More Holiday Leftovers

This week we're still having fun creating with Holiday Leftovers ... all of those bits and bobs you saved because they didn't work at the time ... but they had so much future potential that you kept them.

Here are our "plates" filled with Holiday Leftovers this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "When Ranger's new Make-It Holiday Stamps and Stencils came out, I made a bunch of different backgrounds with the Peppermints Stencil before choosing one for a tutorial. Of course I saved the "variations" including this one, in which all the peppermints are pink and red. In the meantime, I really liked this pink embossed mat that turned out to be the wrong color for the Paper Anthology Ice Ice Baby Holiday jumpstart Kit; and I stumbled upon a blue gel print from probably three years ago, which I'm a little embarrassed that I saved... but in my defense it's perfect for matting these layers. I thought I might be able to use up my open pack of (now sold out) Eyelet Outlet Peppermint Candy Brads; and also the last four or five stickers on the ancient Echo Park sticker sheet this sentiment came from, but neither of those quite happened, so in fact, I now have leftovers from my leftovers card, lol!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I tied together all of my leftovers based on a silver and white color palette.  I started with a failed snowflake embossed background panel (the parts that didn't emboss as well are covered by the elements in the center).  The silver strip of embossed snowflakes is truly a leftover using the silver that is on the inside of a Vick's Tissue box.  I pulled in two more silver rectangles ... one from glitter and another from designer paper.  I die cut and punched three snowflakes from silver and white glitter papers and topped them with an Eyelet Outlet clear gem.  I added in a piece of silver vellum that was the leftover from die cutting a circle frame.  I finished with a silver sticker sentiment and a few white pearls.  I absolutely love how elegant this card turned out."

♥♥♥

JB2623: Holiday Leftovers runs until next Wednesday evening, November 18th. Link your cards on the original post ...directly below this one!

Holiday Leftovers

One of our favorite things about a big Thanksgiving dinner ... are the leftovers (turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce sandwich anyone?) ... so this fortnight we're celebrating

Holiday Leftovers at Jingle Belles.

We're asking you to make a card using paper scraps, offcuts, an image you colored or diecut or fussy-cut but never used, a small piece of ribbon too pretty to toss away, the last sticker in the packet or... whatever "leftover" bits and bobs you have laying around. Of course you can mix in new stuff too. Oh and be sure to tell us what your leftovers are so we can marvel at your cleverness!

Here are how we're serving our leftover this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "My leftovers include the dry embossed and sanded lavender Core'dinations cardstock panel, a strip of iridescent foiled snowflakes and a lavender glitter circle.  I paired them with a Yeti and his lavender nose topped with a Santa Hat sticker and an Eyelet Outlet Candy Cane Brad.  Sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Yeti For Christmas."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I had some random skate pieces and pale grey embroidery floss leftover from making and photographing the Paper Anthology Ice Ice Baby Holiday Jumpstart kit last week; and since the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Ice Skates die is one of my favorites, anyway, of course I knew I wanted to use them up. In addition, I found this already-cut-to-size piece of 49 and Market holiday paper AND a bunch of glittery dimensional flowers I must've made several years ago and which I just unearthed again. Actually, I think only the red mat and the white 5.5" cardbase are new; this is a small but satisfying triumph of leftover usage!

♥♥♥

JB2623: Holiday Leftovers runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, November 18th. Link your cards featuring Holiday Leftovers riiiiiight heeeeere:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

ALL the Creatures are Stunning!

Christmas critters and creatures are some of our favorites here at Jingle Belles and it seems we're not the only ones who love making this type of card. ALL the entires are fabulous, of course, so if you haven't taken time yet to scroll through we highly recommend the trip. In the meantime, here are three cards we especially loved this time:

Denise Bryant who posts on SCS

...made this utterly adorable penguin-shaped card and it's hard to imagine anything more charming!

Ellen of Ellen's Kaarten

...colored, cut and arranged an entire choir of tiny, singing mice in a super-cute forest, This is exactly the kind of Xmas energy we need!

Leslie M of L Rose Creates

...embossed and gilded evergreens on a dark background, then added the most elegant owl we've ever seen; not to mention a sentiment that sums it up perfectly!

♥♥♥

Of course there was a little prize this time, too, that fun Sizzix Reindeer Die, let's find out where that will be heading off to!

The Random Number Generator has chosen 

Lucky Number 19

which means that Pat G is our Lucky Winner, Congrats!

Pat, please send your snail mail info to llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com 

and we'll get that out to you ASAP!

(Because luckily Christmas Reindeer can FLY!!!)

♥♥♥

Many thanks to all who participated, we loved seeing ALL of your beautiful cards. We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt we hope you've saved room for! 

Not a Creature Was Stirring

We're still creating with animals (or a yeti or monster) this week at Jingle Belles.

Here's our creature feature:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I've gone fairly traditionally again this week, starting off with Memory Box's Serene Bird and Branch die set. I've cut the bird from a really soft silver-grey metallic cardstock, then added it (and quite a lot of small foliage!) to the center of MFT's Happy Holidays Circle Frame; then added Dare 2B Artzy's Slim-Mini Snowflake panel behind the whole thing and set it atop some ancient Basic Grey Wisteria paper. In the photo, the lavender and purple both look slightly "off" but I assure you, IRL, it's quite a nice card."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "My friend picked me up a copy of the newest issue of Creative Stamping Magazine, which includes an adorable Snoopy Christmas stamp set.  I stamped this image and colored it with my Ohuhu markers.  I spattered some snow using Catherine Pooler Pebble ink combined with white pigment ink and water.  I went in with a silver sharpie to add a few smaller flakes.  I finished with a sentiment from the set and attached the panel with foam tape to a red card base."

♥♥♥

Just in case the theme isn't inspiring enough, here's a very fancy reindeer die (Elegant Reindeer from Sizzix) who'd LOVE to come and live at the home of one lucky, randomly-selected cardmaker who links up with us this fortnight:

Link your critter- or creature-centric cards on the original While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks post (directly below this one) for a chance to win! This challenge ends next Wednesday evening, November 4th.

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks

For our next Jingle Belles prompt, we're asking you to break out the animals … it could be a sweet little sheep, a naughty kitty, 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.

Here are our animals for this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I built my card around the adorable Christmas kitty from Spellbinders Oh What Fun! Rub-ons (from their event).  I paired it with papers from Carta Bella Merry Christmas collection, each framed in gold mirror cardstock and a Sketch from Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers {BYSHC}  I finished with a Savvy Stamps Woodblock Make Merry sentiment."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I went semi-traditionally; or at least, I've chosen animals that actually exist, lol, namely the moose, narwhal and walrus from Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Arctic. I really like paper-piecing these guys, so that's what I did here. I built a little winter landscape for them to inhabit; then all I needed was a diecut sentiment and a few snowflakes, et voila!

♥♥♥

Just in case the theme isn't inspiring enough, here's a very fancy reindeer die (Elegant Reindeer from Sizzix) who'd LOVE to come and live at the home of one lucky, randomly-selected cardmaker that links up with us this fortnight:

JB2622: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks runs until 6pm (Eastern) the evening of Wednesday, November 4th. Link up your own critter-centric masterpiece(s) right here!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Think Pink!

It's always an exciting moment to announce the total for our annual donation to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, so before we show some of our faves from Pink Christmas, let us proudly announce that we had 21 cards in total, and since our donation is $2 each for every card, we'll be sending $84 to BCRF this year! Many thanks to all who linked up and helped us reach this total!

Literally EVERY Pink Christmas card is a great one, so if you haven't yet taken time to scroll through all the entries, we highly recommend the trip. But meanwhile, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

Lesley G of Lesley's Craft Room

...created a seemingly *simple* card; but every element is perfectly judged. From the embossed text in the background; to the perfect shades of pink for hat, mats and gems; and of course that sheer pink ribbon as a finishing touch. This card really has it all!

Becca Yahrling who posts on Flickr

...made three gorgeous cards, but this one-- with the floral diagonal stripes, adorable skate (with dimensional furry topper!) and fancy diecut sentiment --is especially charming!

Suzanne H who posts on Flickr

...created this showstopper of a background by heat embossing the oversized stamp in white, then stenciling the colors on top; it's an incredible effect, therefore all she needed on top was that beautifully framed sentiment!

♥♥♥

Shifting gears q little be before we go: what with all the fun of Pink Christmas AND our (Lauren and Stephanie's) NYC vacation, one of us (LAUREN!) totally forgot to award the prize from the last challenge, JB2620: The Stockings Were Hung, so let's do that right now:

The Random Number Generator has selected 

Lucky Number 6 

which means that

Denise Bryant

is our Lucky Winner!

Denise, please send your snail mail info to 

llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com and we'll get that winging its way to you ASAP!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to all who played along, we loved seeing every card and we're grateful to you for helping us raise a little bit of cash for a worthy cause. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt that we hope won't leave you feeling sheepish... ;)

♥ Pink Christmas... for the Cure! ♥

We're still creating Pink cards for the Cure ... This is the fortnight where Stephanie and Lauren each donate $2 per linked-up card to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, so if you're only going to join us here at Jingle Belles for ONE challenge, let it be this one!

Here is how we went PINK this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Frank Garcia's Candy Cane Lane collection for Prima Marketing might be my all-time favorite Pink Christmas set; it came out in 2022 and I've used the heck out of it ever since/ Luckily, I still had a few goodies left, like the adorable Santa journal card, and that pretty pink floral background with metallic accents. I paired those items with some pink washi; oversized Pink Stippled Jewel Brads from Eyelet Outlet attaching ancient velvetty flowers; and a mat I ran through Dina Wakley's Stars and Fronds 3D Embossing Folder. IRL, this card has more texture and more sparkle than you can see in the photo, but I guess you'll have to take my word for that!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I shopped my stash for pink holiday paper and found this lovely Mackenzie Christmas from LDRS Creative.  I used two different papers to pull this one together ... with that little tear drop trailer, I know exactly who this card will be going to."

♥♥♥

JB2621: PINK Christmas runs until 6pm (Eastern) next Wednesday, October 21st. If you'd like to help us raise some extra cash for BCRF, Link as many newly made, predominantly PINK holiday cards as you possibly can on the original Pink Christmas post (directly beneath this one) before then!

We're Dreaming of a PINK Christmas!

It's early October (aka Breast Cancer Awareness Month) and therefore time for one of our favorite Jingle Belles events: Pink Christmas! This is the fortnight where Stephanie and Lauren each donate $2 per linked-up card to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, so if you're only going to join us here at Jingle Belles for ONE challenge, let it be this one!

Does your card have to be ALL PINK? Nope; but the pink should be kind of predominant. Can you add in other colors, too? Yep. Can you link up more than one card? Yes, please! Does each card have to be in a separate post? No, we'll make sure to count however many cards you've made, whether you post them all at once or one at a time, so the logistics are completely up to you.

Here are our PINK CHRISTMAS cards for this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I love using non-holiday papers for holiday cards.  I thought these pink flowers & leaves worked well with the tiny 3-D glittery gifts.  I finished with a red embossed sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio Christmas Sentiments."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I found this Oxide Ink-Blended panel, the large pink dotty circle, AND the 'Let it Snow' flag in my leftovers box, which seems like too much serendipity to ignore. I generally position an ombre panel so that the darkest shade is on the bottom, but this time I decided to go vertical and I think it looks pretty cool. The trees and stars are from an absolutely ancient sheet of Pebbles stickers that I found when we did the sticker challenge a few weeks ago and I added tiny Doodlebug enamel hearts plus some Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads. Skinny white mats and YES, a PINK cardbase complete my A6 design."

♥♥♥♥♥

JB2621: We're Dreaming of a PINK Christmas runs until the evening of Wednesday, October 21st. Link as many newly made PINK holiday cards as you possibly can, right here: 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

ALL of The Stocking Cards...

...are absolutely awesome; so if you haven't taken a scroll through the Stockings Were Hung Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend the trip! This week Lauren and Stephanie are hanging out together in the Big Apple, but we'll have a brand new prompt as usual on Friday, and regular Shout Outs will resume afterwards. Many thanks to all who played along, we hope you'll stop back tomorrow, we think you'll be tickled PINK! (PS: We'll announce the winner of the dies over the weekend, in a separate post.)

Sticking With Stockings

It's the second week of our Stocking-centric fun, so we're still making cards which showcase that beloved holiday gift-giving tradition. Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I got to use my Simon Hurley Mantel Decorations die set from Spellbinders for the first time, and I had a lot of fun. I embossed a brick background using an ancient embossing folder, cut a scrap of woodgrain paper into a mantle-shaped chunk and got down to adding dies from the set: the banners, the stockings, the large deer and greenery. Then, for some additional texture and interest to this little scene, I attached Eyelet Outlet Deer, Poinsettia, Nutcracker and Gift Brads; plus a few red Round Brads to hold the stockings and the banner."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I built my card around this journaling card from the Echo Park Happy Holidays collection.  I paired it with snowflake paper from the same collection.  I topped it with two silver Love from Lizi Peel Off stickers and a bow sticker from the same collection.  I finished with a silver font sticker sentiment to balance out the bottom of the card."

And remember, one lucky participant will receive the Memory Box Knotted Circle Wreaths dies.

♥♥♥

JB2620: The Stockings Were Hung runs until next Wednesday evening, October 7th. Link your own Stocking-centric card(s) on the original post, directly below this one.

The Stockings Were Hung

If you've already guessed that this fortnight we want to see cards which feature Christmas Stockings, then HOORAY you're right! If you're feeling ambitious, you could make a stocking-shaped card, for which we've found you some excellent templates; but of course a card with a stocking stamp, diecut, or journal card also works!

Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "When I found this cute little stocking on the Pinkfresh Studio Happy Holidays Wood Accent, I knew it would be perfect to build my card around.  The September Pinkfresh Studio Challenge is Again & Again (using repeated elements), so I added two more of the Wood Accents as my first repeated element.  Then I paired them with two Pinkfresh Studio papers that had repeated elements (squares and rectangles) and finished by repeating clusters of  Pinkfresh Gold Glitter Dots and a tiny believe ephemera sticker."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "That's an Authentique journal card from a year or two ago, and as soon as I saw it in my journal card stash, I was already pulling the colors and the vibes out for a little collage. I've got some nicely patina-ed sheet music; a page from an old Ideals Christmas magazine plus some poinsettias from another page (backed with cardstock and adorned with Sunflower Stickles in the centers); some text paper; a little border strip with the days of the week; a Graphic 45 sentiment; some miscellaneous holiday washi and a few super-skinny red mats." 

♥♥♥

And for one lucky participant, we will be gifting the Knotted Circle Wreaths dies from Memory Box.

JB2620: The Stockings Were Hung runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, October 7th. Link  your own Stocking-centric masterpiece(s) right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

CASE a Jingle Belle

We're still CASE-ing (Copy and Selectively Edit) cards that Lauren and Stephanie have made for Jingle Belles ... you can pick any card (just make sure you tell us which one) that we've made since 2011.

Here's where we found our CASE-ing Inspiration this week:

Lauren's Inspiration

Stephanie's Red Christmas Card from February 2026

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Once again, I was attracted by the perfect balance and bold simplicity of Stephanie's card; but also... honestly... knowing I had ingredients which were fairly close to the same vibe definitely makes the job easier. I had a journal card with a similar Doodlebug Santa; I had two coordinating red patterned papers: one texty, one not; I added skinny black mats between my layers; and I had a red sentiment with "believe" in it... though rather than stamping, I used a Tim Holtz Sticker. I think this captures the vibe of Stephanie's card pretty well and obviously I have to consider it a big bonus that its flat, lightweight design is strong in the mail-ability genre!"

Stephanie's Inspiration

Lauren's Sketch Card from August 2018

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I was feeling like a paper-craftery card, so Lauren's card was the perfect inspiration.  I stayed pretty true to Lauren's design, but extended the card size to be a slimline to fit the size of my circle elements (die cut from one of the designer papers). All papers and the sticker sentiment are from Simple Stories Snow Pine Lodge Collection.  I combined multiple pink, green & teal patterned papers."

♥♥♥

You have until next Wednesday evening, September 23rd, to CASE one of our cards and link it up on the original CASE-ing Christmas post!

CASE-ing Christmas

Since September 7th was Labor Day here in the US, we've decided to celebrate by giving you a bit of a head start with this fortnight's card designs. We're asking you to CASE (Copy and Selectively Edit) any of the cards that Stephanie or Lauren have made for any of the previous Jingle Belles prompts. Which means you've got 16.5 years worth (times two!) of ideas from which to choose! You don't need to make an exact duplicate of the card (the acronym does say "Selectively Edit" afterall); just be sure to tell us which card inspired yours!

Here's how we've CASE-d Christmas this week:

Stephanie's Inspiration:

Lauren's Peace on Earth Card from September 2019

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I loved the grungy wintry beauty of Lauren's card.  I die cut the large snowflake and punched medium sized snowflakes to layer on top.  I finished with an Eyelet Outlet snowflake brad. I too created my background from a GelliArts print, however, I realized I didn't include any snowflake elements, so I stamped the Tim Holtz Swirly Snowflake on top.  Since my snowflake was larger, my card wasn't large enough for three words, so I used Pinkfresh Studio stickers to add two holiday words."

Lauren's Inspiration:

Stephanie's Unicorn Color Palette Card from July 2026

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I chose quite a recent card of Stephanie's because I love it, of course; but also because I realized I had almost all the right "ingredients" so it seemed like too good an opportunity to waste, lol! In retrospect, I wish I had made my card a bit smaller but... (shrugs) ...hindsight is 20/20, right? I used the same adorable Lawn Fawn Yeti as Stephanie; I diecut circles from four similar shades of cardstock and debossed them, albeit with a slightly different snowflake folder. I swapped in an Eyelet Outlet Santa Hat and Candy Cane Brad in place of the stamped versions; then I added red and black mats and a similar Lawn Fawn sentiment. Et voila!"

♥♥♥

Link your cards right here. JB2619: CASE-ing Christmas runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, September 23rd.  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Stickers Galore!

I guess we're not the only ones who are "Stuck on Stickers" because everyone did such an amazing job making gorgeous cards featuring them this fortnight! If you haven't checked out the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend a little scroll through all of the super-sticker inspiration. In the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

Julene of Julene by Design

...found these three super-sweet dimensional felt gingerbread girl stickers in her stash, and built this bold and beautiful CAS card to hold them!

LeAnne of Wee Inklings

...only used one sticker on her card, but look at how amazingly elegant it is, and it's perfectly framed by the "fracture" technique which we now long to try!!!

Brenda of Brenda's Scraps of Life

...built her incredibly elegant card around these pretty Santa and sentiment stickers; then found paper and dies to make them even more appealing!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to all who participated. Just in CASE you're wondering, we'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope you'll find as much fun as we did!

Stuck on STICKERS!

It's the second week of our Stuck on You prompt, so we're still making holiday cards with one of our favorite holiday card embellishments: STICKERS! Here's how we got sticker-centric this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I love the big 12x12 sticker sheets that coordinate with various holiday patterned paper collections. Shocking true confession: I don't always feel like I need the papers themselves; sometimes I just buy the sticker sheet. Case in point: Simple Stories' Snow Pine Lodge provided all of these cute stickers (that camper, tho!); the papers, which I chose by color, are all just older scraps from my stash!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I covered my teal card base with these clear gold metallic stickers (no idea who makes them or where they came from).  I added a few Spellbinders Gold Smooth Discs.  I finished by adding a Doodlebug Design Santa using foam tape and a very vintage SRM Sticker sentiment."

♥♥♥

JB2618: Stuck on You runs until next Wednesday evening, September 9th. Link your sticker-centric cards on the original post, directly below this one!

Stuck on You

We're celebrating STICKERS this fortnight, one of the first types of embellishments we started collecting early in our cardmaking days; and a crafty must-have that we both still absolutely adore. We're guessing that, like us, you have a little stash of holiday stickers you could raid for this challenge; whether they are fun little 3-D images, or sentiment strips, or even your favorite holiday washi tape will work. Whatever your sticker/ stick-on choice, break them out and use them on your holiday cards!

Here's how we stuck to it this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I recently picked-up Simple Stories Snow Pine Lodge paper collection that included a sheet of lovely stickers.  I adorned the top of my journaling card with a flower cluster sticker and added a sentiment sticker framed by holly leaves stickers.  I added more tumbling leaves and branches and finished with a candy cane.  I just love this unexpected color combination."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Probably my most hoarded stickers are the Basic Grey alphabet sheets that came with all of their holiday collection packs back in the day. It's not that I didn't use them at the time, or in the meantime; but nevertheless I've amassed a bit of a collection... though admittedly not all of them still have any vowels left. So this week I decided to mix and match several colorways to make a fun texty background for my card. Then I added some nice big ornament stickers from BG's Figgy collection, a mat of red, and some machine stitching around the edges et voila!"

♥♥♥

JB2618: Stuck on You runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, September 9th. We cannot wait to see what you'll make with STICKERS!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Magnificent Masculine Merriment

Some People (like Lauren!) struggle with masculine card designs, but the past fortnight proves that quite a few crafters totally have this whole genre covered, and they've linked holiday "guy cards" which prove this point quite conclusively. So if you haven't checked out the Readers' Gallery yet, we highly recommend a little scroll through all of the fine inspiration. In the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

Jolanda Johnstone of The Inque Spot Studio

...combined the perfect patterned paper with lots of texture and a truly outstanding sketch layout to make a masculine card that rocks on SO MANY levels!

Leslie M of L Rose Creates

...assembled a penguin Dream Team who are very definitely ready to help you celebrate RIGHT NOW! The Penguin Leader is paper-pieced, then popped up on a wobbler for even greater joy!

Lorraine A of Lorraine's Loft

...chose the handsomest of House Mice, colored him beautifully, and then added matted panels of several different patterned papers which coordinate perfectly AND help tell the story that sweet stamp started.

♥♥♥

And now it's time to find out whose home that sweet Doodlebug "Winter Wonderland" stamp set will be heading off to. The Random Number Generator has selected... Lucky Number 6! Which means that Michele F of I Card Everyone is our Lucky Winner! Congrats, Michele, please send your snamil m,il info to llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com and we'll get those sweet Yetis on their way ASAP!

Many thanks to all who participated. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt and we hope you'll STICK with us for that! ;)