Jingle Belles do Jingle Bells

The Jingle Belles are still creating with Bells this week... break out your ringy dingy Bells and join us.

Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "There's only one jingle bell in Creative Expressions' Jingle All the Way die, but since the sentiment is also bell-related, I feel good about my choice. I cut the centerpiece from silver metallic cardstock and backed it with a perfectly sized diecut oval (also in the die set) on which I've ink-blended Distress Oxides in Chipped Sapphire, Prize Ribbon and Salty Ocean. I added texture to the background with Taylored Expressions Sheet Music Embossing Folder, which I softly inked as well. A few accents of Liquid Pearls, and a seam binding bow complete the design. I love how this card came out sooooo much, that it's the heart of my first Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit from Paper Anthology; and you can read all about that on my personal blog!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a painted piece of paper for my card base before adding Cottage Cutz Bells cut from Lawn Fawn Holographic silver cardstock.  The sentiment is a rub-on."

Christmas Bells, Those Christmas Bells

This fortnight we're ringing in the New Year and putting the accent on BELLS, so we'd like to see cards with sleigh bells, church bells, jingle bells or... well, whatever kind of bell you can think of. 

Just in case you have nothing that will work, at the bottom of this post, there are a couple of scanned images from Lauren's collection of vintage goodies that you're welcome to right-click, download and print.

Here's how we Belles were inspired by BELLS this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I had planned to stamp my Penny Black Ring The Bells stamp on white cardstock and color ... but there was a scrap of blue cardstock on my table, so I thought I would try that first ... and I ended-up loving it, especially the contrast of the red bloom & berries."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I've used an older Memory Box die (sadly discontinued) that my fellow Jersey Girl Lorraine (of Paper Vernissage) gave me in the first or second year of Jingle Belles, which I still find very useful and beautiful. I cut the bells out twice: once from a scrap of velvetty-textured cardstock in bold cerise and a second time from metallic gold, which I've used as a sort of drop shadow. The sweet deer and most of his coordinating pink papers are from Prima's Candy Cane Lane collection. I was in a shabby chic kind of mood, so I did a bunch of distressing, sanding, inking and stitching; though this A7 card is quite flat and mailable."

Link your bell-centric creations right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, January 25th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB2302.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Santa's Bounty

Well obviously ALL of our fellow Jingle Belles were very good last year, since Santa was so generous! And every single one of you have used your new goodies brilliantly, making it extremely difficult to only choose a few cards. But here are three that especially caught our eye this time: 

Rose Miller who posts on Instagram

...used her brand new knitted embossing folder and dies to create these adorably realistic sweaters, and paired them with just the right papers and embellies!

Lynn Gentry also on Instagram

...acquired this lovely set of papers after she had finished her 2022 cards and was excited to have a reason to use it ASAP; luckily she discovered us here at Jingle Belles and we're so happy she did!

Amy of Tsuruta Designs

...treated herself to this incredibly cute Yeti stamp set and made not one, not two, but FOUR fabulous cards with arguably the best sentiment EVER!

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And now, let's find out who will be receiving those adorable Sunny Studio Snowman Kisses stamps and dies. 

The handy random number generator has selected #7 which means that our lucky winner is...

Toni of Frankie Helps Craft!

Congratulations, Toni!

please send your snail mail info to lauren@hotmail.com so we can get your prize out ASAP! 

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Many thanks to everyone who linked up, we loved seeing every single card. We're excited to see some new faces and old friends and we welcome you all! Of course there's no obligation to play along every fortnight, but... now that you've gotten started on your holiday cards, we encourage you to keep going! To that end, we'll be back at Midnight with a brand new card prompt that we hope will ring some bells for you! ;)

Thank You Santa

We're still creating cards with our new crafty stash items this week. That might mean things Santa brought you... or perhaps you are your own Santa and took advantage of the great holiday sales?

Here's what Santa brought us:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I saw Doodlebug's Candy Cane Lane collection online in December and asked my friend Elisabeth from Paper Anthology to order it for me. Nearly everything on this card is from that set: the paper with the cute houses, the dimensional truck and tree stickers, the sentiment strip, and the little hearts and snowflakes. I made a shaker window using ancient heart-shaped Nesties, filled it with a snowy sequin mix, set it all on a blue plaid background from an older D-bug set and called it good."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I combined a Gel Print, Distress Oxide Ink Blending and the brand new Taylored Expressions Peace on Earth Cutting Plate.  I finished with Iridescent Glitter Dust Spray & a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Simple Strips - Christmas.  One of my resolutions for the year is to make more multiples when I'm creating (so I have enough cards at the end of November), so you can click on through to the blog to see other versions."

And remember, one random participant will receive the Sunny Studio Snowman Kisses Stamps & Coordinating Die Cuts.

Scroll (or click!) down to the original post to link your cards. This challenge runs until 6pm on Wednesday, January 11, 2023.

What Did Santa Bring You?

Hello and Happy New Year! We're so pleased you've stopped by on the first day of our THIRTEENTH Jingle Belles season! 

Once again, we'll be publishing a new card prompt every other Friday with examples from both Lauren & Stephanie; then you'll have ten days to join the fun. If, like us, you make one card per week, by December first (or thereabouts) we'll each have nearly fifty unique, handmade cards to share with our friends and family. No need to make a commitment or participate every single week, just jump in when you can and have fun along with us... but remember, the more cards you make, the less you'll need to make in December.

So let's get 2023 started! First up, we KNOW you have some brand new crafty goodies you're dying to use, so break out those gifties (whether they came from Santa OR you treated yourself in the pre-holiday or post-holiday sales). Be sure to mention the new product(s) you've used, so we can be suitably jealous (and you never know, perhaps enabled to purchase some of the items ourselves)!

Here's what we made with what Santa brought us:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I treated myself to Gina K. Designs A Very Silly Christmas (designed by her talented daughter Rina).  I couldn't resist inking-up the Ugly Sweater and coordinating sentiment for a CAS mailable design on a shimmery green cards base.  I stamped the sweater on green cardstock and added a bit of green marker to take the ugly up a notch."

Lauren's Cards

Lauren says, "I was lucky enough to recieve a beautiful set of Vicki Boutin Washi Tape from my friend Gina, which I used to make some super-fast backgrounds; and I treated myself to some of Ranger's Distress Watercolor Pencils, which were absolutely ideal for coloring Wendy Vecchi's Doodle Christmas poinsettias. I also dug into some of my leftover diecuts, holiday stickers and Eyelet Outlet Cardinal Brads and used all of the above to make two A6 cards."

And to start the year with a bang, we've got a prize for one lucky random participant in our first challenge of 2023 - Sunny Studio Snowman Kisses & the Coordinating Die Cuts.

Link the holiday card(s) featuring your cool new goodies right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, January 11th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB2301.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Happy (nearly!) New Year

We love to start each new Jingle Belles season with a new header and badges; this year there's a larger square, as well, for those of us who love to post on Instagram. 2023 is starting off pink and white and kraft and sparkly! Stay tuned because we'll be back at 12:01am, January 1, 2023 with the very first card prompt of the year!

2023 Jingle Belles banner design by Lauren Bergold featuring:

 Katie Pertiet ARToptions Mini Mix 09 (recolored from green to pink) from Katie Pertiet Designs; Anna Aspnes Music Notes 01 Brush Set and Snowy Map Prints Overlays from O'Scraps; Frosted Cardboard Paper Pack by Gypsy Couture from Digichick; Text Clusters Brushes and Stamps 03 by Katie Pertiet and Pearl Swirls by Patti Knox from Designer Digitals; Free Fonts: Poster (windows); Bakery and Bohemian Typewriter (dafont); Studio Flergs Over the Rainbow Glitter Style from Sweet Shoppe Designs; Composed in Photoshop Elements 9

Five Favorites of 2022

We thought it would be fun to each do posts that capture our five favorite holiday cards we made in 2022. Here's one favorite from each of us; click through to our blogs using the links below our photos, to see our entire lists. 

Stay tuned for the new festive header, debuting later this week; then at 12:01am on January 1, 2023, we'll kick off our THIRTEENTH year of Jingle Belles and we'd love for you to join us!

One of Stephanie's Favorites

Stephanie says, "One of my favorites was this card I made for our Plaid Christmas Prompt at Jingle Belles.  I love Yetis and I thought the plaid was a perfect opportunity for them to shine.

Here are my Five Favorites of 2022."

One of Lauren's Favorites

Lauren says, "I adore this Tim Holtz/Sizzix Ice Skates die, and it only has a few elements, but mysteriously, it always takes longer than I think it will to piece out all the parts and make it into a card; thus it gets used only a few times a year. This time was for our "Winter Fun" prompt. Click over to m'blog for my other four faves of 2022!"

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We're looking forward to starting up again on January 1, 2023; hope to see you then for another year of fun, friendship, and festive cardmaking!