Pink Christmas: Week 2

It's the second week of our gala PINK CHRISTMAS celebration here at Jingle Belles, in which we're asking YOU to make holiday cards that are predominantly pink... and WE will donate to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for each card that gets linked up! Visit the original PINK CHRISTMAS post directly below this one for all the details as well as the Linky Tool to add your cards. 

Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I raided my happy little stash of Doodlebug Design papers, journal tags and stickers to make this sweet (in every sense, lol) little card that's mostly pink... with touches of tan gingerbread and reindeer; as well as some fun green Christmas tree cookies. I used an ancient pink background paper with a strong horizontal element to it, which made lining up the decorative strips super-easy!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "Since all of my pink designer paper scraps were still out on my table, I decided to combine three of them for this week's card.  I topped the papers with a fun pink Baking Spirits Bright Doodle-Pop from Doodlebug Designs.  I finished with a perfect AMuse sentiment and some pink glittery enamel dots."

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Link your gorgeous PINK CHRISTMAS creations (because YES, you definitely can make as many as you'd like!) on the original post which is directly below this one. This challenge (#JB2421) runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, October 23rd. 

PINK CHRISTMAS (For the Cure!)

It's that time again here at Jingle Belles, our favorite prompt of the year: PINK CHRISTMAS! In which you make and link new holiday cards that are predominantly PINK and we (Stephanie and Lauren) donate $2 (apiece!) per card to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation! 

Just to anticipate a few basic questions: Yes, you can link as many cards as you'd like to; and no, your cards don't need to be entirely PINK but it should certainly be the main color! You can use any additional colors that you'd like; and the cards can be any size, shape, theme and style. 

Sound good? Then without further ado, here are our PINK CHRISTMAS cards:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I went shopping in my designer paper scraps and pulled out every pink paper I could find (including one of my own inky sprayed papers).  I cut 3/8" strips to cover my card front.  I finished with a fun Doodlebug Designs tag that I matted with a thin white frame to make it pop a bit more against that busy background."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I am currently obsessed with Wendy Vecchi's NOT Your Ordinary Card Collection from Spellbinders, so for this card I broke out the Christmas Add-On Stamp and Die Set and used the triple holly leaf die to very quickly cut lots of layers from textured pink cardstock; which I then inked and stacked, in two five-petal layers for each flower, into poinsettias, finishing off with the three berry cluster at the center, and finally a few tiny stick-on pearls plus a few cuts of the beautiful, delicate greenery die. I used the sentiment stamps from the set and a Build-a-Plaid background made with the second smallest stencil and Pink Peony Archival. A little bit of lace, some darker pink mats and a bit of machine stitching and I was good to go! There's a little more detail about the making of the poinsettias and the use of the Build-a-Plaid Stencils on my blog."

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Link your gorgeous PINK CHRISTMAS creation(s) right here. This challenge (#JB2421) runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, October 23rd. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Sketchy Stunners!

This time literally ALL of the holiday cards made for our special sketch challenge were outstanding, so here they are and CONGRATS to everyone who did a brilliant job!

Leslie of L Rose Creates

...added a sweet firelplace and stocking scene to the focal panel and clearly trained holly leaves to go up and down both sides of the card!

Deb of Sendable Sentiments

...chose and elegant gold, cream and navy color palette and added just enough perfect distressing to each element!

Pat G who posts on Instagram

...brilliantly swapped the rectangle and strip shapes from the sketch for poinsettias and holly that make her gorgeous stencilled backdrop stand out even more!

Fabiola of Mon P'tit Monde

...made a completely faithfulversion of the sketch and it turns out to look even lovelier in landscape mode; plus we love the luscious soft snowy colors!

Annette Elias of de Kijkkast

...flipped the sketch horizontally and added impressive amounts of eye-catching dimension and texture... not to mention displaying her amazing coloring skills!

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We'll be back at midnight with a brand new (but seasonally predictable!) prompt we hope will tickle you PINK! ♥ 

Gettin' Sketchy

We're still making cards based on Stephanie's awesome card sketch and you're still invited to join the fun! First here's a reminder of the sketch:

And now, here's how we got sketchy this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I went almost entirely vintage this week. Only my sentiment is cut from a modern Simple Stories mini journal card... oh and there's a silver metallic cardstock mat layer... but otherwise: the background collage is all vintage paper; the postcard is scanned and re-sized but it's from my IRL collection of vintage postcards. Maybe my favorite things are those beautiful vintage Plaid Trading Stamps that Stephanie found and gifted to me and which not only matched perfectly, they work perfectly as the "strips" in the sketch!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I found this adorable vintage Santa & Reindeer image from Pretty Little Studio's Jolly Santa Die Cuts (I wonder which reindeer get their own bed).  I paired it with cardstock banners and a sentiment to wish them all a good night's sleep after their hard work is done.."

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You've got until next Wednesday evening (10-9-24) to link your sketch-inspired cards on the original post, located directly below this one. Remember you can flip it, stretch it, rotate it, smoosh it or change shapes; just make sure we can see "the bones" of the sketch in your card! 

SKETCH-tivus for the Rest of Us

We're asking you to get SKETCH-y with us this fortnight. Take a peek at the inspiring sketch Stephanie has created for us and feel free to flip it, stretch it, rotate it, smoosh it or change shapes; just make sure we can see "the bones" of the sketch in your card!

Here's how we celebrated SKETCH-tivus:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "A tag is the perfect thing for the horizontal element in the Sketch.  My card is made completely from Doodlebug Designs papers, which I love for their bright happy colors."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "A frame is also a nice choice for the focal element in the sketch, and since this one was oriented vertically, I rotated the sketch 90 degrees counterclockwise, but otherwise my card is quite faithful to the original. I filled said frame with sheet music and some supercute stickers, added various washi strips to the beautiful 49 and Market background panel, did a little stitching, et voila!"

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Link your sketch cards right here by 6pm (eastern) on Wednesday, October 9th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB2420.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Holiday Hilarity

So many fun and funny holiday cards in the Ho Ha Ha gallery, if you haven't already had a look, we highly recommend the trip. In the meantime, here are three that especially caught our eye and tickled our funnybone:

Pat G posting on Instagram

...made an adorable SHELL-ebration with a cute and clever desert theme, including a stenciled sandy background, a cactus xmas tree (with appropriately tan/brown lights!) and amazing coloring!

Becca Yahrling posting on Flickr

...sums up many of the qualities we OWL-ways love in a friend, at Christmas and the rest of the year; and gets bonus points for her fab coloring and a fun layout!

Meg of Bits and Pieces

...paired the perfect digital image and sentiment for a beautifully clean and simple MEOW-y Christmas card that definitely made us chuckle!

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And now we'd all love to know where that super-fun, 

Santa-centric Hero Arts stamp set will be going, right?

The Random Number Generator has selected...

(drumroll, please!)

Lucky Number 6

which means that

Julissa Sargo

(who made two beautiful and hilarious cards, btw!)

 is our Lucky Winner!

Julissa, please send your snail mail info to:

llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com

and we'll get that right on it's way to you!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing EVERY card! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt that might seem a liiiiiiittttttttle bit sketchy, but we think you'll like it! :)

Fun, Fun, Funny

We're still making a cards that are funny, punny, silly or snarky, and we'd love for YOU to make us laugh, smile or chuckle with your Humorous Holiday cards. Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I loved Stephanie's Taylored Expressions Grumpling card from last week, and it reminded me that I own the Mythical Grumplings stamp set, with it's supercute sourpuss of a yeti, to whom I've given an Eyelet Outlet Santa Hat Brad. The (sadly out of print) Stamplorations' "Jingle All the Way" die was perfect for the top part of the sentiment, and the rest is computer-generated, using a free font called Bohemian Typewriter. A nice big Nestabilities label die trimmed the center panel; which I layered onto a piece of offset chevron patterned paper... (so ancient I have no idea who made it) ...augmented with some seasonal skinny washi tape strips."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "Another line of stamps I love for fun & snark are My Favorite Things Sassy Pants (this is Sassy Pants Holiday).  I paired the sentiment with some fun puffy elf stickers I've had in my stash for longer than I remember ... aren't they laugh-out-loud perfect."

And don't forget, there's a little prize for one lucky participant - the Hero Arts Ho Ho Ho Santa Faces Stamp Set.

You still have until next Wednesday evening (9-25) to link up your own humorous holiday card(s); just scroll down to the original Ho Ha Ha post, directly beneath this one.

HO HA HA!

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're asking you to create Humorous Holiday Cards. They can be funny, punny, snarky or silly but make sure they're something that will induce a smile, a chuckle or a laugh.

Here's how we're sharing our humor this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "When I think of humor and snark, I immediately go to the Grumpy Characters from Taylored Expressions.  For this week's card, I used Taylored Expressions Big Grumpy - Cat with a sentiment and antlers from Taylored Expressions Big Grumpy-Christmas.  I positioned him onto a piece of Taylored Expressions Build a Scene Christmas paper with a tiny bit of holly on the sign finishing the design.

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "As I was pursuing a completely different idea, I found this teeny (1" square) HUMBUG stamp which I think has to be 20+ years old, and I wondered if I could make it into a full-sized A2 card. As it turns out, YES, I could; though it's definitely a bit more pared down than my usual style. A little matted diecut frame, some foam Thickers, and a few patterned paper panels in appropriately coordinating "Humbug Green" et voila!

And just for giggles (get it LOL) - for one lucky participant, we've got a fun little prize - 

the Ho Ho Ho Santa Faces Stamp Set from Hero Arts.

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JB2419: Ho Ha Ha will run until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, September 25th. 

Link your humorous holiday cards right here: 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Just In C.A.S.E.

It seems that CASE-ing previous Jingle Belles cards was indeed a considerable challenge, so we are extra-impressed by those who did an amazing job!

Deb Horst of Sendable Sentiments

...chose a card of Lauren's (see below) and did an amazing job replicating the structure, the pink and the ribbon... then added a few incredibly lovely twists of her own!

Deb's inspiration; by Lauren

Jolanda Johnstone of The Inque Spot Studio

...chose a card of Stephanie's (see below) and did a fabulous job of making Stephanie's design entirely visible, while using her own beautifully chosen shapes and colors!

Jolanda's inspiration; by Stephanie

Fabiola of Mon P'tit Monde

...made TWO amazing versions of two different cards made by Stephanie and they're so awesome we cannot possibly choose between them!

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Tune in at Midnight for a brand new prompt we think will be good for a laugh or two!

It Came Upon a Midnight CASE

This week we're still asking you to CASE (Copy And Selectively Edit) any of the cards that Lauren or Stephanie have made for any of the previous Jingle Belles prompts (yep, you've got 13 1/2 years of cards to choose from). 

Be sure to link to the card that inspired you and tell us the selective edits you made to the design.

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I was inspired by Stephanie's Neutral Noel collage card from June of 2021 (see below) I swapped the cool "found relatives" style photo for a scanned and re-sized vintage postcard of appropriate colors that is portrait rather than landscape-shaped; and of course my collage and vintage bits are different, but I kept to the footprint of the original card and made sure to include some sheet music, some softly patterned paper, a small piece of transparency, and... my favorite... that cool wrap of twine!"

Stephanie's Inspiring Card

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I chose Lauren's Man with the Bag card from June 2022, but I swapped Santa for a different Doodlebug Doodle-Pops Sugarplum Street 3-D stickers.  I also moved my sentiment underneath my scene and with my rotated oval die cut.  I had so much fun creating my paper scrap quilted background."

Lauren's Inspiring Card

Loves Labor Day Lost

Since Monday, September 2nd, will be Labor Day here in the United States, we've decided to celebrate by giving you a bit of a head start with this week's card design.

We're asking you to CASE (Copy And Selectively Edit) any of the cards that Lauren or Stephanie have made for any of the previous Jingle Belles prompts (yep, you've got 13 1/2 years of cards to choose from). Be sure to link to the card that inspired you and tell us the selective edits you made to the design.

Here is how we inspired one another.

Stephanie says, "For my inspiration, I chose this Masculine Card that Lauren made in May 2022.

Lauren's Inspiration Card

I used a different Penny Black Across the Miles Masterpieces Made Simple (mine is horizontal vs. vertical) and added different Eyelet Outlet Brads (a cardinal in the tree branch and a poinsettia by the sentiment for a bit more red in the design).  I also chose to use a different color to frame my sentiment than the frame for my Masterpiece, and added a strip of white glitter paper for a vertical element."

Stephanie's Card

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Lauren says, "For my inspiration, believe it or not, with NO IDEA what Stephanie had chosen or made, I picked I this card of Stephanie's from July of 2022, which in an amazing, totally coincidental, example of magnificent mindmelding, ALSO features a Penny Black Masterpieces Made Simple illustrated panel!!!

Stephanie's Inspiration Card

"I didn't have the exact same Penny Black illustration, but I did have three other horizontally oriented ones from various Masterpieces Made Simple sets (hilariously including the illustration Stephanie used this week!) so rather than try to choose my favorite, I decided to make three cards this week. I used a different style of Eyelet Outlet Fancy Bling, but luckily it was long enough to cover all three cards, though I couldn't quite take it to the edge. I added very skinny mats in a shimmery cream cardstock and chose to put the sentiments on top of the panels instead of beneath."

Lauren's Card(s)

Remember, you can choose ANY Jingle Belles card(s) by Stephanie or Lauren from our entire 13+ year history, just be sure to link to the inspiration card(s) and tell us what your "selective" edits are. Link them right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, September 11th. Keyword is JB2418.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Vintage Virtuosity

We loved seeing ALL of the amazing cards in the Spirit of Christmas Past Readers' Gallery, so if you haven't scrolled through them yet, we definitely recommend having a look. Meanwhile, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

LeAnne Pugliese of Wee Inklings

...chose traditional colors, an elegantly worn background, and an utterly gorgeous Father Christmas image to make what might be the ultimate vintage-style holiday card!

Majda of Majdinustvarjalninemir

...combined the sweetest vintage snowpeople with a palette of earthtones, lots of perfectly considered distressing, and a wisp of beautiful fabric to make heart-shaped card we LOVE!

Loopyloo of Loopyloo Cards

...cleverly used layers of one of the COOLEST washi tapes we've ever seen to create her focal image, which she has framed, matted and added a sentiment!

♥♥♥

And now to award that fun little Vintage Christmas Assortment from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff! The random number generator has chosen... Lucky #16 which means that Bonnie Lynn is our lucky winner. Bunny, please send your snail mail info to llaurenb (@) hotmail (dot) com and we'll get that on its way ASAP!

We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt that we hope will give you a CASE of inspiration! ;) 

An Old-Fashioned Holiday

We're still celebrating a vintage/retro holiday vibe and since there's a nice little prize of holiday vintage goodies from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff, you might like to join the fun by making a new holiday card featuring vintage or vintage-inspired items or a theme/graphics that feel vintage to you. 

Scroll down to the original Spirit of Christmas Past post to link your cards and get a look at the prize.

 Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week my card is composed of nearly all genuine vintage and found papers, similar to those that are in the Deluxe Christmas Assortments in my Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff; in fact, the reason I started my shop was because I had collected such an extensive stash of goodies, it seemed like I should probably try to share a few of those, lol. For my card, I made a largely random collage of vintage text paper and sheet music, though I confess that I did take care to let the title of "The Holly and the Ivy" have a prominent position. A bit of foliage cut from a vintage illustration and some lovely torn Christmas seals from 1957 complete the background, which I lightly edged with Antique Linen Distress Ink and matted on both red and white cardstock before machine stitching around the perimeter. The handsome cardinal is from a piece of giftwrap I saved last December; I backed it with plain white cardstock before fussy-cutting, then popped it up on a bit of foam tape for extra dimension."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I found this vintage holiday card at an estate sale.  I die cut the poinsettia image from the front of the card, and then I stamped the Savvy Stamps Happy Holidays Block on the back of the card and die cut it with a circle.  I added some gold thread using the current Atlantic Hearts Sketch."

The Spirit of Christmas Past

This week we're celebrating the Spirit of Christmas Past … which means creating a card with a vintage design. 

That could mean incorporating actual vintage elements, using new products that have a vintage style, or using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe – whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive to your endeavors, this week we are sponsored by Lauren's fantastic Etsy Shop Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky random cardmaker who links-up their vintage-inspired design.

Here's how we brought on the Spirit of Christmas Past this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I went to my vintage drawers and pulled out all sorts of bits to create my glue-as-I-go collage.  I started with a vintage hymnal page of a Christmas Carol (which ended-up almost completely obscured when I was done).  There are vintage trading stamps, a vintage hand-written cake recipe, a vintage dictionary page, a vintage holiday stamp, a translucent lily and lots of Tim Holtz vintage-y bits.  I finished my stamping a few sentiments from Tim's Stampendous Tiny Text Christmas."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "This week, I elected to go use new (well, new-ish, lol) commercial products that have a vintage/retro flair. My journal card and patterned papers are Authentique, the sentiment is Simple Stories and those luscious velvet holly leaves are absolutely ancient 7 Gypsies. I did lots of distressed edges and a bit of machine stitching to add to the worn, old-fashioned feeling."

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And now how about a peek at that prize from Just Enough Stuff?

It's a Deluxe Christmas Assortment featuring 20+ different sheets of vintage and found holiday-themed papers; including sheet music, text, children's illustrations, recipes, and much more. Use the originals as is or scan and re-size them for perfect card-sized embellishments!

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Link your vintage-inspired or retro-centric holiday cards RIGHT HERE by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, August 28th. Keyword is JB2417.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter