Thursday, November 17, 2016

Beautiful Blooms

There were so many glorious floral creations this fortnight--as usual, you guys make it really hard to choose only a few to feature. Which, coincidentally, is our favorite "problem" lol! :) So here are three cards from the many MANY that made our flower-loving hearts beat a little faster:

...brilliantly used a sketch, an inspiration challenge and our floral theme to show off her exemplary stamping and coloring skills!

... combined floral paper, a gorgeous hand-made blossom, and the clever use of decorative scissors to make a Christmas stocking everyone --including Santa-- is sure to love!

...proves that you don't necessarily need *COLOR* to go floral with her amazing white-on-white CAS masterpiece!

Many thanks to everyone who linked up, we always love to see what you are creating! We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt we hope won't require a photo-finish! ♥

Friday, November 11, 2016

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 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. 

Friday, November 4, 2016

Mele Kalikimaka

If you're a Bing Crosby or Jimmy Buffet fan, you probably already know that "Mele Kalikimaka" is Hawaiian for "Merry Christmas". but don't panic because we're not asking you to make a full-on tropical-themed holiday card! In fact, we just want to see cards with flowers on them. Poinsettias, Amaryllis, Roses --or whatever flowers you happen to love-- in their traditional colors will work just fine.

Here's what we created:


Stephanie says, "This week I featured the traditional holiday flower the Mondo Poinsettia all blinged out with gems & pearls.  The sketch is from Just Add Ink."


Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Once again, I'd like to stress the fact that you DO NOT have to make a tropical-themed holiday card this fortnight, we just want to see cards with flowers on them. On the other hand, if you to WANT TO make a tropical-themed holiday card, we definitely won't try to talk you out of it. And I seriously doubt that anyone will be too surprised that OF COURSE I wanted to do just that, lol. I took advantage of the fifth Saturday rule at Sketch Saturday to choose a sketch from the archive; I've used #249 this time."


Link your floral masterpieces here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, November 16. keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:16:23.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Sensational Critters

We loved seeing all of your fun critter creations.  Here are a few that particularly caught our eye.

Christine Craig
from 

shared four adorable little penguins decked out in lovely pastels ... we're sure their holiday happy mail would make anyone smile.

Judy
from

shared her fantastically decked out Holiday Goose 
(see those cute jingle bells around his neck) ... 
and yes, the sentiment made us snicker.

Lyndal
from

displayed perfect paper-piecing for her holiday trio ...
and added a punny sentiment too.

Friday, October 28, 2016

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 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 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!

Friday, October 21, 2016

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks

This week we're breaking out the animals … it could be a sweet little sheep, a cardinal in a snowy tree, or perhaps one of Santa's reindeer … okay, or even a monster if you're in a Halloween mood and want to stretch the theme (and your name is Lauren).

Here are our animal creations.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I couldn't resist featuring one of the super-cute Holiday Grumplings from Taylored Expressions.  I colored him with Spectrum Noir markers and used this week's Mojo Monday Sketch."

Lauren says, "I know it's shocking to everyone who knows me well, but my card's got a perfectly normal, perfectly adorable reindeer! (Don't worry, there's a MONSTA on deck for next week, I promise!) Meanwhile, I'm still pretty smitten by the adorable Doodlebug reindeer stickers, and I still had a set of eyelet outlet antler brads, and the pairing is apparently quite irresistible to me at the moment. I've used my favorite "washi tape letters" trick (details on my blog) as well as this week's layout from Retro Sketches."


Link your amazing animal creations here by 6pm (EST) Wednesday, November 2nd. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:16:22.  

Thursday, October 20, 2016

In the Pink!

Before we reveal the totals for PINK CHRISTMAS 2016, we have to tell you something really special that happened this week. We got an email from our lovely friend Mimi, who participated this fortnight as one of our guest stars from Shopping Our Stash, and as a linked-up card-maker, as well. Mimi's eight year old daughter, Maude, had been (independently!) raising money for breast cancer research and wanted to know if she could contribute it to our total. Well, OF COURSE we were thrilled to accept! Here's what Mimi said,  "Maude decided to earn money for breast cancer on her own earlier this year. She did chores for some of the teachers at school, and I think grandpa even gave her some cash. I don't know why Maude focused on breast cancer, but I think at age 8, it was a mentally accessible concept-- she had heard about it, she knows people as they have gone through treatments, and she's seen how sad it's made my family for the families we know dealing with it." We were sooooooo impressed and so touched, we just had to share the story with you guys!

Thank you, Miss Maude, for your kindness and generosity, you've helped make this year's PINK CHRISTMAS celebration our best yet!

♥♥♥♥♥

Meanwhile, counting all the link-ups, the extra cards in some of the links, and the cards by our lovely guest stars, we had a total of 75, and with a donation of $2 for every card from each of us (Stephanie and Lauren) we came to $300; when you add in $30 from Miss Maude we've got a total donation to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of $330!!! Which is pretty flippin' awesome, in our opinion.

Thank you, JINGLE BELLES for thinking pink and linking pink with us again this year!

♥♥♥♥♥

Of course, it wouldn't be a proper wrap-up post if we don't add in a few shout-outs, so here's a trio of PINK CHRISTMAS cards that made us especially happy this fortnight:

...made not one, but *FIVE* gorgeous pink greetings, making it nearly impossible to choose just one to feature. 
(Those BUTTONS, though!) 

...started with an amazing vintage image and added lots of pink-n-glittery bits!
(Clearly, a girl after our own hearts!)

...rocked the stamping, the masking and the ghosting, all while proving that pink and grunge can totally be BFF's!
(Plus: Wordfetti!!!)

We cannot possibly thank our readers AND our lovely friends from Shopping Our Stash enough for making cards, linking cards, sharing and posting about the challenge on social media, and all-round reminding us how truly *WONDERFUL* the online papercrafting community can be! Take 18 hours or so off, won't you? Then head back here at midnight, because we'll have a brand new prompt to be enjoyed by all creatures, great and small! 
♥♥♥♥♥