorable greeting! (Bonus points for the super cool Fa-La-La-La-La sky!)

♥♥♥

And now let's find out who will be acquiring that very cool CUTplorations Doodled Christmas Bells Cover Plate Die from Stamplorations:

The Random Number Generator has chosen...

(drumroll, please)

Lucky Number 6!

which means that

Jolanda Johnstone of The Inque Spot Studio

is our Lucky Winner!

CONGRATS!

Please send your snail mail info to

llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com 

so we can get that on its way to you ASAP!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to all who participated. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt that's easy as one... two... three!

A Caroling We Will Go

We're still celebrating Christmas Music this week.  We're asking you to create a card (or tag, or gift card holder, or whatever else you'll be needing for the holidays) that incorporates music, musical instruments, or even the title of a favorite Christmas Carol.

Here's what we're singing:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I used a vertical strip of real (torn) sheet music; some horizontal music-printed washi tape; and a tiny journal card with "Deck the Halls" on it, so I think I've covered all the bases. The background paper is from 49 & Market; the ancient slide mount frame is of unknown origin; and the foliage diecuts were leftover from another project... the dies were Tim Holtz for Sizzix Christmas Greenery. I cannot tell a lie: I love how this tuned out!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie said, "I flipped over the vintage sheet music I had used for last weeks card, and decided to scan the other side for this week's card.  I cut it into a square to use it with the BYSH Cardmakers Sketch.  I stamped three sets of Jingle Bells from Hero Arts Comfort and Joy Messages.  I finished with a sentiment from the same set."

And to celebrate the reopening of the STAMPlorations Store, we're sharing the CUTplorations Doodled Christmas Bells Cover Plate Die which one lucky (randomly chosen) participant will receive:

Fa-La-La-La-La

This fortnight we're celebrating one of our favorite aspects of the holidays at Jingle Belles... Christmas Music! 

We're asking you to create a card (or tag, or gift card holder, or whatever else you'll be needing for the holidays) that incorporates music, musical instruments, or even the title of a favorite Christmas Carol.

Here's how we're singing this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started by scanning a piece of sheet music from my stash and shrinking it down to work with my card front.  I added a strip of silver vellum down the left side.  Next I edged the lovely and peaceful scene from STAMPlorations Snowy Christmas Journal Cards in black ink to frame it for the musical background.  I added a sentiment from STAMPlorations Good Tidings Clear Stickers, attaching them both with foam tape for dimension."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I used Ranger's White Embossing Powder with Simon Hurley's create. Sheet Music Background Stamp on white cardstock, then added a nice dark coat of Best Dressed Archival Ink on top; plus a little flick of Dina Wakley White Gloss Spray. The sweet chickadee image is an older Masterpieces Made Simple card from Penny Black, which I trimmed down just a tiny bit, and adorned with Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads. I matted both panels on gold cardstock, added a square of older Ciao Bella paper, a Tim Holtz Christmas Sticker Sentiment and a wrap of crinkly seambinding to complete this dramatic 5.5" square card."

♥♥♥

And to celebrate the reopening of the STAMPlorations Store, we're sharing the CUTplorations Doodled Christmas Bells Cover Plate Die which one lucky (randomly chosen) participant will receive:

JB2605: Fa-La-La-La-La runs until 6pm (Eastern) on the evening of Wednesday, March 11th. Link your music-centric card(s) right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Well RED!

RED was the featured shade this fortnight and everyone who linked up was definitely RED-dy to Roll! If you've not yet checked out the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend a little scroll through all of outstanding inspiration. In the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

Helen of Made by Helen

...went above and beyond when it came to making her card predominantly RED. We love how much texture and interest she incorporated, as well; plus the brilliant way she used white to set off all of the different panels and layers!

Claudia of Claudia's Kaartjes

...went to town with glorious and dramatic elements: layers, textures, trimmings, dimensional flowers, a fancy fold and yes, LOTS of gorgeous RED!

Cindy of @encrepapierciseaux on Instagram

...made a card that's beautiful by any standard; not to mention a FABULOUS example of how to use not only mostly RED but solid RED with accents of gold, white and loads of texture; Bravo!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to all who participated. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will have everyone singing along!

Snoopy vs. the ♥♥RED♥♥ Baron

We're still Celebrating Rudolph (and the RED Baron) at Jingle Belles this week by creating cards that primarily feature the color RED.

Here is how we created with RED this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I am fairly proud of how many scraps of RED patterned paper I combined to make this card (for the record, it's nine); and also the fact that I unearthed and used not one, not two, not three... but FOUR ancient border punches to do so! There are also eight (RED!) stickers; three (RED!) Eyelet Outlet brads and two (RED!) circle diecuts involved. I sewed around the edges to keep the edges on all those borders from curling up and called it a RED-letter day."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "One thing I like to do when I'm working on a single color design is to pull out all of the scraps of designer paper I have in my scrap bin that are in that color and see what comes together.  Once I did that this week, I decided to cut mostly 5/8" strips of cardstock and create a quilted background (a few were slightly wider or narrower because it worked with the design like the tiny poinsettias in the bottom right).  Since the scrap of cardstock I used for the base was a long rectangle, I ended-up cutting it down into a slimline size.  I added a Simple Stories Holly Jolly Page Pieces Santa and a stamped sentiment from Simon Says Stamp The Man, The Myth."

♥♥♥

Link your (mostly) RED cards on the original post by Wednesday evening, February 25th.