Candy Kisses

Since most of us in the United States stuffed ourselves with a Thanksgiving meal yesterday, we thought for our final Jingle Belles prompt of the year we would celebrate food.

The theme for this week's prompt is Candy Kisses ... We're asking you to create a card featuring holiday food, drink or candy ... maybe for you it's gingerbread ... candy canes ... or cookies & hot cocoa ... whatever foods mean Christmas for you.

And we are so excited to have Rogue Redhead Designs sponsoring our prompt this week. They provided both Lauren & me with their new Candy Kisses stamp set to use for our cards ...

and they will be providing one lucky winner with a $15 gift certificate to use at their store. RRD is celebrating its first anniversary with several stamp specials through the end of the year including fabulous bundled savings.

The Rogue Redhead behind Rogue Redhead Designs is the talented Shar of Ill Tempered Ink.

Shar says, "My addiction to paper crafting and stamping became passion, and I knew I would someday make my own stamps. Every so often people ask me about the name I chose for the company. The "redhead: part is obvious once you meet me. The "rogue" portion of the name comes from me not being great with rules. Even when I learn a new technique I tend to warp it ever so slightly in my execution. That works great for art (sometimes) but you probably don't want to test any of my baking :^)"

Shar shared several fabulous cards with us for this week's prompt:

Shar's first card combines the sassy lass from Milliner Misses

all decked out for the holidays with a candy kiss

on the brim of her hat and sentiment from

Candy Kisses.

Shar turned these yummy cupcakes from

Candy Kisses into a

delicious holiday wreath ... love those red cherries on top.

Here's what Lauren & I created with our fun Rogue Redhead Designs stamps.

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "i've been inspired all year long by the cards made by our lovely belles--and there have been some truly ♥AWESOME♥ takes on the snowglobe! when i saw rogue redhead's gorgeous snow people, trees & snow background stamps, i knew it was my turn. i've done an old school shaker card (i still LOVE 'em!) using this template. since i'm not a fabulous colorer, i tend to paper piece; i stamp my images in permanent ink on scraps of clear label from the office supply store and then adhere them to my patterned papers before cutting. i did actually *EMBOSS* the snow background, however, and i'm quite proud of that!" :)

Stephanie's Card

Stef says, "I went straight to the candy & cupcakes in Candy Kisses ...

I made a sweet little card to send to a girlfriend who loves holiday

sweets as much as I do (bring on the dark chocolate salted caramels).

The layout is this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch."

So break out those calorie-free food, drink & candy images and create a yummy holiday card design. Upload your card by 6pm EST on Wednesday, November 30th using keyword JB48 in galleries including the Jingle Belles Flickr Gallery.

We will choose one random winner for the $15 gift certificate to Rogue Redhead Designs.

And as Lauren mentioned, Jingle Belles will be back in 2012 ... to once again take back December one holiday card at a time.

festival of lights

good morning, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥! we'd like to wish a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of our friends in the USA; meanwhile, we hope that even if it's not a holiday where you are, that your thursday will be especially pleasant!

we spent a lovely week watching all of your beautiful "non christmassy" cards roll in! here are three that particularly took our fancy:

jan of huh... so this is a blog

watercolored sky, artfully tore paper, and affixed tiny diamond stars, to give her lovely stamped figure a snowscape from which to enchant us!

nicki of cards with little ted

took C&S to a whole new level with a stark white background, a dramatically inky technique, and just enough glitter to make us say, "oooooooooh!"

brenda of butler's abroad

proved that one perfect stamp is all you need to make a gorgeous card... provided you also have an artist's eye and amazing color sense!

our last JINGLE BELLES prompt of 2011 debuts at midnight, and it's an especially sweet one--if we do say so ourselves! hope to see you then! :)

by the way, to all those of you who've been kind enough to ask: uh huh, we are going to do this again next year! we're gonna change it up a bit, and try some new things; whilst keeping all our favorite bits from this year. but yes,

JINGLE BELLES

will ROCK ON

in 2012!!!

♥♥♥

The Hanukkah Song

hello again, dear ♥JINGLE BELLES♥! can you believe that we're already onto the 47th of our 48 card-making weeks?! if you've been with us since the beginning, like stef and myself you're probably starting to look forward to a gloriously stress-free december! if you've only joined us recently, well done-- you're definitely ahead of the game! even if you've only just started to think about holiday cards: don't worry, it's not even thanksgiving yet! whether this is your 47th card or your first, just stop for a moment right now and take a bow! because handmade holidays are a BIG ACHIEVEMENT, whether you make every single card or just a select few for your deearest friends! there is absolutely *NO* wrong way to do this, we assure you!!!

since we are getting closer to both the festive season and our own finale for the year, this seems like a good time to make sure we're including EVERYONE who is special to us... whatever occasion or holiday in which they partake! so this week we're asking you to make a card for your friends or family who don't necessarily celebrate christmas. this could take the form of one of the other winter holidays: hanukkah, kwanzaa, new year and solstice spring to mind; or you could go totally non-denominational with a general winter-themed card. there are lots of ways to go, and we feel confident that you will surprise and delight us with ideas we haven't even imagined yet, because you always, ALWAYS do! ♥

in the meantime here's what we did:

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "i realize i tend to be known more for pink-n-sparkly, but i'm a pretty big fan of blue-n-sparkly cards, too... and hanukkah is sort of the ultimate occasion for that! i've celebrated it here with a transparency-base "sideways tall card", some glossy blue starry paper, two different types of silver letters, and a fun, funky menorah that just wants to jump right off the page! bring on the festival of lights!!!"

Stephanie's Card

Stef says, "My go-to theme for the cards I design for my "non-Christmas-celebrating" friends is peace ... a theme I believe everyone can embrace. I usually pair one of my many peace sentiments with snow. For this card I used a favorite John Lennon quote with a pre-made dimensional glitter tag I found in the gift wrapping section at Michael's (cheaper than *official* card embellishments). The layout is the November Sketch for You to Try."

and now it's time to see what you will do with this non-christmassy prompt! remember any other winter holiday is fair game: hanukkah, kwanzaa, the solstice, the new year; OR even a general wintery themed wish of "peace", a "thinking of you" card, or heck a pretty "thank you" note will do. put on your thinking caps and link up your best card creations by 6pm (EST) next wednesday, november 23rd! keyword for galleries and our jingle belles flickr group is JB47.

Stuck On You

We really enjoyed all of the sticker creativity this week ... we particularly loved some *vintage* stickers finally getting some love ... we don't even want to admit how old some of our sticker collection might be.

A HUGE thank you to our fabulous guest stars Designer Team Members Liz & Amy from E.A.D. Designs and to the generous folks at E.A.D. Designs who sponsored this week's prompt.

Here are a few fabulous jingle belles we thought interpreted this week's prompt in particularly ingenious ways:

Sue of Random on Purpose

showed us that you don't need holiday stickers to make a fantastic holiday card ... she combined fun alphabet letters with holiday colors to her Chi-Chi's hat for this super-cute card.

Kirsty from Handmade Little Things

found creative ways to incorporate lots of stickers

into her fabulous holiday design ...

who knew Santa's belt could become a scalloped embellishment??

Marie of ANOTHER card-making blog?

recycled a sticker she cut from an envelope & saved

(yes, you know you've done it ... or at least thought about it)

into this adorable little holiday card.

and ... drum roll please ... our random number generator picked:

#19 - LindaB of Hands to Work ... Hearts to Love

to win our prize this week ... $25 Gift Certificate to E.A.D. Designs ... e-mail us and we'll get your gift sent on its day ... can't wait to see the fun things you create with all of those awesome stickerz.


You know the drill ... make sure you stop by the fabulous cards in the gallery & leave a little jingle belles love (because seriously ... who couldn't use a few more kinds words in their life) ... and then check back at midnight for our 47th (can you believe it) holiday card prompt.

Stick-y and Sweet

We're going sticker-crazy at jingle belles ... this week's prompt is to use at least one (or perhaps many more than one) sticker on your card.

And to help us with this stick-y and sweet theme is one of our favorite sticker companies ... E.A.D. Designs.

E.A.D DESIGNS is a family owned and operated business. Emily Nelson (owner) started E.A.D DESIGNS in 2002, and in a few short years has grown into one of the largest retailers/wholesalers for Vinyl Lettering and Wall Art. They started their scrapbooking rub-on line in 2009 and in 2010 started offering their amazing Stickerz.

Not only did they provide Lauren & me with fabulous stickerz to design with this week (thank you very much), they are also providing one lucky participant in this week's prompt with a $25 Gift Certificate to their store (trust me, that will buy a whole slew of stickerz).

And ... we're also thrilled to have several talented members of the Design Team at E.A.D. Designs join us this week.

Liz of Liz's Paper Loft shares that she is married to a man that understands my need to be creative, and she has two grown daughters. She works part-time for a real estate company to support her *habit* ... a love for paper and all things crafty.

Liz's Card

Liz says, "The torn paper landscape is perfect for these

cute little Christmas Penguins stickerz."

Amy Tsuruta of Tsuruta Designs shares that she lives in the beautiful state of Washington with her two fabulous kids & is engaged to the best guy ever! Her dream job would be to craft all day (wouldn't we all love that luxury). Amy also hosts the fabulous Flashback Friday Blog where we get to revisit our past creations (and be grateful for how far we've come).

Amy's Card

Amy says, "I combined stickers from three sets ~ Frames Rub-ons,

Woodland Friends Stickerz & Christmas Sentiments ~ for this fun holiday card design."

And here's what we made with our E.A.D. Designs Stickerz:

Stephanie's Card

Stef says, "For my card, I combined clear stickerz from Jolly Stockings and Christmas Words with perfectly coordinated papers from Crate Paper's Snow Day Collection (while I prefer clear ... stickerz also come in white if you don't want the background color to show through). The sketch is from this week's Christmas Card Challenge ... so quick, easy & fun ... and did I mention ... stickerz are repositionable ... if you get things a little crooked, just lift it up & try again with no tearing."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "for me, the only hard part of this assignment was choosing from the huge--and totally FABULOUS--selection at E.A.D. Designs! once i settled on deck the halls and retro christmas clear "stickerz" sheets, my work was pretty much done. all i had to do was choose a few coordinating patterned papers, layer my elements together and ♥VOILA♥ a card that's merry and bright in every sense! oh and did i mention i still have enough stickerz left for AT LEAST 3 or 4 more cards??! niiiiiiiiiiice!"

We know you've got some stickers somewhere in your crafting stash ... pull them out and show us your holiday sticker creativity. And if you use E.A.D. DesignsStickerz for your card, remember to also link your card up at their monthly customer showcase for a chance to win even more goodies.

Whatever you decide, link it up by 6pm (EST) next Wednesday night, November 16th. Keyword for galleries or the flickr group is JB46 ... we can't wait to see your sticker magic.

CLEARLY awesome!

it must be said, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥, that we secretly thought this week's prompt, with its emphasis on all things transparent, translucent, and see-through, was one of the technically toughest we've set all year. and yet... CLEARLY you had no trouble at all rising to the occasion with amazingly impressive holiday cards!

here are a few clever cards we particularly loved this week:

Heather D. of Heather's Coffee Break

created a fabulous landscape seen through an acetate window frosted with snow and ice!

Jami of Stamp Happy with Jami

printed her sentiment on vellum edged with tiny, glimmery, totally glamorous glass beads!

Carissa of Creative Expressions

stamped and colored an adorable snowman... then built a real snowglobe around him!

if you've not yet scrolled down and perused the *midnight CLEAR* gallery, may we be so bold as to suggest that as your next stop? then, after you've basked in the glory of your fellow BELLES' infinite creativity, c'mon back here because we've got a brand new prompt and a lovely sponsor... who might well be offering a bit of a prize this week... though of course i couldn't possibly SAY SO before the official start at midnight!!! :)

it came upon a midnight *CLEAR*

have you already guessed this week's theme, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥? has the emphasis of the word "CLEAR" given it away entirely?

ok, then, you've got us: 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!

here's what we did:

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "i love making cards out of transparencies! probably because i love *LAYERS* so much, and the clear base gives you sooooo many possibilities on that score: you can use both the inside AND the outside in your design! plus the "wow factor" is kind of hard to beat, isn't it?! in addition to a gold snowflake transparency card base, i've placed holiday-themed vellum inside the card, and finished off with a few stickers, a couple of rub-ons, and a fancy bling word. i have to say i am pleased with this one, and can only tell you that if you like it A BIT in the photo... it's actually even cooler in real life!"

Stephanie's Card

Stef says, "Somehow I managed to temporarily *misplace* my box of transparencies during a recent studio reorganization, so as I was searching for them, I also looked for any other clear items I could incorporate into this week's prompt ... I finally settled on some acetate packaging that formerly held a bunch of tiny roses.

I cut the *bubble* away from the packaging & punched a hole in the front of a folded piece of white cardstock, so I could fill my snow globe shaker with EAD Designs Stickerz and some clear bead-like shapes (the kind you find in the floral section to fill vases). Once I had that part finished, I created the front of my card (using this week's Cardabilities sketch) and then punched a hole through that, so I could slip in my shaker. I finished with an EAD Designs rub-on sentiment, a felt snowflake & gem, and a base for my shaker snow globe. Papers are Echo Park Holly Jolly."

so *CLEARLY* now it's time to see what you will do: go all out with full-on see through card? or perhaps more sensibly make a regular card with a bit of patterned transparency or vellum on top? or even just sneak in a couple of plastic or acetate items?! remember you can use inkjet transparency sheets from the office supply store to make any of your digital files into transparent elements!!! whatever you decide, link it up by 6pm (EST) next wednesday night, november 9th!!! keyword for galleries or the flickr group is JB45. we can't wait to see (thorugh) your cards! ♥

Creature Feature

We love how everyone embraced their favorite creatures this week ... we had dogs, bears, reindeer, birds, cats, hedgehogs, mice and even a few monstahs ... what fun!

Here are a few that fantastic creatures that caught our eye ...

Y Yam

of Do More with Less

paper pieced this cute little holiday penguin ...

what a great color combination and

fabulous clean & simple design.

WendyMade

of WendyMade and all things crafty

colored this adorable Christmas Bat ... look at that fun little smile ...

love the holiday charm too.

Monica

of La Papera Gialla

decked out her adorable little hedgehog for Christmas...

love those glittery holiday decorations.

So take some time to skip through the Creature gallery and admire all of the fantastic holiday designs ... we'll be back at midnight with another fun holiday card prompt.