What's the Good Word?

There were LOTS of good words in our "Text Me" Readers' Gallery, so if you haven't taken a spin through to soak up the inspiration, we highly recommend the trip! Meanwhile, as usual, it was hard to just pick three cards to feature, but here are a few that especially caught our eye:

Brenda B from Brenda's Scraps of Life 

...made an over-sized sentiment the star of the show by embossing it in glittery gold, diecutting it into its own scalloppy panel, then adding just enough embellishment to let it shine!

Tina Z from Treebug

...chose a dynamic brush-lettered text-y patterned paper as a background for a super-cute Santa Shaker and added whimsical red and white fungi to her magical card!

Beverly Sizemore from Bev's Creative Path

...backed a bold diecut Christmas tree with tiny text paper that's beautifully echoed in her background panel and sentiment, with red mats to add definition to each level!

♥♥♥

And now let's see where those gorgeous Memory Box Celeste Snowflake dies 

will be heading out to!

The random number generator has selected 

Lucky Number #13

which means that

Tracy FP

is our Lucky Winner, congrats!

Please email llaurenb @ hotmail (dot) com with your snail mail info, 

so we can get that out to you ASAP!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing every single card and, as always, we were inspired by your amazingly creative ideas! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we think is to DIE for! ;)

Getting TEXT-y With It

This week at Jingle Belles we're still creating Text-y cards - cards that prominently feature some TEXT.

Here's how we got TEXT-y with it this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Stephanie gave me this beautiful Uniko Christmas Block Party Cover Stamp a couple of years ago and I don't use it nearly enough! I stamped it once (in Ranger Jet Black Archival) on plain white cardstock; then re-stamped the Santa, the Merry and the holly leaves on scraps of patterned paper which I fussycut and pieced into the design. I worked in a little more color with markers and pencils, then added a couple of Eyelet Outlet Matte Finish Enamel Dots, lots of tiny White Pearls, and five styles of EO Brads Star, Gift Brad, Pine Tree, Poinsettia and Candy Cane Brad."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I went with another dictionary page this week, this time containing the word Winter and sprayed with Hero Arts.  I die cut the Memory Box Stitched Merry Christmas Square Frame from white cardstock and ink blended some green Distress Inks for the Memory Box ink blending challenge. I finished with a white glittery reindeer and a few clusters of white gems."

Make sure you link-up by 6pm EST on Wednesday for a chance to win a set of Memory Box Celeste Snowflake Trio Dies.

TEXT Me

This fortnight's Jingle Belles theme is TEXT ME – create a holiday card that 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; but bear in mind that just using a small sentiment doesn't count... text of some kind should be the star of the show. 

Get creative with your words and make sure you get TEXTY.

Here are the TEXTs we are sending this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started by spraying a vintage dictionary page (with the word NOEL) with Dina Wakley Evergreen Enamel Gloss Spray.  After it dried, I die cut it with a horizontally positioned stitched rectange.  Next I die cut the Joy Crafts Sketch Art ~ Christmas Tree from dark brown cardstock & then cut the inside of the star with gold glitter paper.  I decorated it with Pinkfresh Studio Sparkle & Shine Glitter Drops in the openings.  I finished with a vintage My Sentiments Exactly! Woodblock I've had since at least 2008 stamped in brown ink and a few Love from Lizi Brown Peel Off Stickers to balance the design before attaching it to a kraft stitched rectangle."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "A couple of weeks ago I used a Memory Box's two-layer Brilliant Joy die set to make holiday card kits for Paper Anthology, and wound up with... I suppose you could say... an excess of joy! I glued them into little stacks of three, so they'd have a little more depth, then used them to create a text-y background on a piece of Photoplay plaid paper, which I augmented with vellum poinsettia stickers, as well as Eyelet Outlet Poinsettia, Cardinal, Cardinal Profile and Female Cardinal Brads. I trimmed a sentiment from a red texty patterned paper (Elle's Studio, I think?) and matted the whole thing on another alphabet-patterned paper from Recollections. It's definitely different from anything I've made recently, but I love how it turned out!"

And we've got a fun little prize for one lucky participant - Memory Box Celeste Snowflake Trio of dies.

Jingle Belles' Text Me challenge runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday evening, February 28th and if you're reading this, you're officially invited to join us! Link your TEXT-y cards right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

It's a Red Letter Day!

What a beautiful (RED!) collection in the Readers' Gallery, if you haven't yet taken a scroll through, we highly recommend the trip and guarantee you'll be as inspired as we were! In the meantime, here are three selections that especially caught our eye this fortnight:

Kate of Cards a la Kate

...worked a red and white color palette gloriously, with a beautiful red-on-red patterned paper background, a perfectly pieced snowperson and even a coordinating sentiment!!!

Gail of What's Normal?

...made a stunning red and gold one-layer CAS creation which proves you don't need to have many elements if they are all perfectly chosen!

Jolanda of The Inque Spot Studio

...incorporated cardstock, embossed cardstock, patterned paper strips and a focal image with lots of red; added hits of teal and white, then arranged it all with the help of a truly FAB sketch!

♥♥♥

We'll be back at Midnight to get the word out about a brand new theme and we'd love for you to join us then!

Snoopy vs. the ♥♥RED♥♥ Baron

We're still Celebrating Rudolph (and the RED Baron) at Jingle Belles this week by creating cards that primarily feature the color RED.

Here is how we created with RED this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I recently got this beautiful Altenew Perfect Poinsettia 3D Embossing Folder at Paper Anthology, and couldn't wait to use it! I embossed the design on watercolor paper, added color by scribbling all my favorite RED Tombow Dual Brush Pens onto my craft mat, then picking them up with a waterbrush and painting the flowers. When the panel was thoroughly dry, I added some RED Metallic Rub-On to make the design stand out even more, with a bit of Sunburst Stickles on the berries. I diecut the sentiment (ancient Hero Arts) from both deep red cardstock and Red Non-Shed Glitter Paper, which I also used to mat the poinsettia panel."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie say, "I started by creating my own background using Red Pan Pastel on my Gelli press and picking up the print with a vibrant pink paint.  I die cut my Impression Obsession Poinsettia from vibrant red cardstock adding a pink gem center.  The finishing touch was a stitched wacky circle and Impress sentiment."

Scroll down to the original post to see the beautiful Readers' Gallery and link up your own card!

Rudolph the RED Nosed Reindeer

This week's Jingle Belles prompt is a color challenge inspired by our friend Rudolph - we're asking you to create holiday cards that primarily feature the color RED (not just a little - we want to see a lot of RED).

Here's how we created with RED this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie Says, "I die cut 1/2" strips from a Recollections paper collection called Peppermint Stripe.  I attached the papers at a slight angle and then topped them with a mug of hot chocolate sticker.  I finished with a Ho Ho Ho sentiment from Impress Holiday Word Set on the mug."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "My card was inspired by a recent sketch from Atlantic Hearts (#561). The challenge has ended, but I fell in love with the distinctive "three triangles" concept and I thank them for the inspiration. All of the elements on top were cut or diecut from various older journal cards and patterned paper: The Santa and background plaid are Authentique; the flowery circles are ancient Basic Grey; the sentiment and holly are American Crafts; and the bold plaid is Simple Stories. This was a quick card to make in a busy week and I'm happy with the result."

♥♥♥

Link your RED masterpieces right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, February 14th. Keyword for galleries and flickr is JB2403.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Old + New = AWESOME!

How wonderful to see so many gorgeous cards featuring your fab new goodies AND incorporating your old favorites as well. It was extra hard to only pick a few to feature, so if you haven't scrolled through the entire Readers' Gallery yet, we highly recommend the trip. In the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

Fabiola of Mon P'tit Monde

...combined this beautiful NEW embossing folder with paint and paper from her stash (plus a lot ofcare and skill applying it!) to make this show-stopping one-layer card!

Jo of Jo Blogs...

...paired adorable new beverage stamps with an older sentiment and a fabulously funky background, to make a sweet card that's got us craving cocoa!

Iona of Crafty Nomad

... used half a dozen colors of well-saved cardstock scraps with her brand new multi-level snowscape die set, then invited an old (snow) friend to be the star of the show.

♥♥♥

Once again we have to say how much we loved seeing ALL of your clever crafty creations, so if you haven't scrolled down to see them, you definitely should! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we think miiiiight have you seeing red... but you know... in a good way! ;)