Shine On!

We're still rockin' all things metallic, sparkly and/or glittery, and you still have plenty of time to join the fun. Here's how we got our shine on this week:

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I went with pure glitter this week ... a glittery card base topped with a glittery snowflake ... and a sparkly gem in the middle.  Sentiment is from Memory Box Typewriter Holiday Elements."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I've gone shabby chic with papers and a journal card (from which i diecut the sentiment circle) from Prima's luscious "Sweet Peppermint" collection. So I have lots of distressed layers with wonky machine stitching, and I've added my sparkly/metallic elements via a golden doily from my stash and snowflakes diecut from scraps of Tonic Studios' awesome specialty paper. I've even worked in a bit of packaging from some older Prima flowers, (it's the green ledger paper layer) to which I've added plain white matte modeling paste, spread through a damask patterned stencil. A few Eyelet Outlet heart pearls top the whole thing off."

Remember, you have until 6pm EST on Wednesday February 27th to link-up your shining creation.

All That Glitters...

ALL THAT GLITTERS ...is gold. or sometimes silver. with the outside possibility of copper, bronze or rose gold! on the other hand, sometimes all that glitters is GLITTER! which is my very roundabout way of telling you that this fortnight at JINGLE BELLES we're all about metallics and/or glitter!

This could be in the form of metal embellies, metallic or tinsel embossing paste or powder, glitter paper, glitter tape, glitter glue, or even metallic paper ... basically, if it's shiny or sparkly, you're good to go!

Here's how we got our shine on this week:

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I've mentioned before how much I love Idea-Ology's Metallic Kraft-Stock paper. I've used silver this time, backed with a little scrap of plain white cardstock, not because the metallic cardstock isn't strong enough, but because I knew I was going to pressure-emboss in the next step and that reindeer has teeny little legs. I framed up the elegant results with a couple of label shapes and added it to a card with torn layers of paper and a little bit of lace, to make a sort of abstract version of a snowy day!" 

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I went with primarily glittery metals on my card this week with glittery paper and glittery snow on my jar-shaped gift tag, which is tied with a golden cord.  Sentiment is from My Favorite Things Sassy Pants Holiday and sketch is from Fusion Card Challenge (the theme is tea and bouquets ... I'm going with booze and berries instead).

Link your metal masterpieces here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, February 27th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:19:04.

An InLinkz Link-up

The Shape of Things to Come

Sooooooo many gorgeous entires in the Shape Up gallery prove that beautiful holiday cards come in ALL shapes and sizes. Here are a few that we thought were especially clever:

Bobbi's Treasure

...used beautifully simple silhouetted shapes within a distinctive frame for a card that's a STAR by anyone's standards!

Irene M of Irene's Scrapbook

...placed this beautifully colored bird on a clever half-moon shaped card, which makes this a LITERAL Rockin' Robin!

Beverly Sizemore of Bev's Creative Path

...made SEVEN amazing and unique shaped cards that each made us say, "WOW!" but it's hard to beat a card shaped like Santa on a motorcycle, don't you think?!

And of course we're all wondering who won that fun Ink Road stamp set as well, right? The fine folks at Random.org have decreed that *10* is the lucky number, which means that *Brenda B. of Brenda's Scraps of Life* is our Lucky Winner! Brenda, please email stephanie at smilystef @ aol (dot) com to claim your prize! (dot) com

We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will get glittering reviews! ♥

In Great Shape

We're still Shaping-Up for the New Year ... creating shaped cards (anything other than squares or rectangles will do).

Here are our shapes for this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Here's another example of choosing a clipart image and re-sizing it to make the perfect customized shaped card. In this case, the mitten is about 6" tall and nearly 4" wide at the thumb. Yes, I raided my treasured hoard of classic Basic Grey papers! I layered up all of my design elements to make the prettiest and most fanciful mitten imaginable, then affixed it to a folded piece of red cardstock and c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y cut around the whole thing to make a card that is mitten-shaped but does actually open in a traditional way."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I turned one of my wonky Christmas Trees into a stand-alone card.  The tall skinny card attached to the back also works like an easel, so the tree can stand on its own on the recipients mantle or desk.  I used four different green holiday papers from my scrap bin cut into triangles and decorated my tree with lots of clear bling and a gold glitter star."

Remember, there's a prize for one lucky participant this week.  Make sure you upload your cards by 6pm EST on February 13th for a chance to win.

Shaping Up for the New Year

Are you still sticking with your New Year's Resolution to Shape-up for the New Year? We're here to help you by making cards that are **SHAPES** Anything other than a square or rectangle will do. We've said many times that we (Stephanie and Lauren) never confer before making and posting our cards, but sometimes quite hilariously serendipitous coincidences occur. Like both of us randomly choosing the same shape... and practically the same "sketch"... but with very different results!

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I used some paper I hand-marbled in a local class together with the largest Spellbinders Nestabilities Heirloom ornament die to create my shaped card this week (my husband affectionately dubbed it a Christmas Radish).  I added a glitter paper topper and stripes and finished with a large Simon Says Stamp Alexis snowflake and tiny white rub-on sentiment."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Here's my secret for making shaped cards without a traditional template: CLIP ART! I do an image search for the shape I want, find a copyright free version that appeals to me, download it, and print it out at the size I need. This particular bauble shape is one I chose several years ago, and the hard copy I had was a bit too small, so I used my second favorite template trick, which is a version of how we all learned how to make symmetrical paper hearts in the third grade: I folded a piece of cardstock in half, placed the too-small bauble along the fold and traced around half of it... but... at a distance of about 3/4" larger than the shape. When I cut it out, I had a 6" bauble shape that was symmetrical and ready to use as a template! Then I went to town with papers from Prima's "Pretty Pale" collection, plus loads of flowers and pearls!"

And we've got a prize for one lucky participant ... this super-fun *Are You Serious Clark?* Stamp Set from Ink Road Stamps.

Link up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, February 13th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:19:03.

An InLinkz Link-up

Santa's Extra Nice List

We had so much fun seeing how each of you created with your new goodies.  Here are a few that made Santa's Extra Nice List.

Brenda B of

Brenda's Scraps of Life

Created with a gorgeous new falling snow embossing folder ... 

she added ink & holographic embossing powder for extra snowy sparkle.

Helen of

Helen's Craft Haven

used some new designer paper to create this adorable snowy scene ...

we loved his fun winter hat & scarf.

Eliz Stewart of

Paper Sweetness

discovered a new technique that gave her colored image

a soft ethereal look ... so festive and pretty.

Come back at midnight to see what our next holiday card inspiration will be (PS ... there will be another prize)

Thank You, Santa!

We're still breaking out lots of new things in our stash this week to create some of our first holiday cards of the year.

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I thought this would be a great time to break out the Snowglobe #2 Sizzix Thinlits die set I treated myself to at Paper Anthology right before Xmas. This is definitely a tweezer-intensive die set, and I'm sure that the snowglobe and stand will get more use than the village with its 46 (yes, 46!) separate, tiny, pieces. But... you can't really argue with the results, can you? I used various layers of foam tape to give a more dimensional look to the houses and added in a few perfectly-to-scale Eyelet Outlet Pine Tree and Snowflake Brads. A card with this many bits and pieces is definitely one I'd make only for a few special people, but I do really LOVE how it turned out."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "Santa brought me these fun Sassy Pants Holiday Sentiments from My Favorite Things (I'm already thinking about who might find this card in their mailbox).  I paired it with pink holiday paper and a Jingle Bell Border from Memory Box cut from silver glitter paper.  I finished with Love from Lizi Pin Stripe Peel-off silver stickers to frame my sentiment ... easy peasy."

You have until Wednesday, January 30, 2019 at 6pm EST to link-up your cards featuring all of your awesome new goodies & gifts. Keyword for galleries and Jingle Belles Flickr Gallery is JB:19:02.