shopping our ♥JINGLY♥ stash!

it's a red-letter day at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ because this fortnight we've invited the lovely ladies of shopping our stash to join us for a super fun christmas-in-july crossover! what does that mean? well, for one thing, there are prizes... but more on that later. something else it means is that you can make *ONE* card and link up at both blogs... which is always nice, right? so what are the requirements of the card? well, it has to be christmassy, o'course; and it has to use something from your stash that's at least one year old. but other than that, anything goes! and the prizes? well, to find out about those you're going to have to check out the special posts at SOS and at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ but seeing as how both blogs are full of gorgeous and inspirational holiday cards, you probably wanted to do that already, am i right? yeah. thought so! but before you go, check out my card:

(patterned paper--mostly scraps, woohoo: basic grey, dcwv, october afternoon, echo park; sentiment strip and brads: my mind's eye; dimensional tree: recollections; ink: colorbox; circle punch: ek success; deco scissors: michaels; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

i'm pretty proud of this for being a flat, mailable card (always my biggest challenge!) and also for being composed almost entirely of older stash items! the brads and sentiment were from a "crafty steal" of my mind's eye mini-kits at least three years ago; the basic grey background is from a 6x6" nordic holiday paper pad i bought right after that line was released; and the rest of the papers are SCRAPS, woohoo! the dimensional tree is kind of cool because it's both old AND new-- see, it's from a packet of recollections stickers that i have bought over and over (and over!) at michaels from the time i started making christmas cards; so while this particular one is new, it's the latest in a long line of little rhinestone trees!

i used this week's retro sketch (#121) to guide my layout:

remember to check out the gorgeous designer cards by stephanie, leslie, alica, barbara, chris, donna and jessi. plus, you can have a look at the lovely prizes whilst you're over at SOS and at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥. then c'mon back and link your stash-using holiday masterpiece with both blogs!