All Bundled Up

We're piling on the layers this week, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥! Not in the form of scarves and sweaters, but in a crafty context: we'd like to see holiday cards that have at least three layers! Sound like fun? Excellent, 'cause we'd love for you to join us! Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with inspiration from Essentials by Ellen ... I thought the pastel valentine colors would be fun to use for a holiday design.  I stamped, die cut and water-colored my poinsettias before adding lots of layers using this week's Retro Sketch."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I never have any trouble adding layers, au contraire, the trick with me arrives when I'm asked to limit them, lol. But I'll share a secret for anyone who finds it challenging: Add a super-skinny black or white mat to each of your elements before adhering them to your card! ;) It also helps if you happened upon adorable Santa gift tags at Target last December, and you've got the brilliant Fusion Card Challenge Sketch to guide you!"

Now it's your turn to devise a three-layer (or more!) creation and link it here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, March 9th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:16:15.

An InLinkz Link-up

Tremendous Texty Treasures

Your celebration of words was absolutely fabulous ... some terrific texty creations.  Here are a few we thought were extra-special.

Andreja L

Her gorgeous combination of emboss resist, distress inks 

and then more stamping created such 

a gorgeous sentiment focal image.

Lindsay of

Bashful Blogging

The green chalkboard technique took me straight back

to happy memories of elementary school ... and the

gold glitter accent is perfection.

ekgorman designs

She used the perfect combination of green inks to create this texty masterpiece. 

The thin red frame really helps the Christmas Tree ornaments pop.

Come back at midnight for another prompt to keep that Christmas inspiration flowing.

Oh Christmas Words

We're still having fun with TEXT this week at Jingle Belles ... that means creating cards using letter stickers, large sentiment stamps, text or book paper ... just make sure text is the prominent element in your design.

Here's what we made this week.

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I went searching for a texty stamp to feature this week and settled on Memory Box Believe Poinsettia Collage.  I tried painting & coloring the flower, but in the end, I decided to let it blend into the texty background with a monochromatic design."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I love handlettering. At the moment, I'm especially fond of brush lettering, and I've been practicing at creating my own sentiments. There is *definitely* a learning curve on this, but I do love trying new things and I'm pretty pleased with my rendition of "Merry and Bright" done using Color Burst pigments and a water brush. I've paired it with some ancienty texty patterned paper from KI Memories, a few hand-painted holly leaves and some scrumptious Eyelet Outlet Jewels standing in as particularly upmarket berries."

*TEXT* Me!

This fortnight at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we're celebrating fab fonts, lovely lettering and all things terrifically typographic with a prompt we're calling, "Text Me".

So what does that mean in terms of your design? Well, it's a pretty fab chance to break out your oversized alphabet stickers, your big honkin' sentiment stamps and your text papers --or book paper-- to make a holiday card with the emphasis on the words! (Yes of course you can use images, too, but we'd like to see more than an ordinary smallish sentiment on your card to qualify; let's just say the words should be "prominent" ok?!) Here's what we made:

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I'm trying to produce more rectangular, standard-sized cards which aren't too lumpy, so I'm always looking for cool ways to add my own personal spin. This week, instead of using one of the many lovely text papers in my stash, I hand-stamped the background using my current favorite alphabet set (from Freckled Fawn) and added textural elements like machine stitching and those adorable enamel "berries" from Eyelet Outlet. I used Retro Sketch #201 to guide my layout."

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a vintage dictionary page that had the word reindeer (although I ended-up trimming off that word before I finished).  I stamped a reindeer silhouette scene using Ombree Ink.  I added some word stickers and some white wink of stella glitter to the twinkling starry sky to finish (inspired by the image at the Weekly Christmas Card Challenge)."

And now it's your turn to "Text Us" by making a fun and fabulous card with the emphasis on words! Link up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, February 24th. Keyword for galleries or Flickr is JB:16:04.

An InLinkz Link-up

Jingle Belles Bling

Judging by the amazingly fabulous reader's gallery this fortnight, we're not the only ones who love to "Bling On the Holidays"! Of course *every* linked card was beautiful, but here are a few that made our sparkly spidey sense especially tingly:

Gail of Truly Jewellry and Crafts

...used white embossing paste and multiple shades of glitter on white linen cardstock to create her elegant and dimensional shimmery baubles!

Barbara G of Barb's Creative Corner

...proved that the tried and true technique of stamping plus heat embossing is still a perfectly *fabulous* way to add tons of texture and sparkle to our holiday cards!

Tricia of Cards by Tricia

...bought this gorgeous tree stamp just so she could use it to create bling trees, a purchasing decision we support whole-heartedly!!!

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we ♥LOVE♥ seeing what you create! We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt that we hope will get everyone talking!

BLING Christmas Bells

We're still celebrating all things glittery, glimmery, sparkly and shimmery here at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ this week. As a matter of fact, some of us (Lauren!!!) pretty much do that every week, but for our "Bling on the Holidays" prompt we'e officially requesting that you use gems, jewels, pearls, glitter, stickles, beads, sequins or the like in your card. Here's what we made:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "It's no secret that I'm in love with embossing paste generally, and glitter embossing paste especially. I made a few cards last year which featured hand cut baubles, gussied up with stenciled glittery patterns, and I can tell you right now that this won't be the last one this year, either. I particularly love adding glitter embossing paste to ornaments I've painted with Ken Oliver's Color Burst, just because the range of colors and contrasts you can get is so awesome. Given a choice of sketches this week from Sketch Saturday, I chose #251."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I pulled out all kinds of bling ... I started by die cutting my snowflake from adhesive silver glitter paper.  My center snowflake was punched from the metallic silver lining on the inside of a Puffs with Vicks & Lotion Box.  I added some opalescent adhesive bling and then finished by embossing black leather paper and gilding it with Platinum Inka Gold ... all using this week's Retro Sketch."