Here's the Buzz!

What a happy week here on the ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ blog! We've been busy little bees checking out all of your wonderful designs, and we're delighted to see the amazing cards made by the Honeybees over at Betty Bee's Buzz! Here are a few cards that we thought used diecuts in especially clever ways in honor of our "Jingle Belles are Buzzing" prompt!

Jose of Jose's Scrapboat

took one adorable stamp, a few simple dies, and lots of lovely layers, to make her very pretty and appealing card!

Noelle McAdams of Paper & Ice

combined multiple patterns, lots of texture, and a heaping helping of ♥FUN♥ in her totally festive masterpiece!

Amy Tsuruta of Tsuruta Designs

used just a few products in super-creative ways to make her utterly unique and totally happy snowman card!

Thank you very much to *ALL* of you lovely belles who played along; and extra special thanks to June Houck, Betty Brett, and the rest of the Honeybees over at Betty Bee's Buzz for "cross-pollinating" with us this week! Remember, you can still link up your diecut-laden holiday card creation on their site until 6pm (EST) TONIGHT (Thursday, 4-21) for a chance at a lovely prize that the Honeybees are awarding to a random card-maker! And don't forget that each and every Friday their super-fun "Buzz, Brag and Bee Happy" feature invites you to link up ANY proud creation or bit of good news you'd like to share with the blogiverse, so why not stop over tomorrow and make some new friends!

Speaking of PRIZES and random card-makers, we have a little bit of a *SURPRISE* for you: some spur-of the-moment goodies we'd like to award this week... just BEE-cause!

(& yes, appropriately enough, there are a few metal & fabric diecuts in there!) :)

So without further ado may we congratulate cardmaker #28:

♥♥♥ Marie Bingaman ♥♥♥

and invite her to email us at jinglebellesrock @ hotmail [dot] com with her snail mail address in order to claim this lovely prize!

if you've not done so yet we strongly encourage you to spend a bit of time seeing your fellow ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ work with diecuts, and also that of The Honeybees! then come on back at midnight when we'll reveal a fabulous prompt... set by one of your fellow belles!

Holiday card to DIE for

Make sure you click on over to Betty Bee's Buzz to check out Lauren's to DIE for card & leave her a little Jingle Belles love.

Jingle Belles are... *BUZZING*??!

YES! Because this week we're having a "cross-over"! Betty Bee's Buzz is a super-fun paper-crafting blog hosted by Betty Brett and her lovely swarm of Honey Bees!

Their weekly features include Monday Motivational which inspires us with a new idea, technique, or theme; HoneyBee Showcase on Wednesdays in which the design team create projects that fit the theme (& invite us to, as well); and the awesome Buzz, Brag and Bee Happy Friday in which everyone, everywhere is invited to link up a project or post that makes them happy or proud! We're happy and proud to welcome HoneyBee design team member June Houck to share her card today, while Lauren--and her card--will be the featured guest on B3 this coming Monday Motivational.

June Houck is a fun and fabulous scrapper and cardmaker, as well as mom to the cutest twin daughters you have ever seen! Her blog, Simply Elegant Papercrafts, is constantly full of beautiful, clever, C&S design goodness, and if there's a more friendly and supportive blogging friend around, we have yet to meet her.

June says, "Blogging is an outlet for me to share my passion and meet people that share in this obsession. I have made some good friends! I love these ladies as much as the friends I can see in person. My blog friends are a wonderful source of information regarding ideas, the latest trends, where to go for new purchases, and organization of supplies."

On behalf of Betty "Bee" and my HoneyBee sisters, I think you for this opportunity to "cross-pollinate" with the Jingle Belles, Stephanie & Lauren.

Our challenge to you is:

Create a Christmas card to die (cut) for! This week we're featuring *DIECUTS* in our cards. They can be store bought, mechanically made (a la cuttlebug), electronically generated (think cricut or spellbinders), or... if you're feeling ambitious... all of the above?!

Here's what we did:

June's Card

June says, I purchased Flower Soft "Polar White" (her pom pom and fur lined hat and boots) and this MFT "Snow Day" stamp last autumn, but they did not get used at all last winter. You may know that my favorite paper company is BasicGrey (though I am an equal opportunity buyer ... I haven't found a paper company that I have not supported in some way! *sigh*

BasicGrey "Eskimo Kisses" is one of my favorite collections. I like to layer light, dark, light, dark; e.g. my image is light, so I chose the darker BG paper for the oval beneath her, the light paper of the houses and trees, and then the darker pattern of trees. I also wanted my card to be a scene of sorts: the girl and the snowballs, then the houses behind her, and the forest behind the houses. I agonize over these details, so I am a very slow crafter."

My die cuts:

Spellbinders Nestibilities Ovals for the image and pink wcallop frame Cricut "Plantin Schoolbook" cartridge for the two oblong ovals beneath the main image Cricut "Accent Essentials" cartridge for the top-note-style shape dies

Stephanie's Card

Stef says, "I knew I wanted to feature these wonderful felt die cut snowflakes from Stampin' Up. The gorgeous red one coordinated with these lovely papers from Echo Park's Wintertime Collection. I layered on a few more metallic snowflakes and positioned my snowflakes on top of a die cut from Sizzix - Frame Back, Ornate #3. I finished with a winter sentiment from CatsLife Press."

And now it's time to see what you will do, Jingle Belles! Dust off your diecutters, put on your thinking caps, and let's see your best holiday masterpieces! Link them up before 6pm (EST) Wednesday, April 20th. Keyword for SCS or Flickr is JB16. We're DYING...to see your cards! (Ok, sorry, but you know what we mean!)

Make sure you also remember link up your card at Betty Bee's Buzz on Wednesday, April 20th.