Jingle Belles - Something Old and Something New and Some Things That I Won Too

Ho, ho, ho - here we go with another year of Jingle Belle challenges.  This fortnight the challenge was to use something old and something new (or unused).  Well, I was pretty lucky late last year to be the winner of one of the Jingle Belle giveaways which gave me my new items and I'll share another giveaway I won also at the end of this post.

Here was the prize from the JB's - Stamps, Paper, and Embellishments that were perfect for this first challenge of the year.

I actually made two cards using some of these items, but only the first one qualifies for the challenge because it has something old on it - the red seam binding ribbon was salvaged from a box of straw Christmas decorations purchased at IKEA several years ago that resurfaced in our recent purge.  And the tag is actually the backside of the tag that came with the package.

I love the color combination of the patterned papers in this pack.  I can predict that it will be used many times over the course of the year.  

Thank you ladies for such a fun giveaway prize!

I did say that I was lucky enough to win something else, this happening to be something handmade.  It was on Instagram that I saw the work of Wendy Kirwood, a textile and mixed media artist.  I was fascinated by the project that she had featured on her feed this summer where she sewed 100 glass beads to a felt round each day for 10 days.  I totally enjoyed seeing her daily updates.  She made that piece into a giveaway which I entered but did not win.  So I was happy to see that she repeated this project and giveaway at the end of November/beginning of December.  I had a really good feeling about this one, and was pleasantly shocked when I saw that my name had been chosen by her son.  

The beads are sew on a 7" gray felt framed circle. 

The stitching on the beads is wonderful, but just look at the preciseness of the stitching around the frame, and her initial logo in silver thread blew me away.  

My pictures don't do it justice.  It really sparkles in the light.

What was also remarkable was that it only took 5 days for the package to arrive here from the UK in mid-December.  The mail has been pretty unpredictable during the holidays.

Now I will mosey on over the Jingle Belles blog to see all the lovely creations for these first couple of weeks in January.  You can join me by clicking here.