hooray for the red, white and ♥JUL♥!

yes, we're appreciating all things scandinavian this fortnight at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ as we make holiday cards inspired by this gorgeous photo that miss stephanie found:

of course, you can be as loose... or as exact... in your interpretation as you want; for instance you could choose to use only the colors, or just the hand-stitching, or the shapes or... well, whatever inspires *you* in the picture. i love everything about it, and was surprised to find that i actually own products which would allow me to re-create a number of details quite literally. so i did! :)

(patterned paper: dcwv, crate, october afternoon, imaginisce; snowflakes: felt=michaels, chipboard=basic grey, metal=tim holtz; chipboard heart: basic grey; border sticker: reminisce; vintage: buttons and lace; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine)

the only thing i didn't do on this card, that i wanted to try, was to replicate a little bit of the hand-stitched effect from the knitted stocking ornament. i thought i might work that into the border somewhere, but at some point with all of the other elements i'd added, the card just felt DONE to me, so i stopped! however, my favorite thing about making a christmas card every week, but only having a new ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ prompt every other week is that it means i get TWO SHOTS at each theme, so you miiiiiight just see a bit of embroidery next time!

right now i think it's time for you to head over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥, see stephanie's gorgeous card, and start plotting what YOU will do with some fabulous scandinavian inspiration! ♥

suits you to a "T"...

...is the wonderful and whimsical brief at shopping our stash this week: make a card which features two (or MORE!) ingredients beginning with the letter T! for instance: tag, tape, twine, trees, tinsel, tattered angels products, tin foil, tin cans, trim, tea bag, tea cup, tomahawk, tangerine, tigers, turtle, etc; be sure to list what they are in your post, because you know we LOVE to see how creatively you can interpret these challenges! :)

now i'll show you my card, and then i'll tell you what i've chosen!

(patterned paper: crate + scraps of basic grey and some doodlebug glitter paper for the stars; tag: making memories... masked with additional star diecuts and sprayed with glimmer mist; tape: love my tapes, recollections, smash; cardstock: core'dinations; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine; other: typewriter)

have you found all the "T" elements? i'm proud that i worked in quite a few! there's teal (or turquoise?) tattered angels glimmer mist on my tag; some typing for my text; three different kinds of tape; and totally terrific amy tangerine thickers! woohoo!

i'm also pretty pleased with this just generally, as a "guy card"... which is good because around here we have more guy birthdays in january than any other month! so i need to get moving and make a few more o'these, i think!

and now ♥YOU♥ need to get moving over to SOS and see what the rest of the gang have come up with, it will be worth the trip, i PROMISE!!! ♥

my favorite xmas gifts... to *MYSELF*! ;)

i believe i mentioned recently that there was a sale at the papaya art store right around thanksgiving, at which time some people (ok, ME!) went a little crazy. mostly i bought gifties for a few pals, and re-stocked my "present shelf" for the coming year, but i did treat myself to a bit of super-luxurious giftwrap, a lovely new wallet (see below), and some AMAZING glitter stickers. being as how our current prompt at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ involves using and showing off one's latest crafty gifts and acquisitions, this seemed like a great time to bust those out!

(new stuff: papaya art holiday glitter stickers, prima mulberry paper & gem flowers; other: red paper scraps by crate, adhesives, machine stitching)

i was pretty happy with my card, seeing as these are my FAVORITE new embellishment, so imagine my surprise when i went to upload to our official ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ post and saw that stephanie had used the very same stickers (which were part of her present from me!) as her "new item" this week!!! so if you were ever wondering, "do they confer or coordinate beforehand on their cards?" you will now realize that NOPE, we really don't; we like to surprise each other, lol! :)

oh yeah, totally unrelated to cardmaking, but here's the wallet i bought myself in the same sale. in my defense, the one i had was literally beginning to come apart at the seams!

if you've ever felt like ♥YOU♥ might (metaphorically) "come apart at the seams" when contemplating the massive amount of holiday cards you need to make in december, why not hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and join us?! we make just one card per week, throughout the whole year. it's fun while we're doing it, of course... but it's even MORE FUN to hit december 1st holding a box that already has 48 unique christmas greetings in it! so come and play! ♥♥♥

we're gonna kick your buttons!!! :)

this week at shopping our stash, i mean. and ok, not so much "kick" as "encourage you to USE" your buttons; and because we're all about re-discovering and USING what we already own, we mean your oldest ones, at that! the ones you're either so sick of... or, conversely, so ATTACHED TO... that you haven't even thought about using them in ages. yep. those buttons. go get 'em out! (g'head... i'll wait...) awesome. now use 'em on a card, or a layout, or some sort of paper-crafty goodness and then come on over to SOS and link up with us! in the meantime, here's my card:

(super stashy: genuinely OLD--but not really "vintage" buttons from a big tin i got at a garage sale, bit of an old sewing pattern, lady from a vintage sewing book, scraps of lace; patterned paper: amy tangerine; tag and (super-old!) florals: prima; fabric thickers: american crafts; embroidery floss: dmc; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine)

as you know, i spent a good chunk of last week at home, sick, so i did my best to try to get a little ahead on cards. i'm not actually convinced such measures constitute a real economy, because it takes so much longer to do anything when you feel unwell, and for that matter, i don't entirely LOVE what i made, but on some level, to have anyhing besides nose-blowing to show for the week, feels a little bit like a "win" to me right now. :)

this card was actually 90% done when i was ready for bed one night, but i wanted to sew around the edge, which didn't seem like a great idea at 11pm, so i put it aside, and as it turns out, i was glad. because when i woke the next morning i decided i didn't love how much contrast there was between the original (blue) background and the tag+embellishment cluster. here's what it looked like in my "first draft":

luckily, the lace was only lightly tacked with gluetape, and everything else was just sitting on top, so i made a second card base (don't worry, i SAVED the first one; you'll be seeing it again!) in a more monochromatic shade of yellow... et voila... instant makeover!

and now it's your turn to raid your stash of buttons and see how you can give them a new lease on life! why not start by popping over to SOS to see what our incredible DT has done, i guarantee inspiration galore will be yours for the taking! ♥

we started the new year with HORRIBLE colds... and WONDERFUL news!

about the colds, the least said the better; although i am currently in talks with the guinness people, since i'm pretty sure i've exceeded all existing world records for tissue use in the course of the last week! :) 

but enough of that, because the thing i really want to tell you is the WONDERFUL NEWS:

we are officially shopping for a house!!!!!!!

(sadly, this is actually very true in my case, lol!)

ok, sorry to shout, but this will be our first experience owning our own home, and we've waited quite a few years for it to happen, so we are really REALLY excited!!!!!!!!!!!! (ok, sorry again!) of course, arguably, if one were going to pick a time of year to add a lot of extra activity, stress and paperwork into an already busy schedule, i think most people would immediately say, "ok, but NOT right around christmas!!!" yeah. we must've missed that memo. :) :) :) but luckily now we're into the rich heartland of january and thus only bad weather and jeff's incredibly crazy work schedule can come (briefly, one hopes) between us and our dreamhouse! keep your fingers crossed for us, ok? and please excuse me for a tiny bit longer if i seem a little more distracted than usual; my head is full of floor plans, square footage, lot size, property tax appraisals, mortgage rates, and daniel craig!!!* ♥♥♥

*strictly speaking he's got nothing to do with the home-buying process, but there's only so much time a gal can spend thinking about  floor plans, square footage, lot size, property tax appraisals and mortgage rates, kwim?! ;)

SOS83: all white now! :)

(yes, it's "two-post-tuesday" over here! scroll down for the first JINGLE BELLES prompt of 2013!)

white-on-white is (imo) one of the hardest design assignments to accomplish. ok, maybe tied with the ever popular "cardstock only" challenge, where pattern is taken away, rather than color. i think it's because in both cases, one is required to strip down to the very barest of essentials--something i always find challenging; and with less detail, fewer colors, etc, one has no distractions to rely on, and the more laser-like the focus on what is actually left. at such times, if you don't have "good bones" you're sunk! so perhaps no one will be shocked that i was just a tiny bit nervous about the first shopping our stash challenge of the new year, which is to make a card using only shades of white: cream, ivory, ecru, eggshell, magnolia, marshmallow, vanilla, chalk, talc, bone, bright white, winter white, etc, are all IN... but everything else must go! even more daunting is the fact that, looking at the other cards in this week's inspiration post, i realized i'm the ONLY one who finds this tough; my fellow SOS design team members have ALL TOTALLY ROCKED IT!!! in fact, you should go over there and SEE; but first, here's what i finally came up with:

(recycled: page from a datebook; patterned paper scraps: pink paislee, basic grey, rhonna farrer, the paper co; floral: prima; rub-ons: fancy pants; other: scraps of lace, ribbon and doily; inks: ranger; adhesives: staples brand glue tape runner, gluedots, sewing machine)

i've semi-CASE-d this card i saw at the shabby tearoom (by michelle bala), and used nothing but scraps for my design, including an off-cut card base, and a re-purposed background paper (from an old datebook, which; has printing on the back!); all the "banners" are from my big box of little strips; even the half-doily was already a half-doily, and the ribbon and lace were leftovers from other projects. the prima flower and the rub-ons are relatively new, but a girl's gotta be allowed a little luxury when she's displayed this level of frugality, right?

so what do you think? are you up for making an all-white card to start off this fabulous new year? why not drop in at SOS and soak up some inspiration before you decide! ♥♥♥

it's january 1st... time to start on CHRISTMAS CARDS!!! :)

ok, yeah, admittedly that sounds like a CRAZY statement, and maybe it is; but it seems like i, personally, can only manage *two* ways of achieving enough hand-made christmas cards for everyone on my (50+) christmas card list, and those are:

1. spend the weeks between thanksgiving and mid-december engaged in a frenzy of rushed and repetitive holiday card-making... ugh. (this is crazy and also stressful!!!)

OR

2. start on new year's day and make one unique holiday card per week with my lovely and amazing friend stephanie, not to mention the wonderful company of my fellow ♥JINGLE BELLES♥! (this is perhaps equally crazy... but totally inspiring and FUN!!!)

having spent more decembers than i care to admit in pursuit of method one, in 2011 and 2012 i opted for the relative sanity of method two, and i am here to state publicly: i NEVER want to go back!!! :) if  you can relate to any of the above, or even just find yourself at a loose end on this new year's day, why not come along with us and give it a try? we usually think up and post a new inspiration every other friday, and then stef and i "remind" you what the prompt was on the following week so you still have time to play along if you haven't yet... or play again if you're trying for 48 cards at the end of november. we invite some lovely guest stars to join us throughout the year, and occasionally even have a fun sponsor or little prize of crafty goodies! so whaddaya say, are you in? awesome! let's go!

for our inaugural outing of 2013, we're tossing you an extra-easy prompt AND extra time to accomplish it; that's right, for "look what santa brought me!" all you need to do is create a holiday card using any kind of crafty goodness--tools, paper, stickers, etc-- you received over the holidays... and i know you got swag galore, so there's NO excuse not to play! here's my card:

(NEW stuff: gorgeous almost-real candy cane from ros; color copied page scan of vintage "night before xmas" book from gina; basic grey "kissing booth" papers from stephanie; xmassy mulberry paper from prima's "12 days of xmas card" prize; plus not-so-new: webster's pages fabric ribbons (from leslie, last spring!); crate (non-xmas) paper; prima flower spray (cut down); fancy pants border sticker; red silky ribbon from a holiday package; inks: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, hot glue, sewing machine)

i have to say i'm pretty pleased with this one, but then, it's got LOADS of new stuff from loads of lovely friends, so how could i *not* love it, eh?! the centerpiece is a (slightly reduced) scan of a page from one of the two new-to-me vintage copies of "the night before christmas" that gina gave me! i think this might be my FAVORITE version in my collection-- i have about a dozen different copies of the clement c. moore book, which has been a favorite of mine since childhood, but the illustrations in this one are just soooooooooooooo irresistible, don't you think? i really wanted the picture to be the centerpiece of the card, so i didn't add in too many embellishments... but ros shared some of her gorgeous i-can't-believe-i-can't-eat-them candy canes with me, too, so i had to sneak in one of those!

and now i really think you should head over to  ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and see what miss stephanie made, because i assure you it is well worth the trip! while you're there, you can also check out the prize that's on offer for one lucky (random!) cardmaker who links up with us, so grab your new goodies from under the tree and get CRAFTY, darlings!!! ♥