The Twelve Days of Cardstock.

We're still eschewing commercial patterned/designer paper and celebrating Cardstock Christmas! Remember you can use any or all your favorite tricks (embossing, stamping, sanding, tearing, layering, diecutting, painting, etc, etc) you just need to start with plain cardstock.

Here's how we were inspired this week:

Lauren's Other Cards

Lauren says, "This week I've used one of my favorite techniques on all the little offcuts of cardstock in my scrapbox: cut them into strips of various size and arrange them in quilt-like patterns. This is quite an addictive process, so I'm not sure I've ever sat down and only made just ONE panel. In this case, I made a red and a green; then pressure embossed them (the green with Spellbinders' Forevergreen; the red features an older Sheena Douglass folder that seems to be OOP) and added a little sanding and Unicorn Ink to emphasize the texture. Large fabric flowers, ancient ribbon and brads, bold cardstock mats and machine stitching complete the design(s)."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I too used cardstock scraps for this week's card.  I pulled out the colors of the rainbow (for the Hero Arts #staycraftychallenge Somewhere Over the Rainbow) and cut 1/4 strips, which I attached to my card on the diagonal working my way down from the top.  I had intended to go back and fill in the corners with the smaller scraps, but ended-up liking the contrast of white, so I stopped.  I inked the sentiment from Hero Arts Holiday Borders and Icons with a rainbow inking - I started with the red, stamped that portion, then added orange overlapping slightly and stamped again and continued until I got to the end of the rainbow.  I finished with some green bling since that was the color that ended-up in the center of the sentiment."

Cardstock Christmas continues until 6pm next Wednesday night (3/22/23) so there's plenty of time for you to join the fun! Scroll down to the original post to see the Readers' Gallery and to link your own cardstock creations.

Cardstock Christmas

Today we're asking you to step away from the designer paper ... yes, put it away ... none allowed ... not even a scrap ... because the next prompt is to create a card using only cardstock. You can tear it, ink it, stamp it, spray it, emboss it ... but stick to only cardstock for your holiday card design.

Here's how we used cardstock this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "For my primarily die cut card, I die cut a stitched circle as a backdrop for my PoppyStamps Whittle Friendly Snowman cut from white, black and a watercolor marker colored pink cardstock (I colored his nose orange with a marker).  I used the sketch from the BYSH Cardmakers and swapped the paper strip with the Poppystamps Frozen Flakes Die Cut.  I finished with a sentiment from Memory Box and a few bits of pink bling in the snowflake centers."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "At first glance, you may think I've cheated and used a cloudy patterned paper, but no... it's Avery Elle's Cloud Mat Die, on which I've used the "inset" diecutting technique. I cut the background from a rich colonial blue cardstock, the clouds from bright white and the frame from a pebbly texture of lime green. I used an older Memory Box pine tree with an appropriately deep green cardstock and Tim Holtz's Sizzix "Reindeer Flight" on copper glitter cardstock. The snowflake is Impression Obsession (cut from ivory shimmer cardstock) held on with an Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brad. The sentiment flag is from around the millenium, I think, so it's exciting to finally use it up!"

This challenge runs until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB2306.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

We Can See CLEARLY Now

There were such creative interpretations for the "Midnight CLEAR" Challenge; if you haven't already perused the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend the trip. In the meantime, here are a few cards we especially loved this time:

Beverly Sizemore of Bev's Creative Path

...added a very clever twist to her shaker card, the window is part of an adorable faux polaroid with a little winter scene inside!

 

Majda of Maydinuscreative Rest

...layered several clear acetate tags each carrying part of her design; one has the snow and stocking, one with the sweet penguin, and a third with the frosty hills!

(You really need to click over and see the additional photos!) 

ArtMBR of Od Materiala Do Izdelka

...affixed her clear acetate snowflakes with clear acetate brads; and also scores bonus points for that gloriously inky background!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to all who participated, we know that this was a challenging assignment, but you ROCKED it! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we think will help you take stock of your supplies! ;)

Do You See What I See?

This week we're still creating with all things transparent ... and we can't wait to see what see-through clear items you incorporate into your holiday card designs.

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

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Once again, I've de-hoarded an ancient Hambly Transparency, this time as a base for a cluster of vintage postage, stickers and other xmassy odds and ends, which I've attached with various types of "clear" or "invisible" adhesive. I discuss that issue in a little more depth on my personal blog, but generally speaking, as long as you cannot see adhesive from the front, and that which you can see from the back looks neat... I don't worry too much about perfection! I did place a label shaped  piece of patterned paper inside the card, to hold a sentiment and signature."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I decided to try a shaker this week.  I chose this pretty little Taylored Expressions Beauty Lies Within 3 Ornament Die (without thinking about the challenge of getting that foam tape curved and hidden behind that thin edge, but I refused to give up).  I filled the shaker with Pinkfresh Studio Champagne Glitter Drops on a beautiful piece of Gina K. Designs Snowflake Paper.  I finished with a few strips of red cardstock for contrast and a Taylored Expressions Simple Strips - Christmas sentiment."

Be sure to visit the original post (directly beneath this one) to see how the other participants have approached the idea of CLEAR elements and to link up your own card designs!

It Came Upon a Midnight *CLEAR*

This fortnight 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! 

Here you can CLEARLY see how we were inspired this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a wonderful Dina Wakley Media Pattern Play Set 1 Transparency.  I attached a cute little sledding penguin gift tag card to the transparency together with a Simon Says Stamp Reverse Sentiment Strip using foam tape for both.  The I was able to use strong two sided tape behind both to attach the transparency to the glitter card base.  I finished with some transparent sequins for accents."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Right off the bat I should probably mention that nearly everything on this card is ANCIENT and unavailable, though I did find the adorable Pretty Pink Posh critters, whose stamp set is called Holiday Pals, at Buffalo Stamps and Stuff. That just happens to be the place where my friend Elisabeth from Paper Anthology got hooked on stamping; so if you live anywhere near Buffalo, NY, you should probably check it out. I've colored the Pals (plus trees from the same set) with Tombows from Paper Anthology and built a shaker window on top of the card by diecutting that Nesties frame half a dozen times and stacking them up with a snowy Hunkydory Crafts Acetate Sheet holding in a mix of Eyelet Outlet Snowflake and Round Sequins. Then I set the entire thing onto a 5" card base made from a beloved and well-hoarded Hambly Transparency with a few styles of truly elderly washi."

♥♥♥

This challenge runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, March 8th. Link your cards right here. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB2305. We can't wait to see what you will make!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The EMBOSSABLE Dream!

It seems that each and every Jingle Belle knows how to Emboss Like a Boss, as you'll discover if you scroll down to the Embossing Gallery, where each and every card is clever, beautiful and inspiring. Here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

Helen of Helen's Craft Haven

...did the white-embossed-on-dark-paper trick that NEVER fails to feel completely magical!

(She also made two other cards using the same stamp set in equally clever ways!)

Brenda of Brenda's Scraps of Life 

...used a beautiful embossing folder to add dimensional poinsettias to plain white paper... then softly watercolored them with subtle metallic shimmer!

Jolanda Johnstone of The Inque Spot Studio

...created an impressively clean and simple white-on-white card with a sophisticated pop of gold!

♥♥♥

And now, I think we'd all like to know to whose house that fun embossing prize will be headed, right? The Random Number Generator has selected... 

(drumroll, please!)

Lucky Number 4

...which means that ROSE is our Lucky Winner!

Congrats, Rose, we just need your snail mail address to send your prize; please email lauren at llaurenb @ hotmail .com and it'll be on its merry postal way, ASAP!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing ALL your beautiful cards. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt that we hope will be transparently inspirational! ;)

Mission *Embossable*

This week we're still asking you to break out your embossing folders and add some textural embossing to your cards (if you don't have embossing folders, here's a video showing how you can use your die cuts to emboss) or, you can use embossing powers; or maybe you'll go wild and do BOTH?!

Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I used Ranger's Vintage Pearl Embossing Powder to create soft texture on the pretty poinsettia from Wendy Vecchi's Doodle Christmas Stamp Set, then "painted" the flowers using Pink Peony and Viridian Archival Inks and a waterbrush full of rubbing alcohol. I used Taylored Expressions's Rosy Posey embossing folder on pale pink cardstock, then used a dauber loaded with Pink Peony to make the texture stand out a bit more. I traced a heart from Wendy Vecchi's Bases and Frames Chippies onto the Cracked Leather Paper, then covered it with Rosey Posey Archival and lightly flicked it with Pearl Mica Spray. The sentiment was cut from an ancient journal card, the felt snowflakes are trimmings from a big box store and I've scattered some Eyelet Outlet Clear Bling around for extra sparkle."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I love Gina K. Design embossing folders, so this week I used her Holiday Flora Embossing Folder with Core'dinations Cardstock that is brown in the front with a light blue Core (sanding it to bring out more of the embossed color).  I paired it with Gina K. Designs wreath builder with Stamps from Gina K. Designs Two-Step Holiday MINI,  Holiday Wreath Builder & Mini Wreath Builder Mini.  I finished with a few clusters of silver metallic pearls.  I'm also joining Gina's Monthly Mix Challenge to create with a Wreath."

This challenge runs until next Wednesday evening, February 22nd. Scroll down to the original post to link your cards AND to see the fun little embossing-related prize that one lucky random cardmaker will scoop up!

My Sweet *Embossable* You

This week we're asking you to pursue the Embossable Dream with us, whether you choose to use an Embossing Folder or die cuts (here's a video on Embossing with Die Cuts) OR using stamps, powders and a heat gun. 

Here's how we embraced embossing this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I did a variation on a faux patina technique I found on SplitcoastStampers with my Cuttlebug Lace Tree embossing folder.  I finished with a SimonSaysStamp Sentiment Strip and some Stampendous gold circle stickers for a bit more sparkle (there's another view on the blog that shows the gold a bit more).  I finished with a Simon Says Stamp Reverse Holiday Sentiment Strip."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I used Sunny Studio's Cable Knit Embossing Folder on peacock blue Tim Holtz Kraft Core cardstock, then softly sanded the design to create even more visual interest. The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions' Flip the Snowflake stamp set, stamped in Wendy Vecchi's Night Sky Archival Ink. The diecuts are Impression Obsession Primitive Snowflakes Die Set and the whole thing is set atop a lovely dark grocer's kraft A2 card. This design is the basis of my second Paper Anthology Holiday Jumpstart Card Kit, which you can read all about on my personal blog."

♥♥♥

Just in case you need a little more incentive to join our Jingle Belles fun this fortnight, we have a lovely prize donated by a sweet friend. One lucky random cardmaker will receive Simon Says Stamp's Christmas Cookies Embossing Folder and a cool five piece Interchangeable Snowflake Frame embossing/diecutting set from Crafter's Companion; just for linking up with us this fortnight!

Link your embossed creations right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, February 22nd. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB2304.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Stick with Us

It seems we're not the only Christmas Crafters who love to use stickers in our creations. And now we have even more inspiration, thanks to the fabulous ideas you guys linked up. If you haven't already scrolled through the Stuck on You gallery, we highly recommend the trip. Meanwhile, here are a few cards that especially caught our eye this time:

LeAnne Pugliese of Wee Inklings

...discovered these wonderful chipboard banner stickers in her stash and gave them the perfect home on her colorful and appealing card!

Deanne Saunders of A Little Bit o'Paper

...created this marvelously minimalist card that makes us want to don our winter accessories and dance like a jubilant reindeer!

Brenda B of Brenda's Scraps of Life

...says she rarely uses stickers on cards, but this sophisticated Santa-inspired slimline shows that she's a natural! (We love the touches of glitter glue that customize her sweet stickers, too!)

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who joined our sticker-centric fun, we loved seeing every single card! We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt we hope you'll tackle like a BOSS... ;)

Let's **STICK** Together

We're still breaking out and creating with stickers this week; and you still have until next Wednesday evening (February 8th) to join our fun. Scroll down to the original post to link up YOUR fabulous sticker cards, but first... have a look at how we got STICK-y this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This time I've got some beautiful smaller stickers based on vintage postcards, which came from an older Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Sticker Book, as well as a nearly new Photoplay sticker sentiment, and some puffy holly-shaped Thickers. All of these are layered on top of Prima graphed patterned paper,  torn sheet music, and a strip of Pavilio's lovely White Lace Tape; as well as a few solid mats that pick up various colors in the design."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I built my card around that adorable Here Comes Santa Claus Doodle-Pops Cardstock sticker from Doodebug Design, Inc.  I framed it with a die cut stitched circle using the layout from the Inspire.Create.Challenge and paired it with a combination of Doodlebug papers.  The sentiment stickers are Christmas Labels by Tim Holtz."

Stuck On You

This week we're asking you to create a card that features at least one sticker. Stickers were one of the very first things we started collecting when we began making cards … and we're guessing you have one or two in your stash, as well. They might be fun little 3-D images, alphabets or sentiment strips … whatever your sticker of choice, use them on a holiday card, and link up with us, below.

Meanwhile, here's how we were *stuck* on you this week:

Stephanie's card

Stephanie says, "This is probably the quickest card I've made in months.  The poinsettia is a Penny Black Christmas Everywhere Stickeroo and the sentiment is from SRM Stickers."

Lauren's Card(s)

Lauren says, "These adorable snowpersons and the cute sentiment strips came from the Elements sticker sheet in Photoplay's Christmas Cheer collection, which I got at Paper Anthology last fall. The dies from which the cute tabbed frames are cut (out of Ranger's Distress Woodgrain Cardstock) using a set of Elizabeth Craft Designs' Planner Essentials Dies that I special-ordered over a year ago, but somehow only just opened?? The plaid paper is ancient October Afternoon, as is one of the washi tapes; the sheet music is from my stash of vintage and found papers; the Snowflake Brads are Eyelet Outlet."

♥♥♥

Link your sticker-bedecked holiday cards right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, February 8th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB2303.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Bells Are Ringing

Such beautiful cards in our Christmas Bells gallery; we had bells of every possible shape, size and color... and each one part of an utterly lovely card! Here are a few that especially caught our eye this time:

Barbara Godden of Barb's Creative Corner

...made these beautiful metallic diecut bells the star of her perfectly composed vertical slimline design (back in the day we'd've called this a "Tall Card" lol). You should pop over and see how cool the INSIDE is as well!

Margaret A of Granmargaret's Cands 'n Stuff

...used several different digital products to make her hybrid holiday card, in a beautifully bold traditional color palette.

Deb Horst of Sendable Sentiments

...tied an actual jingle bell right onto her elegant navy and white card with twine and it's the perfect finishing touch!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along this time, we truly love seeing every single one of your beautiful and creative cards! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt, so we hope you'll STICK with us for that! ;)

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!

♥♥♥♥♥

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! 

♥♥♥♥♥

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