Friday, May 30, 2014

Goodwill to Men

We're still celebrating Peace at Jingle Belles this week ... asking you to make a card incorporating the word Peace, a Peace Symbol, or a theme that says Peace to you (snowfall, forests, etc.).

Here are our second cards:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I somewhat CASE-d myself this week, or at least, I adapted the same idea I used to make this card in 2012; with the word, "peace" spelled out in my own diecut foreign text chipboard letters, on top of an earth I cut from an old Christmas card. I love the idea of re-using a concept that still seems fun, and seeing how many different ways I can make it work!"



Stephanie says, "I too did a variation on last weeks theme ... peaceful blue, snowflakes and the word peace ... with a starry sky added this time."

Remember, you have until Wednesday at 6pm to link-up.

Friday, May 23, 2014

PEACE on Earth

For our next prompt, we're celebrating PEACE ... we're asking you to incorporate a Peace Symbol or the word PEACE into your design ... or you can create a card that evokes Peace for you (make sure you explain what makes it PEACEful to you).

Here are our PEACEful creations:


Stephanie says, "In addition to using the word PEACE for my sentiment, I incorporated a peaceful night-time forest covered in snowfall ... as well as a monochromatic CAS design using a sketch from Hero Arts (which I find to be peaceful on the eyes)."


Lauren says, "Having never made a Christmas card with a peace sign on it, of course I HAD TO try! I used a piece of clipart as a template to cut a peace sign out of sparkly glitter paper, which I used to frame a pretty dove from an old Christmas card. The snowflake background paper is another bit of "up-cycling" to which I've attached a few chipboard flakes for added dimension. I've sewn some (arguably) snowflake-like vintage lace around the perimeter, between the main panel and the card base, but I'm still debating whether I like the fact that it overhangs or not. If you see this in December and the whole thing's affixed to a slightly larger silver card base, you'll know I changed my mind, lol!"


You have until 6pm on Wednesday, June 4th to upload your PEACEful creations; gallery keyword for Flickr Gallery and other galleries is JB:14:11.


Thursday, May 22, 2014

'Tis the Season... to be totally AWESOME!!!

The only problem with having every single card in our blingy sketch gallery be completely ♥GORGEOUS♥ is it makes it kind of hard to only feature three. Many thanks to all who participated and of course a big huge shout out to the lovely ladies of 'Tis the Seaon with whom we've had such a fabulous time this fortnight! Here, after much agonizing, are a few cards we especially loved this time:


...rocked both the sketch AND the bling with a beautifully bold color palette that just totally screams holiday cheer!


...used three different sizes of stars and made the sketch into a clever gatefold design in stunning turquoise and silver! 

Candy Blake of Stampin' with Candy

...added lots of uber-fun layers and plenty of sparkle to her eclectic and vintage-styled masterpiece!


I bet we're all pretty excited to find out who won those fun xmas goodies, too, right? A reminder that there was also a prize at ♥'Tis the Season♥ so be sure to check over there, as well!  Meanwhile, here at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we've consulted the fine folks at Random.org to learn that the winner is #24, and thus...

should email us at jinglebellesrock @ hotmail [dot] com to claim her prize!

A big thank you once again to Lisa J., Holly, Sara, Lisa R. and Angel of 'Tis the Season, for coming along and bringing that awesome sketch with them; be sure to check out the newest TTS challenge which has just begun! We ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ will be back at midnight with a new prompt we hope will grab a little peace of your card-making heart! :)

Friday, May 16, 2014

Sketch 2

We had so much fun playing with bling and using the fabulous sketch from our friends at 'Tis the Season that we're back with MORE cards! But first here's a reminder of how cool the sketch really is:


Here's what we made this week:


Stephanie says, "I used a 6"x5" horizontal sketch design to feature the gorgeous elements in My Mind's Eye Vintage Christmas background paper ... I love how my stamped birds from Falling Snowflakes coordinate perfectly with the lone birdie in the left corner of the background paper. The champagne pearl *bling* is the final accent for my vintage holiday design."


Lauren says, "When I think of bling and Christmas at the same time... (which, frankly, I do *most* weeks, lol!) ...my first thought is, 'Is it too soon to use another Papaya Art Holiday Glitter Sticker?!" Since the answer to that is obviously, 'Naaahhh... go for it!' I'm usually halfway to the tin already. This time I've chosen my color scheme to match the sticker, and added even more bling, in the form of a deconstructed rhinestone flourish and an over-sized, pearl-encrusted snowflake brad. Job done!"

There's still plenty of time for you to make a blingy holiday sketch card and link it up here at Jingle Belles AND at 'Tis the Season for a chance at two lovely random prize draws! Check out full details below, or at 'Tis the Season!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

'Tis the Season... to *JINGLE*!!!

You can probably already tell it's a special event here at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ since we're rolling out a new prompt on Thursday rather than Friday. That's because this fortnight we've teamed up with one of our favorite Christmas card challenge blogs-- 'Tis the Season-- to give you DOUBLE the fun! It's a two-part challenge this time: we'd like you to use TTS' gorgeous sketch and add a little bling to your card, as well. Each new holiday card you make that incorporates both of those elements can be linked up here AND also at 'Tis the Season. Just to make it a little more fun, there will be a lovely little prize awarded randomly to one lucky cardmaker at each site! Have you got all that? Two challenge blogs, two challenge elements, two lovely prizes... and you need only make *ONE* gorgeous blingy sketch card! 

Since we have "extra" inspiration cards this time, we've split those into two groups, as well: here at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we've got cards from 'Tis the Season co-creator Lisa Johansen and design team member Angel Johns, as well as our very own Stephanie Severin. Over at TTS you can see cards by co-creator Holly Endress and TTS design team members Sara Hoogendoorn and Lisa Runyon, as well as me, Lauren Bergold

First take a look at the fabulous sketch: 


Now here are some cards to inspire you, be sure to check out the rest at 'Tis the Season:


...embodies the sketch's clean and simple aesthetic, then adds some touches of glitter to Santa's coat!


...takes the sketch charmingly country, but glams it up a bit with those gorgeous sequins!


Stephanie says, "Using a 3-D glittery gift tag for my focal image made the rest of my sketch design come together quickly with glittery paper, some blingity-bling, and an SRM sticker sentiment." 

And now I bet you'd like to see the prize, right? Or at least, half the prize, the one we'll be randomly awarding to one lucky cardmaker here at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥:


You can play as often as you'd like, but each time you must link up a brand new, holiday-themed card that uses the sketch AND has a little touch of bling... or heck, a LOT of bling, if that's the way you roll! Remember to link your cards at 'Tis the Season, too, for a chance at a second random prize that they'll be awarding! The link-ups will be open until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, May 21st; keyword for galleries and our flickr group is JB:14:10


Beautifully Bundled-Up

Wow ... lots of fantastic layered cards in the gallery ... make sure you check them out.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Asha of
...used skinny cardstock mats ... stitching ... and bling ... to emphasize each of her perfectly colored, perfectly glittery landscape layers!

Sabine of
Bines Karten und Mehr
...combined layers of stars... layers of stamping... and layers of fabulous distressing techniques in this gorgeous monochromatic and super-textural greeting!

Rosina of 
...not only incorporated lots of fantastic cardstock and designer paper layers ... she also added trees, flowers, snowflakes, glitter, stars, and leaves ... and a unique card layout design!

We'll be back before you know it with a brand new prompt and some very lovely guest stars! ♥

Friday, May 2, 2014

Layered Holiday

We're loving how you're bundling-up for the holidays! Here's our second attempt at creating with layers:


Lauren says, "I was so happy with the technique of using super-skinny mats under each of my layers last week, that I've done it again! Each band of dark blue paper is approximately 1/16th of an inch, so yes, I did hand cut them with scissors; and no, I didn't measure or outline or anything, I just eyeballed it! I used one of the excellent april 2014 cardmaps sketches to guide my design, and I'm pretty pleased with the result."


Stephanie says, "I used this week's Unscripted Sketch to layer on three different designer papers, cardstock, and die cuts ... I love combining patterns."

Scroll down to the original post to see the amazing readers' gallery, and to link up your own masterpiece!