Festive Foliage

As we mentioned last week, "The Holly and the Ivy" have lots of other holiday foliage friends, such as the evergreen, the mistletoe and even the poinsettia! Any or *ALL* of those will work really well for our current greenery-related brief and coincidentally, a few of them are on our cards this week... what are the odds, eh??! :)

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This card employs my favorite trick for fast cardmaking: I've combined all ready-made items, from the pine garland journal card, to the cardstock mistletoe sticker, to the uber-fab plaid paper; then added in lots of perfectly themed Eyelet Outlet holiday embellishments, like Wide Pine Washi, Holly Brads and Tiny Pearls that look EXACTLY like mistletoe berries, don't you think?!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I had fun creating a holiday wreath with all sort of green paper scraps, three different leaf/branch punches, and Eyelet Outlet Poinsettia Brads for the accent.  The sentiment is an SRM Sticker.  I went a little crazy punching our my leaves/branches, so there's a second wreath card on my blog."

Scroll down to the original post (directly below this one!) for full details and to link your own masterpiece! ♥

Do you SEE what I SEE

We're still celebrating all things CLEAR at Jingle Belles this week.

Here is our second round of creations:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "One of my favorite tricks for adding custom elements to cards is to print an oversized sentiment on a transparency sheet made for inkjet printers. Sometimes I'll add digital brushes or other elements, to incorporate the sentiment in a frame or collage; sometimes I just print the words on their own. This card is an example of the latter technique: "Joy to the World" is rendered in a font called 'Porcelain' (which was free from dafont.com) and then layered over a pretty scrap of paper and loaded up with florals, festive greens and some pretty Eyelet Outlet pearl embellies. I've used the sketch half of the current Fusion Card Challenge challenge to guide my layout."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I love the look and texture of embossed acetate.  With this all-over snowflake pattern, it almost made the acetate seem sparkly, so I made it sparkly by mounting on a teal glitter card base.  Another trick with the all-over snowflakes is that it makes it very each to hide tiny glue dots in the centers of the snowflakes to adhere the two layers together.  Doesn't that penguin look like he's having a fabulous time in all that snow?"

Let it Snow!

We're still celebrating those fabulous flakes, we've still got the lovely Leslie Turner helping us out, and you've still got plenty of time to link up with us in the original post, just below this one... Which we hope you will! Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:

Leslie's Other Card

Leslie says, "My mid-challenge project is clean and simple - a technique I love but don't delve into very often. I couldn't resist this time because I had the perfect stamp to match that paper scrap. Yep, the scrap was the bottom part of a 12 x 12 sheet. Love, love, love how this simple card turned out! Please see my blog post at Love To Scrap 2 for more details and photos. C'mon and link-up... we'd love to see what you create!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I pulled out my favorite vintage snowflake stamp from Hero Arts and had some Color Burst resist fun this week.  With the addition of some punched silver glitter snowflakes I used this week's Feeling Sketchy Layout."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Yes, my card is a quite bit more traditional this week, lol! Mostly thanks to the beautiful vintage postcard which I scanned and re-sized just a bit smaller, before printing out on semi-glossy photo paper. I've used this week's sketch saturday layout as my road map, and employed a gorgeous Eyelet Outlet Cardinal Brad to watch over the snowy scene as a sort of mascot!"

Jump down to the original post and join the fun; you've got until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, February 15th! ♥♥♥

Stick With Us

We're still getting *stick*y this week with lots of stickers ... search through your stash and see how create you can be with your stickers.  Remember, you have until Wednesday, February 1st at 6pm EST to link-up.

Here's what we made this week.

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I love these adorable Santa and Mrs. Claus stickers from Doodlebug Design, so I was pretty excited to make them the stars of this week's card. I combined them with (mostly older) papers from a bunch of different companies and a print-at-home Jenni Bowlin holiday bingo card, using the awesome current sketch from Sketch Saturday."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I picked-up a sheet of cardstock stickers at Hobby Lobby this week in one of my favorite holiday color combinations.  Since I already had the coordinating cardstock, I went ahead and made two more cards you can see at my blog.  I love how stickers can help cards come together so quickly (and they're all mailable without extra postage)."

Wrap It Up

As we mentioned last week, this first prompt of the year, "No Time Like the PRESENTS", does run slightly longer than usual: until next Wednesday, January 18th in fact!*  Which means you still have time to scroll down to the original post and link up a holiday card that has the image of gifts on it, OR which incorporates upcycled giftwrap... or both! Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Other Other Card

Stephanie says, "In case you didn't know, Lauren is the best gift-wrapper on the planet, so I knew she wouldn't let me down with something to use for this prompt.  My gift was wrapped in the silver metallic wrapping paper that I used for my card base (which seemed like an awesome idea until I tried to photograph a completely metallic card).  I added a metallic silver doily, a die cut wreath and a glittery bow.  I finished with an Ellen Hutson sentiment and heart bling from Eyelet Outlet."

Lauren's Other Other Card

Lauren says, "I've got both elements again: the presents-- which are cardstock stickers-- are pretty obvious, but can you see the giftwrap? Let me give you a hint: it's the PENGUIN! He's from the paper that the gifts from my friend Gina came wrapped in, and seriously, before I'd even really properly looked at the gifts, I was already planning to glue the least wrinkly penguins to some plain white cardstock, lol, so I could fussycut them! I've used the sketch half of the current Fusion Challenge for my layout."

*After which we'll be back to our usual fortnightly schedule!

The first NOEL

We're still creating cards inspired by our gorgeous Christmas photo this week.

Source

Here is how we were inspired for our second round of cards:

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I wanted to feature a white Christmas tree this week ... and the design of the rug inspired me to use this gorgeous cable knit embossing for the background.  I used a *home* themed sentiment to complete my design after decorating my tree with silver glitter enamel dots & a square bling for the *star*."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I had saved a photo of this gorgeous card by Debby Hughes a while ago and when I saw it again the other day, I realized it shared a lot of the things I love about the inpsiration pic: it's got white + kraft colors, plus a sort of rustic vibe with intricate decorations, and a little bit of sparkle on top! Since I don't own either of the Clearly Besotted stamp sets in the sample card, I decided to draw the poinsettias and use an actual doily instead of a stamped one. Eventually, it occurred to me that a doily is really just a very dense white mandala-- my favorite thing to draw, lol-- so I got out a white Gelly Roll pen and had a bash at that as well. The beautiful pearl heart brads and white glitter enamel dots are from Eyelet Outlet "

Remember, link-up your inspired designs in the post directly below this one by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, November 30th.  The keyword for galleries & Flickr is JB:16:24. 

Flower Power

We're still wishing you "Mele Kalikimaka" and we'd still love to see your flower-bedecked holiday cards, whether they're tropical or otherwise. You've got until Wednesday evening to link them up on the original post (just below this one). Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I put the emphasis on more traditionally "Christmassy" colors and patterns; I love the way that bold tartan brings out the colors of my cardstock and fabric florals, and kind of "grounds" the whole design. I used this week's beautiful layout from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I finally added Penny Black's La Fleur Rouge to my stamp collection, so I had fun inking and spraying with water to get the cool watercolor effect.  A little bling for the flower sentiments and a hand-written stamped sentiment and this one came together quite quickly."

Remember, you have until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, November 16 to link-up. 

Not a CREATURE was stirring

We're still celebrating animals (and CREATURES, aka Monsters) at Jingle Belles this week, so pull out your favorite creature* and join us at the post just below this one to link up.

Here are our week two creations.

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "If you've JINGLED along with us other years, you probably know that I generally break out my favorite intergalactic monsta hooligans (technically, creatures from a retired Paperchase line called "Mini Mutants") around Halloween. So this week those guys have dropped in to help us get ready for a big holiday celebration, and thanks to Sketch Saturday, they knew exactly how to arrange themselves for maximum photogenic benefit."

   

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "You had to know I was going to break-out a Yeti ... especially these fun new Beast Friends from My Favorite Things.  I colored him with Spectrum Noir Markers and used this week's Sketch Saturday layout.  I finished with a bit of Christmas Washi Tape and a sprinkling of enamel dots.  Love him."

*Earth animals such as reindeer, moose, penguins, cardinals, etc, are also welcome!

Jingle Bells, Jingle Belles

We're still ring-a-ding-dinging this week with lots and lots of bells-- and Belles! Here are our jingly cards for this week:

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I found this musical glittery card in my stash, so all I had to do is mount it on a kraft card base and add some die cut glittery jingle bells."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This lovely bell image was actually on an oversized rectangular pocket-scrapbooking card, but when I saw the current Fusion Sketch, I knew I had to trim it into a circle, instead. I did a bunch of machine stitching, added some super-cute Eyelet Outlet Holly Brads, and assembled all my layers."

Plenty of time to link up your bell-based goodness, scroll down to the post directly below this one for full details and linky widget!

I'll be *HOME* for Christmas

We're still celebrating holiday architecture, and you've still got lots of time to make a card with any type of building on it and link up at the "Little Town of Bethlehem" post right beneath this one! Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This sparkly little house and the uber-cute reindeer couple were just a few of the stickers on a sheet of adorable Doodlebug Icons I bought recently. I've dipped into some of the brand new Eyelet Outlet brads to dress these sweeties up even more: the boy reindeer has donned some Antler Brads, while the girl reindeer is wearing a hat that comes in the Elf Brads set. i've also added some Heart Enamels, plus a bit of Skinny Washi, and Holiday Dots Washi. I'd love to take credit for thinking up that super-fun diagonal swathe of tape, but actually, I just followed the current Sketch Saturday (week #429) layout."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I played with fun papers again this week ... a die cut sentiment and this one came together quickly."

The Christmas Waltz

We're still celebrating all things musical at Jingle Belles ... so tune-up your instruments, warm-up your voices, and come join the fun.

Here's how we were inspired this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I was inspired by this warm grey toned sheet music from Crate Paper's "Sleigh Ride" collection. I really like how it looks with the soft pink and white of the various other papers I found in my holiday stash. I placed all of my elements using this week's Sketch Saturday (#427) layout, which I think you'll agree is rather fab!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I found this cute little musical journaling card in my holiday stash and built my card around it using a great sketch from The Paper Players.  No stamping on this one ... just great papers and a sticker sentiment."

Even Stop Lights Blink a Bright RED

And although a "red card" is a penalty in some sporting events, here at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ the red cards in the current readers' gallery are definitely cause for celebration, so we hope you'll scroll down to the original post (just below this one) for inspiration before you link up your own gorgeous RED creation!

Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "The last couple of years many online crafting stores have had a "Christmas in July" event, so it's now a bit of a tradition for me to do a bit of summertime shopping. This card mixes a few of my new (RED!) goodies with a bit of older (RED!) stash, I love a good "all ages" fusion design, lol. I've used the current --very excellent-- Sketch Saturday sketch to guide my layout."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "No one wears RED better than the jolly old man himself ... Santa Claus (this Avery Elle Santa always makes me smile).  I paired him with three different red papers and some sequin snow using this week's Sketch Saturday Layout too ... Lauren & I must have been on the same paper sketchy wavelength this week."

Holiday Trio

We're still creating in groups of three this week ... here are our holiday trio creations:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week my trio is a collection of blinged up baubles leftover from other projects. I tried combining them with several different backgrounds in various colors, but rather to my surprise, this is the combination I liked best. I'm not sure I've ever made a holiday card that was mostly black before... but I think I like it! My layout comes from the current Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge." 

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "My card features a trio of mondo poinsettias, a trio of leaf clusters and a three-word sentiment ... a trio of trios."

Remember you have until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, August 10th to link up on the original post (just below this one). Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:16:16.

Sketch-ing in a Winter Wonderland

We're still making cards based on Stephanie's wonderful sketch. Won't you join us? Scroll down to the original post for full details and to link up your own gorgeous holiday cards.

Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "My card this week is definitely A looser version of the sketch, but i hope you can still see the bones? i've played with the proportions a bit, and added the pennant mat (found in my "scraps" bin and promptly re-fallen in love with) but all the basic bits are really there, honest! As an added bonus, my card is almost entirely red, white and pink... which coincidentally would be the colors of the flag if I ever founded my own country!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "When I created the sketch, I thought about a doily for the circular element.  Instead of a rectangle, I used a Holiday Gift Die Cut and accented the design with gold sequins.  The sentiment circle is a favorite from Catslife Press."

Colorful Christmas

This week we're still creating cards inspired by this gorgeous holiday scene.

Source: Inspired by Charm

Here are our inspired creations:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Yep, I got out the Color Burst pigment powders again, this time i've added some H2O and used them to watercolor a background inspired by the luscious rainbow ombre tree in the photo. Since it's quite a busy painting, I didn't add much in the way of embellishment, just a layered diecut snowflake... and plenty of bling. Because bling is ALWAYS a good addition, imo!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says,"I got a new Tim Holtz Stencil that reminded me of the Christmas ornaments, so I used it with silver metallic ink on a black card base.  Then I hand-cut triangles from designer papers to create the different sections of color for my tree.  I finished by decorating with silver glitter enamel dots and a gem for a star (both from Eyelet Outlet)."

Remember, you have until Wednesday at 6pm EST to link-up your inspired card at the original post.

Do you SEE what I SEE?

We're still celebrating holiday cards that contain clear elements, whether those be in the form of pre-printed transparencies, acrylic embellishments, or just shaker or window cards which utilize a bit of plastic packaging. Scroll down to the original post for full details and to link up your own masterpieces!

Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I used a scrap from the same clear Hambly Overlay as last week, but this time as an off-set tag using this week's Retro Sketch and a glittery Papaya! Art Sticker."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I'm sad to say that I'm down to my last few pieces of holiday-themed Hambly transparencies, despite Stephanie's magnificent job of scouring the midwest for leftovers and my own valiant efforts at hoarding. But the point of acquiring crafty goodies is to USE THEM, so while I do feel a certain responsibility in terms of making especially nice cards with them, I am determined to use and enjoy them until they're gone. Meanwhile, I'm pretty pleased with this one, as a matter of fact!"

He Began to Dance Around

We're still celebrating Frosty the Snowman this week ... making holiday cards featuring snowmen (or pre-snowmen aka snowfall or snowflakes).

Here's what we created:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Yes, I've gone with snowflakes again this week, or if you prefer, think of them as Frosty's baby pictures, lol. This time I embossed Tim Holtz's snowflake e/f on kraft cardstock, and sponged the flakes with a little gesso for a nice soft effect. I added some embellies--including gems of course; then matted and stitched and called it a (snow)day!"

 

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I love this little Snow Dude from Paper Smooches.  I paper pieced his scarf and hat in teal and minty blue and die cut his body in black for a bit more pop.  I added snowflakes and a little birdie friend to finish the design."

Remember you have until Wednesday to have some snowman fun with us ... link-up here.

The Blues Remain Banished...

...and you still have nearly an entire week to join our Blues-free fun! Just make a holiday card (or two... or three?!) and link them up at the post right beneath this one! Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I've used a lot of neutral tones, much like last week's card, but that's just sort of a coincidence, they weren't made at the same time or anything. This time I based my colors around that beautiful vintage illustration from Pion Design-- their holiday paper lines all have a 12x12" sheet with smaller images and sentiments that can be cut apart and used on cards, which I think is a BRILLIANT idea! This week's Sketch Saturday sketch (#413) was also very helpful in terms of where I placed each element!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I found a some holiday gift tags in my stash, and decided to build a card around this velvet Santa.  This simple design mats it on a piece of Puffs with Lotion & Vicks tissue box (the inside is a fabulous shiny silver) and adds a Hero Arts sentiment ... fun and mailable."

Stephanie says, "lalala"

Remember, you have until Wednesday to Link-up and join our fun.

Move Ye Merry Gentlemen

We're still shaking, rattling & rolling at Jingle Belles this week ... in other words, making cards that have an interactive element. Scroll down to the original post for complete details, a gorgeous readers' gallery, and a place to link up your own masterpieces!

Here's what we created for our second round:

Sybrina's Other Card

Sybrina says, "It's always fun to make cards with sweet baby animals for SAS4Kids. However, many of the hospital patients are older kids, including tweens and teens. So, I'm always looking for card ideas that older kids might appreciate. The inspiration for this card came when doing a word puzzle in our local newspaper. It was one of those Eureka moments. So, I searched online for holiday riddles and Christmas words and used the computer's word processor to come up with a word puzzle that one of the older kids might enjoy."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I went with a Pop-Up Present card this week (in part because there is both a video and photo tutorial to follow).  A few simple cuts and embellishments, and I have a card that is sure to be opened and closed again & again."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Yes, I made another shaker card. And yes, it's the same colors as the last one; it even has another blue burlap poinsettia on it! But this time I was in a bit of an "art journal mode" and decided to see how funky I could make this and still have it be a send-able holiday card. The answer was, 'pretty funky' lol. Definitely a different vibe, and probably a card I'll save for an arsty friend, but I had a blast playing with vintage paper, stencils, texture paste and... well... whatever else seemed fun!" 

(There are more details in my personal blog post if you're interested in the technique.)

Here We Come a-WASHI-ing

We're still celebrating the many joys of decorative tape, and there's still time for you to link up a tape-centric card (or cards, plural!) for a chance at the fun prize from our lovely sponsor, Eyelet Outlet, so please scroll down to the original post for full details and to link up your own masterpieces!

Meanwhile, we're very excited to have another of our Eyelet Outlet Design Team cohorts joining the fun this week: please welcome our amazingly talented friend, Dawn Mercedes Barrett; she's made two gorgeous cards and there are even more lovely things to see on her fabulous blog, Sunnyside Up, so be sure to check it out!

Here's what we all made this week:

On her first card, Dawn Mercedes used Glitter Green and Glitter Gold Tape as well as Pearl Flourishes; her second card features Holly Brads, Ornament Brads, Wreath Brads, Red and Green Pearl Bling Strips plus a few varieties of Holiday Washi Tape that were exclusive to the Eyelet Outlet Booth at a recent trade show-- another great reason to be sure to visit EO in person when they come to your part of the country with Scrapbook Expo or CKC or other craft shows! ♥

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I used two kinds of glitter washi (glitter red & glitter green dots) both from our sponsor Eyelet Outlet.  I covered scraps of cardstock with washi and trimmed the pieces to work with the sketch at The Paper Players.  Instead of a circle, I used a black chipboard ornament that I decked out with adhesive white jewels."

Lauren's Other Card(s)

Lauren says, "The 'quilt squares technique' (for which there are more details on my blog) is one of my go-to's for tape because it's easy, it comes out differently each time, and you get to combine a whole bunch of tapes! Here I've used Holiday Dots, Ornament Washi, Pink Foil with White Dots, and Music Notes; I've added Bumpy Heart Bling and Pink Flower Jewels to stacks of Red and White Paper Flowers as well as a few Pearl Strips."

Be sure to scroll down to the original post for full details on the challenge, the prize and how to link up ♥YOUR♥ holiday tape creations!