Neutral Noel

This fortnight we're asking you to create holiday cards which embrace only the neutral color palette – white, cream, ivory, ecru, silver, gold, black, gray, charcoal, obsidian, brown, tan, kraft, camel, oatmeal, sienna (you get the picture). If you're feeling limited by lack of color, why not think texture? There's burlap, jute, paper bags, cork, chalkboards, sandpaper or lace... Use them all together or chose one hue and rock the monochromatic design  as long as it's NEUTRAL it's in.

Here's what we made for our Neutral Noel:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a piece of upcycled Tim Holtz packaging on an ivory cardbase, and then I built my collage from there with lots of neutral bits and bobs. I finished with some Eyelet Outlet Black Pearl Swirl Bling and a neutral poinsettia."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I raided my well-hoarded stash of Ciao Bella's Snow and the City papers (from Paper Anthology a couple of winters ago) from which I took the bokeh paper, the brick paper and tag, and I was even able to make my focal point by punching a circle from one of the thumbnail pictures on the collection's cover sheet. I mixed in a fabric poinsettia, Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling, some Pavilio White Lace Tape, a Tim Holtz sticker sentiment and lots (seriously LOTS!) of distressing and machine stitching."

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Link your Neutral Noel masterpieces right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, August 9th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB2316.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Hats Off to Santa

And hats off to everyone who participated in the Santa's Hat challenge, for which the cards were particular creative and wonderful. Here are just a few that especially caught our eye:

Donna Scholz of Devised by Donna

...discovered she had NO stamps or dies featuring a santa hat, so she made her own from appropriately fuzzy fabrics and made it the star of her gorgeous CAS card!

Meghan of Made By Meghan K

...made this sweet baby polar bear's santa hat the one eye-catching spot of color on her elegant monochromatic card!

(Bonus Points for the super-cool use of paper clips!)

Carrie Sheridan of Carrie's Custom Cards

...made quite a few cards, all of which are well worth hopping over to have a look at; on this one, she cleverly added a Santa Hat to the sentiment strip of  fabulous grid-style card.

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And now it's time to award our fun little prize:

The Random Number Generator has selected (drumroll, please)...

 Lucky Number #43

which means that Susan of Cardmaker's Garret is our lucky winner!

please send your snail mail info to llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com 

and we'll get that out to you ASAP!

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Many thanks to everyone who participated in this challenge, and to all who joined us for our special Christmas in July festivities. A special shout-out goes to the lovely ladies at the Double Trouble Challenge Blog for teaming up with us this month and adding even more inspiration to the mix!

As always, we'll be back with a brand new prompt at Midnight; if your Mojo is in neutral, we'll help you rev it up a bit!

Santa's Hat: Week Two

We're still joining our friends at the Double Trouble Challenge this week by making cards that feature a Santa Hat.

Here's how we showcased our Santa Hats this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "When it comes to critters who can wear an Eyelet Outlet Santa Hat Brad (or an Elf Hat!) most adorably, it's gotta be hard to beat Pretty Pink Posh's Holiday Pals, right? Plus, it was an excellent excuse to do a bit of coloring and use a very cool sketch I saw online."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I couldn't resist dressing-up the cute little bear from Gina K. Designs Woodland Friends in a big Santa Hat (to join her Christmas in July Monthly Mix challenge)."

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Scroll down to the original Santa's Hat Post to see the Readers' Gallery and find the Link Up... plus take a peek at the little prize one lucky random cardmaker will receive just for linking up with us!

Santa's Hat

The newest Jingle Belles prompt is to create a card that features a Santa Hat... it might be on Santa himself, or you might want to dress-up another person or creature in a Santa Hat. Possibly you'll even want to make a card that's shaped like Santa's Hat? There are quite a few possibilities. Whatever you choose, after you link with us, remember to head over to the Double Trouble Challenge Blog and link up there, as well, where Christmas in July continues through the end of the month!

Meanwhile, here's how the Belles created with Santa Hats this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I chose to dress-up Taylored Expressions Big Grumpy Cat with a Santa Hat, Cocoa, Candy Cane & grumpy holiday sentiment from Taylored Expressions Big Grumpy - Christmas.  I used the layout from Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers (BYSHC) and papers from Dress My Craft Christmas Bells and Fancy Pants Cookies for Kringle.  I'm also linking-up at the Caffeinated Christmas Stars Challenge.

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I chose to start with a cute fussy-cut image of Santa wearing his hat... and then I built out into a sort of collagey card with lots of smaller circles, squares and wordfetti, in an attempt to polish off a few ancient sticker sheets and scraps of paper."

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As our Christmas in July celebration continues, again we have a sweet little prize for one randomly selected cardmaker who links up with us this time:

Link your Santa Hat card creations here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, July 26th; then head on over to the Double Trouble Challenge and link up there, as well!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Rockin' the Stars and/or Stripes

We've had a bumper crop of starry and/or striped holiday masterpieces this fortnight, so if you haven't cruised through the Readers' Gallery yet, we highly recommend the trip. Meanwhile, here are just a few cards that especially caught our attention:

Melanie H of Cards by Melanie

...not only incorporated both stars AND stripes with her adorable, beverage-loving polar bear; she's done them in red, white and blue! 

R Kokes of Slow Down, Enjoy and Create Part 2

...featured a star with stripes as part of a 100% hand-created scene that makes her super-cute fish and punny sentiment shine all the more!

Sandy J of Adventures of a Stamping Writer

...is sporting a bold border of stripes in traditional Christmas colors of red and green which sets off her pretty tree and festive sentiment perfectly!

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And now to find out where that fun pair of Pebbles Holiday Clear Stamp Sets will be winging off to! The Random Number generator has selected...

Lucky #27

which means that

Meghan of Made by Meghan K is our Lucky Winner!

Meghan, please send your smail mail info to llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com and your prize will be on its way ASAP!

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We'll be back at Midnight with a new prompt, additional inspiration and the second half of our month-long team up with the Double Trouble Challenge Blog!

Stars or Stripes... or Both? (Week Two)

We're back for another week with our friends at the Double Trouble Challenge creating with Stars and/or Stripes. You don't have to use red, white & blue, but we're asking you to use either stars or stripes (or both if you're feeling like an over-achiever).

And we also have a prize for one lucky (randomly selected) participant.

Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I've gone a bit wild this time: my card features diecut stars that are striped; some tapes that are starry and some that are striped; ancient silver star brads and enamel star stickers; even my sentiment strip is striped! Plus there are some adorable Lawn Fawn bunnies and birds, which aren't really based on the theme but they're super cute, right?"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I went with both stars & stripes again this week.  I started with silver star stickers on a striped gel printed background.  I combined a coffee cup sticker with a sentiment from STAMPlorations Caffeinated Christmas and more silver stars for the Caffeinated Christmas Stars Challenge. I used papers and a little tag from Doodlebug Designs Night Before Christmas."

Link your card(s) at our original Jingle Belles post; then be sure to head over to the Double Trouble Challenge Blog to link again for a chance at another fun prize!