SOS562: Forever Young

There's a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash and this time we're making kid-themed cards. Which just happen to be one of my favorite cardmaking sub-genres, so without further ado, here's my card:

I've had MFT's Rainbows and Unicorns stamp and die set for ages, and can never resist an excuse to use it. Often I paper-piece it, but this time I was in the mood to color, so I did. I'm not sure how many pieces of Simple Stories' Puddle Jumper patterned paper I have owned, but I'm pretty confident I've never used it whole... I just like cutting out the clusters of whimsical clouds! This card is destined for a grand-niece with a January birthday, so for once I'm ahead of the game! 

Head on over to Shopping Our Stash to see the adorable young-at-heart cards our Crew have made to inspire you, then start planning your own kid-centric creation. SOS562: Forever Young runs until the evening of Monday, December 15th.

Ornament-al Mandala Monday

My mom and I always decorate the Vintage Ornament Tree on Thanksgiving weekend* and of course it reminded me how much I love Christmas ornaments generally, vintage ones specifically, and whimsical zendoodle ones in my imagination!

I used my Letter It Fineliners to create all the shapes and doodles; and my Simon Hurley Stellar Inks with a waterbrush to add the bold, saturated color.

I hope your December is off to a good start and that it'll just keep getting better!

*The tree is artificial, bought several years ago during a BIG Black Friday sale at Balsam Hill, so there are no worries about it lasting until January; btw, we do also get a real tree in December because who can resist the scent?! 

JB2524: Blog Banner Inspiration

It's the final week of the 2025 Jingle Belles season (no worries, we'll be back on January 1, 2026!) and thus here is one more card inspired by our 2025 Jingle Belles Blog Header:

Here's what I made this week:

I had planned to use all of the elements from the banner, but put them on an all-white card this week, Thus I set about diecutting Spellbinders Bottle Brush Trees and Sunny Studio Snowflakes from various types of white cardstock. As I was getting ready to make my mostly-white background, I happened to find this torn and stitched panel that I must've made last year some time and not used, and it was EXACTLY the right size! Plus, it kind of looked like rolling hills to me; and also had the same tealish, blueish, greenish shades as the blog header... (plus a bunch of pink and brown bokeh too) ...and I thought, "All-righty then, job done!".

You have until next Wednesday evening, December 3rd, to link up your own Jingle Belles Blog Banner Inspired card and we'd love for you to do just that!

Gnome Sweet Gnome

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the USA, and whether you are staying home, heading home or missing home, we wish you a wonderful day. This card, featuring Eyelet Outlet Gnome Brads, Girl Gnomes, Sunflowers, Pumpkins, Sun and Cloud Brads, Mini Ladybugs and Autumn Washi Tape is all about celebrating the things that make holidays special: family, friends and a cozy Gnome Sweet Gnome. 

Gnome-tastic Shopping List:

Gnome Brads

Girl Gnome Brads

Sunflower Brads

Pumpkin Brads

Sun and Cloud Brads

Mini Ladybug Brads

Autumn Washi Tape

All the best embellishments are in the Eyelet Outlet Online Store, which is open 24/7 for convenient shopping without leaving YOUR Home Sweet Home! Stamped images are from Sunny Studio's Homes Sweet Gnome set.

Collage Mandala

It's a very vintage, completely collage-ical Mandala Monday before Thanksgiving; I hope you are happy healthy and looking forward to the week ahead!

Cut-Pages Doodle Spread

A couple of weeks ago I cut into a page of my Dina Wakley Kraft Journal in order to put this zen-doodle pumpkin on a background page of orange patchwork. It left the remains of an interestingly curvy border that I had been planning to remove. In the meantime I saw a couple of art journal pages on social media, where the artist had cut into a page or two, then treated that group of pages as a single spread. And I thought, "OOOOH! I have to try that!" So I did!

As you can see, I was having so much fun with the idea, that I cut waves into two additional pages. I had thought about doing layered collage or stamps or stencils... but in the end, I just grabbed my Posca Pens and had a doodle-fest.

I added different shapes to each page, but repeated the colors and a few of the patterns on more than one page. 

I tried to take advantage of the shape of the cuts, but not to let them dominate. I also found the layers most interesting when there was strong contrast between the pages.

I outlined the doodles with my Letter It Fineliners and added a little bit of Jet Black Archival to the edges to make them stand out.

And... here we are back at the beginning again. I had a lot of fun with this technique, so I suspect you'll be seeing it again before too long!

JB2524: Banner Holiday

Can you believe we've reached the final Jingle Belles prompt of the 2025 season? This year just RACED past at lightning speed! For the last few years, we've ended with a challenge inspired by the Jingle Belles Blog Banner, which this year looked a bit like this:

You can choose as many aspects of the banner as you like: maybe you can't get enough of the color palette; maybe the sparkly white letters and jeweled snowflakes rock your crafty boat; perhaps it's the watercolor vibe or the frosty trees that you love? Any or all of those are great choices; just be sure to let us know what aspect(s) inspired you if it isn't obvious.

Here's my card:

Yes, yes, my card is VERY literal; and NOOOOO yours need not be!!! As I was thinking about the header, I realized that I basically owned real-life versions of nearly every feature in the digital design, so I just grabbed ALL of them and got to work. I found an ancient Webster's Pages vellum sheet of exactly the right shade; Stampabilities' "Jingle All the Way" die looks pretty fab in white glitter cardstock; Taylored Expressions' Evergreens are each cut twice (once from white and once from scraps of blueish green or greenish blue); and the background is made sparkly with several Want2Scrap Bling Snowflakes.

Be sure to check out Stephanie's beautiful card at Jingle Belles and then link up your own Banner-inspired designs. JB2524: Banner Holiday runs until the evening of Wednesday, December 3rd.