A New Look for the New Year

We're getting ready to start our 12th Jingle Belles season at 12:01am, January 1st, 2022. So it seems only right to start the New Year off with a brand new blog header and badges! 

Design by Lauren Bergold, featuring products from Katie Pertiet Designs, including Botanical Christmas 01 Blendable Layers and ArtOptions Blendable Layers 01; free fonts from DaFont.com are Dalmais, Helo Xmas and Bohemian Typewriter; Over the Rainbow Glitter Styles by Studio Flergs are out of print, but there are some nice ones at Sweet Shoppe Designs.

It's a Wrap!

Hard to believe we've wrapped up another Jingle Belles season already, it seems like 2021 has just flown past! 

Below is Lauren's traditional beginning of December sprawling card pile photo, featuring all the holiday cards she made this year.  

She's looking forward to writing, addressing, and sending them out into the world; then on January 1, 2022 we'll start the whole thing all over again... and we'd love for you to join us!  ((Stephanie got so excited about having her cards done, she mailed them before she remembered to take her annual photograph).

Lauren's 2021 Holiday Card Pile

♥♥♥

Just to spur you on if you've not quite finished making holiday cards, here's one last link-up. We'll leave it open until December 24th, so you can show off those last few masterpieces and check out what everyone else is making. Wishing you the happiest of Decembers... see you on January 1, 2022!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Blog Header Heroes

We loved seeing how you were inspired by Lauren's impeccably designed Jingle Belles Blog Banner. Here's a trio of our favorites:

Mary Marsh of The Charmed Life

incorporated holiday trees, snow flakes, glitter and 

wonderful shades of green into her fabulous card design.

Karen Dunbrook of Snippets

created some Alcohol Ink magic in all shades of green and

perfectly paired it with snowflakes, bling and a die cut frame.

Lorraine of Paper Vernissage

added impressive amounts of both texture and upcycled 

elements in her elegant winter snowscape.

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along on the last 2021 OFFICIAL Jingle Belles challenge. 

We'll be back at midnight with a wrap up post and photos of our cardpiles from this fun season!

 

A Blog Header Holiday

We're still making holiday cards inspired by our 2021 blog banner (look upwards ^ to the top of the page for a reminder!) and you're still invited to join the fun. Here's what we made this week: 

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I used an ancient, beautiful Darice embossing folder to add swirly snow to a piece of dark green Bo Bunny Double Dot paper, then sanded the embossing to make the flakes stand out even more. I cut Hero Arts' Snowflake Cluster from white glitter cardstock and added Eyelet Outlet Pearls in several sizes, scattered all over."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a dark green piece of designer paper from the Patina Collection of the essential Craft Papers by Craft Consortium that I thought captured the feel and color of the banner.  Next I stamped Impression Obsession Sketched Trees three times starting with the first stamping in Deck the Halls Green at the top and second generation stamping in the middle.  I finished with one more stamping in white craft ink along the bottom.  I die cut the sentiment from Impression Obsession Christmas Stitched Words from Silver Glitter paper and then backed it with a white/ivory glitter paper.  I finished with two snowflakes from Impression Obsession Snowflakes Die Set cut from ivory shimmer paper.  I topped them with Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling."

♥♥♥

Scroll down to the original post to see the readers' gallery and link up your own blog-banner-inspired cards by next Wednesday, December 1st!

Banner Holiday

For our last challenge of the 2021 season, we're making holiday cards inspired by this year's blog banner, which looks (as you may already have noticed, lol!) a bit like this:

You can choose any elements that appeal to you: the color palette, the pine trees, the sparkly letters, the snowflakes... just be sure to tell us in your post what inspired you, if it isn't obvious.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I loved the rich all-over green of this year's Jingle Belles banner, so that is what I tried to emulate with my card design.  I used four different colors of Green Alcohol Ink on Silver Alcohol Ink Cardstock including Couture Creations Glitter Alcohol Ink (so cool).  Next I tried to use Alcohol Ink Removal ink with snowflakes to get the subtle snowflake effect of the banner, but you can just barely see them.  So instead, I added one large Simon Says Stamp Glitter snowflake and three smaller snowflake buttons with green enamel dots in the center. For the texty element of the banner, I die cut Simon Says Stamp Joyful from Vellum and the silver inside of a tissue box to complete my design."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I took a little bit of all the main elements from the banner: a green, slightly grungy background flecked with snow; dark shadowy trees combined with snowy white ones; and pale glitter letters for my sentiment. It's a pretty literal translation, but I like how it turned out!"

♥♥♥

Link your blog-banner-inspired cards here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, December 1st. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-21-24. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Shiny Brite

Beautiful baubles EVERYWHERE... that's the story this fortnight! If you haven't had a chance to cruise through the gallery, we highly recommend a trip to the original "Ornamental" post because we know you'll be as inspired as we were. Here are a few cards which especially caught our eye:

Emma T of Trenouths Crafty Creations

...made not one or two or even three beautifully embossed bauble cards but FIVE fabulous slimline versions, each with a different combination of ornaments and backgrounds!

Prudence, who posts on IG as PenguinParade

...made a bold graphic statement in red, white and black with her vividly vibrant CAS card!

Judy V of Created Just 4U

...wishes us a Merry ChrisMOOSE with an adorable digi and a strikingly wonderful color combo! 

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who got their ornaments on with us this time! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will usher in a BANNER day of cardmaking!

Beautiful Baubles

We're still creating with holiday ornaments this week ... let us see how you interpret the theme.  You have until 6pm EST on Wednesday to link-up.

Here's how we got Ornamental this week.

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week my baubles are chipboard, from an older My Mind's Eye collection, they're dangling from Eyelet Outlet Pearl Strips, on a Graphic 45 patterned paper background, and I've scattered a few EO Enamel Stars around to add extra texture."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I decided to go looking through my designer paper collection for some ornamental inspiration and found these fabulous vintage baubles in Carta Bella's Merry Christmas Collection.  I loved that it was paired with Jingle Bells (Belles).  I trimmed it down to 5"x6" and ornamented the lyrics with a Frantic Stamper Contempo Tree topped with a star gem.  I finished with a Taylored Expressions Christmas Simple sentiment Strip and backer.

Ornamental, My Dear Watson

This week's card prompt is asking you to create a card featuring Holiday Ornaments – it might be an Ornament-Shaped Card or perhaps a decorated holiday tree?

Here's how we got Ornamental this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I spent last weekend at a local craft house creating with friends.  I used Silver Sparkle Alcohol Ink Paper with Blue Alcohol Inks and then die cut layers A & C of the Birch Press Radiant Ornament Dies from the glittery paper.  I traced the ornament shape onto a scrap of gold glitter paper to create the background & also die cut the ornament top.  I put a gold pearl in the center of the design.  For the Sketch Saturday 5th Saturday Choose Any Sketch, I picked Sketch 344 for my Layout and a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Just Saying ~ Christmas."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Hero Arts' Poinsettia and Ornament Die is a favorite because there are so many ways to use it. Often I cut it out of watercolor paper and paint the flowers, but this time I left the ornament plain and layered it over a watercolored background; then mounted the whole thing on an ancient scrap of Prima paper with an Idea-Ology sticker sentiment. White dimensional florals and tiny Eyelet Outlet pearls add extra texture and interest."

Link your ornamental masterpieces right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, November 17th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-21-23.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Creature Congrats!

 Wow, were there some fabulous creatures in our gallery ... it made it hard to pick only three favorites.

Cornelia (Fun Stamping) 

stunned us with her perfectly colored Luigi the Lama ... all it needed was the perfect little sentiment to hit a creature feature home run.

Marianne's Cards 'n Stuff

created this fabulous little holiday card with the perfect sentiment for that warm little pop-of-red scarf ... we loved the glittery texture of the snowflakes too.

Asa of Scrapat helt enkelt

stole our hearts with her adorable Christmas Cow ... and all of the white space really makes those colors pop.

And drumroll please ... it's time to pick the winner of the fabulous holiday stamp set! Wouldja believe the fine folks at Random.org chose lucky number 1?! Which means that...

Dottie of Something Crafty by Dottie

♥♥♥

is our lucky winner!

Congrats, Dottie!

Please send your snail mail address to Lauren, 

at llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com and we'll get that out to you ASAP!

♥♥♥

Holiday Creature Feature

We're still making cards that feature Animals or other fun Creatures this week. Remember you have until 6pm EST on Wednesday to link-up and join the fun.

Here are the creatures we're featuring this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I've made a little winter landscape in shaker card form, for my adorable Lawn Fawn Yeti to inhabit. The background is several scraps of miscellaneous snowy patterned papers, and the shaker is full of Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Sequins."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week's creature is Big Grumpy from Taylored Expressions paired with a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Spoiler Alert and a Sentiment Strip.  Grumpy is decked out with a Santa Hat sticker and some glittery holly with an Eyelet Outlet Enamel Heart to let you know which way he leans."

And remember, one lucky participant will win the Cathy Zielske's Chunky Christmas stamp set from Simon Says Stamp.

Not a CREATURE was stirring

We're asking you to break out the animals for this week's holiday card … it could be a sweet little sheep or perhaps a Reindeer … okay, or even a monster or a Yeti if you're in a Halloween mood and want to stretch the theme (you know we're notorious stretchers).

Here's what we created this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "You knew I'd be stretching, right? I have these fun Star Wars tags in my stash, so I couldn't resist a little Christmas friendship card (Darth Vader & a Storm Trooper are Creatures in my book).  My layout is a World Card Making Day Sketch from Sketch ~N~ Scrap."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I've chosen a film reference too, by enacting one of my favorite moments from "Elf"... when Mr. Narwhal bids farewell to Buddy as he sets off on his Quest. I've used Lawn Fawn's adorable Winter Narwhal and Pebbles' Fairly Accurate Map to make that work."

♥♥♥

And for some extra-fun we'll randomly choose one lucky participant to win the Chunky Christmas Stamp set by Cathy Zielske from Simon Says Stamp.

Link your creature-featuring cards right here by 6pm Eastern, on Wednesday, November 3rd. Keyword for galleries etc is JB-21-22.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Pretty in Pink!

Wow! The cards for the Pink Christmas challenge are always some of our favorites, but this year you guys have totally taken things to the next level and we could not be more impressed! We'll shout out to a few of those in a minute, but first some important bookkeeping: There were 59 cards linked up (counting the extras that kind folks added into their posts!) and 59 x $4 means that we will be contributing $236 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation! Thanks very much for helping us, and for doing it so creatively! Meanwhile, here are a few Pink Christmas cards that especially caught our eye:

Dottie of Something Crafty by Dottie

...created her pretty pink confection that combines everything we love on a card: beautiful papers, sparkly diecuts and satin ribbons! 

Nelleke of Farmerblog

...made a beautifully artful background with alcohol inks, and found the sweetest mouse imaginable (with jingle bells!) to be the star of her adorable tag!

Lori of Lori's Kreations

...made a sophisticated and elegant nature-themed card with perfect pink accents! 

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we truly loved seeing EVERY card and are thankful for EVERY dollar you helped us raise for the BCRF. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt that we hope will stir up your creativity!

Think PINK!

It's another week of PINK creations to support Breast Cancer Research. Remember, for every predominantly PINK holiday card you link-up in the post directly below this one, Stephanie & Lauren will each donate $2 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (and just a reminder to do those self-exams and get your annual Mammogram).

Here's how we created in PINK this week.

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "The Santa Baby papers from Prima are some of the most lovely holiday papers. I used them (together with one vertical piece from Dress My Craft Christmas Bells).  I used the layout from The Sketchy Challenges to put it all together.  The finishing touches were some pink enamel dots and some gold sticker strips." 

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week's card was as fast to make as last week's Pink Couch card was slow! After I made a design of seven or eight miscellaneous washi tapes featuring every shade of pink and red in my collection and topped it with pink poinsettias from MME's (older) Sugar Plum collection, all I needed was an anonymous diecut sentiment, a few Eyelet Outlet Glitter Enamel Dots and a bit of machine stitching, et voila!"

♥♥♥

I'm dreaming of a PINK Christmas

If you've played along with us in other years, you may already know that at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we always devote the first theme of each October to making pink holiday cards as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that for each card that gets linked up, we (Stephanie and Lauren) each donate two dollars to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (yep that's $4 total for each card linked-up). 

There aren't many rules for this challenge other than the fact that each card has to be newly made; it has to have a winter holiday theme; and it has to feature PINK prominently. Of course your whole card need not be pink, and you can combine other colors with the pink. 

Here is how we celebrated went PINK CHRISTMAS this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a pile of pink designer papers that I assembled using a World Cardmaking Day sketch from Sketch ~N~ Scrap.  When I pulled in the floral holiday paper, I decided it reminded me of the Taylored Expressions In Bloom Background, so I stamped it in pink on my background designer paper.  Then I pulled out the Taylored Expressions Mythical Grumplings and Simple Strips Christmas to finish my design.  My final embellishment was a pink glittery snowflake to complete the sketch design."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "When I saw Lawn Fawn's 'Window Scene, Winter' stamp set at Paper Anthology I let out a little squeak of joy, because as a matter of fact, I own a couch a bit like that one (there's a pic on my blog) which sits directly in front of a large and dramatic window. The real-life couch truly is pink, though the rest of the room is a bit more neutral. And we've never had a plaid tree, but the blue spruce that I cover with my vintage ornament collection each year sits exactly where the tree from LF's 'Joy to All' is in the card. There are Eyelet Outlet Pink Pearls on this tree, and (white) snowflake sequins in the shaker that's behind the window frame, which is diecut using the add-on 'Window Frame' die set."

Link your beautiful PINK CHRISTMAS cards right here, by 6pm (est) on Wednesday, October 20th. Keyword for galleries and flickr is JB-21-21.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

SNOW Much Fun!

There was so much SNOW-y goodness in the Jingle Belles gallery.

Here are a few of our favorites featuring the white stuff.

Hilary from Fiddling About

stole our hearts with her plaid reindeer on her unique snowy background.

Sherri from Sherri's Flip-Floppin' Blog

shared this amazing snowman with these fun sledding mice ... super-cute.

Sandra from Sandma's Handmade Cards

used stamps from three different companies with masking and inking to create this fabulous snowy scene.

Come back at midnight for our annual October cause.

Let is Snow! Let it Snow!

This week we're still asking you create projects that celebrate the white stuff - you know ... SNOW however you like it ... snowballs, snowmen, snowflakes ... you get the picture.

Here's how we played with SNOW this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I made a funky snowy background for my sweet Doodlebug Snowman, using an older Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card stamp and some ancient KI Memories Snowflake Lace Paper on top. I don't think Core'dinations makes that woven-effect cardstock any more (which is a bit of a pity, imo) but I still have a few scraps left and this rich purple/indigo was perfect both for framing my Lawn Fawn sentiment and the snowy panel, as well."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started with the Hero Arts Every Which Way Stencil in two shades of blue Distress Oxide Ink (Speckled Egg & Tumbled Glass). Next I stamped lots of snowflakes from Hero Arts Stacking Snowflakes using Black Ink.  I finished with a snow-filled snow globe from Hero Arts Make Your Own Snow Globe stamped in Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and a sentiment from Stacking Snowflakes."

Dashing through the SNOW

For our next prompt we're asking you create projects that celebrate the white fluffy flakes of snow … it might be snowmen, snowflakes or just snowfall, but include some snow on your cards.

Here's how we got SNOW-y this week.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "This Penny Black Snowman Joy is my favorite snow person.  I feel the same joy when I'm outside feeling snowflakes falling on my face.  I'm a full-on four-seasons gal, but Autumn and Winter are my favorites.  I started with Core'dinations Cardstock that I embossed with Sizzix Winter Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder and then sanded to expose the core.  I sprayed on some iridescent shimmer spray for over all sparkle and then splattered with white acrylic ink after I had attached my snowman and the Penny Black Merry Christmas Sentiment."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Every six months or so, I remember that I own quite a few truly beautiful embossing folders... luckily, this is one of those times. I embossed some dramatic purple Core'dinations cardstock and then sanded it to get a cool two-tone effect. I matted it on purple shimmer paper and then a scrap of one of my favorite (older) Blue Fern Studios "Eclectic Charm" patterned papers from Paper Anthology and stacked my Tattered Snowflakes layers, topped with an Eyelet Outlet XL Snowflake Bling, et voila!"

Link your snowy masterpieces right here, by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, October 6th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-21-20.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Everyone's a Winner...

...when we all play Christmas Tic-Tac-Toe and get some wonderful new cards made! Here are a few that especially caught our eye this time:

Allisa of Rocky Mountain Paper Crafts

...chose the diagonal which included Glitter + Diecuts + Stamping and combined this beautifully stamped and colored floral with a cleverly shaped cut and shimmering inky accents!

Susan B of Cardmaker's Garret

...selected the column to the far right and combined Stamping + Ribbon + Gold in a single, perfectly colored, stamped still life image!

Eliz Stewart of Paper Sweetness

...made a gorgeous CAS card that combines TWO selections: combining both the middle column (Bling + Diecuts + Trees) as well as the bottom row (Glitter + Trees + Gold) with utterly luscious results!

♥♥♥

We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt that we really hope won't leave you cold...

Let's play Christmas Tic-Tac-Toe!

We're still playing Tree Skirt Tic Tac Toe this week.  You have until 6pm EST on Wednesday to join our game; link up in the post directly below this one.

Here's how we played this week:

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I went horizontally across the top with Santa, Bling & Stamping.  I stamped images from Artistic Outpost Snowy Woods onto a piece of purple hand-marbled paper from my stash ... I thought the marbling reminded me of blowing snow.  I finished with two Eyelet Outlet Silver Pearl Bling Swirls across the top that continued with the swirly feel."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "My card which incorporates the central row, with Brads + Diecuts + Ribbon. There's an Eyelet Outlet Poinsettia Brad tucked slightly under the cardinal, as well as a scattering of some red Round Brads; the cardinal and the poinsettia he's perched against constitute my diecuts (they're by Taylored Expressions and Penny Black, respectively) and I've stacked three or four ribbons leftover from an ancient Doodlebug collection.

Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe

This fortnight, we're playing Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe, which is kind of like "Beach Blanket Bingo"... but Christmassy... and with a lot more embellishments!

We'd love for you to join us; all you have to do is pick a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) and create a lovely new holiday card featuring all three elements in that row. There are *lots* of possibilities, so let's get started!

Here's how we played the game this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I went straight down the middle with Bling, Die Cuts & a Tree.  I die cut the Memory Box Marvelous Pine twice from two colors of green cardstock, offsetting slightly for a shadow.  Then I attached it to one of the Alcohol Ink Gel Press Prints from my stash with Stripes (vertical & horizontal) for the current Memory Box Stripes Challenge.  For the bling in this Tic Tac Toe, I used green bling strips from Eyelet Outlet to decorate my tree and then an Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling for the *star* on the top of the tree.  The sentiment is from Memory Box Typewriter Holiday."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Here's yet another time in which (completely without conferring!) great Jingle Belle minds have thought alike, lol! I've also chosen the central column and used Memory Box's Marvelous Pine and Eyelet Outlet Bling, though my card also includes Tim Holtz's Reindeer Flight die and the bling is a Champagne Swirl, taken apart and pieced back together a bit more compactly. My sentiment is an ancient sticker strip; I added a few mats in coordinating colors, plus a tiny bit of machine stitching, and I was all set."

Link your Tic-Tac-Toe masterpieces right here, by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, September 22nd. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-21-19.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter