Monday, December 28, 2020

2021 Header and Badges!

The new year is just around the corner, so this seems like a really good time for a brand new banner, with badges to match! We'll be here on January 1st to start taking back our eleventh December, and we'd love for you to join the fun! ♥ 




Header and badges created by Lauren in PSE9 
using products from Katie Pertiet Designs 
including ArtOptions Minimix 09 and Merry Layered Template 02
Winter Creative, Bohemian Typewriter and Storybook fonts from dafont.com

Friday, December 4, 2020

Taking back our 10th (TENTH!!) December One Holiday Card at a Time

It's hard to believe that we've wrapped up yet another ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ season, but here it is December 4th. 

Of course, we've been working towards this all year long, so we've got a nice stash of cards. We're looking forward to spending the rest of December mailing out those cards and connecting with friends and family in new ways.




Thanks very much for turning our Holiday card-making into something enjoyable and fun all year long. We'll be back again on January 1, 2021 to start this whole shindig over again, and hope to see you then. 

Meanwhile we wish you the loveliest of Decembers and the happiest of holidays! Remember, if you have prompt ideas, we'd love for you to join us as a Lovely Guest Star ... just send us an email jinglebellesrock@hotmail.com  ...we really do love making this a group event.

Meanwhile, here are our favorite photos of the year... the infamous "Card Sprawl" pics!



Stephanie's Christmas Card Stash for 2020



Lauren's Christmas Card Stash for 2020

Of course, we couldn't possibly rule making another card or two in the next few weeks, and just in case you need to make a few more, as well, we'll leave this linky open until Christmas Eve so you can upload your cards, get a little inspiration and spur each other on to the finish line! See you January 1st, 2021! ♥

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Blog Header Heroes

We absolutely loved seeing how our 2020 Jingle Belles banner inspired your designs ... here are a few of our final favorites of 2020:




really rocked incorporating lots of elements from the banner design ... the red text, white snowy background and of course those glittery jingle bells for the Belles.




created a fabulous slimline card that pulled in so many great elements from the blog banner ... 
we really loved that font on the sentiment and the grove of holiday trees.




incorporated a red glittery Jingle, subtle text and perfect holiday trees
into her wonderful holiday card design.

Thanks to everyone for joining Lauren & Stephanie for another year of Jingle Belles hijinks ... we've loved having you along for the ride to take back December one holiday card at a time.




Friday, November 27, 2020

A (blog) Header Holiday

 This week we're continuing to create cards inspired by the Jingle Belles 2020 Blog Banner.


Remember, your blog post needs to explain how your card was inspired by the banner ... and you need to link-up by 6pm EST on Wednesday to join the fun.

Here's how we were inspired this week:



Lauren says, "This week my card is less literal, though I've still incorporated the red, white and green palette, the sketch (in a portrait-oriented format), plus green trees and red Eyelet Outlet bling snowflakes. My ingredients are all older stash items, and my obsession with torn paper and torn washi tape continues." 




Stephanie say, "I took a bit more abstract approach to my design this week.  I started with a new Alexandra Renke Bells Die and die cut some red glitter Jingle Bells (aka Jingle Belles).  Then I used other Alexandra Renke elements inspired by the blog header - soft gray polka dot background, edges of doilies, and some die cut foliage that feel holiday-like.  I finished with a single red snowflake with a sparkly gem in the center and some Christmas word stickers inspired by the text in the background."

Friday, November 20, 2020

A Banner Holiday

For our final Jingle Belles prompt of 2020, we're asking you to make cards that are inspired by our Jingle Belles Blog Header (digitally designed by none other than Lauren).


You might choose the red glittery letters, the garland of jingle bells, the snow covered trees or even the texty background and red snowflake to inspire you ... just make sure you tell us how your creation was inspired by our design.

Here's where we took the inspiration this week:


Stephanie says, "First I decided to make a horizontal skinny card in the shape of the banner itself.  Next instead of trees, I went with gorgeous holiday greenery paper from Tim Holtz' holiday papers and then added a light blue strip that reminded me of the bluish grey background of our banner (and was on the back); I framed the strip in red to bring out the red text that is the showcase of the banner.  Rather than a garland of bells, I chose a single bell with a white ribbon sentiment from the coordinating embellishment pack.  Then I added a December calendar inspired by our Taking Back December One Holiday Card at a Time tag line.  I finished with some red bling on the holly bows inspired by the red bling in the center of the snowflake in the banner.  I used a flipped take on the Sketch Saturday layout for my design."


Lauren says, "Ok so... my card is realllllllly literal, lol; and I want to re-stress the fact that you definitely do not have to use the sketch AND the colors AND the bells, trees, glitter letters, etc.; in fact, any one of those selections would work perfectly well! But as I was putting this together, it turned out that I had quite a few products similar to the inspo design, and I just kept adding them in! Next week's card will be much more abstract!"

♥♥♥

Link up right here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, December 2nd. 
Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:20:24.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Thursday, November 19, 2020

CLEARLY Beautiful!

See-through elements can be tricky, but clearly they hold no fears for our readership, who tackled the challenge with great success. If you haven't yet scrolled through the readers' gallery, we highly recommend the trip, and guarantee you'll be inspired! Meanwhile here are just a few that caught our eye:

Jenni of Wish I Was Scrappin'

...says she's had this pre-printed acetate sheet of snowflakes for several years; we're glad she saved it especially for this awesome card!

Allison C of Cranberry and Eggplant

...was inspired to upcycle a beautiful vellum sheet she had saved.We love that she added a silver embossed sentiment and the star-punched detail at the edge!

Rina of Rina's Scrapkaarten

...framed up a sweet winter scene with a star-shaped window; and earns massive bonus points because the inside of her card is as beautiful and intricate as the outside!

♥♥♥

And now I bet we'd all like to know who will be welcoming some sweet holiday cardmaking goodies, right?


According to Random.org the winning number is #11 which means that...

Lorraine of Paper Vernissage

is our lucky winner!
Congrats, Lorraine, please email your address to llaurenb@hotmail.com 
so those can start traveling on their way!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing every card! We'll be back at midnight with our last official challenge of the 2020 Jingle Belles season, which we hope you'll think is a banner occasion! 

Friday, November 13, 2020

Do you SEE what I SEE?

We're still celebrating holiday cards that contain clear elements, whether those be in the form of pre-printed transparencies, acrylic embellishments, or just shaker or window cards which utilize a bit of plastic packaging. 

Scroll down to the original post for full details and to link up your own masterpieces!

Here's how we were CLEAR-ly inspired this week:


Lauren says, "My friend Elisabeth at Paper Anthology special-ordered this beautiful Tim Holtz/Sizzix Bigz Ice Skates die for me in January, so HOW have I not used it until now?? I'm pleased with my card, though, so I'm sure I'll be using it again soon. I cut the shoe part of the skates from an older Ciao Bella patterned paper; and the blades from matte silver metallic cardstock. The background consists of two beautiful rich purple papers from Blue Fern Studios' Eclectic Charm line, and the Hero Arts Snowflake Cluster is cut from silver Non-Shed Glitter Paper. I made a custom mix of Eyelet Outlet Sequins, featuring some Round, some Snowflake and some Stars."



Stephanie says, "When I saw Lauren's Transparent card base last week, I knew I had to try to channel my inner Lauren and make my own (how did I do??).  Pretty much, when I channel Lauren, I reach the point that I think I'm done ... and then I add at least two more things ... in this case there are distressed papers, bling swirls, hole-punch-computer paper, vintage postage stamps, die cut flourishes, glittery snowflakes ... and of course a deer die cut and vintage Penny Black Sentiment ... all on a perfect gold design transparency card base."


Friday, November 6, 2020

It Came Upon a Midnight CLEAR

This week we're asking you to make a holiday card that contains at least one see-through element, whether that be glass, a transparency, some vellum, acetate or "ghost" shapes, clear stickers, lucite buttons, shrink plastic... whatever you like... if you can see through it (& figure out how to attach it!) put it on there and link it up!

Answering a question we had last fortnight: To join our Jingle Belles fun, you needn't have a blog, just post a photo of your card SOMEWHERE online (FaceBook, Flickr, Instagram, Splitcoast Stampers, etc are all fine!) then grab the direct/specific link to your card, and use it to join the InLinkz gallery below. If you need help, you can email us at jinglebellesrock@hotmail.com with questions.

Here is how we CLEAR-ly created this week:


Stephanie says, "I applied Marabu Alcohol Ink in Cherry Red & Cinnamon to a transparency sheet and blew it around with air.  Once it had dried, I then flipped it over and attached it to my white card base with Vellum Adhesive.  I added some Clear Drip Drops and clear Stars to the tops of my holiday trees."


Lauren says, "Since I'm lucky enough to still have a bit of a collection of well-hoarded Hambly Transparencies (mostly thanks to Stephanie who is brilliant at finding small caches of them all over the midwest!) I made a 6" square card from one of them, then added vintage collage elements and diecuts on top. I hadn't planned for this to turn out entirely neutral colors, but it is fun for a change; especially since I have an aunt whose favorite color is white!"

♥♥♥

There's a little prize for one lucky random cardmaker who links up with us this fortnight:


Link up right here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, November 18th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:20:23.You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Thursday, November 5, 2020

Creative Creature Spotlight

We loved seeing the gallery filled with all of your Creative Creature Cards ... here are a few that caught our eyes.




paper pieced together these adorable penguin dies ... and then used
wonderful layers to create a 3-D sledding effect ...
so adorable.


combined a Christmas Cardinal with lots of other beautiful elements and an unexpected holiday color combination for this lovely holiday design.




shared this perfectly colored little winter fox with a wonderful
holiday sentiment ... cozy comfort.



And the random winner of our little prize is:





Tammy of My Craft Central with her adorable Christ-Moose Cards.

Tammy send your mailing address to smilynstef at aol dot com and I'll get your goodies on their way.

And join us at midnight for a *CLEAR-ly* wonderful holiday card prompt.

Friday, October 30, 2020

Holiday CREATURE Feature

When we first started brainstorming ideas for Jingle Belles many years ago, one of the first prompt ideas that came up in our discussion was creatures ... which says a lot about the two of us :)  Remember, create a card that features a *creature*. Your creature might be an animal ... a mouse ... a bird ... a robot ... elves ... snow-persons ... or yes, even a monstah ... just have fun with it.

Here are our creatures for the week:


Lauren says, "When I saw Lawn Fawn's Car Critters stamp set at Paper Anthology, I didn't think you could get any cuter than bears driving a fun vintage car. But then I saw THE REINDEER in the Christmas Add-on set. So yes, I had to have BOTH, and luckily I knew they'd be perfect for this challenge; but fair warning: I suspect you'll be seeing a lot of these guys! I am still the World's Slowest Colorer, but I am enjoying it more and more. Plus it's fun to build an entire landscape using cloud paper, a tree punch and some hill dies!"



Stephanie says, "I couldn't resist this cute Penguin Trio from Impression Obsession.  I stamped them in black and colored their feet, beaks and winter-ware.  I finished with a scattering of sequins and a Joy Die Cut, also from Christmas Stitched Words by Impression Obsession."


And remember, one lucky participant who links up by 6pm EST on Wednesday will get a fun little Creature Feature prize.




Friday, October 23, 2020

Not a CREATURE was Stirring

This week is our annual Creature Feature ... so break out the animals for your holiday cards.

It could be a sweet little sheep, a cuddly puppy, or perhaps a Reindeer … okay, or even a monster or a Yeti if you're in a Halloween mood and want to stretch the theme a bit (which you know we usually do).

Here are our Creature Creations for this week:




Stephanie says, "I couldn't resist creating a background with an entire sheet of Baby Reindeer Stickers from {a vintage girl} & her daughter (you can use my Discount Code SMILYNSTEF to save 15% on your order).  After positioning all the stickers, I decided the little guy on the left in his bright blue scarf was trying to steal the show, so I highlighted him with a red punched circle frame and a tiny little vintage sentiment (Stampin' Up 2008).  I finished by filling in some of the blank space with red foam dot stickers."


Lauren says, "My reindeer is all grown up, and in practical terms, fairly elderly! Tim Holtz's Reindeer Flight is one of the first xmas dies I ever purchased, and is still a big fave with me. This time I've used it on copper metallic specialty cardstock from Paper Anthology, and surrounded the handsome critter with various foliage diecuts on a tag I fashioned from some old sheet music. Background papers are older Authentique; the gems and Pinecone Brad are from Eyelet Outlet. 


And one lucky participant will receive a little Creature Prize: some snowflake stickers and a sweet little Cardinal stamp.



Link your Creature Creations right here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, November 4th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:20:22.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Pretty in Pink!

Thank you so much to everyone who linked up with us for PINK CHRISTMAS, we had an astonishing total of SIXTY-FOUR cards, and with a $2 donation from each of us (Stephanie and Lauren) that means you helped us raise $256.00 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

Apart from raising money for an awesome cause, PINK CHRISTMAS is always the occasion for some of the most beautiful and creative cards of our entire Jingle Belles season, and that was definitely the case again this year. If you haven't cruised through the gallery yet, we highly recommend the trip. Meanwhile, here are just a few PINK cards we especially loved: 

Swissie aka Liv

...paired soft pink with vivid Christmas green and touches of white, on her fresh and fabulous card. Plus... we looooove that ice skate!

Dotty Jo of Just a Dotty Pudding 

...made two beautiful pink cards; it was almost impossible to decide which was our favorite... except... this one has an ombre pink sky and cats in sweaters!!! :)



...pretty much had us at PINK sheet music! But then she added in the perfect vellum sentiment and those adorable birds, learning their new song; we couldn't resist!

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we really appreciate it, and we loved seeing EVERY card! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt which we hope will stir up some fun! 

Friday, October 16, 2020

♥ Pink Christmas... for the Cure! ♥

We're still dreaming of a PINK Christmas for a Cure.  



Remember, for each card linked-up Lauren and I will both be donating $2 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation ... a cause near and dear to both our hearts.

Here is how we went PINK this week.


Lauren says, "I've paired a copy of an all-pink illustration from a vintage Ideals Christmas magazine with some well-hoarded stripey pink paper from Basic Grey; added Eyelet Outlet Sequins, an oversized bloom and a sticker sentiment and called it a day. Kind of a funky mix, but I like how it turned out."




Stephanie says, "I actually dreamed about this card ... creating a background with strips of all of the pink cardstock scraps in my stash.  I added a circle, two stickers, some white embellishments and the perfect sentiment from Essentials by Ellen Mondo Holly."


Friday, October 9, 2020

I'm Dreaming of a PINK Christmas

If you've played along with us in other years, you may already know that at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we always devote the first theme of each October to making pink holiday cards as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that for each card that gets linked up, we (Stephanie and Lauren) each donate two dollars to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation

There aren't many rules for this challenge other than the fact that each card has to be newly made, it has to have a winter holiday theme, and it has to feature PINK prominently. Does your whole card have to be pink? Certainly not. Can you combine other colors with the pink? Of course! Should you have more pink than say two or three baubles on your green tree set against a snowy white background? Well, yes... that would be good, lol. But other than that, we'll leave it to you to decide how much pink, what shade, and how to employ it!

We're pretty low key about self-promotion around here, but this cause is near and dear to our hearts and we'd love to get GREAT participation, so be sure to tell all your cardmaking friends, and feel free to share the official graphic and our link on your blog or social media.




Here is how we went PINK for Christmas this year.


Stephanie says, "I've been saving this gorgeous Pink Christmas Collection from Stamperia for this prompt ... the papers are so pretty, the card almost made itself.  I used the Sketch Saturday layout and some plastic snowflake buttons as embellishments."


Lauren says, "I went almost entirely Prima, because they've done some really awesome PINK holiday collections in the last few years. I do have a big PINK poinsettia liberated from a bit of holiday garland, and it wouldn't be the holidays without some Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling! I also used this week's Sketch Saturday #630 to arrange my layout; though I've rotated it ninety degrees counterclockwise."

Link PINK with us until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, October 21st. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:20:21. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Spectacular Snow

 So much gorgeous snow in the gallery for our SNOW-y prompt ... here are a few that cuaght our eye.






created this adorable scene with a perfect snowy sky ... 
that tumbling snowman made us giggle.





created monochromatic elegance with her 
snow-filled little village.




perfected masking and splattering to create the perfect snowy sky for her Gnomies.

Join us at midnght for one of our favorite color prompts of the year.


Friday, October 2, 2020

Snow Far, Snow Good

We're still "Dashing Through the Snow" at Jingle Belles and you're still invited to join the fun! Here's what I made this week:




Lauren says, "When I'm in a hurry, my favorite cardmaking shortcut is to grab a journaling card! The great ones already have a focal image + sentiment; all I have to do is pick papers and embellies... aka The Fun Part! I've mixed an older MME plaid with an abstract swirly pattern; plus blue snowflake ribbon from the big box store and a snowflake diecut from a ColorBurst experiment. I scattered a few Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads, sewed around the edges, and called it good to go."


Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I added some gorgeous new papers from The Funkie Junkie by a Hungarian company Stamperia ... this gorgeous collection is called Arctic Antarctic.  I love the majesty of the white wolf in his snowy landscape home.  I paired one of the background papers from the collection with one of my tags from my Dina Wakley Focus on Gloss Class, that brought out the greens in the Northern Lights Sky.  I finished with a vintage wood mounted sentiment from A Muse and some blue gems."


Remember you have until 6pm EST on Wednesday to link-up your SNOW-y creations.

Friday, September 25, 2020

Dashing through the SNOW

For our next prompt, we are asking you to create projects that celebrate the white fluffy flakes of SNOW … it might be snowmen, snowflakes or just snowfall, but include some snow on your cards

Here are our SNOW-y creations:




Stephanie says, "I used my new Mini Swirly Snowflake Stamps and my MISTI to create a snowy background.  Then I used this week's Sketch from Crazy 4 Challenges and added some Snowflakes punched from glitter paper and topped with Eyelet Outlet Bling before finishing with a tiny sentiment."



Lauren says, "I broke out my adorable Pretty Pink Posh snowdude and realized what a great match he was for this long hoarded Basic Grey snowman patterned paper. White glitter paper snowy hills and Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling complete the festive snowscape, with a diecut sentiment from Elizabeth Craft Designs."

♥♥♥

Link your Snowcentric creations right here by 6pm (EDT) on Wednesday, October 7th. 
Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:20:20.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!