Ring the Bells for the Belles

We're still creating holiday cards featuring Bells this week, and we'd love for you to join us.

Here's how the Belles rang the Bells:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This holiday bell sticker was the last in a pack from... ok, I confess it's so old I don't know WHERE it came from, but it was perfect to pair with this bell-themed Simple Stories journal card plus papers from Basic Grey and Authentique. There are some Eyelet Outlet Poinsettia and Holly Brads to add texture and interest; plus those golden mats are a bit shimmery in real life!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I went with a little Jingle Belles snark using Unity Stamp Company Bells & Holly with a sentiment from Tim Holtz Snarky Cat Christmas." 

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Remember, you have until 6pm EST on Wednesday to link-up and join the fun. Everyone who does will have a shot at this sweet little Bell-centric prize! 

Christmas Bells those Christmas Bells

This fortnight we're asking you to break out your Bells for the Belles and create a card that includes some sort of bell.

Here's how the Belles used Bells this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I die cut lots of Impression Obsession Jingle Bells from silver metallic cardstock and used some foam tape under some to create dimension on my purple glitter paper card base.  I used a sentiment from Kristina Werner's Merry Trees stamp set to finish the design."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I got out my Impression Obsession Retro Ornaments die set (because one of the ornaments is bell-shaped) as well as my tan/gold/neutral scraps folder and had a lot of fun putting together a set of sparkly ornaments, dangling from pearl bling. And what could be a better background for a bell-themed card than a re-sized color copy of the sheet music for "Jingle Bells"?!

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And now, how about an appropriately Bell-related prize that one lucky cardmaker is going to score, just for linking up with us this fortnight? It's Honey Bee's Layering Holiday Bells die set; Memory Box's 6x6 Madras Plaid paper pad and Spellbinders' Winter Wonderland Sentiment diecuts.

Link your Bell-centric creations right here. JB2510: Christmas Bells, Those Christmas Bells runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 21st.

True Colors

It seems we were not the only ones who felt extra-inspired by that fun Ornamental Color Challenge, so if you haven't had a scroll through the Readers' Gallery we highly recommend the trip. In the meantime, here are three takes that especially caught our eye:

Liz Williams of Old Right Brain Madness

...found the PERFECT patterned paper to capture the colors and a very handsome reindeer portrait to be the focal point on this marvelously mailable design!

Tina Z of Treebug

...handcolored this bell-issima embossing folder with the perfect shades of Distress Inks and impressively combined several challenges flawlessly!

Becca Yahrling who posts on Flickr

...made two very cool cards, both of which are shout-out worthy, and almost too close to call, but the embossed orange mat on this one was what took it over the top, in our opinion! 

♥♥♥

And now we'd all like to know where this very fun die is heading, right?! 

Well, the Random Number Generator chose Lucky #3 which means that Liz Williams of Old Right Brain Madness is our Lucky Winner! Liz, please send your snail mail info to llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com and we'll get that headed out to you ASAP. Congrats and Yay, You! ♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing all of your beautiful, festive cards. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will get your creative bells-a-ringing! ;)

Colors of Christmas

We're still creating cards using our Ornamental Color Challenge this week.  We ask that you use at least three of the five colors to create your card.

Here is how we got colorful this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week, I was inspired by the inspiration photo itself, so I made an ink-blended background using Distress Oxide Inks in the shades closest (imo) to the top three colors in the palette: Uncharted Mariner, Broken China and Speckled Egg. Then I embossed the panel using Spellbinders' Forevergreen e/f and flicked some watered down Liquid Pearls (in White Opal and Gold Pearl) on top. I made a large snowflake stack to stand in for the fancy bauble in the photo and finished the whole thing with some clear gems that look a bit like the bokeh fairy lights."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "Since I leaned heavier into the teal/blues last week, I decided to start with the darkest coppery/orange that I skipped last week.  I cut 3/8" strips from the next three colors and positioned them horizontally.  I'm joining Amy T for her Woodblock Wednesday using a one of my favorite woodblock Savvy Snowman paired with a woodblock Memory Box sentiment."

And remember, one lucky random participant will receive this fun Yay You Die Cut by CZ Design, so link-up by 6pm EST on Wednesday, May 7th.

Ornamental Color Challenge

We have a marvelous Ornamental Color Challenge for you this time. We're asking you to make a card featuring at least THREE of the five colors in the palette below.

Here's how we got colorful this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I used four of the five colors this week in my layout using this week's Sketch Saturday layout and Jolly Holiday Greetings from Concord & 9th.  Colors are Concord & 9th as well - Rainforest, Peacock, Powder & Sorbet."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "As I was puzzling over what I wanted to make, it suddenly occurred to me that one of the things I liked in the inspiration pic is the sidebar with the colors stacked together. I was pretty sure I had scraps of cardstock in all of those colors, and sure enough I did! I found the sentiment on a mini journal card and diecut a Hero Arts Snowflake Cluster from glossy white cardstock to emphasize the winter/holiday aspect."

♥♥♥

We will choose one lucky participant to win this fun little Yay You die cut by CZDesign for Simon Says Stamp.

Just a reminder, you needn't use ALL five colors of the palette, we'd just like to see three; though as you can tell, we both had fun using the entire set! JB2509: Ornamental Color Challenge runs until 6pm (Eastern) on the evening of Wednesday, May 7th. Link your cards right HERE:

Remarkable Recycling

There was not a huge turnout for our annual Earth Day Recycling Challenge, but the shortfall in quantity was more than made up for by the over-abundance of brilliant and beautiful ideas! To celebrate, here's a recap of all the fabulous entrants:

Susan B of Cardmaker's Garret

...took the ubiquitous and humble corrugated coffee sleeve, added a little shimmery white paint and instantly had the perfect snowy backdrop for her gorgeous neutral-palette greeting. 

Jolanda Johnstone of The Inque Spot Studio

...speaking of coffee, Jolanda upcycled a vibrant holiday card to make her holiday beverage SNOW much fun! Bonus points for that fabulous fancy fold, as well!

Deb of Sendable Sentiments

...saved the festive red ribbon from a floral arrangement and made it the star of her CAS (but infinitely textural!) card! Love that cool wooden snowflake, too!

Deanne of A Little Bit o' Paper

...rescued two amazing ornaments from a holiday card she received last year, then really set the scene of a Christmas tree by adding hangers, floral toppers and evergreen branches!

Gail L of What's Normal?

...got back a bunch of her own handmade cards when helping a loved one downsize, and thus was able to reuse and upcycle her own designs! How cool is THAT?! 

Fabiola of Mon P'tit Monde

...added lots of texture and detail to various paper scraps and even diecut that beautiful tree from the perfect "leftover" of festive holiday paper!

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Many thanks for playing along! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt that we hope will suit your holiday cardmaking palette! ;)

recycle... reuse... and JINGLE!

We're still celebrating EARTH Day at Jingle Belles this week by creating cards featuring recycled materials.

Here is how we recycled, reused & Jingled this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "If someone hands me a present wrapped in beautiful paper which has a smooth, un-wrinkled, un-taped area that's card-sized or larger, I will (surprise!) be saving that giftwrap! I like to immediately back it with lightweight cardstock and store it with my regular patterned paper. This card has two such saves from Xmas 2024: the white snowflake background piece, and the torn tan snowflake piece. The snowglobe is a dimensional sticker which was part of a gift tag. In addition to these recycled items, I've got a scrap of lace, a bit of washi tape, part of an embossed snowflake panel and a couple of diecut snowflakes. The "joy" sentiment was cut from a larger dimensional embellishment, because it was the perfect size, color and vibe for this card."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "What can I say ... when a theme works I repeat it.  This week's card features a Puffs tissue box.  Since Puffs puts their logo in the corner rather than the center, a stitched circle made the most sense to get as much of that lovely floral holiday pattern as possible.  I used two smaller stitched circles to pull in some more of those white blooms.  I attached it all to more K & Company packaging and added a Simon Says Stamp CZ Design Merry & Bright sentiment & snowflakes die cut from scraps of a GelliArts print and vellum that were small enough to likely be headed to the recycling.  And to stay with the theme of last week's card, I added more of those delicious Concord & 9th Enamel Dots.  I love this unexpected  color combination for a holiday card."

Remember, you have until 6pm EST on Wednesday to link-up and join the EARTH Day fun.

Peace on EARTH DAY

It's time for one of the Jingle Belles' favorite holidays... (apart from Christmas, of course!) ...Earth Day.  

Our EARTH DAY prompt each year is all about RECYCLING ... and we'd like you to create a holiday card that features re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements.  You know you've got that stash of things that you saved because they were just too pretty to throw away ... break them out and create with them.

In the past we've used everything from Kleenex Boxes & Soda Cans to Gift Wrap and we *always* have a lot of fun making our own cards and admiring yours!

Here's how we recycled this year:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "My card started by using a stitched rectangle die cut on part of a Kleenex tissue box.  Next I found a piece of K & Company packaging that made the perfect card base.  Finally, I found a recycled calendar tile in my stash to cover the Kleenex logo and finished with Concord & 9th Enamel Dots."

Lauren's Card(s)

Lauren says, "In December, we received an advertising mailer from a local bank that was about 5x9", made of sturdy cardstock, and bright teal with beautifully dimensional-looking snowflakes on it; so OF COURSE I saved it. Later that month, a second and third mailer arrived and I put those aside too. And here they are, trimmed down and paired with a plaid from Dare 2B Artzy's Snow Much Fun collection. I added strips of foil washi tape; the last two sentiment stickers in an ancient pack; plus some red metallic poinsettias and TA-DA!"

♥♥♥

JB2508: Peace on EARTH DAY will run until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 23rd. Link your newly made holiday card(s) featuring at least one re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled element right here:

One-Layer Wonders!

Some people (aka Lauren!) find the single layer holiday card design extremely challenging, but a quick look at our Flat Feliz Navidad Readers' Gallery proves that it's an art form in which some crafters positively excel! We highly recommend taking a little journey to check out all of them, but in the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye this time:

Imke Ludwig of My Crafty Place

...illustrates that not only does she not need more than a single layer; she only needs three colors... black, white and Christmas red... to make a showstopper of a CAS card!

Darnell of DJ Kard Kreations

...went vertical with an beautiful multicolor snowflake stencil set that cascades down the side and right "over the edge"... in a very very GOOD way!

Helen of Helen's Craft Haven

...used a kraft background to make her perfectly colored, adorable, joyful House Mouse stand out even more. Bonus points awarded for that amazing reflection in the patch of ice!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, as always, we enjoyed seeing every single one of your creative and beautiful designs; and those of us who are "flat card challenged" (again... LAUREN!) have bookmarked quite a few of them for future reference! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will put you in the mood to treasure your "trash"! ;)

One Layer Christmas

We're still celebrating Flat Feliz at Jingle Belles by making one-layer Christmas Cards.

Here's what we made for week two:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I'm a little obsessed with had Simon Hurley's create Sketched Snowmen stamp set and Simon's Dye Inks from Ranger. Luckily these were perfect for watercoloring the images and background. I embossed the snowmen and sentiment in black; then embossed the snowflakes in white; colored everything in... et voila! I confess that while I love how it came out, my natural instinct is still to make this a panel on a layered card with machine-stitching and maybe some brads, but I'm resisting. (For now!)"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started by stamping the Gina K. Designs Graphic Tree in white pigment ink and embossing with white embossing powder.  Then I painted Green shimmer paint over the top of the tree.  Once it dried, I added a sentiment from the same Graphic Tree and positioned it to look like the trunk of the tree.  I finished by blending Gina K. Designs Medium Spruce ink around the edges."

Flat Feliz Navidad

This fortnight we're embarking upon that most challenging of challenges (at least for Lauren, lol!); it is generally called the One Layer Card; though some folks refer to it as the No Layer Card. 

What does that mean? It means your entire design is flat... your elements get stamped, drawn, embossed, etc, directly onto the cardbase; so basically you're not taping or gluing ANY additional papers/diecuts/layers to that base. We're looking (as the title implies) for completely FLAT cards this time. Are you up for the challenge? Great! Here we go:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started by using a torn piece of typing paper as an inking mask creating three shades of Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide Ink (start at the bottom and then keeping inking over the whole space to keep the bottom darker than the top).  Next I stamped two Memory Box Sentiments and the Memory Box Holiday Greenery Stamp.  I used alcohol markers to color the greenery, turning part of the leaves into a poinsettia.  I added a few extra berries & a leaf to finish.  I colored out of the lines a bit, so I just embraced that coloring style ... sort of like the fill stamps that are meant to be a bit off from the base image."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "This is NOT my natural metier, but I'm always up for a challenge! Starting with a white 5.5" square card, I taped off all four edges with low-tack washi, then broke out the awesome Wendy Vecchi Build-a-Plaid Layered Stencil Set from Spellbinders to create a diagonal Christmassy plaid in Archival Inks of the red, green and gold variety. I added some of Hero Arts' Winter Foliage Rub-On Transfer poinsettias and foliage as well as a rub-on sentiment from another set of HA Rubs called Holiday Messages. I like the way you can very very faintly see the plaid inking underneath the transfers AND the fact that this baby is even flatter than the average credit card bill, which will be such an advantage when I hit the post office in December!"

♥♥♥

Link your newly made One/No Layer holiday card(s) right here! JB2507: Flat Feliz Navidad runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 9th.

Going Green

Spring has sprung and the only things more beautiful than the budding leaves outside are the Grinchly Green holiday cards in our Readers Gallery. We highly recommend taking a little time to check out all of them, but in the meantime, here are three that especially caught our eye this fortnight.

Tina Z of Treebug

...combined a green-gloved Santa in a green candy car, driving through a gorgeous green patterned paper landscape!

Gail L of What's Normal

...stitched this gorgeous and intricate bauble with green metallic thread, added a bold green bow, and mounted the panel on a green embossed foil mat... et voila!

Marianne of Marianne's Cards 'n Stuff

...went impressively minimal with just one simple, perfect, Geometric Tree stenciled in two perfectly chosen shades of green for CAS card perfection! 

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And now let's find out which cardmaker be getting a little more "Green On" 

when this adorable PoppyStamps holiday tree die set lands in their mailbox! 

The Random Number Generator has chosen

Lucky #9

which means Jolanda Johnstone of The Inque Spot Studio is our winner!

Please send your snail mail info to

llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com 

so we can get those sweet dies on their way!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to all who participated, as always, we enjoyed seeing every single one of your creative and beautiful designs. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will make you want to work flat out to join the fun! ;)

I'm Dreaming of a GREEN Christmas

We're still getting our Grinch on, by making predominently green holiday cards. Here's how we showcased our green this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I went a bit collagey, and if you say the words, "collage" and "green" to me in the same sentence, I immediately think about my stash of vintage S&H Greenstamps, obviously. (Thank you, Stephanie!) These have been layered over a 4x6" piece of 49 and Market's Spectrum Sherbet Lace Washi, to which I added a strip of drywall tape, some Eyelet Outlet Silver Pearl Swirl Bling and the diecut tree (Sizzix Christmas Tree #2) made of torn and layered scraps of green cardstock that I stumbled upon in the diecuts box last week. Some edge distressing, a sage green mat and a bit of machine stitching complete the design."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie Says, "I've been making my way through another Gelliarts gel print a day month, so I have lots of prints for creating at my disposal.  I cut numerous green prints into 3/8" strips and created a quilt background.  Then to help tie them together, I embossed the panel using an old quilt-like texture embossing folder.  To finish the card, I added this sweet little chef in green from Fancy Pants cookies for Kringle Ephemera."

And the Luck of the Green will be with one lucky participant who will receive a brand new Nordic Dimple Trees Die set by PoppyStamps.

Get Your Grinch On

This fortnight we're asking you to Get Your Grinch On, which means we're celebrating our friend the Grinch by creating cards that are predominantly GREEN (and bonus points if you throw in a Grinch too).

Here's how we're showing our GREEN this week.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a fun green polka dot card base.  Next I matted a tag from Doodlebug Designs Candy Cane Lane with a link layer of blue to match the present and give a big of contrast to the background.  I added some glittery silver ribbon, a tie of lime twine, and a tiny bit of red bling for the gingerbread man's button.  I finished by using foam tape to add the tag for a bit of dimension."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I started with a (seemingly firm) plan that involved a Christmas Tree layered with about six different shades of torn green cardstock. But then... I found this little quartet of adorability on a sheet of journal cards and the next thing I knew my card had four snowmen, two green polka dot papers, three EO Snowflake Brads and eight washi tapes. Because that's the way I roll, lol. (Not to worry, I can make the other card for next week!)"

♥♥♥

And the Luck of the Green will be with one lucky participant who will receive a brand new Nordic Dimple Trees Die set by PoppyStamps.

JB2506: Get Your Grinch On runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday evening, March 26th. Link as many newly made, mostly GREEN holiday cards as you'd like to, right here:

BLING It On!

What's sparkly and shimmery and absolutely awesome? Every single one of the cards in the Bling On the Holidays Readers' Gallery, of course! If you haven't already treated yourself to the inspiration therein, we highly recommend the trip. Meanwhile, here are three cards that especially caught our eye this time:

Susan B of Cardmaker's Garret

...used multiple shades of green pigment powders and a stencil to create her gorgeous multicolor branches of holly; then framed them in red and added loads of beautiful, blingy berries!

Becca S of Becca's Quest for Love and Country Creativity

...built a wonderous winter landscape set under a snowy sky full of glistening snowflakes and pearly accents; surrounded by a pristine snowfall of glittery acrylic paint!

Deanne Saunders of A Little Bit o' Paper

...stacked a constellation's worth of blue and golden diecuts, added lots (& LOTS!) of glorious glitter et voila... a shaped card that shines as brightly as the stars it resembles!

♥♥♥♥♥

Here's a badge, if you'd like one!

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing ALL of your cards! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we think might find you GREEN with envy! ;)