o' christmas tree

Like so many, I adore the holidays. And I think by now, a lot of my friends know that I'm completely smitten with almost any shade of aqua or turquoise.  It follows that I love this color combo for Christmas, too! I absolutely loved putting this sweet set of Christmas trees together to grace a side table in our home this holiday season.

Each little tree was crafted by simply gluing a dowel into one of the vintage style wooden spools, cutting a strip of paper and clipping a fringe, and then gluing it around the dowel from the bottom up. After the fringe is secured, just fluff or curl the edges, then decorate as you'd like.

I loved how the red bingo dots paper from the 2012 Christmas line coordinated so beautifully with the cardstocks from the coordinations line... I enjoy so many different looks and colors for the holidays - how about you?

~ Leah

Christmas 2012 Advent Tag Set

Hi everyone!

This is Ashley here today, with my first JBS Inspiration blog post as a JBS Ambassador! I was very excited to see Jenni's Christmas 2012 line and knew right away I wanted to make a home decor project with it. I loved the shade of red paired with that lovely cream colour. I couldn't resist adding in some gold and glitter, because it just doesn't feel like the holidays to me, without some shine and sparkle!

I used JBS Christmas 2012 papers, and lots of other great JBS products to make a set of 25 Christmas tags. These could be used as an advent calendar: add numbers and hang one a day, or hang them up daily on little numbered pins. I think they would also be great strung along a fireplace front as a garland, or even given away as gift tags on holiday presents. Or, how cool would they be hung on a Christmas tree? Right now I have them displayed on a large idea board frame. 

Here are all 25 tags together. I used shipping tags and some of the new JBS perforated tags for others. Some have no actual tag component at all, while some are made like fair ribbons. I tried to use a variety of supplies and really just stuck to the red, cream and gold theme. I also pulled out some of my favourite vintage supplies for this tag set. There are some very similar pieces available at the JBS Mercantile Flea Market, or that sometimes come with the JBS Antiquarian add-on kit, like vintage pen nibs, vintage trims, and vintage milk caps.

For the first four tags. I was heavily inspired thinking about fair ribbons and letters to Santa. The numeral 1 star is from the Christmas 2012 Accessory Sheet, and so is the bingo chip bordered tag behind it. For the second tag, I topped a gold tissue paper ribbon with a medium vintage flag tag and a vintage jingle bell. The lovely mini December calendar is just embellished with a leaf coated in gold German glass glitter -- and I love the simplicity of this tag. The mini envie tag is stuffed with a stamped vintage typewriter image, a vintage pen nib, and a sweet little  airmail sticker.

Lots of new JBS Christmas products in this next set, and some of my stashed faves. The bank of happiness bank note is from the Christmas 2012 Accessory sheet, and there is some full size bingo chip paper, and some mini sheet bingo chip paper. I love using button cards as a complete embellishment, and this great cream and gold JBS button card was perfect for this set! I used a 25 cent General Store postage stamp sticker, and a postage stamp label on the glitter-filled test tube. The Accessory Sheet also has some great little to-from tags, and I cut the banner out to wrap around the bottle brush tree. The happy flash card seemed like a good choice to go over the vintage eye and hook card, because, well -- Christmas is a happy time!

How awesome would these vintage test tubes be made into a set of ornaments, like the one above?

This give Silhouette mini deck card was too perfect for a Christmas tag! I layered it over one of the big red lined tags from the perforated tag paper sheet. It is topped with a paper bow made out of the mini pattern sheet. The red game card is also from the new lotto mini deck set -- love the way a non-themed piece can look perfectly festive if in the right colour! The Christmas Ribbon paper sentiment made such an easy embellishment for the game card and key tag; I think this paper is going to make holiday card-making fast and lovely! 

A red label from Red Black Line Extension IV Accessory sheet, a gift tag from the Christmas 2012 Accessory sheet, and a few pieces of paper and ribbon filled out the rest of these tags above. I really love  JBS Accessory Sheet patterned paper sheets. They are such good value, and so useful. I like cutting them up as soon as I get them and store the pieces in with my other labels and cards, so I can pull out whatever colour is needed for a current project.

 To see the rest of the tags in the set and close up-details of all of them, please come visit my blog, things that shine.

It is too early to say happy holidays, but definitely not too early to start some happy holiday crafting!

"Be Merry" Christmas Canvas from May Flaum

Today designer May Flaum brings us a charming 9x12 Christmas canvas with folk art appeal.  How sweet would this little tree be sitting on your mantel?  We are getting into the spirit of the season here at Jenni Bowlin Studio!

The background is a fun mix of inking including some stamping with the Harlequin Clear Stamp.  Then the tree itself is a mixture of patterned paper strips from our 2012 Vintage Christmas line along with a variety of JBS and vintage buttons plus some rhinestone stars and sparkley trim.  Polish it off with a December Banner Sticker and a tidy "Be Merry" Title.

So festive!  Thanks for the inspiration May!

Vintage Decorations

The holiday season is upon us. Thanksgiving is in a few weeks (can you believe it!?) and Christmas is just around the corner which means of course it's holiday crafting time. Today I'm going to show you how to make a simple vintage inspired ornament or wall hanging with old book covers.

It should only take you about 15 minutes to make, and at this busy time of year I love fast, cute crafts that I can use to decorate my home. I especially love cute holiday crafts that incorporate texture and a good mix of vintage & new products.

Supplies needed :
JBS - Christmas Ribbon paper, Red Black line accessory sheet paper, rhinestone stars in red, rhinestone brad in red, seam binding in red & white,
vintage - book cover, reflector, milk cap & sewing bobbin (from Nov 2012 antiquarian kit), chandelier prism, german foil
misc - eyelets, foam adhesive squares

Gather your supplies & cut a 1.5" piece of the Christmas ribbon paper and make an accordion flower. glue the reflector onto the center of the book cover and glue the accordion flower on top of the reflector. add punched hanging holes to top of book cover, add eyelets and ribbon.

Layer the milk-cap onto the accordion flower and cut the "J" & "Y" from the new red black extension accessory sheet.

Layer & glue all of the elements until they're stacked as shown. use the sewing bobbin as the "O" in "JOY" and add the rhinestone brad as an accent. Add the Chandelier dangle to the bottom of the book cover and accent with a red rhinestone star sticker.

Simple & fast.

Happy holiday crafting!

Deck the Halls with Elizabeth Carney!

Seasons Greeting!  Here at Jenni Bowlin Studio, we like to get the holiday season started off early so you'll have plenty of time to get inspired and start creating!  Our first holiday creation is from one of our newest team members, Elizabeth Carney.  We think her project will really get you in the spirit of the holidays!

Altered projects always make me pressured to be quite honest, but I have to tell you that each and every time I sit down to create an altered project or a home decor project my creative juices flow so greatly that I instantly come up with something that simply makes me smile! I kid you not..

Of course having products that make me giddy works too! Such as in case, with Jenni Bowlin. I am so honored to be on this team and because this was my first project, I was a tad nervous. As I was walking around Michael's looking at all of the Christmas decor, I came across this sled. It was just a plain sled and my mind started to race with the possibilities of what it could be!
I came up with this...

I really wanted to take the time and create something to put into our new apartment as well so when I got all of the products out, I was super excited to create this! I am pleased at how it turned out with the results too!

Supplies: JBS Christmas 2012 Jolly Saint Nick papers, JBS Christmas 2012 Accessory Sheet, JBS Christmas 2012 Calender, JBS Rhinestone Stars, JBS Flag Tags, JBS Wren Wren Accessory Sheet

 

Digi Monday : Did you say butterflies?





Jenni's embellished butterflies are here in digital!  I am so excited to see these beauties in pixels!

 

 

JBS Digital Jeweled Butterflies

 

Did you love Jenni's Vellum Butterflies also?  The Jeweled Butterfly kit comes with an Idea File that shows you one way to turn these butterflies into "digital vellum"!

 

We can always use more Word Arrows!  We have a new kit of Word Arrows that can be used as a brush or mask on your digital pages, or used in your cutting machines!  The .dxf file can be easily dragged into your silhouette software.

 

 

Are you ready to be "wowed"?  Take a look at what Amy Kingsford and the Jessica Sprague Creative Team did with our new kits:

 



The very talented Amy Kingsford used these 2 kits along with other digital goodies to create this layout:

 

 

Supplies:

 

Jenni Bowlin Studio Digitals: Jeweled Butterflies, Word Arrows, Seal Stencil, Homespun Collection, School Days Alpha, Rhinestone Buttons and Bows; Sahlin Studio: Fresh Collab (with One Little Bird), A Wonderful Day Mixed Media (zig-zag stitching), Embroidered Yarn Flowers, Rejuvenate (Kraft Cardstock); Font: Susie's Hand. 

 

 

Here's one from Antonia Krajicek.  I love the way her butterflies seem to float on the page.

 

 

Van Nguyen used both kits creatively to accent girl and boy siblings.

 

 

Isn't this one by Miki just dreamy?

 

 

This piece of Subway Art by creative team member Debra is jaw dropping, isn't it?  I am definitely lifting this idea!

 

 

Our two new releases are 25% off today!  Visit the Jenni Bowlin Studio Digital Shoppe at JessicaSprague.com and see our entire digital line! 

JBS Mercantile November Reveal!

Our November Kits are live in the General Store and Gallery!  Lisa Dickinson has FOUR NEW KIT CUT FILES available, including the fabulous Backdrops 1 set that she used here.

The all NEW RED BLACK EXTENSION V is in the house!  And it could be in your house soon if you order the November Papercrafting Kit.  Check out our November Design Team Gallery for more inspiration with this classic line!

As always, the Papercrafting Kit includes some great JBS Mercantile exclusives like this stamp and stencil, plus a bonus digital download of the stencil outline!

We also have a beautiful selection of perfectly coordinating product in our Antiquarian (all vintage) Add-on above) and our Artisan Add-on (below).  These kit extras are only availalbe to subscribers today, but will be available to everyone on November 2nd.

This month's Mini-Album Kit was designed by Kerry Lynn Yeary and would make a wonderful foundation for your December Daily this year.  You can see that it's also very versatile and well suited for a variety of winter crafting projects.

And did you notice it also includes this delightful exclusive stamp set by Kenner Road for JBS Mercantile?