Ingenious Inkling

Oh Tinsel Tree, Oh Tinsel Tree

At Jingle Belles this week, we're still creating cards inspired by this DIY Tinsel Tree Tutorial from White House Crafts.

 

 

I wanted to try to recreate the tinsel effect using paper.  I used some Fringe Scissors from my stash that I've had forever, but I'm not sure I've ever used on silver glitter cardstock.  I attached the Tinsel fringe to a Gel Print that incorporated both the teal blues and the silver.

 

 

Next I added a wrap of my favorite bright pink ribbon to pull in that color before attaching with foam tape to a Dress My Crafts matte gold card base (to pull in the final color from the tree). 

I finished with a bright pink Happy Holidays sentiment.

Tinsel Tree Inspired

This week at Jingle Belles, we're creating cards inspired by this fun DIY Tinsel Tree Tutorial from White House Crafts.  You may take your inspiration from the trees themselves, the colors, the ornaments or tinsel ... just make sure you include how you were inspired in your post.

 

 

I took my inspiration from both the bottle brush tree & the tinsel tree and embossed my Bottle Brush Trees from Flora & Fauna Bottle Brush Snowglobe Set in silver.  I used my MISTI to line-up the three trees & then cut them out with the Dare 2B Artzy Double Dot Rectangle Framelits Die.

 

I found adhesive gems and stars in colors inspired by the baubles in the photo & decorated my tree. 

 

 

I used the same Double Dotted Die cut on one of my Gelli Press Prints I created in the #marchprintingchallenge for the next frame and then attached both layers to a bright pink card base. 

The sentiment is from the same Flora & Fauna Stamp Set.

Fusion Moons

When I saw the current Fusion Card Challenge, I thought about what round objects I had in my creative stash.

 

 

I decided to combine a Gel Press Print with round elements and the beautiful Aunt Yo's Moons stickers from {a vintage girl} & her daughter (remember, the discount code is GNOMIES for 20% off your order).

 

 

I layered them onto my background using the images from the photo as my inspiration.

 

 

And the perfect sentiment from Flora & Fauna Letterboard Set.

 

Stars and Stripes for Christmas

We're doing Stars &/or Stripes for Christmas at Jingle Belles this week.

I chose to go with both (of course).

My card started with the epitome of stripes for the holiday ... that cute heart made of Candy Canes in the journaling card from the Merry and Bright Collection by Mintay Papers.

 

 

The star paper on the background and wonderful burlap paper are both from the same collection. 

I added some vintage BasicGrey Evergreen papers together with a striped border from Authentique and then finished with some holly bling and a tiny sentiment from Flora & Fauna Bottlebrush Snow Globe Set using the layout from this week's Sketch Saturday.

 

Hoppy Easter

I did a test spray of my new Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide Spray, and thought the pretty chalky color would make a cute little Spring Bunny.  I paired the Flora & Fauna Woodland Bunny Die with the Flora & Fauna Doily Die.

 

 

 

I used the layout from Paper Craft Crew Challenges (flipping the circle sentiment because of the way my bunny was facing) using cute bunny paper from the Pebbles Lullaby Collection. 

 

 

I punched grass from mint green cardstock & used the dioly to cut it out to fit inside the circle.  The sentiment is from Flora & Fauna Mini Spring Bunny.   I finished with some minty enamel dots.

 

 

I'm also joining the Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge to use Die Cuts and/or Stencils.

 

And my cute little bunny is joining the Animals Challenge at Just Us Girls.

Fiercely Fuchsia Flowers

The current Rainbow Card Challenge is Fiercely Fuchsia.

Fuchsia is one of my happy colors.  In college I even owned a pair of Fuchsia suede boots (that I wish I still had). 

 

I started with a Lawn Fawn Fuchsia Wood Grain Card Base and added leaves stamped in Fuchsia from Flora & Fauna Leaf Patterns.

 

 

I layered some paper blooms and finished with a sentiment from Flora & Fauna Letterboard.

LetterBoard Thank You

In my quest to create Thank You Cards ... and use never-before-inked-stamps ... this afternoon I played with the Flora & Fauna Letterboard Stamp Set.

 

It took me several attempts to find an ink color light enough to give the contrast with the letters ... I chose Taylored Expressions Mint Julep.  

 

The Thank you Sentiment seemed sort of naked all by itself ... and there weren't really any other sentiments in the set I could pair with it.  I went searching and found some letter stickers that I thought worked ... and then after finding my background paper, finished with a paper flower.  

I need to hunt through my other stamps and see what else I could make work with the letterboard to create more phrases ... I'm sure it will be returning in the future.

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Kissing Santa Claus under the Mistletoe is the theme of Tag 3 of the 12 Tag of Christmas.  I chose to focus on the Mistletoe inspired by Ardyth's design.

 

I die cut the Flora & Fauna Mistletoe twice and used two sizes of pearls for my berries.  I went with a red tag, since I still had them on my table from this morning's Santa Tag.

 

I used the same tiny XOXO sentiment from Essentials by Ellen Small Sayings stamped & embossed in white.

5 Favorite Christmas Cards - 2018

Since Lauren & I started Jingle Belles in 2010, I've been recapping my five favorite Christmas cards of the year (you can find 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, & 2017 here) ... I always enjoy revisiting my creations for the year.

Here they are in no particular order:

1. Layering Holiday Style Stamps from Sunny Stamps for the My Sweet Petunia (MISTI) Blog.  I had fun figuring out the color combination to achieve golden bells (a lot of people had figured out silver, but I couldn't find anyone who had done them in gold).  with my MISTI, the end result was perfection ... oh the magic of stamping.

2.  This was a simple card using Christmas Washi Tape and landscape dies, but the end results was so clean and classy ... I want to make lots of these.  Just proof that a card doesn't have to be complicated to be a favorite.

3. I always love making Christmas Tags ... this one for Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas really popped with the unexpected inspired colors for my bright purple poinsettia with the vibrant green.

 

4.  This card for the Technique Junkies Design Team Blog was special because I seldom color cards.  For this one, I colored the entire background (over several days) using my Spectrum Noir Markers.  The original intention was to do a little spotlight coloring, but I was having so much fun I ended-up coloring it all ... a very relaxing and meditative process.

 

5.  This Glue-As-I-Go Collage I made for Jingle Belles was so fun ... and the end result combines Vintage Sheet Music, Ideals Magazines (that always remind me of my Gran) and stamps from grocery store reward programs (which remind me of my other Grandma and filling in all of those books to redeem).  Nothing like great memories to make a card a favorite.

 

As always, hard to pick favorites, but fun re-visiting all the holiday cards I made (and gave) this year.  Remember, if you'd like to have lots of holiday cards ready when December rolls around, you can join us for our 9th year of Jingle Belles Mayhem beginning January 1st.

 

12 Tags of Christmas - Florals

My Tag for the 8th Tag of Christmas with a Feminine Twist was inspired by Emily's flowers & use of color.

 

I loved her poinsettias in shades of magenta and purple, so I started by using my Gina K. Designs Stitched Circles dies (they nest inside each other for a perfect border) in ombre purple and grey for my base.

 

Next I die cut the Perfect Poinsettia Dies from My Favorite Things in Magenta Purple & Lime Green.  I finished with a sparkly flower center, some glittery ribbon & a perfect tiny sentiment from Flora & Fauna Holiday Word Party (love this set).

I love being inspired to try something new ... and how awesome it turned out.