Christmas Down to EARTH (Day)

We're back for round two of our EARTH DAY prompt featuring RECYCLING, where we'd like you to create a holiday card that features re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements.  You know you've got that stash of things that you saved because they were just too pretty to throw away ... 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 we up-cycled this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "A couple of years ago, I bought this fun yeti gift wrap. I used most of it to wrap presents; but whenever I had scraps, I saved however many intact yeti photos there were, backed them with cardstock, and set them aside to fussycut and use on cards. The grey paper with stars came as a free gift with a craft magazine. (Not exactly recycling, but a sort of related field, I feel.) This is definitely not the fanciest card I've ever made, but it makes me smile! Also it's flattish and flexible, which means I can mail it for a reasonable price. So I'm callin' it a WIN!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started with this recycled front cut from a vintage holiday card using a stitched die cut.  Next I framed it in red and layered it on top of a piece from a tissue box and a piece of crafty packaging that covered the card front.  I finished with a stamped sentiment from Kristina Werner Pretty Poinsettias."

♥♥♥

Scroll down to the original post to link your card(s) and heck out the fabulous Readers' Gallery. JB2609: Peace on EARTH DAY runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 6th.

Peace on EARTH DAY

Those of you who have followed us over the years know that we have a special place in our hearts for EARTH DAY.

So our EARTH DAY prompt each year has been all about RECYCLING ... and we'd like you to create a holiday card that features re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements.  You know you've got that stash of things that you saved because they were just too pretty to throw away ... 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 we got EARTH=y this week.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I have a spot in my gift closet where I save all of the packaging bits from the year that look like they have potential for future cards.  This one combines an image die cut from one of last year's holiday cards together with a stiched square cut from Tim Holtz Idea-ology packaging (I swear he makes it with the intent of it finding it's way into a design).  I positioned it on a red glitter card base to pull out the foiled red metallic shimmer in my image.  I finished with a Taylored Expressions Simple Strips - Christmas that was already assembled on a mat in my UFO box."

Lauren's Card(s)

Lauren says, "I was lucky enough to get not one but TWO Amazon giftcards in December that came in these adorable reindeer-bedecked holders, so OF COURSE my first thought was, "I'm making these into cards" which... as you can see... I did! I cut off the logo-ed flaps and used Tim Holtz wordfetti style stickers to cover up the slot in the middle which held the flap closed. The design was already so cute that I only added a few diecut snowflakes, my favorite Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads and some mats.The red layer is patterned paper, but the tan consists of a few smallish scraps of leftover giftwrap that I confess I saved especially for this challenge." 

♥♥♥♥♥ 

JB2609: Peace on EARTH DAY runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 6th and we cannot wait to see what you will make! Link your card(s) right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Vintage Valedictorians

You all did such an amazing job making gorgeous cards featuring vintage and retro-inspired holiday cards, it makes it very difficult to select just a few to feature. So if you haven't checked out the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend a little scroll through all of the inspiration. In the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

Joanda Johnstone of The Inque Spot Studio

...went with a midcentury modern vibe that is so spot-on you can practically hear Frank Sinatra singing holiday songs in the background. The stamps, the colors, the gems, the speckles... YOWZA!

Valerie Kaye of VK Inkspirations

...found the absolutely PERFECT set of vintage-style papers to use; and then was clever enough to realize they only needed a tiny bit of inking and distressing to become a gorgeous card!

Cindy Beach of Stamps, Paper and Ink

...caught our eye with this soft and lovely nostalgic design, but the clincher was her confession that she started out with one idea and the supplies drove her in a different (& BEAUTIFUL) direction! 

♥♥♥

And now let's find out the winner of that fun little pack of holiday-themed ephemera from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff, shall we?

The Random Number Generator has selected...

Lucky #14!

Which means that Deb Horst is our lucky winner!

Congrats, Deb! Please send your snail mail info to

llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com

so we can get that on its way to you ASAP!

♥♥♥

Once again, many thanks to all who participated. We'll be back at Midnight with a bit of a "recycled" prompt we hope will will appeal to all fans of saving miscellaneous pretty things that non-crafters *might* be tempted no to save! ;)

Spirit of Christmas Past

This week we're still Walking in a Vintage Wonderland … which means creating a card with a vintage or retro-inspired design. That could mean incorporating actual vintage elements, using new products that have a vintage style, or using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe – whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive to your endeavors, this time we are sponsored by Lauren's fantastic Etsy Shop Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky random card maker who links-up their vintage-inspired design. (Scroll down to the original post for more details about that!)

Here's how we went Old School this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week, I made a random collage of torn and layered vintage and found papers including: some sheet music; a dictionary page with a reindeer (technically a caribou); an order form and advertisement from a vintage Christmas Ideals magazine; some S&H Green Stamps and... ok, I think that's it, lol. Since the background is quite busy, I only needed a fussycut Authentique bauble (which luckily had a bold sentiment!) and a few Katie Pertiet Christmas Collageable Banners that I machine stitched while I was doing the edges."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a full page poinsettia photo from the 1979 issue of Christmas Ideals Magazine.  I cut it into 3/4" strips and assembled it on a green card base using the layout from BYSH Cardmakers.  I used Spellbinders Essential Stylish Oval Dies to cut a vintage Tim Holtz Poinsettia image from the Vintage Christmas Paper Dolls 2023 and finished with a vintage-like Tim Holtz label sentiment sticker."

Remember, you have until 6pm EST on Wednesday to link-up for a chance to win.