Something Old ... Something New

Hello and welcome to the 2025 Jingle Belles season! If you've played along in other years, we're happy you've come back; if you're brand new to Jingle Belles, then we're excited that you've found us. Our mission... (we are Stephanie and Lauren, btw!) ...is to make at least ONE holiday card per week between now and December 1st. Thus we will be heading into the festive month with 48+ unique holiday cards. (Woohoo!)

There aren't many rules around here. We post a new theme every other Friday. You may link as many NEW holiday cards that fit the current theme. You don't need to commit to playing every fortnight; just join us when you can. Oh and we absolutely insist you have FUN!

For our first cardmaking prompt of our 15th year of Jingle Belles Mayhem, we're asking you to create a holiday card that features something OLD and something NEW. 

For example, combine an item (or two) that you've had in your stash for some time with some of the new goodies that Santa brought you for Christmas (or maybe you were you're own Santa and you shopped those Black Friday sales and bought it yourself). We're pretty sure Santa was good to all of the lovely ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and we know you've got lots of goodies in your stash. Be sure to tell us what your OLD and NEW items are in your blog or social media post!

Here's how we combined our Old & New this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I was doing some cleaning and organizing in my stash, and I found this *old* but never used Vicki Boutin Wrapped in Ribbons paper pad, so that rectangle with the tree & holly leaves was my starting point.  Next I added lots of new products from Pretty Little Studio that Santa Stephanie got for me (the large circle sentiment, racoon and my favorite stitching stickers).  Then I added a few things from my Spellbinders Crafty Advent Calendar (the bird on the tree and the holiday cheer banner).  Before I attached the pieces to my black card base, I added a red strip from one of my *old* Gelliarts prints, and then I finished with a Merry & Bright stamp from the *old* but again, never used, stamps set Wordfetti Holly Jolly from scrapbook.com.  I had so much fun putting this all together."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I treated myself to Simon Hurley's Sketched Snowmen Stamp Set just after the 2024 JB season wrapped up, so of course it was the NEW thing I was dying to use. For my OLD selections I've pulled out my White Ranger Embossing Powder and all my favorite blue Distress Inks to make an "old favorite" technique of emboss/resist; used my ancient Nestabilities frame dies and some tiny Eyelet Outlet 1/16" Round Brads from years ago to hold the sentiment. There's some glittery Frosted Lace Stickles on the torn paper snow, as well, which didn't show up in the photo but is nicely sparkly IRL."

♥♥♥

So what's next? Make one or more new holiday cards featuring Something Old and Something New and remember to tell us what your items are in your blog or social media post. Link said card(s) right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, January 15th. Oh yeah and remember to HAVE FUN making, as well as thinking about how stress-free your December will be!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Getting Ready...

...for a brand new season of stress-free holiday cardmaking Jingle Belles. As usual, we're starting off with a new banner, plus small badges for blogs and a nice big square for Instagram.

 (You needn't download or post any of these to participate, but they're here if you'd like them.)

Banner and badges designed by Lauren Bergold using PSE9

Digital design products: ArtOptions MiniMix09 and Winter Ice Kit from Katie Pertiet Designs; Over the Rainbow Glitter Style by Flergs; Bohemian Typewriter, Pretzel and Rainy Days fonts from DaFont.com

2024 Favorites

December is an excellent time to look back on our crafty year; so without further ado, here's one each of Stephanie's and Lauren's favorite Jingle Belles cards; the bolded text below the photos link to our personal blogs where you can check out the rest of our 2024 Fave Five lists! 

One of Stephanie's 2024 Faves

Stephanie says, "This was one of my cards for the Sweet EMBOSS-able You prompt.  I just love how the texture, inky goodness, shimmer spray, and layered die cut sentiment all came together for a gorgeous, but still mailable, design."

One of Lauren's 2024 Faves

 Lauren says, "I went more or less chronological with my picks this time, so my first choice is from the second week of JB2404: Text Me, which ran early in February. Stephanie had given me this awesome Uniko Christmas Block Party stamp a few years ago, and although I don't use it nearly enough, I always LOVE the results when I do. Oh and it's great for incorporating a bunch of Eyelet Outlet Brads and Bling, too, as you can see!"

♥♥♥

We'll be starting the new Jingle Belles' season on January 1, 2025 and we'd love to see you then. As always, there's no need to make a commitment; play as often as you can find the time and feel inspired! We realize that the first few months it seems funny to be making holiday cards "out of season" but on the plus side, cruising in to a hyper-busy December with the bulk of one's holiday cards FINISHED is the best feeling ever! Feel free to link as many new cards as fit the current prompt; make extras when you have the time and energy; and if you skip a few weeks or months just hop back in whenever you can. There's no judgement here, just crafty friends hanging out and cheering each other on! Wishing you the happiest of holiday seasons and that 2025 will be your most creative year yet! 

2024 Wrap Up!

It's that time again, we're wrapping up the 2024 Jingle Belles season, but no worries, we will return on January 1, 2025, when we'll kick off a brand New Year of creativity and fun! 

Now all that remains is to thank everyone who played along in 2024 (we loved seeing EVERY single card!) and to wish you the happiest of holiday seasons. Also, at this point, we traditionally like to show off the big sprawly pics of ALL our holiday cards for the year, so here are those are right now:

Stephanie's Big Giant Pile-O-Cards

Lauren's Big Giant Pile-O-Cards

♥♥♥

And now here's one last Link-Up that will run until Christmas Eve: Link your last minute makes; scroll through and get inspired; maybe even leave your fellow cardmakers a little love if you have time! We'll be back on January 1st with another season of inspiration! Happy Holidays!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

A Banner Day

So exciting to finish off our 2024 Jingle Belles season with so many GORGEOUS cards, inspired by our 2024 Blog Banner. As always, we thank everyone who participated, we genuinely love seeing each and every card. Here are three that especially caught our eye:

Trijntje of Trijntje's Kaarten

...was inspired by the poinsettias, as well as the red, green and gold color scheme. She also assembled some fabulously intricate layers that we adore!

Toni of Frankie Helps Craft

...made not one, not two, but three gorgeous poinsettia panels that capture the bold floral exuberance of our blog banner, while exploring other (beautiful!) colorways.

Liz Cavill of Craft Sunflower

...created a mind-blowing Triple Stepper Card that captures the elegant vibe of our poinsettias and foliage, but adds a three-dimensional facet AND hits of white that make the whole thing pop!

♥♥♥

And now let's find out to whom that fun little holiday floral prize will be heading:

The Random Number Generator has selected Lucky Number 4!

Which means that Bunny Hoyle is our Lucky Winner!

Congrats, Bunny! 

Please email Lauren with your snail mail info, so we can get that out to you ASAP!

llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com

♥♥♥

This is the last official Jingle Belles prompt of 2024, but no worries, we will return at Midnight with the official wrap-up/ round-up post; plus photos of our person crop of holiday cards for the year. We'll also have a link-up you can use to post your creations right up until Christmas Eve. Then on January 1, 2025 we'll kick off the New Year of creativity and fun at Jingle Belles! ♥

Blog Header Inspired

This week we're still creating cards inspired by the Jingle Belles 2024 Blog Header.

Maybe you're drawn to the candy canes ... or the poinsettias ... or glittery sparkle.  Just make sure you tell us how your card was inspired.

Here is how we were inspired this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I've made a less literal version, but I've still embraced the colors, the florals, and the red glitter and golden metallic accents. That pretty flower cluster is Hero Arts' Christmas Roses stamp, it's embossed with Ranger Gold Embossing Powder and watercolored. The diecut sentiment is Penny Black. The tiny star sequins are Eyelet Outlet."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "My design started with this candy cane striped glitter tag.  I found identical green & red glitter paper in my stash to die cut the Poinsettia and Holly Leaves from Essentials by Ellen Poinsettia & Pine.  I backed them with a white cardstock shadow to help them stand out from the tag.  I added a gold glitter frame, gold stars, gold ribbon & gold thread to pull in those elements from the Blog Header design.  I finished with a Scrapbook.com Wordfetti December sentiment."

And remember there's a fun little prize for one lucky (randomly selected) participant:

Simon Hurley create Bold Holiday Blooms Background Stamp; 

Recollections Holly Leaves; Echo Park Floral Swag Washi Tape and two packs of Paper Lace Ribbon

Link your cards on the original post by 6pm on Wednesday evening, December 4th. The linky tool is in the original post, which can be found directly below this one.

Banner Holiday

For our final prompt of the 2024 Jingle Belles season, we're asking you to make a card inspired by our gorgeous Jingle Belles Blog Banner (created by Jingle Belle Lauren). You might be inspired by the glittery letters and frame, the red poinsettias and candy canes, the jingle belles (or jingle bells, lol) ...just make sure you tell us what inspired you in your post.

Here's how we were inspired this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started by looking for a star die in my stash, and found this one from Jaded Blossom.  Then I went hunting through my designer paper and found a piece with big red poinsettias. I searched through my Jaded Blossom Stamps and found this fun Christmas Spirits Wine Bottle that had some Jingle Bells.  I colored it with Alcohol Ink Markers and a gold Sharpie for the bells.  I added a wide gold glitter frame like the one in the banner and positioned it off-center like the banner frame.  I finished with a sentiment from the Jaded Blossom Christmas Spirits set and a few bits of gold bling."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "For inspiration I chose the poinsettias, the foliage, and the red + green + gold color palette. I used Wendy Vecchi's Build-a-Plaid Layered Stencils and the Christmas Add-On Stamp and Die Set (both from her 2024 Spellbinders' NOT Your Ordinary Card Collection) to make the background and focal point, respectively. There's additional info and pics showing how I built the diecut holly leaves into poinsettias on my personal blog, if you'd like more detail. For the plaid I used Wendy's Archival Inks in Carnation Red, Red Geranium, Fern Green and Sunflower, with a little extra sparkle from a glittery gold pen."

♥♥♥

There's a small poinsettia-centric prize for one 

randomly selected cardmaker who links up with us this time:

Simon Hurley create Bold Holiday Blooms Background Stamp; 

Recollections Holly Leaves; Echo Park Floral Swag Washi Tape and two packs of Paper Lace Ribbon

♥♥♥

Just to be clear, this is only marks the end of the 2024 season; we Jingle Belles will be back for a brand new year of holiday cardmaking, starting January 1, 2025! Meanwhile, for a chance at the prize and to get a few steps closer to Holiday Card Readiness, link your Jingle Belles Banner-Inspired creations right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, December 4th. Keyword is JB2424.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter