It's April (yay!) and thus time for one of my favorite Jingle Belles challenges, our Earth Day special, for which we make holiday cards that feature at least one recycled, reused or upcycled item. A few examples to get you going: you could use that giftwrap or ribbon that was too pretty to throw away after unwrapping your presents; or maybe you saved some pretty papercraft packaging or the cover of a beautifully staged holiday catalog; or maybe you'll make a shaker window from the clear plastic box your salad came in? If past years are anything to go by, as you start looking around we're pretty sure you'll find SOMETHING cool that you can use for this challenge. Here's what I made, and I wonder if you can guess what the recycled bits are?
Of all the weird things, I often save tissue boxes. I don't know why, but the designs on them are often as pretty as commercial patterned paper and since they're made of thin but sturdy cardboard, they are absolutely perfect for diecutting. In this case, I started out with two different boxes, one with a green leopard pattern and one with wispy pine boughs. I kind of expected that one would look really nice when cut with Memory Box's Marvelous Pine die and one would not look especially good. But, as it turns out, they were both pretty cool, so I started picking papers. I chose two wood grains from Photoplay's It's a Wonderful Christmas line, again figuring one would be clearly better for the Sizzix Vintage Cabinet Card die and one would be better in the background. But again... both were quite nice in both roles. So at this point I was committed to two cards, lol! I chose two tan scraps for the sentiment (cut with Tim Holtz's Lowercase Typo alphabet dies) as well as grocer's kraft card bases, Eyelet Outlet Glitter Enamels and a bit of Pavilio White Lace Tape to die them all together. There was no real need to add machine stitching, but I was in the mood, so I did.
I hope you'll head over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful card and that you'll keep an eye on the Readers' Gallery because I'm pretty sure there will be LOTS of inspiration to be found there!
You're right, I was just admiring a tissue box this morning. The trees are just beautiful and very economic to make two! I love that they are the same but different.
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