My True Love Gave to Me

"On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my TRUE LOVE gave to me..." is actually the complete title of this fortnight's theme ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ so hang on for a second while we explain it, because there are some cool twists this time. First, let us tell you that the title and idea come from our lovely friend, Lela Meinke (some of you may know her as "Serenity Stamper" on SCS) who always comes up with great ideas! Now let's consider the brief. This fortnight we'd like you to choose any of the following options:

Create a holiday card for your *TRUE LOVE* 
or for any extra-special person in your life 

OR...
Create a holiday card with HEARTS on it 

OR... 

Create a holiday card that references any aspect of
"The 12 Days of Xmas" that appeals to you

Here's a reminder of that dozen rather distinctive gifts!

 On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: 

Twelve Drummers Drumming 

Eleven Pipers Piping 

Ten Lords a Leaping 

Nine Ladies Dancing 

Eight Maids a Milking 

Seven Swans a Swimming 

Six Geese a Laying 

Five Golden Rings 

Four Calling Birds 

Three French Hens 

Two Turtle Doves 

and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
♥♥♥

Plenty of inspiration there for all of us, right?! Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "When I explained this week's Jingle Belles theme to my husband, he suggested that if I was making a card for him, the Bob & Doug McKenzie version of the Twelve Days of Christmas would be more appropriate for him ... so that is what inspired my card.  Because on the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me ... Two Turtlenecks (and a Beer in a Tree).  Stamps & sentiment are from Essentials by Ellen 'Tis the Season  with MFT Die-Namics Rectangle Peek-a-Boo Window."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I'd planned to stick with option #2 (hearts!) when, during the recycling challenge, in my box of saved holiday cards, I stumbled upon one that actually had all twelve of the (alas, original and not McKenzie, lol!) items in question. You can't fight serendipity like that, can you?? Since the panel was fairly large and already a bit busy, I only needed a sentiment, a couple of mats and a few Eyelet Outlet Heart Brads to complete the design. I used the current Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge."

And now it's time for you to decide which option you will choose... or maybe... you'll combine more than one?! Link up here by Wednesday, May 10th. Keyword for galleries or Flickr is JB:17:09.

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

REUSE ... RECYCLE ... AND JINGLE!

We loved seeing all of the creative recycling in the gallery this week ... nothing better than making the EARTH a bit better by making art.

Here are a few that caught our eyes this week.

Barbara of The Knackered Grouse

...not only made four cards cleverly using re-cycled Christmas cards and other bits; three actually have the EARTH on them! (Which definitely wasn't a requirement, but we confess to getting a kick out of it!)

Kathe D of Kathe's Adventures

...used part of an empty tissue box to diecut this beautiful wreath; bonus points for the fact that this favorite annual challenge was suggested by Kathe in Jingle Belles' very first year for which we thank her!

Cornelia of Stampel Spass (Fun Stamper)

re-used and re-cycled rejected pieces from other creative ventures to make this adorable little holiday scene. (Plus... we love her gnome Santa Claus!)

Joy to the EARTH (day)

We're still re-using and re-cycling at Jingle Belles to celebrate Earth Day.

Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started with the big snowflake recycled from one of last year's Christmas cards we received at the office (all of the Admins save them for me).  Next I went to my recycle drawer and pulled out a paint chip and some vintage discount stickers to finish the design.  It is a rather loose take on this week's Fusion Card Challenge Sketch."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Once again I've raided my stash of received holiday cards that were too pretty to toss out. The flourishy diecut reindeer came from one card; and would you believe that the green base card WITH the red strip was the front of a different card?As soon as I saw this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge (#208) I knew I was on to something! I've also incorporated an oval of gorgeously patina-ed Norwegian sheet music and the tan strip of paper behind the frame is a scrap from a swatch of wallpaper."

Remember, you have until Wednesday at 6pm EST to join our fun.

Peace on EARTH (day)

One of our favorite prompts each year is the one that falls right around Earth Day, when we challenge ourselves (and our friends) to make holiday cards that re-use, re-purpose, re-cycle or up-cycle at least one element!

In previous years, this has led not to just some of the most creative ideas we've seen, but also some of the most beautiful cards. We've seen backgrounds made from giftwrap that was just too pretty to throw away; sketches using shapes punched from lovely store-bought cards received on previous holidays; clear plastic packaging converted to a window for a shaker card; And even empty soda cans turned into cool metal diecuts!

Of course, we're quite sure you have plenty of amazing ideas we haven't even thought of; because you always do! Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I love recycling vintage cards into new cards ... the vibrant retro colors of this one were so fun, all I did was attach it to a lime green card base, add some dimension with Mercury Nuvo Dots, and finish with a sticker sentiment."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Since nearly EVERYTHING on my card used to be something else, it might quicker for me to tell you what the new elements are: the tiny blue and white doilies that are matting the focal image and part of an Eyelet Outlet pearl bling flourish. Yep, that's it. :) As for the rest? The cottage image was punched from one of the (store bought) holiday cards we received in a previous year; the lace was a scrap from my mother's sewing room; the papers with images have come from several old xmas "Ideals" magazines; the (cool, blue!) text paper came from an old falling-apart book I rescued; and the sheet music is... well, it's sheet music, lol. The sketch, however, is also brand new, it's from Sketch Saturday."

Remember, you needn't make a card that's nearly all recycled bits and bobs OR which contains anything at all vintage; just one re-used, re-purposed, re-cycled or up-cycled element will do! Be sure to tell us what it is, though, if it's not super obvious! Link up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, April 26th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:17:08.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sweet and Sketchy

There were nothing but gorgeous versions of Stephanie's sketch in the gallery, which makes it very hard to only feature a few cards. Which, coincidentally, is our FAVORITE problem to have, lol!

Christine Dring of Chrispy's Creations

...used our all-time favorite color palette (ALL of them!!!) to create this amazing holiday rainbow!

Sara of Sara's Closet

...whipped up a mixed media snow storm that makes us wish our computer monitors had a literal touch screen!

Steffi H... posting on Flickr

 ...gave us a masterpiece of minimalism as well as an incredible use of negative space by diecutting the circle elements out of the sketch!

Meanwhile, I think we're all dying to know whose house Stephanie will be sending that cool retired Stampin' Up set, right? Well, according to Random.org the winner is:

Lucky Number 5

which means

Christine Dring 

is also our lucky prize winner!

(because it truly IS a *random* draw!!!)

Christine, please email llaurenb @ hotmail.com to claim your prize!

♥♥♥

We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt that we hope will make you want to move heaven and Earth to play along!!! :)

O' SKETCH-mas Tree

One of the best things about being a fortnightly challenge is that we get to do *TWO* versions of everything... which is something I (Lauren) especially love when Stephanie has drawn us a gorgeous sketch like this one:

Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I've said it a million times, but I'll probably just KEEP ON saying it: I loooooooove Doodlebug Designs, especially their Christmas lines! Nearly all the stickers on this card are from them, plus I've got a few festive paper scraps and a couple of adorable Eyelet Outlet Holiday Brads. What else do you need, right?!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "When I finished creating the sketch, I knew I wanted to try a card using snowflakes.  This card features a combination of four colors of felt & glitter snowflakes as well as bling from Eyelet Outlet ... sentiment is a favorite from CatsLife Press."

There's still plenty of time to link up your own gorgeous sketch card, scroll down to the original post for full details!