Taking a Header

To celebrate the conclusion of The World Cup, we'll be Taking a Header this week.

No we won't be hitting soccer balls with our heads (thank goodness for me) ... instead, at the suggestion of our Lovely Guest Star Marie Bingaman, we'll be making cards inspired by the Jingle Belles Blog Header (which Stephanie points out was designed by the very talented Lauren; digital image credits are in this post).

You can find your inspiration in the colors, layout, elements or just the overall vibe of our design.

Here's how we were inspired:

Marie's Card

Marie says, "I’ve been inspired by the Jingle Belles header for a good while now-- (like since it first changed at the beginning of the year!) --and I can’t believe my good fortune that no one else suggested using it as inspiration! Smile Gray and purple is also a pretty combo I’ve been wanting to put together for a long time. I guess I achieved both of those goals then!"

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Ok, admittedly, I had a bit of an advantage this time, since I designed the header using digital versions of all the things I love in my real life stash. So for my card it was easy to combine my favorite poinsettia die, some glittery alphas, a bit of lace, a little grunge and a whole lot of layers! My favorite thing about this card is that 90% of the things I used are not especially Christmassy, but when you put them all together, they still work!"

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "When I see Purple & Christmas together, I think of Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather Collection.  I pulled out some scraps using this week's Sketchbook Saturday Layout.  I used a vintage stamp for my sentiment, which turned out to be mounted a bit crooked on the wooden block, so I added a golden snowflake to help off-set the sentiment wonkiness (I call it an embellishment opportunity)."

We can't wait to see what you create. Remember you have until Wednesday, July 30th at 6pm EST to upload your designs.

An InLinkz Link-up

Stash-o-licious!

If anyone ever doubted that older products could still look *AMAZING* in brand new cards, all they have to do is check out the gorgeous readers' gallery from our collaboration with Shopping Our Stash to see the proof! Here are a few especially fine examples of that phenomenon:

Diane of Lydia's Post

...combined many fun and festive elements and easily scoops the award for oldest stash item with her beautiful *FORTY* year old (!!!) book paper background!

Maura aka beesmom at Split Coast Stampers

...used an older die set in a new way by creating this clever silhouette snowscape!

Jess of Jess Crafts

...dipped into some treasured hoarded papers and combined an older stamp with a brand new coloring technique to produce this masterpiece of adorability!

Now it's time to find out who's scored the little packet of holiday goodies that was up for grabs. The fine folks at Random.org have chosen the number 35 which means our lucky winner is:

♥SHAUNA♥
of Creating With Paper

please email your address to us at jinglebellesrock (at) hotmail (dot) com so we can get your prize right out to you!

Many thanks to everyone who played along, and especially to the lovely ladies of Shopping Our Stash for teaming up with us this fortnight. Remember there's a new challenge on that fine blog every single Tuesday morning, so be sure to check that out! Meanwhile, WE will have a brand new challenge headed in your direction at Midnight... with a brand new lovely guest star to inspire you!

Shopping ... and more Shopping

We're still embracing the wonderful premise of Shopping Our Stash to make holiday cards which utilize items we've owned for at least a year... though some of our ingredients are quite a bit older than that! In addition to the lovely greetings below, there are more at SOS-- including Stephanie's-- so be sure to check them out, too!

Barbara's Card

...features a snowman image from The Stamp Barn which is no longer in operation, this snowman is one of a set of four. This image I had stamped a bunch for making kits for a few friends and this was a left over. In keeping with the SOS criteria everything here is well over a year old.

Jessi's Card

...uses stamps which were a gift about a year and a half ago, papers which are scraps from 2 years ago, and the Pearl mist is also about 2 years old.

Lauren's Card

...is built around some dimensional felt poinsettias which are at least 3-4 years old, (at least!) a scallopy half-moon journaling card of about the same vintage, and as a scrap of flowery "Nordic Holiday" paper that was positively longing to be used up!!!

Remember you can link your new-but-stashy creations on the original posts both here AND at Shopping Our Stash! Since there are prizes on both blogs for lucky random cardmakers, you'll definitely want to do that!

Shopping Our Jingle Belles Stash

This fortnight we are incredibly excited to welcome the lovely ladies of the weekly challenge blog Shopping Our Stash to a special crossover event! Just in case you've never played along at SOS, here's a little bit about the concept:

Shopping Our Stash (or SOS) 

is a weekly challenge blog which evolved from a personal desire by our founder, Carla, and the rest of us, to focus on using the supplies we have on hand, or "shopping our stash" instead of always thinking we have to have something new! Shopping Our Stash posts a brand new challenge every single Tuesday morning, and would love for you to grab some of your older supplies and join the fun!

Isn't that a fantastic idea? Yep, we think so, too! So in honor of this special event, we've got a special "two-fer" challenge for you. Here's what to do: 

1. Make a holiday card that uses something from your stash 

which is at least a year old.

2. Post the card on your blog or gallery, and be sure 

to tell us what your older stash item is.

3. Link your card at the bottom of this ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ post 

and also at this Shopping Our Stash post.

4. Check back at both blogs on July 17th to see if you've won 

one of the lovely prizes! (More on that in a minute!)

Since this is an extra-special challenge, we've got more than the usual amount of inspiration to share, and we're spreading it around! Shopping Our Stash design team members Leslie, Donna and Alica, and our own Stephanie have some lovely items to show you right here; whilst Lauren's card is proud to be featured over at SOS, with those of design teammates Jessi, Barbara and Chris.

Leslie's Card

...features a totally hilarious (and totally TRUE!) stamp from 2000!

Donna's Card

... is made from a 2012 card kit, she just added some sequins, which she's pretty sure are at least a year old, also!

Alica's Flower Tree

...is an amazingly lovely use of paper scraps and brads!

 Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "One of the good things about moving are all of the great *discoveries* you make while packing ... like this lovely Christmas Card Stamp I purchased on Etsy in February 2011.  Not only had it not seen ink ... I hadn't even cut into the rubber sheet and mounted the stamps.  Well that has been remedied ... and as I thought when I purchased the stamp, it makes a very quick and mailable holiday card."

Now what about those prizes? Well, here's what one lucky random cardmaker will win who links up here at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥:

Crate Paper "Peppermint Collection" 6x6 paper pad and buttons; Hero Arts "Snow Much Joy" clear stamps; Recollections sparkly chipboard snowflakes and Christmas tree ribbon spool

...to find out about the prize at SOS you're going to have to mosey on over to Shopping Our Stash and read about it there! :)

Be sure to link your stash-using holiday cards both here and at Shopping Our Stash between now and 6pm (EST) on July 16th, 2014. Keyword for galleries and our Flickr group is JB:14:14. ♥

An InLinkz Link-up

Christmas Story Favorites

There were soooooooo many clever and beautiful cards based on Christmas books, films and television shows this fortnight. What a joy to see our favorites represented so lovingly, and to hear about some new stories, too! Here are a few cards we found especially inspiring:

Leslie of The Crooked Stamper

...created a card that's not only well-designed but references the film "A Christmas Story" in a way that's as impressive as it is hilarious!

Brenda of Brenda's Scrappy Blog

...proves that you don't need licensed merchandise, or even an image, to embody your favorite film (in this case, "Elf"); a beautifully showcased quote will do the job perfectly!

Lisa J. of Snowy Moose Creations

...had a little help from an expert (her son!) in creating this lovely card based on their favorite holiday book, "The Polar Express"

Once again we thank everyone who participated, with an extra helping of thanks to our lovely and talented guest star, Irene Sprick, for thinking up such a fabulous idea! We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will make you want to dash to your stash!

A Storied Holiday

We're still celebrating all of our cherished stories of Christmas, whether they be in book, film, or television form, and we're loving the cards in the gallery so far! Here's what we made this week:

Irene's Other Card

...is based on a wonderful book, The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg; which has also been made into a film starring Tom Hanks.

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "For me, another must-watch Christmas story is A Charlie Brown Christmas.  I found this digital image on a sheet music cover and built my card using this week's Paper Players Challenge Sketch.  The sentiment is CatsLife Press."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Stephanie and I are pretty close to the same age, so we share similar tv-watching memories from the 1970's. As a kid, I went back and forth (still do, actually!) between favorites; usually a tie between A Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The latter may have had a slight lead because it was the first stop-action animation I had ever seen (not that I knew it was called that) and I was fascinated by trying to figure out *HOW* it was being done. My brother, however, had one consistent favorite every single year: Frosty the Snowman. So I dedicate this week's card-- which is based on Retro Sketch #120 and uses an October Afternoon Miscellany card as focal point-- to Frosty, and also to brother Bill!"

Remember, you have until Wednesday at 6pm EST to share your Christmas story with us.

A Christmas Story

This fortnight we are lucky enough to have a lovely guest star with a most inspiring prompt! The very talented Irene Sprick... (whose blog, A Serendipitous Retirement, you really need to check out!) ...wrote in to suggest we base our cards on one of the many wonderful holiday books we all adored in childhood... and secretly, I think we all still love them now, as adults, don't we? Just in case reading isn't your thing, we've expanded the idea to also include the films and television specials which have become beloved over the years. After all, they're all Christmas *STORIES* aren't they? So whether you love "A Christmas Carol" or "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" or "It's a Wonderful Life" why not sit down and consider how that could be embodied as a greeting card, and then c'mon over and link up with us! (Be sure to tell us what book or film inspired your card!)

Irene's Card

Irene says, "As a retired elementary school librarian, I have always enjoyed children’s books. Each year I still read through the holiday stories I love. Why not start making cards to go with these stories? This card is from The Wild Christmas Reindeer, by Jan Brett. I love her illustrations and the realistic portrayal of the reindeer, as well as the countdown calendar in the signature borders on each page."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I've mentioned before that as a child I adored Clement C. Moore's poem, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and as an adult I collect vintage copies of the book. For this card I've scanned one of my favorite pages, made it small enough to fit on my not quite 5x7" card, and added some papers and embellishments to match. I think I'll save this card for my niece and nephew, who love the story as much as I do!"

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "Growing up, I couldn't wait to watch the annual Christmas Specials on television (can you imagine in this world of DVDs & DVRs only getting to see them once a year) ... especially Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ... and as an adult, I still love Bumble the Yeti.  I found a foam ornament featuring both of them and created my card around it using the layout from Wanna Sketch?"

Now it's time for you to start thinking about ♥YOUR♥ favorite Christmas stories and what sort of card they'll inspire you to make! Link up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, July 2nd. Keyword for galleries and our Flickr group is JB:14:13.

An InLinkz Link-up