Friday, December 30, 2011

No Time Like the Present(s)

I know, i know, we said we'd be kicking off the "new" series of JINGLE BELLES themes on January first, but we were so excited to have not only a fantastic debut prompt, but also ♥FOUR♥ (four!!!) lovely guest stars coming along to help us kick of the new year, so we just could not wait until Sunday!  So let's get rolling shall we?

Can you a guess your assignment, based on the title of this post?  Of course, it's a pretty good reflection of our impatience to start making next year's holiday cards... but as a matter of fact, the brief for this first card of 2012 is in there too: 

"NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT(S)"

Make a holiday card that incorporates GIFT WRAP:
as a background, as an accent, or using motifs cut from your favorite wrapping paper
OR
Make a holiday card with an image of present(s) on it!


We are pleased and proud to introduce our cohorts for this celebratory new year's post, although if you followed along last year, none of these names will be new to you.  Yep, it's true, if you stick around long enough, even if you don't suggest a theme, eventually we are going to draft you to participate, anyway!  Consider yourselves warned!  :)  Now, meet our lovely guest stars:



made this gloriously sparkly and infinitely appealing confection of a present-shaped card!

Electra's favorite card from last year was made for the It Came Upon a Midnight Clear prompt, and surprised her by the fact that it convinced her she (apparently) likes PINK!  (who knew?!)  To us, however, it just confirms quite CLEARLY (ok, sorry!) that she can rock ANY challenge with which she is confronted!  Electra once, "...accidentally asked the manager of a cheese shop to marry me because his cheese was so good. It was VERY good. And he said No."  We cannot help but feel that whilst his cheese may have been exemplary, his judgement was poor, Miss Electra!!! ♥



stamped and colored, embossed and embellished, until this lovely card was just right!

Lisa is a design team member at The Friday Mash-Up. Her favorite card from last year was made using the Holiday Fall to Layout from our team-up with the Clean and Simple Stamping Blog.  She loves--and so, emphatically, do we!!!--how fun this card turned out, especially since she wasn't too sure about the circles when she first saw the challenge! :) Lisa's Christmas card-making is just the tip of the creative iceberg; as she says, "My family and I love Christmas! We go all out decorating our yard for Christmas and have often been called "The Griswolds", after the crazy family in National Lampoons Christmas Vacation movie. We take it as a compliment and come January 2012, we'll be working on new ideas for our Christmas 2012 display!"  We seriously cannot wait to see that, Miss Lisa, and hope you'll share photos with us JINGLE BELLES next November!



tackled the two aspects of this prompt, by making BOTH of the gorgeous cards you see above!  

Lisa is a Master Forger at Counterfeit Kit Challenge and co-runs the scrapbook challenge blog, Whimsical Musings.  Her favorite card from last year was in response to our prompt Shape Up  for the Holidays, and it is hard to argue with her choice of that gorgeous present-laden sleigh!  Lisa says she feels, "...a bit of a fraud to be guest designing over here, as I'm not really a card maker, I scrapbook! I joined in with the Jingle Belles fun last January and got totally hooked!" Without wishing to contradict our lovely friend we have to disagree:  after finishing 60 gorgeous Christmas greeting, Miss Lisa, you can officially call yourself a CARD MAKER, too!!!  :)


loves to repurpose items into her cards and crafts, so this first challenge of 2012 was right up her alley, as you can see from this fabulous and glimmering card!

Lorraine's favorite card from last year was made for a prompt near and dear to our hearts, I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas... and a Cure; and makes us swoon just as much now as when we first saw it in October.  Lorraine started stamping, "...when my daughter was in 3rd Grade - she's 28 now - and we used a toaster to do heat embossing on a Girl Scout project which worked quite fine until someone dropped their project into the toaster!" We not only admire the commitment to the next generation of papercrafters, we marvel at your ingenuity, Miss Lorraine!




Stephanie of Ingenious Inkling
has absolutely ALWAYS got a new idea, sketch, tutorial, or stamp to try out, and the results never, ever, disappoint, do they?!

Stef's favorite card from last year was made for our Shape Up prompt, and I think you'll agree it's a STAR, in every sense of the word! With regard to this current masterpiece Stef says, "I always buy my holiday wrapping paper at the after-holiday sales ... and I always look for papers that will work throughout the year like this metallic two-sided (teal & silver) paper.  I thought it would be fun to see if I could create something using origami, so I found this Wreath Tutorial and started folding.  The fold is very quick & easy and would make fun ornaments too.  I attached it to a silver metallic card base (framed by more wrapping paper) and added a grey EAD Designs rub-on sentiment."  Miss Stephanie is as committed to flossing as crafting, "...I own at least 10 containers of dental floss (Glide only please) and have them tucked away in my car, purse, desk, gym bag ... pretty much anywhere I might feel the need to floss."



finally, here's my own card, 
Lauren of ...all the GOOD blog names were taken...
which uses the square sketch option of Mojo Monday 221, and incorporates several different scraps of gift wrap (the gold flourish background & fussy-cut poinsettia), plus a bonus item that illustrates a quirky "fun fact" about me:  if I see something that'd be nice on a card, I retrieve it regardless of  circumstance; this pretty ruffled holly tissue paper was literally grabbed out of the trash at my brother's house on Christmas Day!  :)

In case you're wondering, I had quite a few "favorite" cards last year, and firmly believe that the reason is, I only had to make one per week and never hit the creative wall that mass-producing provokes in me.  Perhaps the card of which I am proudest was from the prompt we called Cardstock Christmas... because giving up patterned paper is a HUGE challenge for me!!!


And now it's time to see what you will do for NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT(S)!  Remember, we'll be posting prompts every other week this year, so you'll have nearly two weeks to participate... and of course you can make and submit as many new holiday cards as you like, as long as they fit the prompt!  Link up here by 6pm EST, Wednesday, January 11th.  Keyword for galleries or our flickr group is JB12-01.  



Have fun, JINGLE BELLES, and may we be amongst the first to wish you a very Happy New Year!  ♥♥♥   

13 comments:

Lisa said...

Eeek! We're live for another year of card making fun! Yipee!

thanks for asking me to guest design this week - it felt a bit strange to be making cards the day AFTER Christmas but hey, 2 down, a lot more to go. This was a fun challenge and I adore what the others here have done *waves*! I love them all and am already gathering inspiration.
I'm off now to check out all their faves for more inspiration.

So happy to see you Belles back here - 2012 is going to be a great year!

~amy~ said...

yahoooooooo....congrats to all the lovely ladies! Can't wait to play again!

Rose said...

WOW they all rock!!!

starting early, eh? YAHOO!!! :)

Deena said...

i am sooo in this year...will have to start tomorrow....

My Beautiful World said...

You are so talented these are amazing.So nice to meet you just found your beautiful blog and so happy I did. I have enjoyed looking around and I'm now following you, if you find a spare minute hope you visit me sometime and follow back so nice to meet new friends. Sending you special wishes for a wonderful New Year I’m looking forward to keeping in touch in 2012.
Always Wendy

Lisa said...

Thank you so much for including me in this fun start to 2012 Stef and Lauren, and I am honored to be among such talented ladies. Look at those cards, WOW!!

I'm so exicted for another year of great JB Christmas challenges!!

Saxo Stamper said...

Hi Ladies

What great inspiration and a brilliant idea, looking forward to playing along this year.

Happy New Year

K X

OhioDanielle said...

Hey! Hey! I did it! I'm new this year, but watched Lisa play along last year. I'm impressed by all the cards so far!

Beverly G said...

Glad to see you girls are carrying on again this year. Looking forward to playing regularly.

~amy~ said...

so much fun ladies...thanks for the fabbie inspirations!!!

JLP said...

Thanks for helping me get back in the swing of things! Great prompt and as always- fabulous inspiration.

Rosemary said...

Delighted to see the Jingle Belles continue to rock on!!! I hope to be able to play along with you on all of the challenges this year!

Bounding said...

I plan on joining for the next one. And catching up with this one. Celebrated the New Year with a trip to the ER followed by a week in hospital plus recovery :-(
But once I am able to get in my craft area I'll be joining to take the stress off of December. Loved looking @ everyone's cards!