Baby it's GOLD Outside

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're asking you to incorporate some GOLD into your card design. Okay, we'll stretch it a bit and allow silver, bronze, copper, platinum and brass as well ... just make sure we see your metallics!

It can be ink, paint, metallic paper, embellishments, embossing powder ... just make sure it has the Midas touch.

Here's how we got golden this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie say, "I started by die cutting a gold GelliArts print with the Simon Says Stamp Mid-Century Ethereal Plate and attaching it to a metallic teal and gold GelliArts print.  Next I stamped the Circle Tree from Simon Says Festive Trees is black ink on another metallic gold GelliArts print positioning it on a Pinkfresh Studio Nested Oval Double Stitched die cut from brushed metallic gold cardstock and topped with a gold star.  I finished with a Savvy Stamps Happy Holidays Block sentiment."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I also embraced gold this week; it's in a bunch of different elements: the vintage postcard I scanned and re-sized is framed with a gold diecut and matted on part of a gold doily; the strip of music paper and the scalloped piece beneath it are both gold metallic (I have recently re-discovered my collection of ancient border punches!); it's impossible to tell from the photo, but the reindeer sticker has glittery accents, as well."

♥♥♥

One lucky participant will win a brand new Simon Says Stamp Mid-Century Ethereal Plate die that Stephanie used for her card today, so break out those metallics and come join the Jingle Belles fun.

♥♥♥

JB2519: Baby it's GOLD Outside runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, September 24th. Link up your own Metallic Masterpiece(s) right here!   

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Cardstock Creativity

It turns out that the lack of patterned paper is NO obstacle at all to your amazing creativity! Thus, this fortnight it is especially difficult to only choose three cards, and we highly recommend you take a good scroll through all the entries, so as not to miss any of the fabulous inspiration! Meanwhile, here are three cards that caught our cardstock-centric eye:

Heather Mills of Wire Wrapture

...collaborated with her daughter to make this adorably creative, beautifully composed card, with arguably the best holiday pun EVER!

 (PS: We're stealing the mistle-toad sentiment for sure!!!)

Debbie of Debbie's Dash of This and That

...added an extra level of texture and interest to her already beautifully artful card: after smooshing, dipping and blending beautiful inks, she randomly added clear embossing ink and powder!

(Minds blown; we're definitely trying this brilliant idea!)

Fiona W of Crafty Stamping

...created this amazingly elegant and artful stamped collage on top of a gel print experiment and we are a bit obsessed with every beautiful detail!

(Bonus points that this card is perfect for ANY winter holiday!)

♥♥♥

Many thanks to all who played along, we loved seeing every single card. We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will get a gold star from the readership! ♥

The 12 Days of Cardstock

We're still celebrating a Cardstock Christmas this week ... making cards with absolutely no designer paper.

Here's how we got Cardstock Creative this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Not only is this card entirely free of patterned paper, I've used mostly scraps and leftovers! When I was making the Dressed to Chill kits last week, I made a few different versions of the sign and the happy snowperson from Simon Hurley's Spellbinders North Pole Sentiments Die Set; the white-embossed watercolor panel (made with Hero Arts' Christmas Rose cover stamp) was made probably a year ago and (mysteriously?!) never used; the sparkly snowflakes were in my diecut organizer; and the background is made of thin, random-width strips of coordinating pink cardstock, stuck to an adhesive sheet and stitched around the edges."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I cut a number of gelliarts prints on white cardstock into 1/4" stripes and then I wove them together to create my background.  I topped it with three white cardstock Christmas Trees cut using Memory Box Tall Evergreen Circle.  I finished with a brushed gold star cut using a die from Simon Says Stamp CZ Design Clean Line Christmas and a Memory Box Foiled Christmas Greetings (I shared a second bonus card with the leftover strips on my blog)."

♥♥♥

    

JB2518: Cardstock Christmas runs until next Wednesday evening, September 10th, so there's still time to join the fun! Link your cards on the original post... directly below this one!  

Cardstock Christmas

This prompt, we're asking you to step away from the designer paper … yes, put it away … none allowed … not even a scrap … because the next prompt is to create a card using only cardstock. 

You can tear it, ink it, stamp it, spray it, emboss it … but stick to only cardstock for your holiday card design.

Here's our Cardstock Christmas:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I created my card base using white cardstock with an ink smooshing technique using three colors of Distress Oxide Ink (Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint & Mowed Lawn).  I stamped the images and sentiments from Simon Says Stamp CZ Design Clean Line Christmas.  I used a die cut from the set on brushed metallic gold cardstock and finished with some brushed gold embellishments."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "One of my favorite ways to make a fast, easy background is with Wendy Vecchi's Build a Plaid Layering Stencils from Spellbinders and her Ranger Archival Inks. In this case I used Carnation, Goldenrod, Mulberry and Fern Green. As I often do, I built my plaid on a diagonal, and at the end I added some gold pen lines as well as two coordinating (cardstock!) mats, plus some poinsettia and foliage diecuts from the Christmas Add-On set for Wendy's Not Your Ordinary Card Collection. I couldn't resist finishing off with a few white velvet holly leaves and some glittery gold enamel dots."

♥♥♥

 

link up your own cardstock-centric masterpieces right here! JB2518: Cardstock Christmas runs until 6pm (Eastern) on the evening of Wednesday, September 10th.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Old-Fashioned Awesomeness!

There are some incredibly lovely cards in the Spirit of Christmas Past Gallery, so we highly recommend you take a little scroll through for extra inspiration! In the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

Jolanda Johnstone of The Inque Spot Studio

...upcycled a very pretty card she received last Christmas by diecutting it into an oval, then pairing it with a beautifully muted collection of patterned papers which coordinate perfectly!

Bonnie of Stampin' with Klass

...stamped her sentiment directly onto vintage-vibed patterned paper, added soft inking to the edges and the perfect horse-drawn sleigh as focal point; all of which adds up to a lovely and elegant card!

(Bonus points for fabulous holiday staging!)

Suzanne Harkinson Posting On Flickr

...used a beautiful set of vintage-style patterned papers and a fabulous sketch from Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers to create this lovely (& wonderfully mail-able!) greeting! 

♥♥♥

And now we need to find out who's won the fun little Vintage Holiday Ephemera pack from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff. The fine folks at Random.org have selected...

Lucky Number 4

which means that Diane of Diane's Country Cards & Crafts is our Lucky Winner!

Congrats, Diane! If you'll send your snail mail info to llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com we'll get that prize to the post office ASAP and on its way to you!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to every one played along, we loved seeing all of your gorgeous cards. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt; we hope you'll stop by to take STOCK when we do! ;)

An Old-Fashioned Xmas

We're heading into the second week of The Spirit of Christmas Past, which means we're still creating cards with a vintage or retro feeling. 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 or retro to you. 

To add a little extra incentive to your endeavors, this fortnight we're sponsored by Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff, so there's a Deluxe Christmas Ephemera Assortment of vintage holiday goodies for one lucky card member who links-up their vintage-inspired design. You can see a pic of the prize and find the Linky tool on the original post... directly below this one.

Here's how we went vintage/retro this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I've got a background comprised of actual vintage bits (the vintage poinsettia illustration from an old Christmas Ideals Magazine, book paper, sheet music, etc) with a few images cut from Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Pocket Cards, a couple of golden rub-on transfers, some wordfetti stickers and coordinating washi tape. The frame is also TH/Idea-ology and it's surrounding a little vignette from Ideals. I inked the edges and machine-stitched the whole collage to a white 5.5" square card."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I started my design with the vintage ephemera of Christmas Snow from Tim Holtz and paired it with a vintage birdie wildlife stamp and vintage S&H Green Stamps from my own stash.  I added papers that I thought had a vintage-y feel and finished with lots of sticker sentiments."

 

Just a reminder that JB2517: The Spirit of Christmas Past runs until the evening of Wednesday, August 27th. 

The Spirit of Christmas Past

This fortnight we're celebrating the Spirit of Christmas Past … which means creating a card with a vintage or retro feeling. 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 fortnight we're sponsored by Lauren's fantastic Etsy Shop Just Enough Stuff, so there's a Deluxe Christmas Ephemera Assortment of vintage holiday goodies (see photo below) for one lucky card member who links-up their vintage-inspired design.

Here are our vintage creations for this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I built my card around the vintage photo image from Tim Holtz Layers & Paper Dolls that I covered with clear Gesso and then colored with Derwent Inktense Pencils.  I layered it with a vintage doily, vintage dictionary page and vintage trading stamps.  I finished with a combination of vintage-like elements from Tim Holtz and sticker sentiments."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "This week I chose to use only commercial products to make my vintage-inspired collage, but the absence of actual OLD stuff didn't slow me down at all! I raided my stash of Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Pocket Cards, matted them on red shimmer paper and arranged them into an interestingly stacked compilation. A trimmed down TH Vignette Box Cover frames up a beautiful Authentique old-fashioned Santa journal card as focal image. I added everything to a background of older Ciao Bella plaid patterned paper, and finally affixed the whole thing onto a brushed gold A7 card." 

♥♥♥

But what about that PRIZE we mentioned??!

One lucky cardmaker will be chosen randomly to receive a Deluxe Christmas Ephemera Assortment like this one, full of vintage holiday goodies from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff. All you have to do is link a newly made vintage- or retro-inspired holiday card using the linky tool below!

♥♥♥

JB2517: The Spirit of Christmas Past runs until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, August 27th. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter