A (blog) Header Holiday

 This week we're continuing to create cards inspired by the Jingle Belles 2020 Blog Banner.

Remember, your blog post needs to explain how your card was inspired by the banner ... and you need to link-up by 6pm EST on Wednesday to join the fun.

Here's how we were inspired this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week my card is less literal, though I've still incorporated the red, white and green palette, the sketch (in a portrait-oriented format), plus green trees and red Eyelet Outlet bling snowflakes. My ingredients are all older stash items, and my obsession with torn paper and torn washi tape continues." 

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie say, "I took a bit more abstract approach to my design this week.  I started with a new Alexandra Renke Bells Die and die cut some red glitter Jingle Bells (aka Jingle Belles).  Then I used other Alexandra Renke elements inspired by the blog header - soft gray polka dot background, edges of doilies, and some die cut foliage that feel holiday-like.  I finished with a single red snowflake with a sparkly gem in the center and some Christmas word stickers inspired by the text in the background."

A Banner Holiday

For our final Jingle Belles prompt of 2020, we're asking you to make cards that are inspired by our Jingle Belles Blog Header (digitally designed by none other than Lauren).

You might choose the red glittery letters, the garland of jingle bells, the snow covered trees or even the texty background and red snowflake to inspire you ... just make sure you tell us how your creation was inspired by our design.

Here's where we took the inspiration this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "First I decided to make a horizontal skinny card in the shape of the banner itself.  Next instead of trees, I went with gorgeous holiday greenery paper from Tim Holtz' holiday papers and then added a light blue strip that reminded me of the bluish grey background of our banner (and was on the back); I framed the strip in red to bring out the red text that is the showcase of the banner.  Rather than a garland of bells, I chose a single bell with a white ribbon sentiment from the coordinating embellishment pack.  Then I added a December calendar inspired by our Taking Back December One Holiday Card at a Time tag line.  I finished with some red bling on the holly bows inspired by the red bling in the center of the snowflake in the banner.  I used a flipped take on the Sketch Saturday layout for my design."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Ok so... my card is realllllllly literal, lol; and I want to re-stress the fact that you definitely do not have to use the sketch AND the colors AND the bells, trees, glitter letters, etc.; in fact, any one of those selections would work perfectly well! But as I was putting this together, it turned out that I had quite a few products similar to the inspo design, and I just kept adding them in! Next week's card will be much more abstract!"

♥♥♥

Link up right here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, December 2nd. 

Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:20:24.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

CLEARLY Beautiful!

See-through elements can be tricky, but clearly they hold no fears for our readership, who tackled the challenge with great success. If you haven't yet scrolled through the readers' gallery, we highly recommend the trip, and guarantee you'll be inspired! Meanwhile here are just a few that caught our eye:

Jenni of Wish I Was Scrappin'

...says she's had this pre-printed acetate sheet of snowflakes for several years; we're glad she saved it especially for this awesome card!

Allison C of Cranberry and Eggplant

...was inspired to upcycle a beautiful vellum sheet she had saved.We love that she added a silver embossed sentiment and the star-punched detail at the edge!

Rina of Rina's Scrapkaarten

...framed up a sweet winter scene with a star-shaped window; and earns massive bonus points because the inside of her card is as beautiful and intricate as the outside!

♥♥♥

And now I bet we'd all like to know who will be welcoming some sweet holiday cardmaking goodies, right?

According to Random.org the winning number is #11 which means that...

Lorraine of Paper Vernissage

is our lucky winner!
Congrats, Lorraine, please email your address to llaurenb@hotmail.com 
so those can start traveling on their way!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing every card! We'll be back at midnight with our last official challenge of the 2020 Jingle Belles season, which we hope you'll think is a banner occasion! 

Do you SEE what I SEE?

We're still celebrating holiday cards that contain clear elements, whether those be in the form of pre-printed transparencies, acrylic embellishments, or just shaker or window cards which utilize a bit of plastic packaging. 

Scroll down to the original post for full details and to link up your own masterpieces!

Here's how we were CLEAR-ly inspired this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "My friend Elisabeth at Paper Anthology special-ordered this beautiful Tim Holtz/Sizzix Bigz Ice Skates die for me in January, so HOW have I not used it until now?? I'm pleased with my card, though, so I'm sure I'll be using it again soon. I cut the shoe part of the skates from an older Ciao Bella patterned paper; and the blades from matte silver metallic cardstock. The background consists of two beautiful rich purple papers from Blue Fern Studios' Eclectic Charm line, and the Hero Arts Snowflake Cluster is cut from silver Non-Shed Glitter Paper. I made a custom mix of Eyelet Outlet Sequins, featuring some Round, some Snowflake and some Stars."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "When I saw Lauren's Transparent card base last week, I knew I had to try to channel my inner Lauren and make my own (how did I do??).  Pretty much, when I channel Lauren, I reach the point that I think I'm done ... and then I add at least two more things ... in this case there are distressed papers, bling swirls, hole-punch-computer paper, vintage postage stamps, die cut flourishes, glittery snowflakes ... and of course a deer die cut and vintage Penny Black Sentiment ... all on a perfect gold design transparency card base."

It Came Upon a Midnight CLEAR

This week we're asking you to make a holiday card that contains at least one see-through element, whether that be glass, a transparency, some vellum, acetate or "ghost" shapes, clear stickers, lucite buttons, shrink plastic... whatever you like... if you can see through it (& figure out how to attach it!) put it on there and link it up!

Answering a question we had last fortnight: To join our Jingle Belles fun, you needn't have a blog, just post a photo of your card SOMEWHERE online (FaceBook, Flickr, Instagram, Splitcoast Stampers, etc are all fine!) then grab the direct/specific link to your card, and use it to join the InLinkz gallery below. If you need help, you can email us at jinglebellesrock@hotmail.com with questions.

Here is how we CLEAR-ly created this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I applied Marabu Alcohol Ink in Cherry Red & Cinnamon to a transparency sheet and blew it around with air.  Once it had dried, I then flipped it over and attached it to my white card base with Vellum Adhesive.  I added some Clear Drip Drops and clear Stars to the tops of my holiday trees."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Since I'm lucky enough to still have a bit of a collection of well-hoarded Hambly Transparencies (mostly thanks to Stephanie who is brilliant at finding small caches of them all over the midwest!) I made a 6" square card from one of them, then added vintage collage elements and diecuts on top. I hadn't planned for this to turn out entirely neutral colors, but it is fun for a change; especially since I have an aunt whose favorite color is white!"

♥♥♥

There's a little prize for one lucky random cardmaker who links up with us this fortnight:

Link up right here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, November 18th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:20:23.You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Creative Creature Spotlight

We loved seeing the gallery filled with all of your Creative Creature Cards ... here are a few that caught our eyes.

Mary Marsh from The Charmed Life

paper pieced together these adorable penguin dies ... and then used

wonderful layers to create a 3-D sledding effect ...

so adorable.

Cindy C from Escape to Stamping

combined a Christmas Cardinal with lots of other beautiful elements and an unexpected holiday color combination for this lovely holiday design.

Valerie from Le Scrap de Vava

shared this perfectly colored little winter fox with a wonderful

holiday sentiment ... cozy comfort.

And the random winner of our little prize is:

Tammy of My Craft Central with her adorable Christ-Moose Cards.

Tammy send your mailing address to smilynstef at aol dot com and I'll get your goodies on their way.

And join us at midnight for a *CLEAR-ly* wonderful holiday card prompt.

Holiday CREATURE Feature

When we first started brainstorming ideas for Jingle Belles many years ago, one of the first prompt ideas that came up in our discussion was creatures ... which says a lot about the two of us :)  Remember, create a card that features a *creature*. Your creature might be an animal ... a mouse ... a bird ... a robot ... elves ... snow-persons ... or yes, even a monstah ... just have fun with it.

Here are our creatures for the week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "When I saw Lawn Fawn's Car Critters stamp set at Paper Anthology, I didn't think you could get any cuter than bears driving a fun vintage car. But then I saw THE REINDEER in the Christmas Add-on set. So yes, I had to have BOTH, and luckily I knew they'd be perfect for this challenge; but fair warning: I suspect you'll be seeing a lot of these guys! I am still the World's Slowest Colorer, but I am enjoying it more and more. Plus it's fun to build an entire landscape using cloud paper, a tree punch and some hill dies!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I couldn't resist this cute Penguin Trio from Impression Obsession.  I stamped them in black and colored their feet, beaks and winter-ware.  I finished with a scattering of sequins and a Joy Die Cut, also from Christmas Stitched Words by Impression Obsession."

And remember, one lucky participant who links up by 6pm EST on Wednesday will get a fun little Creature Feature prize.