No Time Like the Presents

Well it's January first, and you know what that means: time to kick off another holiday cardmaking season, Jingle Belles! Probably, to non-crafters, that sounds ridiculous, but anyone who's ever spent the middle of December stressfully mass-producing 50+ cards knows that making one card a week, throughout the year, actually makes quite a bit of sense. And doing so while hanging out with your friends is just WAY more fun! So if you're joining us for the first time: WELCOME; if you're re-joining us, WELCOME BACK. Either way, we're so happy you're here and we hope you'll find inspiration here throughout 2019! As always, we're open to suggestions, ideas for themes and guest designers; drop us a line any time at jinglebellesrock @ hotmail (dot) com!

Meanwhile, let's get cracking with the first prompt of the year: since there's No Time Like the Presents... before you put away your wrapping supplies, pull out some of your favorites (or some of that paper from a present you unwrapped that was just too pretty to toss) and make a card featuring wrapping paper or gift tags. Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "If there were a spectrum of gift-wrapping skills, Lauren would be at a 10 (best ever) and I would be somewhere down near the 1 to 2 part of the scale.  If I participate in a gift exchange, you can almost guaranty the gift I brought will be the one in the gift bag (it will be an adorable gift bag ... probably with a Yeti ... but it will be a bag).  So needless to say, my gift wrap stash is a bit limited.  As I went hunting for something to make my card, I found a few pieces of vintage gift wrap from the Veterans of Foreign Wars that must have been gifted to me by my mother-in-law.  How cute are these little tumbling patriotic snowmen with their stars & stripes ... I added a few glittery snowflake stickers and a few more sticker sentiments ... and just left the snowmen to shine."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Of course I'm blushing from testimonial, and I *DO* looooooove to wrap presents. Something Stephanie graciously didn't mention is that whereas she is always on time (often early!) with gifts, one of us often ~ahem~ shall we say, "helps to extend" any occasion, by as much as several weeks, since that's when the beautifully wrapped items typically arrive lol. My card features a gorgeous plaid scrap leftover from my own giftwrapping duties. I typically mount thin papers like giftwrap or tissue onto a piece of lightweight cardstock that I've run through my xyron machine to make more sturdy, and that's what I did here. The tartan ribbon is also an offcut from this year's supplies... I went a bit mad for plaid!"

To kickoff the New Year right, we have a fun little prize for one lucky random cardmaker who links up with us this time: 

So now it's your turn to round up those gift wrapping supplies, make a lovely new holiday card, and link it up right here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, January 16th*. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:19:01.

An InLinkz Link-up

*Please note that because we wanted to start the season on New Year's Day, which happens to be a Tuesday, this first challenge has a few extra days to it. After this we will be back to fortnightly Fridays, as in the past! ♥