Friday, June 12, 2026

One Layer Wonderland

We're still creating for the Flat Feliz Navidad theme ... one layer cards for the win.

Here is how we created flat this week:


Lauren says, "This week, I got out my Simon Hurley Bold Holiday Blooms background stamp. It’s one of the great Ranger "Peel Apart" stamps that you can use either as a whole 6x6 background; or remove some of the flowers out and stamp them on their own; which is what I’ve done this time. I stamped the big poinsettias in Simon’s Prom Queen Stellar Ink; and stamped the smaller ones in Rosy Cheeks. I stamped the big poinsettias in Simon’s Prom Queen Stellar Ink; and stamped the smaller ones in Rosy Cheeks. I’ve got a small branch from Penny Black’s Nature’s Garlands set; and a sentiment from Taylored Expressions’ Flip the Snowflake set. When I finished stamping, I added some big and small dots with my Zig Dot Markers, et voila! Job done."


Stephanie says, "I started by Die Cutting the next-to-the-largest Star from Hero Arts 5-Point Star Infinity Dies from lightweight cardstock.  I placed the mask over my ivory card base and blended two colors of yellow and one orange Distress Oxide Ink and then splattered some water for a bit more visual interest.  I stoped the large sentiment from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Bold Tidings 3 in black ink and finished with a few holly leaves & berries from Hero Arts Greetings Christmas Messages."

♥♥♥

Scroll down to the original post to link YOUR Fabulous Flat cards; this challenge runs until next Wednesday evening, June 17th.

Friday, June 5, 2026

Flat Feliz Navidad

With this fortnight's Flat Feliz Navidad prompt, we are asking that you make a one layer (or some call it "no layer") card ... which means that everything should be directly on the card base, with no additional layers on top of that. 

If you're not sure, you can't go wrong by avoiding taping or gluing anything on! We're looking for completely flat cards this time!

Here's how we were FLAT this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "My card layers two stencils from Kristina Werner's Simple Christmas Stencil Pack.  I used the all-over diamond stencil first in Speckled Egg Distress Oxide. Next, I rotated the stencil and used Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide.  I stenciled the words on top using three different colors of Distress Oxide Inks - Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet and Villainous Potion.  I finished my single layer by blending more Seedless Preserves on the edges."



Lauren says, "As everyone who knows me even a tiny bit will realize, this is NOT my forte. I'm the queen of lumpy, bumpy, multi-layered (and then let's mat those layers!) cards. So yes, I did a lot of surfing, googling and scrolling to get ideas. And I confess that it took me more than one (!!!) try. But, eventually, I broke out the uber-cute bears (& small sentiment) from Simon Hurley's create. Skating By Stamp Set and stamped everything in Ranger's Jet Black Archival. I colored the bears with Prismacolor Pencils and added a tiny bit of Cry Baby Stellar Ink to the curve of the pond's edge, then toned it down just a little with Shadow Grey Archival. I stamped just a couple of Simon's Peel Apart Stitched Snowflakes (sadly out of print) in the sky and then forced myself to call it a day before I was tempted to add... well... lumpy, bumpy, layery things lol."

♥♥♥

JB2612: Flat Feliz Navidad runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, June 17th, and YOU are invited to link up with us... if you dare!!! ♥

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thursday, June 4, 2026

Ombre Wonderful

There are some amazingly lovely and very clever cards in the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend a little scroll through all of the fine ombre inspiration. But before you go, here are three cards that especially caught our eye this time:


...stenciled green ombre holly leaves with red ombre berries; added a gorgeously blended green ombre mat; and while her stripey sentiment might not technically be true ombre, it's a delightful little extra wink at the prompt!


...didn't just incorporate a soft pink ombre background; her stenciled tree blends two shades of texture paste that constitute a second gorgeous ombre which contrasts beautifully!


...kept a solid white background, but ombred her lovely evergreen frame from palest chartreuse to a lovely pine; then added golden branches for a bit of sheen on top!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing all of your brilliant takes on ombre. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will leave you feeling FLAT-out inspired! ;)

Friday, May 29, 2026

The Ombré and the Ivy

We're still creating in an Ombré Wonderland this week at Jingle Belles ... creating cards with wonderful blends of color.

Here's how we blended this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I've taken the ultimate ombre short cut: I've diecut my tiny trees from paint chip color cards! My Perfect Pearls background has a bit of gradient to it... radiating outwards from the center; whether it's actually ombre is up for debate, but I thought it made a nice "sky" for my funky scene. I cut some snowy hills from sheet music and diecut my sentiment from another Perfect Pearls experiment that has a beautiful shade of blue so soft you admittedly can't actually see it in the photo. Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads and Sticky Back Pearl Bling adorn the sky; a skinny blue mat and some machine stitching complete the design."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week my card started with Ombré designer paper from Pinkfresh Studio: The Simple Things collection.  I topped it with a rainbow of snowflakes and coordinating tree from Doodlebug Design.  I finished with a Pinkfresh Studio Holiday Sentiment Ephemera."

JB2611: Ombre Wonderland runs until the evening of Wednesday, June 3rd. Link up your Ombre card(s) today on the original post... directly below this one.

Friday, May 22, 2026

Ombré Wonderland

This fortnight we're asking you to walk in an Ombré Wonderland with us ... creating a card that features an Ombré blend. Ombré is literally French for "shaded" ... a gradient effect where colors smoothly blend into each other, usually transitioning from light to dark or between different hues.

Here is how we got colorful this week.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started by blending four shades of Green Distress Ink to create my Ombré ink blend. Next, I die cut the Memory Box Marvelous Pine and blended a bit more ink for a higher contrast from bottom to top.  I decorated my tree with pearls and added a star on top. I used the Pinkfresh Studio Notched Corner Frame with Tim Holtz Idea-ology Red Paper. I used a solid red from the same paper collection and ink blended darker ink along the bottom to get an Ombré ink blend on my background.  I finished with Merry Christmas sticker sentiment."


Lauren says, "When I found a white-embossed snowflake panel in my UFOs box, I immediately knew it'd make the perfect start to an ombre emboss/resist background. I blended four shades of Simon Hurley pink inks (Piggyback, Rosy Cheeks, Stupid Cupid and Prom Queen) over the embossing; added some Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads and then loaded on lots of adorable Doodlebug Design stickers. Job done!"

JB2611: Ombre Wonderland runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, June 3rd. Link your OMBRE cards right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thursday, May 21, 2026

Snow Far, Snow Good!

It's been unseasonably hot here in the Northeastern USA, and thus the brilliant job you've all done on snowy cards is especially appreciated. If you've not yet checked out the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend a little scroll through all of the fine and frozen inspiration! In the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:


...added the snowy theme to a softly beautiful Country Christmas vibe; and the result is exponentially more lovely!


...embraced a navy and white color palette and let her intricate (but un-fussy) diecuts take center stage in this triumph of CAS simplicity!


...created the illusion of a complete snowy landscape with just clever inking, a scattering of tiny snowflake diecuts, and perfect placement of those handsome reindeer!

♥♥♥

And now it's time to award that fun little SNOWY prize!


The Random Number Generator has selected
Lucky #18
which means that
is our lucky winner, congratulations!
Please send your snail mail info to
llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com
so we can get that in the mail ASAP!

Many thanks to all who participated. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will delight all of the mujers y (h)ombres aqui!

Friday, May 15, 2026

Walking in a SNOWY Wonderland

We're still creating cards that feature snow this week and we'd love for you to join us. In the meantime, here's how we walked in a SNOWY wonderland.

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "One of my favorite "specialty" mandalas to draw is a Snowflake Mandala. So of course, when I realized we were featuring SNOW this fortnight, I knew this would be the perfect time for the first one of 2026. I made a nice inky background with some of my favorite blue Archival Ink shades, dried it thoroughly, and then drew lots of snowflakes with a Letter It Fineliner. I added details with a few blue markers and finally put additional white in there with a Posca Pen. Since the design is quite busy already, when I turned my mandala panels into cards, I only added bright blue mats, a chunky (sparkly!) sentiment and some small Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling."  



Stephanie says, "I started by embossing white cardstock with the Penny Black Geometric Embossing Folder, which I thought sort of looked like tiny snowflakes.  Next I added a lovely snowy scene from Penny Black Masterpieces Made Simple Home for Christmas that I framed with red cardstock that I cut using the Penny Black Stitches of Love Creative Frame Dies.  I added a green frame with designer paper whose plaid pattern repeated the embossed design.  I finished with a sentiment from Penny Black Banner Sentiments."

♥♥♥

And remember, one lucky participant will receive this fun snowy gift. All you need to do is link up a SNOW-centric card (or more than one, if the snowy spirit moves you!) on the original post and wait to see if the Random Number Generator picks your digit! Winner to be announced on the Shout Outs Post, Thursday, May 21st. 

Friday, May 8, 2026

Dashing Through the Snow

For our next Jingle Belles 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 are dashing through the snow this week.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started by cutting the entire Kristina Werner Snow Flurries Dies from Lawn Fawn Pixie Dust sparkle cardstock.  After I positioned them on my glittery purple textured handmade paper card base, I went back and cut two of the smaller snowflakes a second time to fill in the remaining space.  I finished with a stamped sentiment from the Kristina Werner Snowflake Season Easy Repeat Background Stamp set attached with foam tape for dimension.  It's really card to capture in a photo, but the all-over glittery sparkle is magnificent."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I still have a few well-hoarded Penny Black Masterpieces Made Simple journal-style cards and this one fit the prompt perfectly. I gave Scrapaholics' Elegant Frame a quick coat of white Dina Wakley MEdia Acrylic Paint, added it to my snowscape, adorned the whole thing with Eyelet Outlet 1.5" Snowflake Bling (the same as in our little blog candy prize pack!) and popped the whole thing onto a piece of Photoplay's Solids + paper with earth-toned snowflakes, et voila!"

♥♥♥

But wait, there's more:

One random lucky participant will receive this fun snowy prize package, just for linking their newly made snowy card(s) with us this fortnight!

 (PS: Just in case you don't win or can't wait, please note that ALL Eyelet Outlet Bling selections are currently on clearance for just $1.00 each... while supplies last!)

♥♥♥

JB2610: Dashing Through the Snow runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 20th. Link up your own snow-centric design(s) right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thursday, May 7, 2026

Earth Day Beauties

Many thanks to everyone who joined in out Earth Day challenge to re-use, re-cycle or up-cycle an element. We always love seeing your clever ideas. Here are three that especially caught our eye:


... made this adorable Santa & Girl paper drinks coaster the centerpiece of her gorgeous vintage-style card!


...saved the cool fabric band off of her new cozy blanket and used it as an element in this adorable multi-textured card!


...tried out a fabulous new-to-us format called the Eclipse Technique, to re-use an especially beautiful square gift-card holder on her super-charming card!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to all who participated! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will make you say, "Snow far... snow good!" ;)

Friday, May 1, 2026

Christmas Down to EARTH (Day)

We're back for round two of our EARTH DAY prompt featuring RECYCLING, where 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 up-cycled this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "A couple of years ago, I bought this fun yeti gift wrap. I used most of it to wrap presents; but whenever I had scraps, I saved however many intact yeti photos there were, backed them with cardstock, and set them aside to fussycut and use on cards. The grey paper with stars came as a free gift with a craft magazine. (Not exactly recycling, but a sort of related field, I feel.) This is definitely not the fanciest card I've ever made, but it makes me smile! Also it's flattish and flexible, which means I can mail it for a reasonable price. So I'm callin' it a WIN!"


Stephanie says, "I started with this recycled front cut from a vintage holiday card using a stitched die cut.  Next I framed it in red and layered it on top of a piece from a tissue box and a piece of crafty packaging that covered the card front.  I finished with a stamped sentiment from Kristina Werner Pretty Poinsettias."

♥♥♥

Scroll down to the original post to link your card(s) and heck out the fabulous Readers' Gallery. JB2609: Peace on EARTH DAY runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 6th.

Friday, April 24, 2026

Peace on EARTH DAY

Those of you who have followed us over the years know that we have a special place in our hearts for EARTH DAY.


So our EARTH DAY prompt each year has been 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 got EARTH=y this week.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I have a spot in my gift closet where I save all of the packaging bits from the year that look like they have potential for future cards.  This one combines an image die cut from one of last year's holiday cards together with a stiched square cut from Tim Holtz Idea-ology packaging (I swear he makes it with the intent of it finding it's way into a design).  I positioned it on a red glitter card base to pull out the foiled red metallic shimmer in my image.  I finished with a Taylored Expressions Simple Strips - Christmas that was already assembled on a mat in my UFO box."


Lauren says, "I was lucky enough to get not one but TWO Amazon giftcards in December that came in these adorable reindeer-bedecked holders, so OF COURSE my first thought was, "I'm making these into cards" which... as you can see... I did! I cut off the logo-ed flaps and used Tim Holtz wordfetti style stickers to cover up the slot in the middle which held the flap closed. The design was already so cute that I only added a few diecut snowflakes, my favorite Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads and some mats.The red layer is patterned paper, but the tan consists of a few smallish scraps of leftover giftwrap that I confess I saved especially for this challenge.

♥♥♥♥♥ 

JB2609: Peace on EARTH DAY runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 6th and we cannot wait to see what you will make! Link your card(s) right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thursday, April 23, 2026

Vintage Valedictorians

You all did such an amazing job making gorgeous cards featuring vintage and retro-inspired holiday cards, it makes it very difficult to select just a few to feature. So if you haven't checked out the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend a little scroll through all of the inspiration. In the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:


...went with a midcentury modern vibe that is so spot-on you can practically hear Frank Sinatra singing holiday songs in the background. The stamps, the colors, the gems, the speckles... YOWZA!


...found the absolutely PERFECT set of vintage-style papers to use; and then was clever enough to realize they only needed a tiny bit of inking and distressing to become a gorgeous card!


...caught our eye with this soft and lovely nostalgic design, but the clincher was her confession that she started out with one idea and the supplies drove her in a different (& BEAUTIFUL) direction! 

♥♥♥


And now let's find out the winner of that fun little pack of holiday-themed ephemera from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff, shall we?


The Random Number Generator has selected...
Lucky #14!
Which means that Deb Horst is our lucky winner!
Congrats, Deb! Please send your snail mail info to
llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com
so we can get that on its way to you ASAP!

♥♥♥

Once again, many thanks to all who participated. We'll be back at Midnight with a bit of a "recycled" prompt we hope will will appeal to all fans of saving miscellaneous pretty things that non-crafters *might* be tempted no to save! ;)

Friday, April 17, 2026

Spirit of Christmas Past

This week we're still Walking in a Vintage Wonderland … which means creating a card with a vintage or retro-inspired design. That could mean incorporating actual vintage elements, using new products that have a vintage style, or using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe – whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive to your endeavors, this time we are sponsored by Lauren's fantastic Etsy Shop Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky random card maker who links-up their vintage-inspired design. (Scroll down to the original post for more details about that!)

Here's how we went Old School this week:

Lauren says, "This week, I made a random collage of torn and layered vintage and found papers including: some sheet music; a dictionary page with a reindeer (technically a caribou); an order form and advertisement from a vintage Christmas Ideals magazine; some S&H Green Stamps and... ok, I think that's it, lol. Since the background is quite busy, I only needed a fussycut Authentique bauble (which luckily had a bold sentiment!) and a few Katie Pertiet Christmas Collageable Banners that I machine stitched while I was doing the edges."


Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a full page poinsettia photo from the 1979 issue of Christmas Ideals Magazine.  I cut it into 3/4" strips and assembled it on a green card base using the layout from BYSH Cardmakers.  I used Spellbinders Essential Stylish Oval Dies to cut a vintage Tim Holtz Poinsettia image from the Vintage Christmas Paper Dolls 2023 and finished with a vintage-like Tim Holtz label sentiment sticker."


Remember, you have until 6pm EST on Wednesday to link-up for a chance to win.

Friday, April 10, 2026

Walking in a Vintage Wonderland

This fortnight we're Walking in a Vintage Wonderland … which means creating a card with a vintage design. 

That could mean incorporating actual vintage elements, using new products that have a vintage style, or using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe – whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive to your endeavors, this week we are sponsored by Lauren's fantastic Etsy Shop Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky card member who links-up their vintage design.

Here's how we went back in time this week:


Stephanie says, "I started with a vintage holiday card illustration of ornaments and holly in a silver bowl.  I framed it with a faux-vintage Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas Layer Frames.  I added a Tim Holtz Postmarked Stamp Sticker and sticker sentiments on top of the frame.  I finished with some vintage trading stamps peeking out before attaching it to an ivory card base to help balance out the busyness of the design."



Lauren says, "My card is a mix of actual vintage and vintage-inspired papercrafting products, it breaks down like this: Background paper, mailbox, sentiment and holly are 49 and Market; the funky steampunk Santa and present are Graphic 45; I've added real vintage sheet music and S&H Green Stamps to bump it up a bit. Then I did loads of edge-distressing on everything and a bit of wonky machine-stitching to finish off."

♥♥♥

How about a look at the prize? One lucky, randomly chosen cardmaker will score a vintage- and found paper holiday ephemera pack, like this one, from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff just for linking up with us this fortnight.


 JB2608: Walkin' in a Vintage Wonderland runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 22nd. Link your vintage- or retro-inspired cards right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thursday, April 9, 2026

A World of Wonderful Whimsy

"Whimsical Wonderland" was a new theme for us, but clearly it's a rich vein. There are so many sweet, funny, charming and adorable cards in the Readers' Gallery, we do hope you'll take time to check them out. For the moment, here are three that especially caught our eye:


...proves that small details can make a big impact: her jolly jumping elf has a white felt beard, shiny shoes and a nose made dimensional with glossy accents; he's jumping (on a wobbler) out of a beautifully shaded box diecut, in front of the perfect sentiment, all set in a rather splendid (and dare we say whimsical) funky frame! (Wow!)


...found this sweet and adorable image un-colored in her to-do box and built this beautiful and vibrant card around it!


...devised an entire holiday scene for us with frisky mice, lots of candy canes and a perfectly decorated mushroom home; so charming!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing ALL of your fabulous cards. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will supply you with some good old-fashioned inspiration! ;)

Friday, April 3, 2026

More Holiday Whimsy

As we mentioned last week"Whimsical" describes something, "Playfully quaint, fanciful, imaginative and slightly odd; often suggesting a lighthearted, unpredictable or charmingly unusual quality not based on strict logic." So this fortnight we're asking you to use that definition and make a Whimsical holiday card… it might be mice decorating the holiday tree, a space-age midcentury modern wreath, some fun little holiday gnomes, or maybe even adorable tiny reindeer driving a red plaid car?!


Lauren says, "I probably only use my Lawn Fawn Car Critters + Holiday Add-On stamp sets a couple of times a year. I nearly always paper-piece the little guys and use the curvy road template I made when I first got the sets; thus it's a pretty similar version each time, but it always makes me smile, so I see no reason to stop now. Most of the paper used here was scrap pieces I stamped on or punched. The trees background was a freebie from Flow Magazine; the red is Carta Bella. I stamped a Lawn Fawn sentiment on graph paper and colored the gifts with Tombows."



Stephanie says, "When I thought of whimsical animals, I was immediately taken back to one of my favorite authors/illustrators of my childhood, Richard Scarry.  I just bought a shirt with his art from Out of Print. I found a Richard Scarry book in my collage stash, so I hoped there would be the perfect whimsical illustration for a card ... and of course there was.  How cute is that little guy all bundled-up marveling in the gorgeous snowfall.  I found the perfect sentiment in Tim Holtz Tiny Text Christmas stamps.

JB2607: Walking in a Whimsical Wonderland will run until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 8th. Scroll down to the original post to add your card(s)!

Friday, March 27, 2026

Walking in a Whimsical Wonderland

Whimsical describes something playfully quaint, fanciful, imaginative and slightly odd … often suggesting a lighthearted, unpredictable or charmingly unusual quality not based on strict logic. 

We're asking you to use that definition and make a Whimsical holiday card … it might be mice decorating the holiday tree, a modern wreath, some fun little holiday gnomes, or whatever says whimsical to you.

Here is how we walked through a whimsical wonderland this week.

Stephanie says, "I got the Spellbinders Fragmented Gaze Dies by Jaycee Gaspar this week, and I thought it would be "whimsical" to try to turn her into a sassy version of Mrs. Claus (I guess you could say I went with the imaginative and perhaps slightly odd).  I started by using Mirror Ball Luxe Silver Glitter paper as the base (not realizing it would give her a rather creepy glittery eyeball, which I solved with a few cardstock scraps).  I had fun combining some designer papers with cardstock in a holiday palette.  I finished by hand-cutting her Santa Hat that I adorned with some jeweled holly and attaching her to a de-bossed minty card base.  I finished with what seemed like the perfect holiday sentiment from My Favorite Things Sassy Pants Holiday."


Lauren says, "My friend Gina wrapped my holiday gifts in super-cute Hello Kitty holiday paper; which of course I saved carefully and backed with cardstock. Then I cut out alllllll of those presents, trees and Kitties. (Yes, I am indeed nuts; thank you for asking.) I wanted my whole background to be that pale green snowflake paper, but alas there wasn't enough. As it turns out, I think that was a good thing, because it completely changed how I used the tiny cut out houses and trees... for the better! The pine tree background is ancient Pebbles; the scrap of plaid is, I believe, Echo Park; and also quite elderly."

♥♥♥

JB2607: Walking in a Whimsical Wonderland will run until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 8th. Link your wonderful, whimsical greetings right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter