Red, White & Wonderful

Wowza ... the gallery for the Scandinavian Christmas prompt was A-Maz-ing ... choosing only three to feature this week was a very difficult task ... we loved them all so much.

But, alas, we had to narrow it down, so here are three we thought extra-worthy of a shout-out this week:

Brenda B.

of Brenda's Crafty Corner

When we saw this texty snowman, we fell in love ... but when we read the description of how she hand-cut all of the elements and used a white gel pen to draw the Scandinavian Snowflake pattern on the scarf and hat band, we were jaw-droppingly amazed.

Jose of

Jose's Scrapboat

The stamping on this Scandinavian inspired beauty is perfection ... such a lovely combination of elements with the checked ribbon adding the perfect finishing touch.

Liselot

of Kaarten Van Liselot

This snowman quartet is colored beautifully (love those rosy cheeks) ... and the combination of patterned papers is perfection ... a true Warm Winter Wonderland.

Make sure you join us at midnight for another fun prompt and super-lovely guest star.

Red, White & Jul

We're still making cards inspired by our Scandinavian Christmas picture this week.

Here's our second take on the inspiration photo:

Lauren's Other Card
Lauren says, "i have a confession to make: i'm not actually in love with my card this week. i love all the elements... (especially the border, which i had a great fun designing and hand-stitching!) ...but somehow the card itself just doesn't quite "gel" for me, despite the fact that i used this week's awesome retro sketch #47 for the layout. however, the very best part of making my cards one-per-week all year long, is that i will have 48 done by december first, and if even 50-75% of those are FAB, i will consider my year very well spent. so am i gonna throw this one out and start over? no way! because, there is NO SUCH THING as a "bad" handmade christmas card; every single one is full of our love and creativity, and thus someone will appreciate seeing this one in their mailbox over the holidays!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "The elements I wanted to incorporate from the photo this week were the aged  metallic texture & a heart.  I embossed metallic silver cardstock & then rubbed on Black Soot Distress Ink to age it.  I die cut the heart from Basic Grey Nordic Holiday paper & attached with several layers of foam so I could shape the heart for dimension.  I added a scrap of embossed paper incorporate the texture of fabric to the design.  I finished with a felt snowflake, Aspen Frost Flair, and Hero Arts Get Merry! sentiment."

Remember, you have until Wednesday, January 30th at 6pm EST to link-up your cards ... can't wait to see what you create!

Scandinavian Christmas

This week we're celebrating the Red, White & Jul ... and bringing you a picture of some Scandinavian Christmas Ornaments to inspire your designs ... maybe you'll be inspired by the colors, the shapes, the grouping of elements ... just go with whatever makes you excited to create.

Source

Here's what we created:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "When I saw the picture, I knew I wanted to use red felt Stampin' Up snowflakes I've had in my stash for some time.  I layered several with a white felt snowflake and vintage white button (tied with red & white twine).  I wanted my background to have the softness of the fabric in the inspiration photo ... so I embossed a piece of adhesive white felt and love the sweater-like effect.  I also loved that I was able to adhere a rub-on directly to the felt."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "i actually thought *I* had some red felt snowflakes, too, but i was wrong; all of mine were the traditional white, darn it! :) so i used one of those, and colored a plain chipboard flake with a red sharpie marker, instead. then i realized i DID own products which could duplicate many of the other elements i loved from the photo, so i loaded them up: gingham heart, vintage buttons, a little bit of metal, and finally a bit of  lace and some machine stitching to give the feeling of fabric, even though i've used paper for 99% of my card!"

And in case you don't have anything in your stash that you think will work, here's a link to some awesome Good Jul tags you can incorporate into your design.

So keep that holiday card production going in 2013 and show us your inspired creations.  Be sure to link-up between now & 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, January 30th ... keyword for galleries & our flickr group is JB13-2.

putting the GOOD in "goodies"!!!

the biggest problem we have around here, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥, is trying to only choose three cards from each prompt to feature. because every single thing you guys make is AMAZING!!! of course, the big "prize" is the fact that none of us will be stressing over cards in december; but we are giving away a little packet of crafty goodies this week, too, so be sure to scroll down for that. but first, here are a few cards using those lovely presents from santa, which particularly caught our eye:

cindy of reis's pieces of paper

inked and embossed some brand new christmas-present snowflakes on a kraft background; proving that you only need a few well-chosen ingredients to create a stunningly lovely effect!

caz of caz's crafty snug

stamped, masked, inked and glittered to perfection in this card which brilliantly highlights a beautiful sentiment from her secret santa!

linda of snail's space

added a lusciously glittery poinsettia, intricate foliage, gorgeous ribbon and fancy fibers to a beautiful grapevine wreath die she treated herself to this christmas!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

and now i think we'd all like to know who our lucky random prize winner is, am i right? we've consulted the fine folks at random.org, who have chosen 

#22

which means that

♥Julia Aston♥

will be receiving a little package in the mail, just as soon as she emails us (jinglebellesrock @ hotmail [dot] com) with the address to which we should send it!

congrats to JULIA and many thanks to everyone who joined in the fun! we'll be back at midnight with a cool new prompt we think JUL really love! ♥

Santa really was *GOOD* to us this year!

And thus we have a few MORE goodies to show off!

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "i'm not sure i've ever posted two cards in a row with the same background paper, but what can i say? i just *LOVE* that blue mulberry with the snowflakes! it's also (imo!) the perfect background for my favorite christmas present to myself: those gorgeous holiday glitter stickers from the papaya art blog. the florals are new, too, they were a "crafty steal" just before the holidays and this is their first time out of the packet!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stef says, "Lauren & I never know what the other is making until we upload our cards to the blog each week ... so I had to smile when I saw that we used the same *new* product for our design.  We both have a serious weakness for Papaya Arts ... and Santa Lauren gifted me with some of these amazing glitter stickers for the holidays.  I used both the larger and smaller peace stickers with My Mind's Eye Vanity Fair papers.  To finish, I added a glittery star & EAD Designs rub-on.  The layout is this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch."

Remember, you still have until next Wednesday night (1-16-13) to play along, if you haven't yet; or even play again, if you've already linked up! And since we've got a lovely prize pack to win, there's all the more reason to get crafting, right?! ♥

Look What Santa Brought Me!

For the very first ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ prompt of 2013, we're celebrating all things new, and using them to create our first holiday cards of the year. Specifically, we're asking you to gather up the new crafting goodies you received for the holidays, use as many as you'd like on a card, and then link it up below! Just in case all you got from Santa was a bag of coal, then break out something from your crafting arsenal that you haven't created with yet; OR, if you have absolutely NOTHING NEW* with which to create, we suppose you'll have to use this as a wonderful excuse to treat yourself to a little something from the post-holiday sales! ;) Be sure to tell us in your description what fun new items you are using, so we can all be suitably envious!

Here's what Santa brought the Jingle Belles for the holidays:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "My mom bought me several goodies of my holiday wish list including this wonderful falling stars craft die.  I paired it with a punched snowflake & star; shimmer & glitter papers; and sentiment from Merry Everything for a relatively quick holiday card.

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "i was lucky enough to receive quite a few crafty goodies from various lovely friends and family members; too many even for *ME* to put on just one card, lol! but i squeezed in as many as possible, including that gorgeous and almost-real candy cane from ros; a slightly reduced color-copied-page from a vintage "night before christmas" book from gina (she knows i collect them!); some gorgeous basic grey "kissing booth" papers from stephanie; holiday mulberry paper from my prima's "12 days of xmas card" prize; and finally some not-so-new but still very treasured webster's pages fabric ribbons which leslie gave me, last spring!"

So now it's your turn to grab your newest supplies and tools, and start the New Year off right by giving yourself what we predict will be one of the best holiday presents you'll EVER receive:  getting ahead-- and staying ahead-- with your holiday cards for 2013! Just to spur you on a little bit more, we'll be awarding this little Christmas-themed packet of crafty goodness:

(This prize includes: Teresa Collins 6x6 paper pad, My Mind's Eye trimmings, Prima crystals, Cosmo Cricket holiday type, K and Co cardstock diecuts, Dear Lizzy rub-ons, Imaginisce stamp and MORE!)

Yes, one lucky card-maker who links up with us between now and the end of this super-sized edition of ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ inspiration-- 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, January 16th; will be randomly selected and announced on the following day. Keyword for galleries and our Jingle Belles Flickr Group is JB:13:01. Happy New Year, and Happy Crafting! ♥

*For the record, we don't actually *BELIEVE* this for a second, but we're all about supportive enabling here, and will thus happily write a note to your husband explaining why you absolutely HAVE TO head out to the craft store immediately and pick up a few new goodies! :) :) :)