Rudolph the RED Nosed Reindeer

Are you RED-dy or another new prompt? 

This time, in honor of Valentine's Day, the brief is to make a card that's predominantly... you guessed it... RED! ♥

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a fun Doodlebug Design Santa all dressed in red.  Next I added a stamped sentiment from Concord & 9th Mistletoe Messages in red.  The finishing touch was a two tone red designer paper framed with a thin layer of black and mounted on a red card base."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I love using the holly dies from Wendy Vecchi's Christmas Add-On Set for her Essential Envelopes to construct double-layer poinsettias. Then I added foliage and hearts from the same set and a couple of Eyelet Outlet Poinsettia Brads to the centers. I placed all of the above on top of a stacked-diamond background pattern made from lots of RED patterned paper scraps that I built on top of some ancient (RED!) My Mind's Eye patterned paper."

♥♥♥

JB2604: Rudolph the RED Nosed Reindeer runs until 6pm (Eastern) on the evening of Wednesday, February 25th. Link your fabulous (RED!) card(s) right here!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Marvelous Mid Century Modern Inspiration

What a fun time we've had admiring the beautiful retro-inspired cards interpreting that fun Mid Century Modern holiday room. If you've not yet checked out the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend a little scroll through all of the awesome cards. In the meantime, here are three that especially caught our eye this time: 

Deb Horst of Sendable Sentiments

...took inspiration from the colors in the photo, the maximalist ornaments AND --perhaps our favorite thing-- the yellow-dotted paper is representing the circle-bulbed light fixture!

Deanne of A Little Bit O' Paper

...raided her stash of older, vintage-inspired papers to create this beautiful card that references the traditional colors and glorious retro vibes of the photo!

Fabiola of Mon P'tit Monde

...found a retro-themed card kit in her stash that features patterned paper with vintage baubles; a snowman of similar vibe to the fun figurines; and the palette of neutrals with pops of bold mid-century colors!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to all who participated. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will help your paint the town (...or at least some of the cards in it...) RED!

Mid Century Modern Inspiration

We're still making cards inspired by this wonderfully intricate Mid Century Modern Holiday Decor photo and YOU are still invited to join the fun! Remember, you can use ANY aspect(s) of the photo that appeal to you (be sure and tell us what they were) and you needn't go full-on retro if that isn't your style.

Here's how we were inspired this time:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I chose to focus on that beautiful Christmas tree with its red, green and gold baubles and oversized star; which I recreated using Simon Hurley's Classic Christmas Tree Die Set from Spellbinders. I couldn't resist breaking out the woodgrain patterned paper again, and found another piece of so-old-I-can't-believe-I-have-it Daisy D's retro-inspired paper for the background."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I built my card arount this pointy-hatted Santa from Pebbles Cozy & Bright collection that reminded me of the Santa on the mantel.  I also saw white reindeer on the mantel, so I added one of those from the same paper collection.  Next was a sentiment square cut from a tag in the same collection - all arranged on a Mintay woodgrain paper background to pull in the wood from the room.  I finished with label sticker sentiments that reminded me of my childhood that was near this design period."

JB2603: Mid Century Modern Christmas runs until 6pm (Eastern) next Wednesday, February 11th. Link your card(s) on the original post, directly below this one.

Mid Century Modern Christmas

This week we're asking you to create a card inspired by this lovely Mid Century Modern Christmas photo from Edward George:

You might take your inspiration from the fun little Santas, the unique patterns and colors on the Christmas Trees, or even the Reindeer or gold star on the top of the Christmas Tree.  Just make sure you tell us how you were inspired in your post.

Here's what inspired our cards this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with this fun vintage Santa die cut from Pretty Little Studio that reminded me of the one on the fireplace mantle.  Next, I found a piece of grey designer paper from 49th & Market to bring in the grey of the stone fireplace.  I also matted it on a grey card base.  I added a green stitches sticker from Pretty Little Studio down the left side before attaching my Santa and Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Tiny Text Christmas Sentiment with foam tape."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "The first thing I noticed in the photo was alllllllllll of that beautiful blonde wood. The walls, the mantel, even the small glimpses of the floor and ceiling we can see at the edges of the picture are covered in it. And since one of the "niche" collections inside my massive papercrafting stash happens to be woodgrain papers, I was pretty sure I could find one (or as it turned out three) woodgrain papers that would/WOOD work! I also stumbled upon some *ancient* Daisy D's retro-themed holiday paper which I cut into little shapes with my Hero Arts Fancy Ornament Infinity Dies, surrounded by shimmering stars and a (woodgrain, of course!) sentiment."

♥♥♥

JB2613: Mid Century Modern Christmas runs until 6pm (Eastern) on the evening of Wednesday, February 11th. Link your cards right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Combining the Old and the New

We had so many beautiful cards combining new crafty items with older stash this fortnight; if you haven't taken time to check out the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend a little scroll through all of the fine inspiration. In the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

Urska of Ustvarjalni Oblacki

...combined beautiful old and new cutting dies, and used a striking palette of green, gold and brown to make her lovely and appealing card.

Iona Bunny of Crafty Nomad

...used an older corner frame die to create a gorgeous shaker card that would hold the beautiful new (PINK!) sequins she got for Christmas!

Bobby of Bits and Pieces Designs

...revisited an older stamp from (the sadly missed) Ellen Hutson with a brand new sentiment die on her artful and elegant card.

♥♥♥

Many thanks to all who participated. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will result in a Photo Finish!

Old + New + Joy!

It's week two of our "Something Old... Something New" prompt and we hope you're enjoying it as much as we are. Just a reminder that we'd like to see holiday cards on which you combine an item or two that you've had in your craft stash for a bit; with something new that you received for the holidays... or shopped for yourself!

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I've had this adorable Simon Says Stamp Gnome Die for a couple of years, and I cannot imagine how I've never used it before?! In a way, it's both old and new, but I'm counting it as my NEW this week; whereas everything else --papers, ribbon, label tab sticker, etc-- are not only OLD but were in my stash as either scraps or things that I had pre-cut (snowflakes) or pre-made (lattice tag) so this c

5.5" square card came together very quickly!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I started my card with the new Tim Holtz Sizzix Side Kick Side-Order - Christmas Mini's for the little snowman and the embossed red panel.  For my CAS design I added some vintage red gems to his top had and an older die cut sentiment from PaperTrey Ink Line It Up: Christmas Dies."

♥♥♥

Scroll down to the original post to see the Readers' Gallery and link your own Old + New masterpiece(s)! JB2602: Something Old... Something New runs until the evening of Wednesday, January 28th. 

Something Old... Something New

You've probably guessed from the title, "Something Old... Something New" that this fortnight  we'd like to see holiday cards on which you combine an item or two that you've had in your craft stash for a bit together with something new that you received for the holidays... or shopped for yourself (we all know we can be our own best Santa)! 

Here's how we mixed the OLD with the NEW this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "My new is Hero Arts Hero Arts A Little Merri-Mint stamps & coordinating dies that Santa Stephanie gifted me for Christmas (I love how she always knows exactly what I want LOL). I paired it with a snarky sentiment for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers.  The old (but embarrassingly never used) is the Nordic Frames Die from The Greetery together with white pearls that I'm guessing have been hanging around for at least 10 years."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "My NEW things consist of: lots of stickers from the Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Christmas Sticker Book I treated myself to; a brand new pack of EO Angel Brads that I got last summer, promptly lost and just now found again (yay!); and snowflakes diecut from very cool sticky-back felt that a friend gifted me. The OLD stuff is... everything else, lol; including: papers from Prima's Pretty Pale collection; doily scraps; gold glitter cardstock; and chipboard letter diecuts made from well-patina-ed vintage sheet music."

JB2602: Something Old... Something New runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, January 28th. Link your cards right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wrapping Up...

...the first prompt of 2026 and WOW, everyone did such an amazing job making gorgeous cards featuring giftwrap, tags. printed tissue paper and even a mulberry paper giftbag! If you haven't checked ou the Readers' Gallery, we highly recommend a little scroll through all of the fine inspiration. In the meantime, here are three cards that especially caught our eye:

Susan Culotti posting on Instagram

...made a background from gorgeous evergreen patterned tissue paper, used a charming scallop-edge die and then colored her stamped images to match PERFECTLY!

Willa Coates posting on Pinterest

...used beautiful metallic texty giftwrap, then added a simple faux bow and coordinating cardbase for an idea that is as simple as it is beautiful!

Bonnie Klass of Stamping with Klass

...rescued not one, not two, but THREE beautiful gift tags, added them to embossed backgrounds, chose a few embellies, et VOILA: her 2026 holiday card stash is off to a great start!

♥♥♥

And now it's time to see who has scored the very cool Christmas Baubles #2 Layering Dies from STAMPlorations

Would you believe the Random Number Generator chose...

Lucky #1!

Which means that @susan_culotti is our lucky winner!

♥

Please send your snailmail info to 

llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com'

and we'll get that on its way to you, ASAP!

Many thanks to all who participated, you're all off to a fabulous crafty start for this New Year! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will delight our friends, both Old and New! ;)

The Gift (Wrapping) of Christmas

For our No Time Like the Presents prompt, we're still making cards using bits of leftover holiday wrapping paper and tags.

Here's how we were inspired:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I've got TWO styles of carefully-saved giftwrap here (the pink snowflake paper and the white snowflake paper in the background); plus the white tag with the pink tree was on one of my presents. (Pink Christmas runs in my family, lol!) I added some (ancient) KI Memories lasercut snowflake paper, and lots more tags, snowflakes and stickers to make a little collage on my 5.5" square card."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "Years ago (posts indicate 2019), Lauren shared a piece of this fun Hello Kitty holiday wrapping paper with me by Xyron-ing it to some cardstock.  I used the Hero Arts Arches Infinity dies to cut out two of the Kitties (they reminded me of me & Lauren) and paired them with the Simon Says Stamp CZ Design Merry word die and a sentiment from Memory Box Merry Christmas Foil Greetings.  I finished with some enamel dots ... such a fun color combination."

Remember, one lucky participant will win the STAMPlorations Christmas Baubles #2 Layering Dies.

Visit the original post to link your cards and see the Readers' Gallery so far. JB2601: No Time Like the Presents runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, January 14th.

No Time Like the Presents

Woohoo ... the Jingle Belles (Lauren and Stephanie) are back for our 16th year of holiday mayhem, and we're absolutely thrilled you are along for the ride.  We love that we get to use our large selection of holiday products all year long.

How it works is that every other Friday at 12am EST (except for today, since we always love starting on January 1st) we'll post a new prompt to inspire your next holiday card ... you can join us for one ... you can join us for all.  Then the following Friday, we'll post a second card inspired by the same prompt. 

And voila ... at the end of November, we'll each have 48 holiday cards ready to give to our friends, family and co-workers.

The first prompt of the year is No Time Like the Presents ... so before you put away your gift wrapping supplies, pull out some of your favorites (or some of that paper from a gift you unwrapped that was just too pretty to recycle) and make a card featuring wrapping paper or holiday gift tags.

Here's how the Belles were inspired this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "The snowflake colors were actually inspired by a different piece of holiday wrapping paper that I ultimately didn't end-up using (the design was too busy for all of those layers), so I did a pivot and pulled out some Birch Bark Wrapping Paper that I love so much.  I used four different snowflake die cuts and two vintage Martha Stewart punches and topped it with Clear Bumpy Jewel bling from Eyelet Outlet.  I positioned it on a vellum circle that I then framed by die cutting two circles to help it pop against the birch bark.  I finished with a banner and sentiment from Concord & 9th Festive Blooms."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "My friend Gina wrapped her gifts in paper with these adorable holiday character mugs all over it, so OF COURSE I had to unwrap verrrrrrrrrry carefully to save as many as possible. I like to back giftwrap and other thin materials with cardstock, which is what I did here, and then I could fussycut and pop them on foam tape for a little dimension. The sentiment came from a page of Lawn Fawn gift tags; I had intended to use the whole thing, but it was just too big; thus I trimmed it to fit on my 5.5" square card."

And for a bonus, one lucky (randomly chosen) participant will receive Christmas Baubles #2 Layering Dies from STAMPlorations. Shery just started her storefront up full swing again, so we love supporting her.

JB2601: No Time Like the Presents will run until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, January14th. Link your giftwrap-centric cards right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter