Sugar Plum Visions

What an amazingly lovely group of cards inspired by our own blog header this fortnight, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥! If you haven't perused the readers' gallery, we heartily recommend you do so! Meanwhile, here are a few creations we found especially irresistible:

Banana Stamper of The Stamping Banana

...used a very cool starburst technique learned in a recent cardmaking class to create her wonderful and romantic design!

Judy V of Created Just 4U

...combined a few different challenges with ours to produce her elegant CAS design! (Plus... check out that fabulous layered poinsettia!)

Steph C of One Crafty Chica

...enjoys peace, love and sparkly stuff as much as we do! Her card is not only a beautiful embodiment of that, it also helped to inspire her choice of wedding colors!

Our most hearty thanks to our lovely guest star Marie Bingaman for sharing her terrific suggestion and gorgeously inspiring card! Be sure to stop by her awesome blog and say hello! We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will find you in very good shape! ♥

Visions of Sugar Plums

We're still making cards inspired by our own ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ blog header, and some of us can't help but feel the Sugar Plum Fairy is helping out a bit, too! :)

Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I wanted to capture the lovely white-on-kraft elements in the banner.  I stamped a Holly Flourish on a scrap of krafty designer paper using white pigment ink ... and because I wasn't patient enough for the ink to completely heat set, I used a cloth to wipe the excess ink, which produced such a wonderful soft effect on the background.  I added some holiday sentiments and lots of bling using a layout from Wanna Sketch?"

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Is it just me, or does it almost feel like "cheating" when you find a sketch so fabulous the card practically makes itself? The current sketch (#103) at Cardabilities is most definitely one of those and I've used it pretty faithfully, since that matted label shape was the perfect home for a Tim Holtz diecut reindeer. Stephanie and I found the gorgeous uber-thin wood veneer at Kate's Paperie in New York City, and my supply is dwindling. I'm pretty sure that means a road trip is called for... who's in?!"

Scroll down to the original post to check out the readers' gallery and link up your own card!

Taking a Header

To celebrate the conclusion of The World Cup, we'll be Taking a Header this week.

No we won't be hitting soccer balls with our heads (thank goodness for me) ... instead, at the suggestion of our Lovely Guest Star Marie Bingaman, we'll be making cards inspired by the Jingle Belles Blog Header (which Stephanie points out was designed by the very talented Lauren; digital image credits are in this post).

You can find your inspiration in the colors, layout, elements or just the overall vibe of our design.

Here's how we were inspired:

Marie's Card

Marie says, "I’ve been inspired by the Jingle Belles header for a good while now-- (like since it first changed at the beginning of the year!) --and I can’t believe my good fortune that no one else suggested using it as inspiration! Smile Gray and purple is also a pretty combo I’ve been wanting to put together for a long time. I guess I achieved both of those goals then!"

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Ok, admittedly, I had a bit of an advantage this time, since I designed the header using digital versions of all the things I love in my real life stash. So for my card it was easy to combine my favorite poinsettia die, some glittery alphas, a bit of lace, a little grunge and a whole lot of layers! My favorite thing about this card is that 90% of the things I used are not especially Christmassy, but when you put them all together, they still work!"

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "When I see Purple & Christmas together, I think of Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather Collection.  I pulled out some scraps using this week's Sketchbook Saturday Layout.  I used a vintage stamp for my sentiment, which turned out to be mounted a bit crooked on the wooden block, so I added a golden snowflake to help off-set the sentiment wonkiness (I call it an embellishment opportunity)."

We can't wait to see what you create. Remember you have until Wednesday, July 30th at 6pm EST to upload your designs.

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