Sketching, Sketching We Will Go

Week two of creating using a fun sketch ...

...here's what we created on our second try:

Stephanie's Second Card

Stephanie says, "I was thinking about Lauren's cool torn edges as I rifled through my holiday paper stash ... and I found this gorgeous designer paper from Basic Grey's Alpine Frost Collection that already had wavy layers to torn paper build right into the design.  All I had to do was cut to size, add a coordinated 3-D sticker and a tiny sticker sentiment ... and voila.  It almost felt like cheating ... but it's not."

Lauren's Second Card

Lauren says, "Apparently, I was still thinking about torn edges, too! :) This time I combined them in lots of layers like snowy hills inspired by the holiday trees on this pretty "Craft and You" paper. The fact that they were positioned perfectly to accommodate both my layery patterned paper tree and Stephanie's beautiful sketch I suppose could also be looked upon as 'almost cheating'... and for the record I'm 100% *FINE* with that, lol! Let's face it, we all have some weeks with loads of lovely crafty play time and some weeks with very little wiggle room, so I'm always happy and grateful to accept a bit of serendipity when it comes my way!"

Remember, you have until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, November 4th to link-up your design. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:15:22.

Do You Sketch What I Sketch?

We're bringing you another sketch this week to help you keep building that holiday card stash.

This one has lots of possibilities for using solids or designer papers ... and of course the circle can be any shape. We can't wait to see what you create!

Here's our take on the layout:

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Coincidentally, the day before I saw Stephanie's amazing sketch, I had bought some beautiful new holiday papers by "Crafts and You" and "Pion Designs" plus the most gorgeous glittery Prima poinsettias and I was dying to use all of it at once... with a few vintage bits of my own thrown in to boot! So that's exactly what I did, because *YOWZA* this is the perfect sketch for some torn layers, don't you think?!" :) :) :)

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I used a two sided designer paper, so I die cut my curvy line and then just flipped over the paper for the other layer.  A dimensional sticker made this one come together quickly."

Now it's your turn to take this fun sketch in any direction that suits your holiday card-making mood! Link your cards right here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, November 4th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:15:22.

An InLinkz Link-up

In the ♥PINK♥!

Holy moly, you guys surely did ♥ROCK♥ the Pink Christmas this year! We were thrilled to see 63 links in the gallery and a total of 90 totally amazing cards submitted. When you multiply that by $4 that means we raised a total of $360 for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, who have a donor that is matching gifts during October up to $50,000... which means we've basically doubled that amount!  WOOHOO and a big giant ♥THANK YOU♥ to everyone who made cards, cheered each other on, and spread the word!!!

Of course there isn't a single card in that gorgeous gallery that doesn't deserve a huuuuuuuuge shout-out, so we heartily recommend that you go see them all! Meanwhile here are a few that especially tickled us pink:

Jerrie of Coloring Outside the Linez

...managed to work the iconic pink ribbon into her gloriously funky mixed media design, plus it's got loads of SPARKLE! 

('Cause sparkle is GOOOOOOD!!!)

♥♥♥

Lindsey of Bashful Blogging

...built a CAS retro pink masterpiece that's all ONE LAYER!!!

(Which boggles our minds in the best possible way!)

♥♥♥

Donna Digby of DAT'S My Style

...mixed hot pink with bright turquoise and crisp white in her super-layery confection that's got "eye candy" written all over it!

(Ok, technically it says, "Jolly" but you know what we mean, lol!)

♥♥♥ 

Many many thanks to everyone who played and extra love to those who linked multiple cards, posted on Facebook or Instagram, or gave us a super-special shout out! We appreciate every single bit of your goodness, which is exceeded only by your card-making talent! We'll be back at midnight with a brand-new prompt that isn't nearly as sketchy as it seems... ♥

♥PINK♥ Christmas for the Cure

♥PINK CHRISTMAS♥ is always one of our favorite fortnights at Jingle Belles and the 2015 edition is off to a fabulous start! There's still plenty of time to play along (til next Wednesday, October 21st, at 6pm) and remember we (Stephanie and Lauren) are each donating $2 per linked up card to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, so the more you play, the bigger our contribution will be, for which we thank you! ♥

Stephanie's Other Pink Card

Stephanie says, "I pulled out some vintage Cosmo Cricket Jolly Days paper in retro colors and design.  I love these fun little Christmas Critters all backed in pink."

Lauren's Other Pink Card

Lauren says, "I was in the mood to play around with watercolor paints and glitter embossing paste, so that's what I did, lol! I traced the bauble shapes in pencil on watercolor paper, then filled in with washes of color. After the panel dried, I added a few shades of glitter embossing paste through a stencil to give each ornament a bit of sparkle... but not too perfectly, because I wanted them to look like the beautifully worn and tarnished ornaments my own vintage bauble collection. I found this fantastic sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, and it really inspired me."

Deck the Halls... in ♥PINK♥!

If you've played along with us at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ in any of our previous years, you probably already know that the first prompt of October --which is, of course, Breast Cancer Awareness Month-- is always PINK CHRISTMAS, that the brief is to make a holiday card which (perhaps you've guessed, lol?!) has at least a bit of pink in it, and that Stephanie and Lauren each donate $2 for every card linked up during this fortnight.

This year we'll be donating to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which focuses strongly on the research aspect of the disease and has earned very high marks from charity evaluation sites such as Charity Navigator. There's no limit to how many brand new ♥PINK♥ holiday cards you can submit, so we'd love for you to join us early and often! Just link up at this post before 6pm on Wednesday, October 21st. Feel free to share this info, re-post the graphic, and link to us on your blogs and your favorite social media sites. Many thanks and lots of love! ♥♥♥ 

Meanwhile, here are our PINK CHRISTMAS cards:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I created a paper quilt using scraps of pink holiday papers (and some non-holiday papers) ... I love playing with my scraps."

 Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Ok, yeah, I almost feel like I'm cheating, because let's face it, I looooooove pink, and make plenty of pink cards all year round. None of them mean as much to me as the ones I make right here in October, however, so I like to go all out, as you can see. Having found a bit of somehow totally forgotten (?!) pink fabric paper with Eiffel Towers on it, my card took a bit of a French twist, with a sentiment to match!"

As you know, we love to see all your holiday cards, all the time; but ♥PINK CHRISTMAS♥ is very near and dearto our hearts so we hope you'll join us (maybe more than once?!) this fortnight. Link up here before 6pm on Wednesday, October 21st. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:15:21.

An InLinkz Link-up

Winter Holiday Wonderful

Do you guys even know how to make cards that are less than astonishing? Obviously not!!! Here are a few that especially prove our point:

Leslie Hanna of The Crooked Stamper

...made a Hanukkah card that is easily eight crazy nights worth of awesome!

Marianne of Marianne's Card 'n Stuff

...knows a thing or two about stamping... and vellum... and making super-fab cards!

Marie Bingaman of ANOTHER Card-Making Blog

...made four different winter holiday cards, and we love all of them!

We'll be back at midnight with the first official prompt of October, so we're pretttttttty sure our "regulars" can already guess what it's going to be, but here's a little hint: get out your favorite PINK CHRISTMAS supplies! (Ok, it was a pretty big hint, lol) ♥♥♥

The Hanukkah Song, Verse Two!

We're still creating holiday cards for friends or family who don't necessarily celebrate Christmas... these types of winter-themed cards also make great Winter thinking-of-you cards or holiday thank you cards, too. You could feature one of the other winter holidays or you could go with a winter/snow themed design. Be sure to scroll down to The Hanukkah Song readers' gallery for more inspiration!

Here's what we created:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I've been having loads of fun playing with Ken Oliver's Colorburst powders. For this card, I made a snowflake stencil using one of my Tim Holtz snowflake dies, sponged Versamark ink through it and embossed in white, then applied a few different shades of blue Colorburst in an emboss/resist technique. I really love how this one came out. I embellished with a stack of diecut and punched snowflakes, added in a few miscellaneous rhinestones and called it a (SNOW)day, lol!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "Blue and snow worked so well for me last week, I decided to continue with that theme (it also gives me the perfect opportunity to use the many felt snowflakes I have in my collection).  This time I used the sketch from The Paper Players & an SRM Sticker for my sentiment."