JB37: DECK the halls!

this week's JINGLE BELLES guest star is one of my lovely blogging friends, the uber-talented sue culotti whom i first met last year when she was hostess of the 52-card pickup project. admittedly i followed "from afar" much more than i participated; but she's too nice to hold that against me, and since then she's been a very encouraging and lovely presence in my comments and inbox! you should head over to JB in a bit, where there's more "bio" on sue and links i hope you'll click!!!

but first, let's get to this week's theme... here's what sue said in the email she sent about this week's prompt, DECK the halls:

"My first thought was playing cards, but it somehow seemed sacrilegious to incorporate something so closely identified with gambling (sinful!) with a holy day, so then I though maybe ATC cards - the cards themselves, or add one to a card front."

being "more is merrier" kind of gals, we decided to incorporate ALL of sue's "card" ideas... and we even added one of our own! so this week you can do any or all of the following:

make a freestanding (2.5 x 3.5") xmas-themed Artist Trading Card

OR

add an ATC-sized element to your holiday card

OR

incorporate a playing card in your design

OR

use a recycled xmas card (or an element from

one!) on your (newly made) holiday card!

i managed to do 3 outta 4--woohoo! first, i made a holiday ATC... using ONE playing card as a base and another (the cute tree) as an element on it:

i trimmed down the tree just a bit so it fit better, but other than that i didn't alter it, just added a cool re-sized bit of greek text behind it, a few paper scraps, and some tiny stickers. i LOVE making ATC's and this one was no exception, but i also need to complete send-able christmas cards, so i used this month's sketchy thursday GDT sketch-- (which just happens to have the perfect-sized rectangular element as a focal point!) --to give it a home:

(patterned paper: love elsie, echo park, daisy d's, k&co, dcwv; stickers: love elsie, creative imaginations; ink: colorbox; punches: ek success, recollections, martha stewart; adhesives: tombow monorunner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape; other: rectangular & tree-shaped playing cards, 2 sizes of greek text paper, sewing machine)

you can see i didn't need much for the "upgrade"... just a few more paper scraps punched into circles and a few more additional tiny stickers. EASY PEASY! ♥

there are some lovely examples of trading cards here, here and here, should you need inspiration; but remember you don't HAVE TO make an ATC, you could use the "playing card" aspect, or even work bits of a recycled card from xmas past into your design! whatever you decide, link it up by next wednesday; i cannot wait to see what you will do!