Trash to Treasure... Holiday Style

It's the second week of our Earth Day Special at Jingle Belles; for which we are making new holiday cards that include at least one re-used, re-cycled or up-cycled element. Here's what I made this week:

And now for a shocking true confession that will be no surprise to most of my fellow crafties: If someone hands me a present wrapped in beautiful paper which has a smooth, un-wrinkled, un-taped area that's card-sized or larger, I will be saving that giftwrap! I like to immediately back it with lightweight cardstock (I use my Xyron or a good gluestick for all-over coverage) trim it to size and then store it with my regular patterned paper. This card has two such saves from this past Xmas: the white snowflake background piece and the torn tan snowflake piece. The snowglobe is a dimensional sticker which was part of a gift tag; I *think* it was on the package wrapped in the white snowflake paper. In addition to these recycled items, I've got a scrap of lace, a bit of washi tape, part of an embossed snowflake panel and a couple of diecut snowflakes. The "joy" sentiment was cut from a larger (and frankly kind of ugly, imo) dimensional embellishment, because it was the perfect size, color and vibe for this card.

JB2508: Peace on EARTH DAY will run at Jingle Belles until the evening of Wednesday, April 23rd. Why not find some trash YOU could treasure and join the fun!

Peace on EARTH DAY

It's time for one of the Jingle Belles' favorite holidays (apart from Christmas, obviously!) which is: Earth Day!

Each year, our EARTH DAY prompt each year is all about RECYCLING, so we'd like you to create a holiday card that features re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements. We know you've got that stash of things that you saved because they were just too pretty to throw away: pretty packaging, old holiday cards and tags, etc etc; it's time to break them out and create with them! In the past we've used everything from Kleenex Boxes & Soda Cans to Gift Wrap and we *always* have a lot of fun making our own cards and admiring yours!

Here's how I recycled this time:

In December, we received an advertising mailer from a local bank that was about 5x9", made of sturdy cardstock, and bright teal with beautifully dimensional-looking snowflakes on it; so OF COURSE I saved it. Later that month, a second and third mailer arrived and I put those aside too. And here they are, trimmed down and paired with a plaid from Dare 2B Artzy's Snow Much Fun collection. I added strips of foil washi tape, the last two sentiment stickers in a pack bought circa 1998 (ok they may not be that old; but they're OLD!) plus some red metallic poinsettias and TA-DA! A pair of mini slimline greetings that I don't think anyone will know are partially composed of recycled advertising postcards.

JB2508: Peace on EARTH DAY will run until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 23rd. Link your newly made holiday card(s) featuring at least one re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled element at Jingle Belles!

Recycling Redux

At Jingle Belles, we're still celebrating EARTH DAY by creating cards featuring recycled materials. We also encourage you to check out your local Earth Day events on and around April 22nd.

Meanwhile, here's how I recycled this week:

Unfortunately I can't remember who gave me the gorgeous holiday-themed napkin which is the centerpiece of my card. I carefully peeled apart the layers, stuck it to a piece of Xyron-ed cardstock, and then discovered that there was ONE MORE layer I'd been unaware of. Having (even more carefully) peeled that one off, it turned out I had a semi-translucent layer of those lovely, whimsical critters, to which I (very VERY carefully) applied gluestick and stuck to a piece of navy-blue sheet music from an old Christmas Ideals magazine. A patterned paper mat, metallic diecut snowflakes and a Tim Holtz sticker sentiment complete the design of this not-quite-A7 card.

Link your recycling-centric cards on the original Earth Day post at Jingle Belles and be sure to check out the inspiring cards in the Readers' Gallery. 

Peace on Earth Day!

April 22, 2024 marks the 54th celebration of Earth Day, so this fortnight we Jingle Belles are asking you to help us celebrate by creating holiday cards that feature at least one recycled element.

Here's how I recycled this week: 

I managed to incorporate quite a few recycled items into my card, and am thus feeling quite obnoxiously proud of myself: the pink leopard tissue and snowflake paper were saved from holiday gifts (I backed them with plain white cardstock run through my Xyron machine to make them sturdier); the white and silver layer is the front of a greeting card I received last year; and I made a shaker box using Hero Arts' Woodgrain Frame Infinity Dies cut from the backs of old greeting cards, covered with a piece of clear plastic packaging. In fact, the stamped Sunny Studio Holiday Hugs bear and cup, ancient glitter snowflake, and Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads (plus Sequins) are the only new items I've used.

I'm linking up with the Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge's April event (#CCCC28) Coffee or Cocoa since my bear is drinking a delicious cup of hot chocolate, with a candy cane!

Need more inspiration? Check out the Jingle Belles Earth Day thread to see what we've made for this theme in years past! Then create your own masterpiece featuring a recycled element and link it on the Earth Day post at Jingle Belles by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 24th. 

This is What Santa Does in January

Or at least, this is what I imagine Santa doing in January. It's what I'd quite like to be doing in January, for that matter. But in this case, since these little images of Santa in Alohawear, sipping cocktails and hanging out with festive flamingos, all appeared on the giftwrap of one of my holiday presents a few weeks ago, it's also fair game for our "Wrap It Up" prompt at Jingle Belles, which runs until next Wednesday evening, January 17th. 

So before you ask, YES, there was quite a lot of teeny tiny fussycutting involved in this endeavor. But since the repeats are so small, there were LOTS of Santas on my "rescued" wrap; and cutting things out is one of those chores I don't mind doing, especially when it's close to bedtime, and I'm too tired to actually think of what to make, but not yet tired enough to go to bed. When cutting out something flimsy like giftwrap, I first back it with cardstock that I've run through my Xyron. I made faux-polariods from offcuts of white Kromekote inset with little squares of cloud patterned paper; added the Santas and accessories; mounted the design elements on my own leftover sandy/snowy wrapping paper; added red skinny mats, washi, and glittery diecut sentiments... et voila! Two more cards for the December pile!

You've got until Wednesday evening, January 17th, to join our Jingle Belles' "Wrap It Up" fun, and we hope you will. Hop over now to see Stephanie's card and check out the little prize that one lucky random cardmaker will scoop up!

Earth Day Special (Week 2)

At Jingle Belles we're still making cards that feature a recycled, reused or upcycled element, and you're still invited to join the fun. Here are my recycled ingredients for this week: some poinsettia giftwrap that I backed with cardstock, part of a box from a cool tea-themed advent calendar my neighbor Deb gave me, and the cover of a random holiday catalog I saved.

And here's my card:

I glued the catalog cover to some cardstock, then fussycut the handsome nutcracker, making him a little bit shorter so that my finished card will fit into a #10 envelope. I used the tea box and the giftwrap just like regular patterned paper, adding gold mats to make them stand out more. I found a glittery sentiment flag in a pack of cardstock ephemera pieces (from Carta Bella a couple of years ago, I think) and added it on little slivers of foam tape et voila... my design is complete!

Be sure to visit Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful card and to check out the Readers' Gallery which is definitely worth the trip! 

JB-23-08: Peace on EARTH DAY

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!

Yeti or Not...

...it's time for the second week of our Jingle Belles Earth Day challenge, for which we're re-cycling, re-using or upcycling items to use on our cards. This week I've dipped into my little hoard of saved wrapping paper to make a fun and colorful Yeti Gallery Wall! I don't think I've ever done TWO yeti cards in a row, but that's what happened, so I'm rollin' with it!

As it turns out, this is the easiest card I've made all year, because after I cut out the framed yetis* and arranged them on some Doodlebug heart paper, I added a mat and a sentiment strip, and called it good! I'm kind of thinking about cutting out the rest of the yetis and making a few more cards just like this one! I hope you'll visit Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card before starting your own eco-friendly masterpiece!

*Since this was very thin giftwrap, I adhered it to a Xyroned sheet of cardstock before cutting anything out.

It's Almost Earth Day...

...which means it's time for one of our favorite events of the entire Jingle Belles year: the great Recycling Challenge! Yes, we want you to grab those holiday cards you've received and saved; the pretty catalog page you couldn't bear to throw away; the scraps of giftwrap you opened carefully so you could reuse and incorporate them into your next card! Or maybe you'll be even more intrepid and make your own chipboard embellishments from a cereal box, create a shaker card with a salad-container window, or... well, here's the beauty of this event... we never quite know WHAT will inspire our fellow Jingle Belles to recycle, upcycle or reuse various items, but we know the ideas will be clever, creative and beautiful! My friend Betty happened to encounter this adorable yeti on a tissue box and was kind enough to think of me and save the box! 

First order of business was obviously to cover up the logo, which I did by cutting two additional sections of curvy, snowy foreground from the side panels and layering them over top. Then, since there are few things sadder than a lonely yeti, I stamped and colored a Lawn Fawn friend for the big guy, as well as an appropriate sentiment. I added a skinny mat of glittery aqua cardstock and then a bigger one of an ancient Studio Calico geometric snowflake patterned paper that serendipitously matches incredibly well (gotta love it when that happens, right?!) and finally, what arctic landscape is complete without some Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Sequins? Being based around the dimensions of the tissue box, the finished card is wider than an A6, but not as tall as an A7, so it'll get mailed in an envelope which is slightly too big for it, but I'm cool with that.

Be sure to cruise over to Jingle Belles to see what Stephanie has made to inspire you, then start looking around your house for some (potential) trash which could become cardmaking treasure!

I've Made Cards Out of... Cards?!

We're moving in to our second week of the great Jingle Belles recycling challenge, and you still have until Wednesday night to join the fun. Check out the original post for all the details and the linky tool.

This week I took sort of an easy option and decided to see how far I could get making cards out of... well... cards; that is to say, I decided to see if I could create something new and interesting just from card fronts of older store-bought cards I've received. I started with a pile that was blue and snowy:

And finished off with three cards I quite like: 

I confess that my cards don't reflect my original plan at all; I had intended to cut the coordinating snowy card fronts into 1.5" squares and make grids out of them... only, as it turned out, I didn't actually love how that looked, so I wound up working much more loosely in layers. On the plus side, apart from a few Eyelet Outlet Pine Tree, Deer and Snowflake Brads, a little bit of sheet music and some sparkly Tree Tape, these cards are made entirely out of cards. I trimmed, distressed, stacked, stitched and embellished multiple blue-and-snowy segments of card fronts and I'm pretty happy with the results!

Be sure to check out Stephanie's beautiful card at Jingle Belles and start planning what you'll link up with us!

Peace on EARTH DAY!

It's that time in the Jingle Belles calendar when we celebrate Earth Day (a tiny bit early, this year) by making holiday cards which feature a re-purposed, re-cycled or up-cycled element. This could be anything from re-using pretty ribbons, old greeting cards or giftwrap; making diecuts or embellies from cereal boxes or soda cans; using plastic packaging as the window of a shaker card or... well, you get the idea, right? 

I rescued the cover of this catalog in December, and since I usually save the fronts of the store-bought holiday cards I receive, I was able to find one with cardinals who look right at home in this beautiful birch tree glade. My sentiment was trimmed off another card and I matted everything on scraps of specialty cardstock and affixed them to my kraft slimline card. I had intended to add snowflake brads or sequins, but nothing seemed quite right, so I decided to stop and let the cardinals be the stars of the show.

Be sure to visit Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's beautiful card and start planning what you will link up with us this fortnight!

THIS is Why I Love Themed Challenges!

Because a challenge that pushes me out of my comfort zone often leads to ideas I would not otherwise have had; which lead to cards I would not otherwise have made. But before we get to the card, let me show you the ingredients I assembled for the second week of our Earth Day RECYCLING prompt at Jingle Belles:

Possibly you're wondering, "HOW would you use a cocoa tin?" Well, I didn't, exactly; I used the lid, which is a 2" metal circle with a 1/4" lip around the edge. Possibly I've been stuck inside my house for too long, but the other day when I was adding a spoon of the cocoa mix to my coffee (a combo I *highly* recommend!) I saw it and thought, "That would make a cool frame!" The rest of the cocoa mix is now in a tupperware, since the original canister has no lid, because it's HERE:

recycled items: metal cocoa lid, 2 different received xmas cards, small piece of woodgrain packaging; vintage/stash items: 2 random golden metallic wired leaves that i have NO IDEA where they came from and some very old white seam binding with a decorative edge that i think my MIL gave me; dimensional flowers: prima, recollections, ideaology; velvet leaves: petaloo; green cardstock mat and white card: bazzill; adhesives: elmers brand taperunner, gluedots, hot glue, sewing machine

I save a lot of incoming cards that have a sort of highlighted frame area, like this one with the golden snowflakes. Because essentially, the designer of the card has done most of your work, you just add in a new thing to be featured in their frame et voila! I punched a circle of glittery trees from a different card, a slightly larger circle of woodgrain packaging as a mat, and placed them inside the cocoa lid frame. Since the frame is 1/4" deep, this card will have to be tucked in with a present, or given to the recipient irl, but that's ok with me. In order to make it look like a frame and not a cocoa lid glued to the front of my card, I needed to sort of "build up" the area around it, for which I used dimensional flowers and velvetty leaves. When I was five minutes from done, my husband helpfully suggested that I could have punched a hole in the card and inset the lid, with the lip overlapping the front of the card. Of course I did not hurt him in any way, but if glares could harm a person he would be a little bit bruised right now, lol!!! I will definitely do that with the very next similar lid I find. I might have to increase my cocoa consumption?! 

Be sure to visit Stephanie's beautiful card at Jingle Belles and start making plans to link up your own recycling-centric masterpiece!

Peace on EARTH DAY!

This is one of my favorite Jingle Belles challenges, we've celebrated Earth Day each year since 2011, by making holiday cards that include a re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled ingredient! It's easier than you might think: upcycle a pretty tissue box, reuse those beautiful old xmas cards you couldn't bear to toss, recycle a piece of plastic packaging as the window in a shaker card... the possibilities are almost endless. Here are my "ingredients":

The beautiful backers from Prima flowers and Little Birdie chipboard, some old paint chips and (not pictured) another piece of white on white cardstock that was from... shoelaces?? (it was pretty, so I saved it, lol!) and some clear plastic from a salad bar container that I used for the shaker window in my card, which looks like this:

Ok, so... I think you can see where each element ended up, right? The deer is diecut from the woodgrain packaging; the trees from the paint chips. The Prima ledger papery piece is the inside of the shaker and the white unknown packaging is the larger snowflake. I've also got one or two new(ish) things: Simple Stories woodgrain and snowflake paper, Best Creation Glitter cardstock and some brand new Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Sequins inside the shaker!

Jump over to Jingle Belles and see Stephanie's awesome card (trust me, it's a goodie!) then start raiding the recycling, the trash and that box of "too-pretty-to-toss-out" things to make your own creation! ♥

Wrappin' Up

We're still making holiday cards with leftover bits of giftwrap and tags at Jingle Belles and you're still invited to join the fun! Here's what I made this week:

giftwrap styles: red holographic snowflakes, white and silver snowflake tissue paper and snowman giftwrap which one of my presents was wrapped in; blue snowy patterned paper: authentique; snowflake gems: eyelet outlet; sentiment sticker: american crafts; adhesives: xyron, elmers brand tape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine

I've got three types of giftwrap on this card: the snowman was fussy-cut from one pattern; (with a second layer of scarf, hat and carrot nose... since one nice thing about giftwrap is the repeating pattern!) the red snowflakes are a second variety and the white snowflakes are tissue paper which I fused to a piece of Xyron-ed cardstock so it would be sturdy enough to diecut into snowy hills. 

As a matter of fact I made two (very similar) cards this week, because after I finished the first one, I sort of fell violently out of love with the red snowflake sky. And since it is giftwrap, and I did have more of everything, I let myself have a do-over in which I swapped in some patterned paper with a softer, bluer, snowy sky. 

Stephanie also has a lovely card to show you AND you might like to check out the original post over at Jingle Belles because I thiiiiiink there just might've been a fun little prize this fortnight...

It's January First...

...and thus time to get going on those Xmas cards!!! Which sounds like a silly thing to say, unless you've ever made 50 or more holiday cards at the beginning (or middle?) of December. In which case, you may well have *VOWED* to never do it again and joined us at Jingle Belles to make one stress-free card per week from January through November. Thus saving the day and taking December back!

So without further ado, let's kick off our TENTH festive Jingle Belles season with a prompt we call, "No Time Like the Presents" for which we'd like to see cards which feature bits of gift wrap or tags that were too cool to throw away!

Here's my card:

My friend Barb sent me a very pretty present wrapped in beautiful matte giftwrap which had these snow-dusted evergreens on it, and the minute I saw it, I started figuring out how to get the paper off without tearing or wrinkling it! There was a pretty big crease at the left edge, which I decided to cover with collagey bits. These include a most serendipitous scrap from a French language children's book which says "The Christmas Tree"; some beautifully patina-ed sheet music and some of the amazing 1957 Christmas Seals my mom found at a thrift shop. The red glitter mat is another piece of careful unwrapping (by my niece Maddie); because knowing me pretty well, most of my family hold up their gifts before unwrapping and ask if I want the paper saved, lol!

Hop on over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's first inspiring card of 2020 and start planning what you will make! 

peace on earth day!

if you've played along with us in other years at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ you'll know that we have a few "fixture" challenges which are the same theme, at the same time, every year. for instance, the first challenge of october is always pink xmas. and the fortnight which includes earth day is always "re-use, re-cycle, up-cycle". that's just the way it is, lol. so it's time to grab that pretty piece of packaging you saved; or the clear plastic bakery box that could be diecut into shaker card awesomeness; or maybe there's a cereal box in the recycling bin that you could decoupage or paint it to make *free* chipboard embellishments. i personally can never resist saving the beautiful holiday cards we receive each december. sometimes i get really creative and fussy cut different bits and pieces... but this time i pretty much just stuck them together, lol. here are the storebought cards i started with:

and here's what i made:

sparkly tree and green tartan up-cycled greeting cards; sentiment sticker: doodlebug (it's ANCIENT, lol!); wisteria textured cardstock: paper adventures (again... we're going back a bit...); indigo cardstock: bazzill; snowflake brads: eyelet outlet; ink for edges: ranger archival;   

see? i told you, the cards did almost all the work for me!!! and in fact, i only wound up using two of the three cards. because when i trimmed down the sparkly tree scene to fit the plaid frame, it turned out that the cool dove covered up waaaaaaaay too much of the design. i tried adding diecuts... a larger sentiment... and... well, let's just say i tried adding a LOT of different options, and none of them really worked. eventually, i stumbled across this ancient sentiment sticker, which featured exactly the same shade of purple as the sky behind the trees. so i just added a few skinny wisteria cardstock mats, some fun eyelet outlet snowflake brads and called it a day!

stephanie has a fab card to show you, and i'll bet you won't guess what her recycled element is until she tells you! hop on over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and check it out, darlings!