JB2524: Blog Banner Inspiration

It's the final week of the 2025 Jingle Belles season (no worries, we'll be back on January 1, 2026!) and thus here is one more card inspired by our 2025 Jingle Belles Blog Header:

Here's what I made this week:

I had planned to use all of the elements from the banner, but put them on an all-white card this week, Thus I set about diecutting Spellbinders Bottle Brush Trees and Sunny Studio Snowflakes from various types of white cardstock. As I was getting ready to make my mostly-white background, I happened to find this torn and stitched panel that I must've made last year some time and not used, and it was EXACTLY the right size! Plus, it kind of looked like rolling hills to me; and also had the same tealish, blueish, greenish shades as the blog header... (plus a bunch of pink and brown bokeh too) ...and I thought, "All-righty then, job done!".

You have until next Wednesday evening, December 3rd, to link up your own Jingle Belles Blog Banner Inspired card and we'd love for you to do just that!

Gnome Sweet Gnome

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the USA, and whether you are staying home, heading home or missing home, we wish you a wonderful day. This card, featuring Eyelet Outlet Gnome Brads, Girl Gnomes, Sunflowers, Pumpkins, Sun and Cloud Brads, Mini Ladybugs and Autumn Washi Tape is all about celebrating the things that make holidays special: family, friends and a cozy Gnome Sweet Gnome. 

Gnome-tastic Shopping List:

Gnome Brads

Girl Gnome Brads

Sunflower Brads

Pumpkin Brads

Sun and Cloud Brads

Mini Ladybug Brads

Autumn Washi Tape

All the best embellishments are in the Eyelet Outlet Online Store, which is open 24/7 for convenient shopping without leaving YOUR Home Sweet Home! Stamped images are from Sunny Studio's Homes Sweet Gnome set.

Collage Mandala

It's a very vintage, completely collage-ical Mandala Monday before Thanksgiving; I hope you are happy healthy and looking forward to the week ahead!

Cut-Pages Doodle Spread

A couple of weeks ago I cut into a page of my Dina Wakley Kraft Journal in order to put this zen-doodle pumpkin on a background page of orange patchwork. It left the remains of an interestingly curvy border that I had been planning to remove. In the meantime I saw a couple of art journal pages on social media, where the artist had cut into a page or two, then treated that group of pages as a single spread. And I thought, "OOOOH! I have to try that!" So I did!

As you can see, I was having so much fun with the idea, that I cut waves into two additional pages. I had thought about doing layered collage or stamps or stencils... but in the end, I just grabbed my Posca Pens and had a doodle-fest.

I added different shapes to each page, but repeated the colors and a few of the patterns on more than one page. 

I tried to take advantage of the shape of the cuts, but not to let them dominate. I also found the layers most interesting when there was strong contrast between the pages.

I outlined the doodles with my Letter It Fineliners and added a little bit of Jet Black Archival to the edges to make them stand out.

And... here we are back at the beginning again. I had a lot of fun with this technique, so I suspect you'll be seeing it again before too long!

JB2524: Banner Holiday

Can you believe we've reached the final Jingle Belles prompt of the 2025 season? This year just RACED past at lightning speed! For the last few years, we've ended with a challenge inspired by the Jingle Belles Blog Banner, which this year looked a bit like this:

You can choose as many aspects of the banner as you like: maybe you can't get enough of the color palette; maybe the sparkly white letters and jeweled snowflakes rock your crafty boat; perhaps it's the watercolor vibe or the frosty trees that you love? Any or all of those are great choices; just be sure to let us know what aspect(s) inspired you if it isn't obvious.

Here's my card:

Yes, yes, my card is VERY literal; and NOOOOO yours need not be!!! As I was thinking about the header, I realized that I basically owned real-life versions of nearly every feature in the digital design, so I just grabbed ALL of them and got to work. I found an ancient Webster's Pages vellum sheet of exactly the right shade; Stampabilities' "Jingle All the Way" die looks pretty fab in white glitter cardstock; Taylored Expressions' Evergreens are each cut twice (once from white and once from scraps of blueish green or greenish blue); and the background is made sparkly with several Want2Scrap Bling Snowflakes.

Be sure to check out Stephanie's beautiful card at Jingle Belles and then link up your own Banner-inspired designs. JB2524: Banner Holiday runs until the evening of Wednesday, December 3rd.

Cozy Fall Vibes

This sweet bear has postponed hibernation in order to enjoy all the coziest parts of autumn. She's got plenty to read, thanks to Eyelet Outlet Book Tape and Book Brads; a yarncraft project, thanks to our Knitting Brads; even a Tissue Brad in case of a few sniffles. This card also sports Script Tape and Clock Washi, for a background that's simple, without being plain.

Beary Bookish Shopping List:

Book Brads

Knitting Brads

Toilet Paper and Tissue Brads

Book Washi Tape

Script Washi Tape

Clock Washi Tape

Whatever vibes YOU would like to convey with your next card or project, Eyelet Outlet has all the embellishments you need! All of the stamped images on this card are from Lawn Fawn's adorable Den Sweet Den Stamp Set.

Thirty Minute Thank You Card?

The new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is called, "A Quick Thank You" and the idea is to time yourself and make a thank you card in thirty minutes or less! This is one of the hardest types of challenges for me (I am emphatically NOT a fast crafter!) but I did my best, and only cheated a tiny bit.

Full Disclosure: I didn't count the time I spent THINKING about what to make. And even with that "head start" it took me almost forty minutes to make my first card... BUT... It only took fifteen minutes to make the second one; which averages out to 27.5 minutes per card. So I'm callin' this a win. It's actually genuine win for Stash Shopping, as I used only scraps... even the backgrounds were in the offcuts file; which is part of the reason they are mini slimlines. I used my ancient Altenew Bold Alpha Dies; Hero Arts Heart Infinity Dies; plus the "you" and tiny flowers from the Essential Envelope set in Wendy Vecchi's Not Your Ordinary Card Collection. The Matte Finish Enamel Dots are from Eyelet Outlet.

SOS561: A Quick Thank You runs until the evening of Monday, December 1st. Head over to Shopping Our Stash and get inspired by the creative... and QUICK... cards our outstanding crew have made!