Saturday, December 24, 2011

'twas the week before new year...

...and all through the ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ house, stephanie and lauren were getting pretty excited about an imminent second year of holiday creativity, friendship and fun!

2011 was awesome, especially the part where we had nearly *FIFTY* cards completed on november 30th, and were able not just to take december back, but actually take december OFF!  we spent the holiday season doing holiday things instead of frantically mass-producing festive greetings, and it was FABULOUS!  :)

if you played along with us this year, then you know exactly what we mean, and we hope you'll be inspired to come back on january 1st and help us kick the whole thing off again!  if you've just discovered us, we hope to see you next week, so you can get in on the action:  trust us, this whole "spread the work throughout the year" lark has HUGE holiday benefits; plus it's just a whole lotta fun, too!!!


this time, we're going to try something slightly different:  we'll be posting our new prompts every other week!  we'll still start early on fridays, and wrap up on wednesday evenings, but we'll be giving you TWO weeks to make and link up your cards for each theme.  we hope this will give everyone a little more time to create, and thus a better chance to participate!  on the other hand, it means we'll be only be posting *24* creative ideas to inspire you (as opposed to 48 this year) so if you need to produce 50+ cards in total, you'll want to be making more than one for each prompt. (lauren's note:  i still plan to make one card per week, and may post both here... or sometimes just do a "follow up" on my own blog.) 

once again, we'd like to remind you that we think of this as a group project, and so we LOVE including as many of our fellow belles as possible, in as many ways as possible!  so of course we welcome your ideas, your sketches, and your inspirations! you can email us anytime at  jinglebellesrock @ hotmail [dot] com. many of our favorite prompts last year were suggested by readers, and here's a little secret:  we used nearly ALL of the wonderful ideas your fellow belles dreamed up!!! even if you wouldn't like to set one of the prompts, we'd love to have you as a "lovely guest star"-- just write in and we'll fix you up with a date and an "assignment"! we’ll be starting the festivities with a few “regulars” from last year whom we’ve invited to make cards for the debut prompt!

the most important thing is to make this work for you, and--especially--to make it fun! the best thing we learned in 2011 was that the more friends we have with us, the more likely that is to happen, so we hope ♥YOU♥ will join us!

xoxoxo
stephanie & lauren

14 comments:

Eveline said...

I'll be back in January. I' looking forward to new challenges and hope to participate in a lot of them.
Merry Christmas and a Happy creative 2012.
Eveline

June Houck said...

The ~40 cards I made last year for JB challenges have made this Christmas season so enjoyable and relaxing. I am so glad you guys started this challenge. I am even happier that we have more time to create too; maybe I will make two of a kind each week or enter more than once. It is SO nice having plenty of cards to choose from so that I can pick just the right one to send.

Merry Christmas, Lauren & Stef!

Leslie Hanna said...

May I just say SQUEEEE! I'm soooo looking forward to the new year with The Belles!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

~amy~ said...

woot woot...I'll be back although I also need a service to fill out my cards:)

merry merry lauren!

Unknown said...

Guess I'll just have to make two cards per challenge then! I love this blog, can't wait to see challenges in the New Year! Merry Christmas, all! :)

Marianne said...

I'll definitely start playing along in January and having a new prompt every fortnight may be just what I need. Looking forward to the first promp.

Lorraine said...

This worked out so well this past year I certainly will be doing it again! You ladies rock! Have a wonderful peaceful Christmas.

Rose said...

will be off on the 1st so count me in :)

every other week, eh? sounds good :)

have a wonderful christmas!!!

Pajalu said...

I can't wait :D!!! I loved making cards each week (when I could) & am looking forward to the new format. Love the new look as well xoxoxoxo

Barbara said...

Count me in on the new challenges! I've had a card-making break for a month now (those 125 cards needed to be written, too...) and am looking forward to more challenges ahead!
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and wish you all the best for 2012!
Barbara

Charlene Austin said...

If there's one thing I hope to do this year it is to join you girls this year. Fingers crossed. I so don't want Christmas to be over so this is perfect!

Lisa said...

he he! Can't wait! Sounds like a whole year of more fun. The 60 cards I made this year were so much fun and even though I had problems finding time to write them, I was in heaven to have them all finished and ready. And they all got posted on time too! Thanks girls for your brilliant ideas! Here's to 2012!

Kirsty Vittetoe said...

Can't wait.............

Electra said...

Oooo, I love your new look! This is going to be another rockin year with you belles!