May Arts Week with Betsy Sammarco!

I had this simple but very pretty wooden frame "hanging" around the house ;) .
It had a mirror at one time which must have broke.

I used the frame, May Arts Ribbon, and Jenni Bowlin supplies to make a little trio of Christmas photos within the frame:

I took three of my favorite Christmas photos and mounted them on Jenni Bowlin Christmas Bingo Cards, and had a blast embellishing them with JBS patterned paper, butterfly stickers, foil stars from my stash, JBS pearl flowers, and May Arts velvet ric rac.

The embellished cards are hung from a luscious May Arts brown satin ribbon and tied with a gold metallic. I made a ribbon flower from a bronze ribbon and a JBS vintage sew on button.

I love the way it looks on my mantel!

By the way . . . our giveaway and the May Arts giveaway are both open until Friday!

Video Tutorial from Shimelle Laine

Today we have an absolutely darling video tutorial from Shimelle Laine. This one is sure to have you in the spirit to welcome December in with open arms. If you are looking for even more ways to make merry, check out her class "Journal Your Christmas." We think you will like it, especially as she will have a few more of these charming tutorials featuring JBS product there. :)



P.S. If you haven't already, be sure to enter the May Arts giveaway HERE. Then hope on over to their blog to enter in another fabulous May Arts + JBS giveaway! AND we'll be back with another project for May Arts week later today!

Newsworthy Happenings!

*** The May Arts Giveaway Opportunity is still open . . . click HERE to enter!

Our third annual Holiday Vintagefest is this weekend! If you are local (or local enough!) and were interested in taking the 3 classes this Saturday December 4th you now have the option to sign up for that day only. Please see the Vintagefest Registration - Saturday Only, Holiday 2010 for the specifics. Registration will be closed this Thursday morning, December 2nd.

Don't forget - anyone can come and shop with us on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. We will be at the Lebanon Hampton Inn, in Lebanon, TN just off of Interstate 40 (you can see it from the interstate).
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We will have lots of vintage finds including Ephemera, vintage bits and baubles, vintage and antique storage and displays, deep discount scrapbook supplies and paper and of course the entire Jenni Bowlin Studio product line! Come by and find the perfect gift for everyone on your list (including you)!
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Jenni's interview is up at Masterful Scrapbook Design! The interview will be available through tomorrow evening and after that you can still get to it through the November archives.

May Arts Week with Dina Wakley

Welcome to May Arts Week here on the JBS Inspiration Blog! Be sure to enter the drawing below for some festive May Arts Ribbon!

Today's May Arts + JBS Offering is from Dina Wakley. What a charming little gift bag she's made.

May Arts Week Giveaway!

Welcome to May Arts Week on the Inspiration Blog! You may have noticed our design team using their fabulous ribbons and trims a little more than usual this month. Well, there's even more to come! Double the inspiration this week, in fact, as the May Arts Design Team will be working the JBS + May Arts magic on their blog as well!

May Arts is a ribbon wholesaler, based in Riverside, Connecticut, serving over 16,000customers worldwide. We offer an exceptional selection of ribbons, including sheer, satin,grosgrain, silk and a variety of patterns and prints. We also maintain a steady stock ofinventory so that orders can be fulfilled immediately. As one of the country’s leadingwholesalers of decorative ribbons, May Arts has been providing superior products and thehighest level of customer service for over 25 years.

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May Arts is generously hosting a giveaway of the ribbon and trim in the photo above. Simply leave a comment on this post and we'll choose a winner Friday afternoon!

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And we'll be back later today and every day this week with another sweet May Arts/JS project!

Contests, Challenges, & Prizes

This week's challenge is from last week's Wednesday Words. Did you have a chance to photograph a few of those words over the Thanksgiving holidays (here in the states)? Of course, everyone can participate as they are very lovely words. Here is the list again . . . family, golden, savor, home, comfort, blessing, friends, relax, serve, fall, bake, pie, feast, thank . . . simply look through your photo archives or go for a walk with your camera and look for some images that express these words to you. Then upload them in our new JBS Mercantile Flickr gallery. You don't have to do all the words to enter, just the ones that speak to you. That's it! We hope you'll play along! This contest ends Sunday, December 19th. We also have a few more contests/challenges (with prizes!) going on . . .

Click HERE for more informtion about our "Inspiration Challenge" that ends next Sunday (12/5).

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Click HERE for more information about our "Red/Black Challenge" that ends Sunday, December 12th.

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Each winner will receive her (or his!) choice of $10 worth of JBS product. For members, prizes will ship free with your next month's kit. Non-members will need to pay shipping.

I love browsing through flea markets and antique stores.  I am drawn to objects that can be used in other ways than they were intended, especially things that can be used for storage around the house.

I saw this iron muffin pan at my usual summer flea market stop in Rhode Island.  I thought it would be great for storing scrapbooking supplies.

Every once in a while I'll take the scrapbooking supplies out of the muffin pan and make one of my favorite centerpieces.  So easy, and it has a nice clean look:

Have a great day!

December Peek!

Our December gallery and kits go up at midnight on the 30th! Not too long now! Here's a peek at one of the layouts I've managed to finish so far. I should mention that this represents only half of the colors involved. The others are more seasonal. Oh! If you're looking for more peeks, I saw another tiny one on Lisa's blog and if you're signed up for our newsletter you'll be seeing even more peeks very soon!

Wednesday (a bit late) . . .

Oh! I'm so sorry! This was obviously supposed to be posted yesterday! Ooops! I got so enamoured with my day off from work that I took the day off from everything. That is so nice sometimes though, isn't it? We at JBS hope you all are having a lovely, relaxing, delicious, and blessed Thanksgiving with friends and family. We certainly count you among our blessings.

This Wednesday (or Thursday as the case may be) we bring you a new monthly feature "Wednesday Words." It's simple really; just a little list of words to help you think about and photograph the season with a little more intent. Here are this month's words:

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family, golden, savor, home, comfort, blessing, friends, relax, serve, fall, bake, pie, feast, thank

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Just snap a few pictures today that represent these words to you. We'll be back Sunday with a related new (and super easy) challenge/contest/(with prizes)!

The last six words in the list above match our new Thanksgiving Mini Bingo Cards. I'm still holding onto my October Project Kit in hopes of finding the time to make a little mini-album. Wouldn't that be a sweet way to count my blessings?

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P.S. Check back these evening after your turkey nap for a little sneak peek of December's Kit!

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P.S.S. Thanks Lisa for letting me "lift" your pecans. Wish I had a few to nibble on!

Tutorial

Looking for a classy way to stay organized and on top of your holiday shopping this year? Betsy's created this fabulous pocketed mini to keep all her lists. There are lots more images and even some downloadable tags and titles. Check it out HERE.

Beauty by Becky Novacek

A simple little layout is sometimes what is needed. Life gets really busy and creative time can be almost non-existent....so during the extra busy holiday season, I think it's a good thing to continue to carve out a little time to do something that you enjoy. I know that for me, I'm much more happy if I keep this in mind. Here's the thing: it doesn't have to be a masterpiece every time. Do a simple little something, using pretties that inspire you. I made this layout in my hotel room in Seattle last night. I had the most basic supplies along and it was so theraputic to pull things out and put this together. When I got home I added a little machine stitching and it's done! The gorgeous vintage-y ribbon and velvet rickrack are May Arts. I think they work perfectly with the JBS papers and stickers. So don't give up on your creativity during the holiday season...just keep it simple!

Truly Beautiful! Thanks for the inspiration Becky!

Scraptastic!

We're almost to the end of another month. Have you had much time to scrap? Are you nearing the end of a kit? Looking for ideas to get one more project completed before the next happy box arrives? This month we had some super scrappy scrap tips from our designers using paper strips and paper hearts. Take a look . . .

I always save any and all paper strip edges until I'm 100% sure I'm done with a kit and this is the reason. Becky has made all the random bits look so nice mixed together. And notice how punched, pinked, and torn edges just add to the charm.

How is this for a clever idea for stretching your resources? The exclusive die cut houses were ever so popular. I know I am tempted to hoard mine. Jill has used hers as a template to make more of the little cuties. Just trace and cut one out out of scrap paper then layer some of your leftover scrap bits over it. Sweet!

Punches are always perfect for scrappy leftovers. This month Danielle made a delightfully homespun look with heart punches.

And look! Betsy took it a step further and punched hearts from the trash heap! These hearts were punched from the backing of the Prima alphabet! I love it!

Contests! Challenges! Prizes!

Did you know that Jenni adds to her Red/Black release each fall? One reason, of course, is that it features her signature colors of red, black, and cream. The other reason is that it is such a versatile color combination. It looks timeless on its own but also plays well with others. Here I've added just a touch of goldenrod. In my November gallery I added a hint of orange and green. And do you remember this post where Lisa added a bold splash of aqua? What color(s) would you add? We'd love to see! Create a layout featuring red, black, and another color (or two). Post it in our customer gallery with "Red/Black Challenge" in the comments section. We'll choose a winner on Sunday, December 12th.

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Don't forget we still have the "Inspiration Challenge" going on as well! That one ends Sunday, December 5th.

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The winners will receive their choice of $10 worth of JBS product. For members, prizes will ship free with your next month's kit. Non-members will need to pay shipping.

BIG Mid-month release!

The mid-month release is set to go live this morning at 10 am cst! It's a very BIG release full of limited edition pieces like this Christmas wallhanging kit designed by Jenni and our annual vintage Christmas papercrafting kit. Check Jenni's blog for more festive offerings!

Anticipation Album by Jill Sprott

Christmas is right around the corner, and rather than create a project that only looks back at Christmases past, I wanted to make a kind of "anticipation" album, documenting a few traditions, highlights, and musings related to the holidays.

In addition to a BUNCH of JBS product (green label stickers, holiday tickets, black & red papers and journaling cards, a "December" calendar die-cut, a "Give" bingo card, chipboard buttons and pearl buttons, and die-cut journaling cards), I used gold May Arts ribbon on the cover's spine and I cut rosettes from May Arts ribbon and added those to the cover as well.