even *LAUREN* is speechless! :)

wow.

♥WOW!!!♥

37 cards for the very first prompt??!?!?! holy moly! we never saw that coming, but could not be more thrilled! thank you very much indeed to every one who played, or commented, or became a follower, or just stopped by and had a look. we're excited to see so many old friends AND to make so many new ones! as an added bonus it's unbelievably cool to see how many of you are going around to visit each other's blogs and leave comments!

plus...have you SEEN the cards in question?! truly amazing, unique, beautiful and creative works of art. and we mean EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. in fact, if you only have five minutes to spend here, stop reading this right now and scroll down to the thumbnails in the last post because THAT is the show. up here is just talk! :)

ok except for a couple of faves to which we cannot resist sending an extra-special shout out:

Lorraine
used found items (doily, cupcake wrapper, vintage style stamps) in a particularly brilliant way!

Paige
not only stuns with her stamping, but used a SERIOUSLY creative fold!

NiMu
(who's 4!) made this beautiful snowman tag...and is sporting the look of pure joy we hope ALL jingle belles feel about their creations!!!

remember, this whole "make our cards early" lark is NOT an obligation, and it's definitely not all-or-nothing! if you didn't get a chance to make a card this week, it's no big deal. seriously. come and make one next week! or heck, do the first prompt NOW! (the inlinkz is closed, but if you leave a link in the comments, we WILL come & see it, honest!!!) however many (or few!) cards we each make during the year lessens the load in december, and puts us that much more ahead of the game; truly, there is NO WRONG WAY to do this!!!!!

finally, we need to break out the largest font and some festive colors to express the appropriate amount of happiness in the following statement:

♥♥♥

thank you, fellow jingle belles!

for making this the BEST WEEK EVER... until next week, that is!!! ;)

♥♥♥

(the CARD TWO prompt goes up at midnight... hosted by miss stephanie...and it's a goodie... just sayin'...)

it's RESOLUTION-ary!!!!

hello, welcome, and happy new year!

for the rest of 2011, jingle belles will debut a new christmas card prompt each friday morning; but the symbolism of starting our project on the first day of a new month, of a new year, just seemed too wonderful to resist! (plus, we're so excited, we couldn't wait another six days to get going!)

so without further ado, the prompt for CARD ONE is:

something old, something new!

(told ya...we're ALL ABOUT the symbolism, here!)

make a holiday card using one of your favorite old products and one of the cool new things you've just been given for christmas and cannot wait to tear into ...OR... recycle one of the holiday cards you received in 2010 by combining it with something new you've been hoarding (yeah, we all do that) ...OR... combine vintage found items with a funky modern style! ...OR... well, go any direction you like, but combine OLD AND NEW in an interesting way on a holiday card!

here's what we did:

lauren's card

for old i've got a poem and illustration from a vintage "ideals" magazine, plus a bit of vintage sheet music; for new i have some fancy recollections' christmas tree stickers, a super-cool fabric brad, and some of my very favorite may arts leaf ribbon--of which my darling stef gave me AN ENTIRE ROLL for christmas!!! everything else is of medium age from my stash: prima poinsettias & holly, doodlebug brads, oriental trading bling snowflakes, and patterned paper strips i have edge-punched into submission!

stephanie's card

For old I've got a vintage Saint Nick cut from the cover of the December 1971 issue of Children's Digest (that I found at an estate tag sale for pennies) ... I love those vibrant Technicolor hues ... as well as vintage lace crochet trim from the thrift store. For new, I've got a K&Company Christmas Cheer rhinestone brad that my rockin' sister got me as a Christmas gift, as well as a tone-on-tone background stamped with the new Hero Arts Large Fabric Design.

and now it's time to show us what you can do for CARD ONE: something old, something new. link up here by 6pm EST on wednesday, jan 5th (use keyword JB01 if you upload to our Flickr Gallery or any other on-line gallery) and then tune in next friday, jan 7th for another prompt.

remember there's a bit of a prize pack up for grabs this month: each comment you leave us during the month of january gets you ONE chance in the random draw; each new card you make and link up, snags you TWO additional chances! you can read the details HERE!