Ingenious Inkling

Tie a Holiday RIBBON Around the Christmas Tree

This week at Jingle Belles we're "tying one on"!  That means we'd like to see ribbon, lace, seam binding, fibers, ric rac, twine or any other trimmings you can think of-- and attach-- to your holiday cards!

I pulled a vintage roll of burlap ribbon from my ribbon drawer (yes, I have an entire dresser drawer filled with spools of ribbon).

I attached it to my kraft card base (which I had sprayed with Dylusions Post Box Red Spray) using 2 1/2" wide Sookwang double-sided tape (love that stuff).

The layout is the Paper Craft Crew Square Sketch Challenge using a Penny Black Sticker, a gold sticker sentiment and some punched leaves.

 

Let it Snow

The Challenge Theme for the 5th Tag of Christmas with a Feminine Twist is ... SNOW.

I knew I wanted to use my favorite Penny Black Snowman Joy Die Cut ... and I took a lot of my inspiration (the double tags, stitching down the side and twine) from Carissa's tag.

When I picked my sentiment color(Catherine Pooler Tutti Frutti) for my stamp from Essentials by Ellen 'Tis the Season (which has apparently been discontinued), I took my inspiration from my snowman's orange nose ... and used the same color to create my second tag (using my first one as a pattern). 

I watered down white pigment ink and flicked a paint brush to splatter it for my snowy sky.  I finished by die cutting Essentials by Ellen Stitching Lines down the sides of my tags.

And since my sentiment is a song lyric (you know you're humming it now ... toys in every store ...) I'm joining the Christmas Carol Challenge at Dies R Us.

The Fragrant Peace of the Season

For the Peace on Earth Jingle Belles prompt, my issue is always choosing which of the many peace-themed items from my stash that I want to use.

This week I decided on some gorgeous Penny Black Stickeroos from 2005 (yes, they are timeless).

I added some Eyelet Outlet Silver Pearl Gem Swirls to finish my simple design.   I cut a 5" x 7" card base down to a square, but it's still mailable for standard postage when you put it in the 5" x 7" envelope.

I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at The Holly and Ivy Challenge.

Sticker Snowfall

This week at Jingle Belles we're getting all STICK-y & Sweet, which means we're creating cards that feature at least one sticker.

Stickers were the first crafting supply I fell in love with almost twenty years ago ... there were tons of them back then and they seemed much *safer* to me than all of the potential mistakes I could make with ink and stamps (oh how far I've come).  However, there are still a few stickers you can always find in my stash today ... including Penny Black Stickeroos.  

I pulled out my pile and organized them a bit (most are Christmas, but there are lots of others in the pile).  I decided to go with the oldest ones ... Snowflakes Falling from 2007.

This week's Sketch Saturday was perfect for a rectangle sticker, so the card came together quickly with cardstock scraps and a silver glitter punched snowflake added as an accent.

And since the stickers were 10 years old, and because this card came together quickly, I decided to make three more and use-up this part of my sticker stash.

I used the paper stripes to pull out the bit of light blue in the watercolory background (and the same silver punched snowflake).

For this card they pull out the green in Santa's pack.  I added an extra layer and mounted the sticker on cardstock before trimming and attaching with foam tape for dimension.  I finished with a bit of leftover gem flourish.

I took a bit more liberty with the sketch on my final card to use up the additional two stickers that were on the sheet ... all four, easy peasy.

I'm also joining the Penny Black Saturday Challenge for January, where the theme is Anything Goes.

Wrapping Paper Wreath

Lauren is seriously the best gift wrapper ever ... so I knew that I'd be able to use something from my gift for this week's Jingle Belles Gift Wrap-themed design (and she didn't let me down ... although I'll likely be finding glitter in my craft room for weeks).

The background is the gorgeous silver metallic paper from my gift.  I added a silver doily and a Penny Black Die Cut Whirl Wreath (perfect for the Anything Goes Challenge at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge) before topping with a red glitter bow sticker.  To pull in a big more red, I added heart gems from Eyelet Outlet to frame my Ellen Hutson sentiment.

I'm also Going Green with The Paper Players with my recycled wrapping paper.

Snowman Joy

Today's them at the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist is Felt, featuring lovely designs by Jennifer McGuire.

I picked-up the Snowman Joy die from Penny Black on my recent travels.  The stamp of this same design was one of my favorites, so I went on a search for the die.  I die cut the snowman from white felt and attached him to a We R Memory Keepers 3-D Embossed tag (inspired by Jennifer).

I added lots of sequin snow and a sticker sentiment together with cotton ribbon.

I attached my tag to a card, so he can make his way through the mail.

I'm also joining The Paper Players with their Snowflake Challenge.

La Fleur Rouge

We're still celebrating holiday flowers at Jingle Belles.  I picked-up this gorgeous Penny Black La Fleur Rouge Stamp on my recent travels and had fun inking it up.

The Poinsettias were inked with Taylored Expressions Cherry Pop and Evergreen Bough Distress Ink and then spritzed with water before stamping.  I didn't realize I had grabbed a piece of textured kraft cardstock until after I stamped ... but the happy accident gave it a cool, almost fabric-like effect.

I finished with a simple Hero Arts sentiment and some Champagne Bling for the centers of the flowers.

Love You Bunches

When I saw Linda's gorgeous card this morning featuring Penny Black Stickeroos for the Penny Black and More Challenge, I was inspired to pull out my Stickeroos and create.

I can never pass by a sheet of these stickers and not bring them home.  This collection is called Timeless.  

I love that it includes some butterfly stickers in addition to the large gorgeous images.  I used DCWV Arctic Wishes papers (you'd never guess they were holiday papers would you?).

The theme for this month's challenge is Add a Sentiment ... so I even found a vintage Penny Black wood block stamp in my collection to use with this week's Match the Sketch.

Always & Forever

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch for a quick & classy Wedding card.

I know I've mentioned it before, but I am in love with Eyelet Outlet's Glitter Washi Tape ... it adds all of the glitz with none of the mess.

Image is Penny Black Bride & Groom paired with a sentiment from Gina K.

Wedding Congratulations

This month's Mix-It-Up Challenge at Essentials by Ellen is a bit extra-challenging for me because I don't have a lot of Penny Black stamps in my stash.  However, the one I do have is a well-loved and often used stamp called Bridal March.  It is perfect for quick wedding cards.

I stamped the bride in black ink, clear embossed and then painted with pink shimmer paint from Zig Pearlescent Watercolor Jewel Box.

I used a Spectrum Noir DR3 Marker to add red highlights to the image featuring colors from Retro Rubber Feel the Love Challenge.

I finished with a sentiment from Essentials by Ellen 12 Days Companion Greetings using a layout from Freshly Made Sketches.