Reindeer Games

This week at Jingle Belles we're playing Reindeer Games ... and everyone gets to join the fun. The prompt is to use a reindeer (or any other holiday animal) in your card design.

Here's our take on the theme:

Stef's Card

Stef says, "When I was thinking about my card, I couldn't get the silly image out of my head of Reindeer playing Monopoly or Scrabble. One of my favorite ways to spend a weekend afternoon is playing Scrabble on-line with my sister ... her go-to word is often YETI (usually with a triple word score), so this card is for her. Papers are from Echo Park's Everybody Loves Christmas Collection"

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "it's not as if i don't have ENOUGH holiday papers and accoutrements to wallpaper the entire northeast, but for some reason, on this card, the only "holiday" item is the tim holtz diecut reindeer. everything else is from my "regular" stash and was truthfully mostly leftovers and scraps including the michaels-special silver flowers (purloined from my aunt!), my beloved may arts leafy ribbon, and the journaling card of unknown origin whose awesome sentiment "dream of magical things" inspired the entire card!"

Remember, you don't have to use an actual reindeer, it's sort of a coincidence that we both did! In fact, any critter or animal that you like, with a holiday theme, will work: penguins, moose, polar bears, mice, monkeys, birds ... be creative, HAVE FUN and let's see your best REINDEER GAMES cards back here before next Wednesday, July 20th, at 6pm (EST). The keyword for galleries or our flickr group is JB29.

The Most Crave-able Leftovers Ever!

Holy Wow, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥! We thought it would be quite the challenge using scraps and offcuts to make amazing Holiday Leftovers cards, but clearly it was no problem at all for you everyone! Some of the best cards of the year were inspired by little bits and bobs that you Belles found laying about. Here are a few cards we found especially awesome this week!

Meg of Bits and Pieces

Based her "scrappy" card around a beautifully stamped and colored Christmas Mouse!

Kathe D of Kathe's Adventures

Raided her "Shoebox of Stuff That Will Be Useful Someday" to retrieve nearly all of the pre-assembled parts of this lovely card ... she only had to stamp a sentiment!

Lisa H of Recklinghausen Musings
Made not one but two simple cards ... that are each simply perfection!

Many thanks to *ALL* of you lovely cardmakers who came along and had a go! The gallery this week is even more than usually ♥FABULOUS♥ ... which you'll realize is really saying something in these parts! A brand new, super-fun prompt goes live at midnight, we hope you'll come back and check it out!

Holiday Leftovers!

One of my favorite things about the holiday meal is the leftovers ... I always enjoy adding a little stuffing and cranberry sauce to my ham sandwich.

So this week at Jingle Belles, we're celebrating Holiday Leftovers. We're asking you to create a card using all of those little leftover pieces of paper, alphabet letters, stickers, ribbon ... you know, those things you save because they're just too cute to throw away.

Here's what we created with our leftovers:

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "i'm always inspired by the cool techniques quilters use to make amazing art from scraps, and i often lift & interpret sewing ideas on my cards. this time i went completely literally and made a small paper version of a string pieced quilt, using nothing but tiny strips of paper from my scrap box. there's a little step-by-step illustration... and a second card made with this method... on my blog!"

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I used my paper scraps from Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses papers to create a card using the Paper Bargello Technique (my tutorial here). I remember the first time I saw this technique on the Carol Duval show many years ago and was completely fascinated by the effect. Once I finished my card front, all I needed was a chipboard sticker with some ribbon to finish the design.

So go forth and find those neglected leftovers and turn them into a holiday masterpiece ... we can't wait to see what you create. InLinkz will be open until 6pm EST next Wednesday, July 13th. keyword for galleries or the jingle belles flickr group is JB28.

Shining Stars (OR Stripes)

It's been another rockin' week at jingle belles. We were so inspired by the many different ways you incorporated Stars OR Stripes into your designs.

Here are a few of the cards that were shining stars (or stripes) this week:

Electra of Wishin' I Knew How to Blog

We love how she incorporated stars throughout her design ...

and seriously, who can resist that sweet reindeer cat?

Debbie of Debbie's Dash of This and That

We love the color combination and that large focal point star ...

not to mention the sweet little stars scattered throughout the card.

Sue from Random on Purpose

We loved how Sue incorporated stripes in her ribbon and that perfect

little star die cut at the top of her swing ... and the contrasting

stitching is such a great touch ... magical.

If you haven't skipped through the Stars OR Stripes gallery and shared a little jingle belles love, please take some time to check it out. And don't forget, another wonderful prompt for you at midnight tonight.

stars *OR* stripes, forever!

here in the USA this weekend is, of course, the big holiday of the summer, so while we hope every single one of our fellow ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ will have a very happy forth of july on monday, we'd also like to wish our american friends a happy independence day as well!

this week, in honor of that holiday--and as you may have already guessed from the title--we're asking you to incorporate either stars OR stripes into your card design. there needn't be any red, white, or blue... just stars or stripes... or both... in any medium you choose!

here's what we did:

Stephanie's Card

Stef says, "I combined the candy cane striped paper from Echo Parks Everybody Loves Christmas with the snowflake paper that reminded me of stars. I added three glittery stickers for this week's Sketchbook Saturday Sketch. I finished with a CatsLife Press sentiment flag and a stamped border of tiny stars around the striped panel."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "i realize i just confirmed there is no need to use red, white or blue... and you don't need to have stars AND stripes... one or the other is GREAT! but i decided to go whole hog, and seeing as how i still i have little stash of well-loved basic grey "blitzen" papers, it was not hard to pull off! i also used last week's sketch #84 from cards & things challenges, which i totally adore, so this week was a breeze!"

so if you have a little extra time, grab YOUR favorite papers, embellies, stamps or dies... and show us your very best take on stars OR stripes! as usual, inlinkz will be open until 6pm EST next wednesday, july 6th. keyword for galleries or the flickr group is JB27. and whether it's a holiday for you or not, we'd like to wish ALL of our fellow belles a happy, safe and ♥CRAFTY♥ weekend!!! :)

No Longer Lonely

We had a blast this week seeing all of the fantastic cards & very creative additional items you made that were inspired by the cards. A big jingle belles thanks to the fine folks from The Order of the Opus Glueii who tagged along with us ... we had such a great time creating with you this week.

Remember, the Challenge at Opus Glueii runs three more days, so if you haven't linked-up your projects with them, you still have time.

Here are a few of our favorites from this week's fantastic gallery:

Amy Tsuruta of Tsuruta Designs

We loved Amy's adorable little recycled Altoid Tin, which contains fun little copic-colored elements so you can make more adorable holiday cards (more photos on her blog).

Chat Noir of Black Cat's Miaow

We loved how she made lots of fun little tags by using the same layout and swapping out lots of fun little holiday images ... so easy to mass produce (more photos on her blog too).

Marianne of Marianne's Cards 'n Stuff

You know we loved how she rocked pink for holiday card designs ... but we also adored how she decorated all of those sweet little holiday trees.

And our Random Number Generator chose #8 as the prize winner this week ... Debbie of Debbie's Dash of This and That. Debbie - e-mail us your address & we'll get your fun holiday goodies in the mail.

If you haven't already, make sure you skip through the links this week and check out all of the fabulous inspiration ... nobody's lonely this week.

And come back and join us on Friday for another fun holiday prompt ... see you then.

Lonely This Christmas

This week's theme is Lonely This Christmas (aka Tagging Along).

We've teamed up with Rosemary and Jana and the rest of the talented team at The Order of the Opus Gluei for a special "crossover event"!

This week's prompt is to make any kind of holiday card for Jingle Belles (yes, we're letting you off easy this week) ... and then so you're card won't be Lonely This Christmas ... make a second project inspired by your card that you will to link-up at The Order of the Opus Gluei.

You second project can be a tag (get it ... tagging along), a gift box, a gift card holder, a gift bag ... you name it ... some inspired project you'll be so very glad you already have completed when the holidays roll around.

Here's what we came-up with this week:

Rosemary's Tag and Card

Jana's Tag and Card

Stephanie's Card

When I was hunting through my stash for something this week,

I discovered a pad of Tim Holtz Papers I'd completely

forgotten about (almost like Christmas in June). I used the vintage

papers and this week's Sketchbook Saturday Layout together

with a sentiment from CatsLife Press and some vintage

buttons for my card.

Stephanie's Tag and Bag

Since I was having so much fun with my vintage paper discovery,

I used more of them to create this holiday tag and a cute

little 2-5-7-10 bag that will be perfect for a piece

of jewelry or other small gift.

Lauren's Tag, Card and Box

Lauren says, "my favorite holiday color combination is green and pink, and imo the best collection ever to use those colors was the (alas, short-lived) "noel" collection that elise flannigan designed for ki memories, which i admit to having seriously hoarded. i was so inspired by these beloved products, that in addition to my tag and card, i used last week's sketchy thursdays sketch to customize a plain wooden document box from michael's to serve as storage for my increasingly large and beloved stash of JINGLE BELLES cards! this replaces my previous card storage solution... a big (but not very festive) tupperware container!!! :)"

Link up your tag and card here and at Opus Gluei by 6pm (EST) next Wednesday, June 29th for a shot at *both* randomly-awarded prizes!!! Keyword for galleries and flickr is JB26.

Our prize package for one lucky participant includes a set of Holly Jolly Acrylic Stamps by My Mind's Eye; a Vintage Postcard Kit from Crafty Secrets; and Susan Winget Grand Adhesions Dimensional Stickers by K&Company.