Earth Day Celebration

The annual recycling challenge is always a favorite at Jingle Belles; we love seeing the pretty/ interesting/ useful things other crafters have saved... and we especially love seeing how they get used to make inspiring holiday cards. Every single link in the Readers' Gallery is worth a visit, and we hope you'll take time to scroll through. Meanwhile, here are three masterpieces of recycling that especially caught our attention:

Lorraine of Paper Vernissage

...has been Jingling along with us since the very beginning (in 2011!) and has basically NEVER made a card we did not love. But she is always especially "hot" when it comes to our Earth Day celebration, and this year is no exception. Hop over to her blog to read all about this adorable Rescued Reindeer AND... the other two cards she made from almost 100% found and recycled ingredients!

Heather of Wire Wrapture

...upcycled parts of a lovely holiday card she received AND the gloriously inky, shimmery blotter paper from her crafty work station to make a card that is both artful and elegant!

Deanne of A Little Bit o' Paper

...raises a caffeinated cup of Christmas Cheer and reminds us that long before we ever heard of Kraft Paper, many of us would save and re-use those lovely, sturdy brown grocery sacks from the Supermarket... which still work beautifully for creative purposes!

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Many thanks to everyone who played along, we'll be saving quite a few of your brilliant ideas for next year's Earth Day Special! Jingle Belles will be back at Midnight with a brand new challenge featuring a holiday hero we suspect needs no introduction!

Peace on EARTH Day

April 22, 2024 marks the 54th celebration of Earth Day, so this fortnight we Jingle Belles are asking you to help us celebrate by creating holiday cards that feature at least one recycled element.

Here's how we recycled this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "Last year when I recycled my holiday cards, I die cut this lovely cardinal image from the front of one of them and put it into my recycle/reuse box.  For my card, I positioned the cardinals on top of a recycled piece of American Crafts packaging, cut with a stitched square die cut, using foam tape.  I finished with a red scrap of cardstock from my off-cut folders and a stamped sentiment from Impress."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I managed to incorporate a few recycled items into my card: the pink leopard tissue and snowflake paper were saved from holiday gifts (I adhered them to plain white cardstock to make them sturdier); the white and silver layer is the front of a greeting card I received last year; and I made a shaker box using Hero Arts' Woodgrain Frame Infinity Dies cut from the backs of old greeting cards, covered with a piece of clear plastic packaging. In fact, the stamped Sunny Studio bear, ancient glitter snowflake, and Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads (plus Sequins) are the only new items I've used."

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Need more inspiration? Check out the Jingle Belles Earth Day thread to see what we've made for this theme in years past! Then create your own masterpiece featuring a recycled element and link it right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 24th. Keyword for galleries, etc, is JB2408.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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From Trash to Treasure

We're still celebrating Earth Day 2023 by making holiday cards that feature a recycled, reused or upcycled element, 

and you're still invited to join the fun, which we hope you will. Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I built my card around recycled packaging from Tim Holtz for my card base ... the snowy edges seemed like the perfect home for my vintage Santa ephemera.  I layered on a vintage calendar and a punch of poinsettia paper for a bit more red on the corner.  The layout is a Sketch from Just Add Ink with a stamped sentiment from Taylored Expressions Pennant Parade Christmas and a rub-on sentiment along the bottom to finish the design."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "My recycled ingredients for this week include some poinsettia giftwrap that I backed with cardstock; part of a box from a cool tea-themed advent calendar my neighbor Deb gave me; and the cover of a random holiday catalog I saved. I glued the catalog cover to some cardstock, then fussycut the handsome nutcracker. I used the tea box and the giftwrap just like regular patterned paper, adding gold mats to make them stand out more. I found a glittery sentiment flag in a pack of cardstock ephemera pieces (from Carta Bella a couple of years ago, I think) and added it on little slivers of foam tape et voila... my design is complete!"

Peace on EARTH DAY!

It's April and thus time for one of our favorite Jingle Belles challenges: our Earth Day Special, for which we make holiday cards that feature at least one recycled, reused or upcycled item. 

A few examples to get you started: you could use the giftwrap or ribbon that was too pretty to throw away after unwrapping your presents; maybe you saved some pretty papercraft packaging or the cover of a beautifully staged holiday catalog; you could make a shaker window from the clear plastic box your salad came in. 

If past years are anything to go by, we're pretty sure that as you start looking around you'll find SOMETHING cool that you can use for this challenge. Then be sure to tell us what the "special" items are in your post. Here's what we made; can you guess what the recycled elements are? 

Lauren's Card(s)

Lauren says, "I often save tissue boxes. I don't know why, but the designs on them are often as pretty as commercial patterned paper and since they're made of thin but sturdy cardboard, they are absolutely perfect for diecutting. In this case, I started out with two different boxes, one with a green leopard pattern and one with wispy pine boughs. Then I chose two wood grains from Photoplay's It's a Wonderful Christmas line, and two tan scraps for the sentiment (cut with Tim Holtz's Lowercase Typo alphabet dies) as well as grocer's kraft card bases, Eyelet Outlet Glitter Enamels and a bit of Pavilio White Lace Tape to die them all together. There was no real need to add machine stitching, but I was in the mood, so I did."

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie say, "I started my card by die cutting the Be Merry from a holiday card my brother gave me a few years ago that I saved for just such an occasion.  Next I die cut a piece of polka dot packaging from Pretty Little Studio (they have the prettiest packaging too).  In the same way that Lauren saves tissue boxes, I save craft product packaging because so much of it is so lovely.   Since I used their packaging, I added a sticker sentiment from Pretty Little Studio The Merriest Word and finished designing the card with some painted paper from my stash."

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Link your cards right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 19th. Keyword for galleries, Flickr etc is JB2308.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

recycle... reuse... and JINGLE!

 We're still celebrating EARTH DAY with cards that include recycled elements.

You know you've got them ... those things you save because they're just too pretty to go into the recycling bin.  Today is the perfect opportunity to let them shine on a holiday card.

Here's how we recycled this week.

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I don't think I've ever done TWO yeti cards in a row, but that's what happened, so I'm rollin' with it! This week's yetis come from my little hoard of saved wrapping paper; and as it turns out, this is the easiest card I've made all year, because after I backed the paper with cardstock and cut out the framed yetis, I arranged them on some Doodlebug patterned paper, added a mat and a sentiment strip, and called it good!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "After making a recycled packaging card last week, I fully intended taking another approach with this week's card ... until I opened my PinkFresh Studio drawer and had another lovely pile of packaging staring back at me.  They have some of the seriously pretty packaging in the industry.  I incorporated two pieces of their packaging and a piece of tissue box together with some PinkFresh Studio papers, chipboard frame & enamel dots.  I love the retro-modern feel."

Let There Be Peace on EARTH (Day)

If you've played along with us at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ over the last few years, you already know there are two prompts that never change: at the beginning of October we honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month with "Pink Christmas"; and in April we celebrate Earth Day by making holiday cards that feature re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements. 

Here's how we up-cycled for our Earth Day cards.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "My card combines four different pieces of recycled packaging that I saved in my recycle box just for this month's cards.  I added stitch stickers from Pretty Little Studio to tie them altogether.  I finished with vintage holiday die cuts & sentiment stickers from Pretty Little Studio and a row of red bling."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "My friend Betty saw this adorable yeti on a tissue box and was kind enough to think of me and save the box! I covered up the logo using sections of curvy, snowy foreground cut from the side panels of the box. Then, since there are few things sadder than a lonely yeti, I stamped and colored a Lawn Fawn friend for the big guy, as well as an appropriate sentiment. I added a skinny mat of glittery aqua cardstock and then a bigger one of an ancient Studio Calico geometric snowflake patterned paper that serendipitously matches incredibly well (gotta love it when that happens, right?!) and finally, what arctic landscape is complete without some Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Sequins?"

Link your eco-friendly cards right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 20th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-22-08.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Go Planet ... it's your EARTH Day

Yep, we're still celebrating EARTH DAY this week at Jingle Belles, which means creating holiday cards featuring recycled materials.

Here is how we up-cycled this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I'm kind of excited that, apart from a few Eyelet Outlet Pine Tree, Deer and Snowflake Brads, a little bit of sheet music and some sparkly Tree Tape, these cards are made entirely out of cards. I trimmed, distressed, stacked, stitched and embellished multiple blue-and-snowy segments of card fronts and I'm pretty happy with the results!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I went back to my packaging stash and used three different pieces for this card.  The two background die cut panels are another tissue box and a piece of K & Company packaging.  The Simon Says Stamp Ho Ho Deer Die is cut from a piece of Studio Calico Gridded Packaging backed by a scrap of coordinating designer paper from my scrap box with an added pair of googly eyes (never pass-up an opportunity to break out the googly eyes).  The stamped sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Christmas."

Remember, you have until Wednesday April 14th at 6pm EST to upload your up-cycled Earth Day Cards.

Red and GREEN...

...the "GREEN" as in ecologically sound, because we are only five days away from Earth Day 2020, and we're still making holiday cards with a recycled, reused or upcycled element!

Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "The inspiration for this card was the two-inch-round metal lid of a hot cocoa mix canister. The other day when I was adding a teaspoon of the cocoa mix to my coffee (a combo I *highly* recommend!) I saw it and thought, "That would make a cool frame!" The rest of the cocoa mix is now in a Tupperware, since the original canister has no lid, because it's HERE, lol. I punched a circle of glittery trees from an old Xmas card, matted it with a slightly larger circle of wood-grain packaging as a mat, and placed them inside the cocoa lid frame. Since it's 1/4" deep, this card will have to be tucked in with a present, or given to the recipient irl, but that's ok with me. In order to make it look like a frame and not a cocoa lid glued to the front of my card, I needed to sort of "build up" the area around it, for which I used dimensional flowers and velvety leaves."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a piece of polka dot packaging from Donna Downey for my card base.  Then I recycled a page from a vintage Ideals Christmas Magazine for my focal image adding stripes for two thin mats.  I finished with a Hero Arts Stacking Snowflakes sentiment and some coordinating enamel dots ... love the vintage image in one of my favorite colors (often rather than more expensive colored pictures in the magazines, they would tint the paper on an entire page a single color (like pink in this instance) with both pictures and poems).

Scroll down to the original Peace On Earth Day post to see the amazing readers' gallery and link up your own "GREEN" masterpiece!

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 is what we recycled this year.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "We've been numbering our quarantine days by rolls of toilet paper used at our home, so I thought it would be fun to recycle one of those cardboard toilet paper centers and use it to paint the background of my card on a scrap of kraft cardstock ... and I used advice from my mother-in-law and used a cereal bag as my work surface (so all that painty mess was on the recycled plastic). A Taylored Expressions Big Grumpy seemed like the only reasonable choice for a such a background paired with a Simon Says Stamp Ho Ho Postage Sentiment (because doesn't he just scream cheer).  I finished with a few enamel stickers to complete the sign."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I'm the kind of person who saves the pop art tissue box or flowery tag off her new jeans, so if a papercrafting product comes in pretty packaging, OF COURSE I'm going to re-use it! In this case, the beautiful backers from Prima flowers (green ledger) and Little Birdie chipboard (small woodgrain) were used as my interior background and tiny deer, respectively. Some old paint chips became funky fab trees and the clear plastic from a salad bar container serves as the window in my shaker card, which I've filled with super-fun new Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Sequins"

Link your Earth-friendly creations right here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, April 22nd aka Earth Day! Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:20:08.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Joy to the Earth

We're still celebrating EARTH Day at Jingle Belles by creating cards featuring recycled elements.

Here are our examples of recycling this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I raided the recycling bag back in December, when a beautiful catalog arrived whose cover had birch trees with fairy lights. There was text at the top and bottom, but I knew that the center section that would be exactly the right size for a tall card and that it wouldn't need much embellishing. I added a couple of mats (gold metallic and wood veneer seemed like good choices) and rescued a sheet music star from the big box of diecuts. A couple of dimensional poinsettias and a sentiment sticker later and I called it good!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "My card includes multiple recycled elements ... the bokah sky is from a 2018 holiday card; the trees in the background are cut from Studio Calico packaging; and the silver on the car & wheels was recycled from a specialty paper sample book from the local print shop that our marketing team lets me have every year when the new one comes out.  I even pulled the paper for my present and tree out of the trash can by my studio table."

Remember, you have until Wednesday at 6pm EST to upload your recycled creations.

Peace on Earth Day!

If you've played along with us in other years, you'll know that we have a few challenges which are the same theme, at the same time, every year.

For instance, the first challenge of October is always Pink Xmas. And the fortnight which includes Earth Day is always "RE-use, RE-cycle, UP-cycle". That's just the way it is!

Which means... it's time to grab that pretty piece of packaging you saved; or the clear plastic bakery box that could be diecut into shaker card awesomeness; or maybe there's a cereal box in the recycling bin that you could decoupage or paint it to make *free* chipboard embellishments? Don't forget the beautiful store-bought holiday cards we receive each December, or those bits of carefully saved gift wrap... those *totally* count too!

Here are the eco-friendly creations we made this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I save things all year, so I have a selection of elements to choose from for this challenge ... but unfortunately that stash did not survive the recent flooding of our home due to a frozen pipe.  So instead, I pulled a Kleenex Box out of our Recycle Bin, punched a bunch of Hexagons, and made this holiday card with Hexagon Christmas Stamps from STAMPlorations with inspiration from the If You Give a Crafter a Cookie Challenge."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "In the spirit of full disclosure I will tell you right off: I used two store-bought cards I received this past December, and they did almost all the work for me!!! I had planned to add some diecut trees or reindeer or... something... but honestly nothing I tried out really worked. Eventually, I stumbled across the ancient Doodlebug sentiment sticker, which featured exactly the same shade of purple as the sky behind the trees. So I just added a few skinny wisteria cardstock mats, plus some fun Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads and called it a day!"

And keeping with our recycling theme, one lucky participant will receive a selection of lightly used Hero Arts stamps for their Holiday card making stash including:

Christmas Poster Background

Season's Greetings

Chalkboard Happy Holidays


Three Happy Elves

Link your eco-centric creations right here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, April 24th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:19:08.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter