Merry SKETCH-mas

It's Sketch time at Jingle Belles, so we've got a beautiful, flexible layout devised by our very own Stephanie Severin to help you design this week's holiday card.

The circle element can of course be any shape, and you're welcome to rotate, flip, or stretch the design; just make sure we can see the "bones" of the sketch in your card. Here's how we were inspired by the Sketch:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I couldn't resist combining papers from adorable Doodlebug Polar Pals Paper.  I added some purple bling to the sky and a sticker sentiment to finish the design."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I *love* card sketches because they streamline the design process so brilliantly, especially if you stick to readymade items. I used wintery Echo Park stickers from last year to make up my focal point, as well as the strong horizontal element up top. For the vertical on the left, I used self adhesive, super-thin wood veneer that came in a roll, which is absolutely my new favorite thing. A couple of coordinating patterned paper mats and some Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads complete the design."

Link your sketch cards here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, March 10th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-21-05.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Spread the Word!

There are some especially awesome cards for our Text Me Christmas challenge, so you should really scroll down and check those out if you haven't already. Meanwhile here are three that particularly caught our text-loving eye:

LeAnne Pugliese of Wee Inklings

...used a whimsical text paper background and a bold sentiment which combines THREE different, beautifully balanced, fonts in a way that makes us feel holly jolly for sure!

Kathe D of Kathe's Adventures

...made a scripty sentiment die the star of the show on her maginificently minimal ombre card!

Ans Gilbert of De Kaarten Van Ons Mam

...added a vintage postcard with a sweet little verse to her bright and beautiful slimline design!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we genuinely love seeing every single card. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt that's frankly a little bit sketchy... :)

Oh Christmas WORDS

We're still celebrating all the fun uses for text on holiday cards: texty patterned paper or book-page backgrounds, oversized sentiments, creative use of letter stickers, or... well, however you would like to interpret this fun prompt! 

If you need more ideas, scroll down to the original Text Me Christmas post to check out the fab cards already in the Readers' Gallery. Meanwhile, here's what we made this week: 

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I found this fab white-text-on-black scrap of Pebbles paper, so of course I went with the "texty background" option, as you can see! I've added a few pre-made diecut elements on top, with some handcut snowy hills and a cute car I fussycut from jounral cards that came in an older American Crafts collection. Definitely not an elaborate card, but fast and fun... and it'll mail with ONE STAMP!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "For this week's card, I started with the Christmas page from a children's dictionary.  I stamped snowflakes from Concord & 9th Snow Flurry.  I finished with a sentiment from the same set."

TEXT Me Christmas

This week's Jingle Belles theme is TEXT ME – create a holiday card that prominently celebrates text. 

That might mean using some letter stickers, dictionary pages, texty patterned paper, or just creating a card where the sentiment is the star. Great creative with your words and make sure you get TEXTY.

Here is how we got TEXT-y this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie's says, "I started with an all-over texty piece of designer paper (which I then managed to over-up 3/4 of it using this week's Sketch Saturday).  I used coordinating Pink & Red Striped paper as the backdrop for Pink & Red Valentine's Thickers for the Red & Pink Color Hue Challenge. I paired my JOY with a Doodle Pop Cookies for Santa Mug of hot cocoa and Cathy Zielske Simon Says Stamp Good Cheer sentiments & die."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I made my punny sentiment and giant alphabet stickers the stars of the show, but I also wanted a text-centric patterned paper, so I made my own by typing, "yeti or not" over and over until I filled a 4x6" area of white cardstock. I layered snowy hills, pink trees and Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads, then populated my festive landscape with adorable Lawn Fawn yetis."

Link your terrific texty cards here by 60m (EST) on Wednesday, February 24th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-21-04.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Colorful and Clever!

One of our favorite things about a photo inspiration challenge is how many very different ideas can be suggested by the same picture. Some folks choose the colors and overall vibe; some focus on one or two specific elements within the scene. But in this case, absolutely everybody rocked it!!! Here are a few takes that especially caught our eye this time:

Toni from Frankie Helps Craft

...made two completely different cards that we love equally, so you really need to hop over and see the other one, too. In this one, she captures the amber color as well as the more prominent pinks and greens,  the stripes and dots that recur within the photo, and of course that fun reindeer icon.

Bonnie of Stamping with Klass

...did a fantastic job of interpreting the color scheme, the positioning of the elements and of course she  beautifully recreated that amazing sparkly tree in miniature form!

Tonia J (who posts on Instagram) 

...focused on the mantel area, with amazing attention to detail; she's got clustered bottle brush trees against a woodgrain/shiplap background, colorful wordart and even a sweet reindeer in a circular frame!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who joined the fun, we truly love seeing ALL of your cards! We'll be back at midnight with a word or two about the next prompt!

More Colorful Christmas

This week we're creating our second cards inspired by the fabulous Boho Christmas from Love the Day. Scroll down to the original post to see the readers' gallery and link up your own take on this fun challenge!

Here's how the Jingle Belles were inspired this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I was inspired by the bottle brush trees on the the mantel and the cute deer. I've also brought back the color scheme of lots of white with "bright pastels". And plenty of sparkle is ALWAYS a good idea, in my opinion!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I took my inspiration from the word art on the mantel.  I inked the Unity Stamp Company Rejoice for our SILENT NIGHT in three colors of PinkFresh Studio Ink inspired by the design (masking each section with painters tape while inking).  I added some scalloped stickers from Pretty Little Studio to ground the image (like the mantel).  I die cut two Contempo Trees & Backdrops from Frantic Stamper Inc. to give the feel of the bottle brush trees in the picture.  I finished with bits of tiny bling on my stamped image & the tops of my trees."