Critter Christmas

We're back again this week with cards that include Animal Antics ... because even animals know when Santa is on his way.

Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Arctic set is probably ten years old and yet, I still find it every bit as adorable and whimsical as the first time I saw it; I'm guessing others do too as it's still available. I love coloring or (as in this case) paper-piecing those happy arctic pals; and I'm especially happy with the floral moose! I went a little more wintery than xmas, with a neutral diecut sentiment from Elizabeth Craft Designs' Winter Wishes set (also ancient and I believe out of print) since not everyone celebrates Christmas and it's nice to have a selection of cards on hand in December."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie Says, "I knew my Taylored Expressions Big Grumpy needed to make an appearance for this prompt.  This time I added mittens on his paws and reindeer antlers from Big Grumpy Christmas together with the Ho Ho ... No. sentiment.  I finished with a silver embossed snowflake from Taylored Expressions Flip the Snowflake."

♥♥♥

JB2511: Animal Antics runs until next Wednesday evening, June 4th. Link your card(s) on the original post... directly below this one!

Animal Antics

The next prompt at Jingle Belles is Animal Antics.  

We're asking you to create a holiday card featuring an animal having some Christmas fun (and yes, in the Jingle Belles work, a Yeti would qualify as an animal).

Here are the antics of our animals this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I chose the drumming doggie from Penny Black's 12 Days of Christmas. I stamped him in black and colored him with alcohol ink markers.  I used the Penny Black Shimmering Tune Stick & Shine with gold foil for the background."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "This handsome bear is the star of Sunny Studio's Holiday Hugs Stamp Set and I smile whenever I see him. I added an Eyelet Outlet Polar Bear Cub Brad to his mug of cocoa and used a piece of tree-festooned patterned paper as well as a few diecut mats and some stray stickers to finish off my card design."

♥♥♥

Link your Christmas critter cards right here! 

JB2511: Animal Antics runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, June 4th.

Belles Are Ringing!

The bells and the Belles are ringing out with Christmas cheer as we survey the beautiful Readers' Gallery this fortnight. If you're looking for inspiration, be sure to have a scroll through all of the cards, we assure you it's worth the trip. In the meantime, here are three that especially caught our eye this time:

Carol of Inky Fingers

...added beautiful dimension and shading to her colorful red jingle bells, then added a coordinating sentiment and just enough stenciled background foliage to give them context.

Meghan Kennihan of Made by Meghan K

...made not one, not two, but THREE gorgeous cards using the same ingredients... but with unique sketches and colorways for each; what a beautiful bounty of bells!

Deb Horst of Sendable Sentiments

...added touches of red and green to her elegant neutral color palette and topped the whole thing off with textural twine and REAL jingle bells!

♥♥♥

And now to award that little Bell-centric prize:

The Random Number Generator has selected Lucky #2 which means that

LeAnne Pugliese is our Lucky Winner!

LeAnne, please send your snail mail info to llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com

and we'll get that prize in to you ASAP!

♥♥♥

We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will inspire you to cleverly corral some cute and Christmassy critters!

Ring the Bells for the Belles

We're still creating holiday cards featuring Bells this week, and we'd love for you to join us.

Here's how the Belles rang the Bells:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This holiday bell sticker was the last in a pack from... ok, I confess it's so old I don't know WHERE it came from, but it was perfect to pair with this bell-themed Simple Stories journal card plus papers from Basic Grey and Authentique. There are some Eyelet Outlet Poinsettia and Holly Brads to add texture and interest; plus those golden mats are a bit shimmery in real life!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I went with a little Jingle Belles snark using Unity Stamp Company Bells & Holly with a sentiment from Tim Holtz Snarky Cat Christmas." 

♥♥♥

Remember, you have until 6pm EST on Wednesday to link-up and join the fun. Everyone who does will have a shot at this sweet little Bell-centric prize! 

Christmas Bells those Christmas Bells

This fortnight we're asking you to break out your Bells for the Belles and create a card that includes some sort of bell.

Here's how the Belles used Bells this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I die cut lots of Impression Obsession Jingle Bells from silver metallic cardstock and used some foam tape under some to create dimension on my purple glitter paper card base.  I used a sentiment from Kristina Werner's Merry Trees stamp set to finish the design."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I got out my Impression Obsession Retro Ornaments die set (because one of the ornaments is bell-shaped) as well as my tan/gold/neutral scraps folder and had a lot of fun putting together a set of sparkly ornaments, dangling from pearl bling. And what could be a better background for a bell-themed card than a re-sized color copy of the sheet music for "Jingle Bells"?!

♥♥♥

And now, how about an appropriately Bell-related prize that one lucky cardmaker is going to score, just for linking up with us this fortnight? It's Honey Bee's Layering Holiday Bells die set; Memory Box's 6x6 Madras Plaid paper pad and Spellbinders' Winter Wonderland Sentiment diecuts.

Link your Bell-centric creations right here. JB2510: Christmas Bells, Those Christmas Bells runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 21st.

True Colors

It seems we were not the only ones who felt extra-inspired by that fun Ornamental Color Challenge, so if you haven't had a scroll through the Readers' Gallery we highly recommend the trip. In the meantime, here are three takes that especially caught our eye:

Liz Williams of Old Right Brain Madness

...found the PERFECT patterned paper to capture the colors and a very handsome reindeer portrait to be the focal point on this marvelously mailable design!

Tina Z of Treebug

...handcolored this bell-issima embossing folder with the perfect shades of Distress Inks and impressively combined several challenges flawlessly!

Becca Yahrling who posts on Flickr

...made two very cool cards, both of which are shout-out worthy, and almost too close to call, but the embossed orange mat on this one was what took it over the top, in our opinion! 

♥♥♥

And now we'd all like to know where this very fun die is heading, right?! 

Well, the Random Number Generator chose Lucky #3 which means that Liz Williams of Old Right Brain Madness is our Lucky Winner! Liz, please send your snail mail info to llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com and we'll get that headed out to you ASAP. Congrats and Yay, You! ♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing all of your beautiful, festive cards. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will get your creative bells-a-ringing! ;)

Colors of Christmas

We're still creating cards using our Ornamental Color Challenge this week.  We ask that you use at least three of the five colors to create your card.

Here is how we got colorful this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week, I was inspired by the inspiration photo itself, so I made an ink-blended background using Distress Oxide Inks in the shades closest (imo) to the top three colors in the palette: Uncharted Mariner, Broken China and Speckled Egg. Then I embossed the panel using Spellbinders' Forevergreen e/f and flicked some watered down Liquid Pearls (in White Opal and Gold Pearl) on top. I made a large snowflake stack to stand in for the fancy bauble in the photo and finished the whole thing with some clear gems that look a bit like the bokeh fairy lights."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "Since I leaned heavier into the teal/blues last week, I decided to start with the darkest coppery/orange that I skipped last week.  I cut 3/8" strips from the next three colors and positioned them horizontally.  I'm joining Amy T for her Woodblock Wednesday using a one of my favorite woodblock Savvy Snowman paired with a woodblock Memory Box sentiment."

And remember, one lucky random participant will receive this fun Yay You Die Cut by CZ Design, so link-up by 6pm EST on Wednesday, May 7th.