baby it's cold outside!

but we're warm and cozy over at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ because we're making cards that feature winter garments like hats, coats, mittens, mufflers, snow boots... even xmas sweaters, ugly or otherwise! my card features the cuuuuuuuutest possible giftwrap which i found at the discount store:

hello kitty trimmed from giftwrap discovered at Five Below; patterned paper: glitz design, pebbles, basic grey, doodlebug; snowflakes cut from american crafts POW glitter paper with hero arts die; snowflake gems and enamel shapes: eyelet outlet; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape

when i want to use something like a flimsy piece of giftwrap on my cards i first run a piece of plain white cardstock through my xyron machine, then i gently place the delicate wrapping paper on top, avoiding any wrinkles. now i have cardstock weight paper i can use as is OR i can fussy cut... as i've done here. i used this week's sketch saturday (#588) as a guide to placing all my elements.

hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and see stephanie's card, then start planning your own masterpiece!

We're Leafy and Wreathy...

...on The Ink Pad Blog today, where I'm showing off a card that has collage, negative space, three different styles of Eyelet Outlet Leaf Brads, gel print goodness and... well, let's just say it's got all my favorite things except gelato! So why not hop over and see? ♥

Fa-La-La-La-Latte

One of my favorite new Eyelet Outlet brad styles is the Holiday Coffee Cup, because the only thing I love more than caffeine or Christmas cards is the combination of BOTH! :)

Since the Holiday Cups are red, white and green, those are the colors I built my card around. I thought about adding in some everyday Coffee Cups in either white or red; and possibly some Coffee Beans, but after I added the Poinsettia Washi, I found that I wanted a bit of pink and mint green, too. I did place a Holly Brad next to the cups though. And snipped apart a red Pearl Bling Strip to hyphenate my sticker sentiment.

I'm joining the Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop, which runs through this Friday, November 8th. Maybe I'll see you there!

And now I think it's about time for some coffee-loving in real life... can I get you a cup? ♥

November/December Classes...

...at Paper Anthology have been posted and there are some AWESOME ones this time around! Oh and if you attended the eighth anniversary party over the weekend, be sure to check out the newsletter post because the names of the five lucky raffle winners are in there! Meanwhile here's what I'll be teaching the next two months:

Vintage-Style Collage Ornaments

We’ll combine vintage paper, collage techniques, stenciling, modeling paste, gems, flowers, doilies… in short, we’ll combine ALL of my favorite things and use them to decorate your choice of three small papier-mache ornaments that will make beautiful holiday gifts, *IF* you can bear to give them away!

(NOTE: There are many additional ornament shapes, including bells, angels, stockings, mittens, birdhouses and more; but only two or three of each style. Students will get to choose on a first come, first served basis.)

 Heavenly Hero Arts Holiday

What do you get when you mix beautiful brand new Hero Arts dies with Prima Marketing's “Angelique” collection papers from the vaults? Three bright and beautiful cards that shimmer and sparkle in their own unique way!

Just a reminder that Paper Anthology is located at 717 Highway 46 in Kenvil, NJ and all the details for all the awesome classes can be found on the website! ♥

hopefully this is just a metaphor...

our challenge this fortnight at shopping our stash, that is. because it's called, "here comes suzy snowflake" AND this is the forecaseted to be the first week of really cool temperatures here in new jersey. if it actually SNOWS HERE i am going to have to re-write the brief in favor of a much more tropical theme, but let's see how it goes!

i like to think i've hit all the stash-busting categories witht this card! i used my neglected tim holtz snowglobe 2 die set that i got at paper anthology in january; i LOVE this set but it has very, very, verrrrrrry many tiny parts and thus it's not something i bust out every week. on the other hand the tiny parts mean i used up LOTS of scraps. and finally, i chose two well-hoarded basic grey patterned papers, woohoo! oh and just in case that was not snowy enough, i added in a stacked set of diecut snowflakes AND some extra-fab eyelet outlet snowflake brads. ta-da. :)

be sure to head on over to SOS and see the amazing inspiration that awaits you, then start planning your own snowy masterpiece! ♥

Nostalgic NYC

It's Stencil Sunday on The Ink Pad Blog where I've got a card with a bit of a glamorous 1930's vibe thanks to two beautiful Michelle Ward Stencils, Fishtail Pattern and NYC Manhole Covers II. For the record, I think this may be the first time ever that anyone has typed a sentence which has the words, "glamorous" and "manhole cover" so that's pretty exciting too, right?! :)

By the way, the stencil is inspired by actual New York City manhole covers, some of which really are cool looking! This is what is awesome about Michelle Ward, whereas we might not even notice manhole covers are as we walkover them, she thinks, "Those are beautiful and they would make awesome stencils and stamps!" That's definitely my kinda designer! ♥

putting the CARD in CARDINAL (or possibly vice versa?)

we're still celebrating the critters of christmas at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and you're still invited to join the fun by making a holiday card with an animal (or creature!) on it.

i had a completely different plan for this week's card, but then i saw my friend elisabeth unpacking this amazing taylored expressions layered cardinal die set at paper anthology and all bets were off. also... it allowed me to build a collage of torn vintage paper and postage stamps for the base of my card, which i was really really in the mood to do! (sometimes my "process" is very scientific, lol!) layered label shapes and some eyelet outlet poinsettia, pinecone and holly brads complete the finishing touches.

hop, swim, gallop, fly or pull a sleigh over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and see the beautiful readers' gallery, not to mention a brand new card that stephanie made especially to inspire you!