Sugar Plum Visions

What an amazingly lovely group of cards inspired by our own blog header this fortnight, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥! If you haven't perused the readers' gallery, we heartily recommend you do so! Meanwhile, here are a few creations we found especially irresistible:

Banana Stamper of The Stamping Banana

...used a very cool starburst technique learned in a recent cardmaking class to create her wonderful and romantic design!

Judy V of Created Just 4U

...combined a few different challenges with ours to produce her elegant CAS design! (Plus... check out that fabulous layered poinsettia!)

Steph C of One Crafty Chica

...enjoys peace, love and sparkly stuff as much as we do! Her card is not only a beautiful embodiment of that, it also helped to inspire her choice of wedding colors!

Our most hearty thanks to our lovely guest star Marie Bingaman for sharing her terrific suggestion and gorgeously inspiring card! Be sure to stop by her awesome blog and say hello! We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will find you in very good shape! ♥

Visions of Sugar Plums

We're still making cards inspired by our own ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ blog header, and some of us can't help but feel the Sugar Plum Fairy is helping out a bit, too! :)

Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I wanted to capture the lovely white-on-kraft elements in the banner.  I stamped a Holly Flourish on a scrap of krafty designer paper using white pigment ink ... and because I wasn't patient enough for the ink to completely heat set, I used a cloth to wipe the excess ink, which produced such a wonderful soft effect on the background.  I added some holiday sentiments and lots of bling using a layout from Wanna Sketch?"

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Is it just me, or does it almost feel like "cheating" when you find a sketch so fabulous the card practically makes itself? The current sketch (#103) at Cardabilities is most definitely one of those and I've used it pretty faithfully, since that matted label shape was the perfect home for a Tim Holtz diecut reindeer. Stephanie and I found the gorgeous uber-thin wood veneer at Kate's Paperie in New York City, and my supply is dwindling. I'm pretty sure that means a road trip is called for... who's in?!"

Scroll down to the original post to check out the readers' gallery and link up your own card!

Taking a Header

To celebrate the conclusion of The World Cup, we'll be Taking a Header this week.

No we won't be hitting soccer balls with our heads (thank goodness for me) ... instead, at the suggestion of our Lovely Guest Star Marie Bingaman, we'll be making cards inspired by the Jingle Belles Blog Header (which Stephanie points out was designed by the very talented Lauren; digital image credits are in this post).

You can find your inspiration in the colors, layout, elements or just the overall vibe of our design.

Here's how we were inspired:

Marie's Card

Marie says, "I’ve been inspired by the Jingle Belles header for a good while now-- (like since it first changed at the beginning of the year!) --and I can’t believe my good fortune that no one else suggested using it as inspiration! Smile Gray and purple is also a pretty combo I’ve been wanting to put together for a long time. I guess I achieved both of those goals then!"

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Ok, admittedly, I had a bit of an advantage this time, since I designed the header using digital versions of all the things I love in my real life stash. So for my card it was easy to combine my favorite poinsettia die, some glittery alphas, a bit of lace, a little grunge and a whole lot of layers! My favorite thing about this card is that 90% of the things I used are not especially Christmassy, but when you put them all together, they still work!"

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "When I see Purple & Christmas together, I think of Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather Collection.  I pulled out some scraps using this week's Sketchbook Saturday Layout.  I used a vintage stamp for my sentiment, which turned out to be mounted a bit crooked on the wooden block, so I added a golden snowflake to help off-set the sentiment wonkiness (I call it an embellishment opportunity)."

We can't wait to see what you create. Remember you have until Wednesday, July 30th at 6pm EST to upload your designs.

An InLinkz Link-up

Stash-o-licious!

If anyone ever doubted that older products could still look *AMAZING* in brand new cards, all they have to do is check out the gorgeous readers' gallery from our collaboration with Shopping Our Stash to see the proof! Here are a few especially fine examples of that phenomenon:

Diane of Lydia's Post

...combined many fun and festive elements and easily scoops the award for oldest stash item with her beautiful *FORTY* year old (!!!) book paper background!

Maura aka beesmom at Split Coast Stampers

...used an older die set in a new way by creating this clever silhouette snowscape!

Jess of Jess Crafts

...dipped into some treasured hoarded papers and combined an older stamp with a brand new coloring technique to produce this masterpiece of adorability!

Now it's time to find out who's scored the little packet of holiday goodies that was up for grabs. The fine folks at Random.org have chosen the number 35 which means our lucky winner is:

♥SHAUNA♥
of Creating With Paper

please email your address to us at jinglebellesrock (at) hotmail (dot) com so we can get your prize right out to you!

Many thanks to everyone who played along, and especially to the lovely ladies of Shopping Our Stash for teaming up with us this fortnight. Remember there's a new challenge on that fine blog every single Tuesday morning, so be sure to check that out! Meanwhile, WE will have a brand new challenge headed in your direction at Midnight... with a brand new lovely guest star to inspire you!

Shopping ... and more Shopping

We're still embracing the wonderful premise of Shopping Our Stash to make holiday cards which utilize items we've owned for at least a year... though some of our ingredients are quite a bit older than that! In addition to the lovely greetings below, there are more at SOS-- including Stephanie's-- so be sure to check them out, too!

Barbara's Card

...features a snowman image from The Stamp Barn which is no longer in operation, this snowman is one of a set of four. This image I had stamped a bunch for making kits for a few friends and this was a left over. In keeping with the SOS criteria everything here is well over a year old.

Jessi's Card

...uses stamps which were a gift about a year and a half ago, papers which are scraps from 2 years ago, and the Pearl mist is also about 2 years old.

Lauren's Card

...is built around some dimensional felt poinsettias which are at least 3-4 years old, (at least!) a scallopy half-moon journaling card of about the same vintage, and as a scrap of flowery "Nordic Holiday" paper that was positively longing to be used up!!!

Remember you can link your new-but-stashy creations on the original posts both here AND at Shopping Our Stash! Since there are prizes on both blogs for lucky random cardmakers, you'll definitely want to do that!

Shopping Our Jingle Belles Stash

This fortnight we are incredibly excited to welcome the lovely ladies of the weekly challenge blog Shopping Our Stash to a special crossover event! Just in case you've never played along at SOS, here's a little bit about the concept:

Shopping Our Stash (or SOS) 

is a weekly challenge blog which evolved from a personal desire by our founder, Carla, and the rest of us, to focus on using the supplies we have on hand, or "shopping our stash" instead of always thinking we have to have something new! Shopping Our Stash posts a brand new challenge every single Tuesday morning, and would love for you to grab some of your older supplies and join the fun!

Isn't that a fantastic idea? Yep, we think so, too! So in honor of this special event, we've got a special "two-fer" challenge for you. Here's what to do: 

1. Make a holiday card that uses something from your stash 

which is at least a year old.

2. Post the card on your blog or gallery, and be sure 

to tell us what your older stash item is.

3. Link your card at the bottom of this ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ post 

and also at this Shopping Our Stash post.

4. Check back at both blogs on July 17th to see if you've won 

one of the lovely prizes! (More on that in a minute!)

Since this is an extra-special challenge, we've got more than the usual amount of inspiration to share, and we're spreading it around! Shopping Our Stash design team members Leslie, Donna and Alica, and our own Stephanie have some lovely items to show you right here; whilst Lauren's card is proud to be featured over at SOS, with those of design teammates Jessi, Barbara and Chris.

Leslie's Card

...features a totally hilarious (and totally TRUE!) stamp from 2000!

Donna's Card

... is made from a 2012 card kit, she just added some sequins, which she's pretty sure are at least a year old, also!

Alica's Flower Tree

...is an amazingly lovely use of paper scraps and brads!

 Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "One of the good things about moving are all of the great *discoveries* you make while packing ... like this lovely Christmas Card Stamp I purchased on Etsy in February 2011.  Not only had it not seen ink ... I hadn't even cut into the rubber sheet and mounted the stamps.  Well that has been remedied ... and as I thought when I purchased the stamp, it makes a very quick and mailable holiday card."

Now what about those prizes? Well, here's what one lucky random cardmaker will win who links up here at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥:

Crate Paper "Peppermint Collection" 6x6 paper pad and buttons; Hero Arts "Snow Much Joy" clear stamps; Recollections sparkly chipboard snowflakes and Christmas tree ribbon spool

...to find out about the prize at SOS you're going to have to mosey on over to Shopping Our Stash and read about it there! :)

Be sure to link your stash-using holiday cards both here and at Shopping Our Stash between now and 6pm (EST) on July 16th, 2014. Keyword for galleries and our Flickr group is JB:14:14. ♥

An InLinkz Link-up

Christmas Story Favorites

There were soooooooo many clever and beautiful cards based on Christmas books, films and television shows this fortnight. What a joy to see our favorites represented so lovingly, and to hear about some new stories, too! Here are a few cards we found especially inspiring:

Leslie of The Crooked Stamper

...created a card that's not only well-designed but references the film "A Christmas Story" in a way that's as impressive as it is hilarious!

Brenda of Brenda's Scrappy Blog

...proves that you don't need licensed merchandise, or even an image, to embody your favorite film (in this case, "Elf"); a beautifully showcased quote will do the job perfectly!

Lisa J. of Snowy Moose Creations

...had a little help from an expert (her son!) in creating this lovely card based on their favorite holiday book, "The Polar Express"

Once again we thank everyone who participated, with an extra helping of thanks to our lovely and talented guest star, Irene Sprick, for thinking up such a fabulous idea! We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will make you want to dash to your stash!