heaven on earth(day)

welcome to may, lovely ♥JINGLE BELLES♥! this last fortnight was an especially impressive one as you not only linked up some of your best designs ever, but also came up with some incredible ways of turning your discards into absolute delight. it seems to us that the most abundant renewable resource amongst our readers is CREATIVITY! here are a few of ideas we found especially clever:

bonnie of stamping with klass

matted the large "extra" image from a sheet of holiday postage stamps on a scrap of gorgeous green cardstock to serve as the PERFECT centerpiece of her divinely minimalist masterpiece!

gisele of gigi's creative corner

used her cricut to diecut a "saved" holiday card into the perfect focal point, then trimmed it up with scraps of embossed aluminum foil, a star from ANOTHER card, and a vintage button!

lisa h of recklinghausen musings

challenged herself to use ONLY her scrapbox-- plus found or saved objects-- and made *SIX* (there are three more here!) amazingly unique and beautiful greetings; which also helps explain how she's already got THIRTY (!) cards in her 2012 holiday stash!!!   

be sure to scroll down and check out the gallery if you haven't yet done so, we predict you will be as wowed as we were. then pop back at midnight for a brand new prompt to get you going again! ♥

down to earth(day)!

hello, belles! just a reminder that although the official earth day holiday has come and gone, we're still looking through our scraps, our off-cuts, and even our *trash* to come up with a few more ideas for you:

Stephanie's Other Card

Stef says, "Yes, I'm that person that walks around the office and says ... 

will you save that Kleenex box for me when it's empty ... 

because I think it might make a rather dashing Christmas tree.

And yes, that person did save the box ... and it did make a marvelous

holiday tree ... especially adorned with pearl flourishes."

Lauren's Other Card(s)
Lauren says, "the good news: i have TWO cards completed for this idea, and they each use TWO recycled bits--the woodgrain giftwrap and some genuine denim from a discarded pair of jeans, which i xyroned on to cardstock and diecut. the bad news: i'm not all that keen on either of these, and not just because i accidentally turned the frame the wrong way on the left hand one and the text is upside down on the right (DUH!); but my FAVORITE thing about making one holiday card per week is that i know i've still got a lot more chances to try out new ideas. some weeks i'll love the finished product, and other weeks i'll settle for loving the things i learned--in this case that a sizzix die will cut cardstock-backed denim like butter, whereas a nestie needs multiple passes and an assist from the scissors; that woodgrain paper makes for an AWESOME reindeer; and that--IMO-- denim blue, cerise and kraft look pretty darned fab together!" 

you still have nearly another week in which to wow us with your re-cycling, upcycling, and re-purposing skills! scroll down to the main post to link up your masterpiece(s)!

Peace on EARTH(DAY)

if you played along with us in 2011, you've probably already guessed what we're doing this week, haven't you? yes indeed, in honor of this sunday being EARTH DAY, we're "recycling" one of our favorite prompts from last year, and asking you to create a holiday card which re-uses, re-purposes, re-cycles, up-cycles, or in some way "rescues" a bit of... well, SOMETHING... which you'd've either thrown away, or perhaps just overlooked in terms of card-making?

this can be as simple as just gathering up all those scraps from your last project and using them instead of tossing them away; grabbing a bit of the pretty packaging craft manufacturers seem to be sending our way lately; or maybe you'll employ a bit of ribbon saved from a gift you received, or a pretty image from a magazine or advert? if you need some inspiration this thread in the two peas gallery has some clever (and beautiful) ideas to get you going; this page at squidoo has loads of fun options; and of course martha has some VERY elegant thoughts on the matter! and then there's our own lovely BELLES' efforts from last year, which are hard to beat in terms of crafty creativity!

plus we've got a couple of cards to show you, too:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "Yes, I'm one of those people who recycles wrapping paper ...

especially when it's very cool Wood Grain Recycled Wrapping Paper 
in all it's krafty goodness (thanks Lauren). 
I decided it was the perfect recycled backdrop for my Gothic Snow Couple."

Lauren's Card
Lauren says, "i save gift wrap, too; also any pretty store-bought xmas cards i'm sent, so i knew i wanted to punch and re-use an image of the earth i remembered from last christmas; i also wanted to re-use this technique from the pixie dust paperie blog, for making die-cut chipboard alphabets with re-cycled cardboard (the "peace" letters are made from a 100 calorie pack cookie box!); plus the green panel of my card is from some florals that i'd saved. i serendipitously found kimber mcgray's cardmaking sketch challenge just as I was playing around with my chosen elements. of course, the irony is that after two failed attempts at minimalism during our awesome sketch prompt last fortnight, i guess amy's and stef's lovely examples  FINALLY rubbed off on me... in a TIMED RELEASE sort of way!"

so now it's time to see what ♥YOU♥ will do, in the interests of PEACE ON EARTH(DAY)! sort through your holiday supplies, your treasured scraps, and maybe even your waste paper basket??! then come along and link up with us between now and 6pm (EST) on wednesday, may 2nd. keyword for galleries and the flickr group is JB12-09.