May All Your Christmases Be... ♥PINK♥!

There are lots of reasons we love ♥PINK CHRISTMAS♥ so much. For one thing, we love that every single card you link up helps us raise more money to help find a cure for breast cancer! This year we had 46 amazing cards (and YES, we remembered to count the "extras" from those of you kind enough to put more than one into a post) and since each of us (Lauren and Stephanie) donate $2 per card, that means you've helped us raise $200 (ok, we rounded up a tiny bit) for the Breast Cancer Research Fund! THANK YOU!!! ♥♥♥

Another thing we love about this challenge is that we always see some of the most beautiful cards of the year. And here are three that made us feel especially "in the pink" this time:

Barb G of Barb's Creative Corner

...made not one, not two, but  EIGHT of the gorgeous cards in our Pink Christmas gallery, each one of them beautifully stamped, colored and embellished to perfection, for which we thank her very much indeed! We couldn't possibly pick a single favorite, but if you reallllllllllly pushed us, this might be the one! (You definitely need to check out ALL of them on her blog!)

♥♥♥

Sue Reynolds of I Luv Scrapping Too

...did not use the most or the brightest pink of all the cards we saw, but we'd argue that it's the most dramatic use of pink; and it stands out so amazingly well against the grey and white!

♥♥♥

Marianne of Marianne's Cards and Stuff

...made SIX of these beautiful CAS cards! You really need to go and see them all, because she used the same very cool mask + ink technique on all of them, but had fun changing up the stamps, the sentiments and even the orientation of the cards! And then she made four of this design. And two of these. We're kind of in awe and we think you will be too, so GO and see them all!!!

♥♥♥

Many thanks to every one who linked up their gorgeous cards, who shared the graphic, and spread the word for ♥PINK CHRISTMAS♥ we appreciate every single one of you! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt that we hope will not effect your creature comforts in the near future... ;)

In the ♥PINK♥!

Holy moly, you guys surely did ♥ROCK♥ the Pink Christmas this year! We were thrilled to see 63 links in the gallery and a total of 90 totally amazing cards submitted. When you multiply that by $4 that means we raised a total of $360 for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, who have a donor that is matching gifts during October up to $50,000... which means we've basically doubled that amount!  WOOHOO and a big giant ♥THANK YOU♥ to everyone who made cards, cheered each other on, and spread the word!!!

Of course there isn't a single card in that gorgeous gallery that doesn't deserve a huuuuuuuuge shout-out, so we heartily recommend that you go see them all! Meanwhile here are a few that especially tickled us pink:

Jerrie of Coloring Outside the Linez

...managed to work the iconic pink ribbon into her gloriously funky mixed media design, plus it's got loads of SPARKLE! 

('Cause sparkle is GOOOOOOD!!!)

♥♥♥

Lindsey of Bashful Blogging

...built a CAS retro pink masterpiece that's all ONE LAYER!!!

(Which boggles our minds in the best possible way!)

♥♥♥

Donna Digby of DAT'S My Style

...mixed hot pink with bright turquoise and crisp white in her super-layery confection that's got "eye candy" written all over it!

(Ok, technically it says, "Jolly" but you know what we mean, lol!)

♥♥♥ 

Many many thanks to everyone who played and extra love to those who linked multiple cards, posted on Facebook or Instagram, or gave us a super-special shout out! We appreciate every single bit of your goodness, which is exceeded only by your card-making talent! We'll be back at midnight with a brand-new prompt that isn't nearly as sketchy as it seems... ♥

Deck the Halls... in ♥PINK♥!

If you've played along with us at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ in any of our previous years, you probably already know that the first prompt of October --which is, of course, Breast Cancer Awareness Month-- is always PINK CHRISTMAS, that the brief is to make a holiday card which (perhaps you've guessed, lol?!) has at least a bit of pink in it, and that Stephanie and Lauren each donate $2 for every card linked up during this fortnight.

This year we'll be donating to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which focuses strongly on the research aspect of the disease and has earned very high marks from charity evaluation sites such as Charity Navigator. There's no limit to how many brand new ♥PINK♥ holiday cards you can submit, so we'd love for you to join us early and often! Just link up at this post before 6pm on Wednesday, October 21st. Feel free to share this info, re-post the graphic, and link to us on your blogs and your favorite social media sites. Many thanks and lots of love! ♥♥♥ 

Meanwhile, here are our PINK CHRISTMAS cards:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I created a paper quilt using scraps of pink holiday papers (and some non-holiday papers) ... I love playing with my scraps."

 Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Ok, yeah, I almost feel like I'm cheating, because let's face it, I looooooove pink, and make plenty of pink cards all year round. None of them mean as much to me as the ones I make right here in October, however, so I like to go all out, as you can see. Having found a bit of somehow totally forgotten (?!) pink fabric paper with Eiffel Towers on it, my card took a bit of a French twist, with a sentiment to match!"

As you know, we love to see all your holiday cards, all the time; but ♥PINK CHRISTMAS♥ is very near and dearto our hearts so we hope you'll join us (maybe more than once?!) this fortnight. Link up here before 6pm on Wednesday, October 21st. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:15:21.

An InLinkz Link-up

in the ♥PINK♥!

We always appreciate your efforts, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥, but this time you've outdone yourselves! Not only were your pink card creations magnificent, but when we added in multiples, there were a total of ♥81♥ cards submitted which means you helped us to raise $324.00 to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure!!! Take a bow, every one of you, and please accept our heartfelt thanks!

Meanwhile, the cards themselves really were awesome; here are a few that particularly caught our eye:

Brenda of Butlers Abroad
...paired super-cute mice with super-bright colors to create a card whose praises we cannot sing loudly enough!

shanna aka bananastamper of the stamping banana
...used hot pink as an accent color, along with lime green, black, and beige, in a combination that is both striking and delightful!

eliza of queenartoypia

...added just a few accents (and one very handsome deer!) to some lovely patterned paper, for a card that's simply perfect!

So who will get the fun surprise pack of christmas card-making goodies we hinted at? According to the fine folks at Random.org the lucky number is...

♥48♥

which means our winner is...

♥Marie Bingaman♥
of ANOTHER Card-Making Blog?!

We *swear* that this was the genuinely RANDOM pick as chosen by Random. org!!! Though secretly we were planning to thank Marie for her enthusiasm, the *10* gorgeous cards she made for this prompt, and the way she spent this fortnight cheering on her fellow participants, all of which was VERY much appreciated!!!

(But we promise, she really did win the prize fair and square!!!)

Congratulations, Marie, 
and thank you very much indeed! 
♥♥♥
(Please email us at jinglebellesrock @ hotmail.com to claim your prize!)

Many thanks again to *EVERYONE* who played along with us for such a good cause, especially those of you who made more than one card just to help us raise the totals.  We sooooo appreciate it, and we know that Susan G. Komen will love getting this donation! ♥♥♥

Come on back at midnight when we'll have a brand new prompt we hope will help you scare up some inspiration! 

I'm Dreaming of a ♥PINK♥ Christmas (and a CURE!)

We love all the prompts in the cardmaking year equally, Jingle Belles, but we think you'll understand if we confess that ♥PINK CHRISTMAS♥ has a special place in our hearts. Remember that for every new holiday card, featuring the color pink, which gets linked at the original post, Stephanie and Lauren are each donating $2 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, for a total of $4 per card. There are NO LIMITS to how many times you can link up, so join in as often as you like! We do also have a little surprise packet of goodies to give away to a random card-maker, but mostly, what we want to do this week, is raise as much money as possible for this awesome cause!

Here are our cards:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Over the summer, I remember seeing a page in one of my vintage Christmas Ideals magazines that was entirely in shades of pink, and I thought to myself, "Aha! I shall save that for Pink Christmas!" I must've put it in a very safe place, because despite a vigorous search, I just can not find it! Eventually, I settled upon the pretty ornaments you see here, which were very lovely, but in their original state they were GREEN and quite over-sized! Luckily a little Photoshop magic made them the right color, the right size, and all-round just right for this prompt. I used the current Retro Sketch for my layout, et voila!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I went with a new-to-me line of papers from The Paper Studio called Santa & Friends that contains all sorts of fun pink hues ... who knew one of Santa's besties was a Winter Owl.  I paper pieced my Lawn Fawn Winter Owl using the fun pink snowflake paper for his scarf and orange glitter pen for his beak ... and added a few strips of washi tape to finish the design."

♥ Pink Christmas... for the Cure! ♥

We're super-excited to celebrate our Third Annual Pink Christmas ... for the Cure!  This is the fortnight in which we (Stephanie & Lauren) want to honor all of the brave men and women who have battled breast cancer in their lives.

Therefore, the prompt is to make a ♥PINK♥ holiday card. It doesn't have to be all pink, but there must be some clearly visible pink on the card.  For each newly made holiday card that you link up, we'll donate $4 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Last year we had 64 cards linked-up ... and donated $256! We'd really like to top that this year, but we need ♥YOUR♥ help to do it!

The rules are simple ... you can choose any shape, size, style, theme, sentiment, papers, embellishments and additional colors you want ... you may combine with other challenges, use sketches from anywhere you'd like, and enter as many times as you wish ... but you must make a NEW holiday card each time, and there must be ♥PINK♥ on it somewhere!

Here's what we designed for the first week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I decided to go all-in Pink this week.  I stamped an the Carolers (can I just say ... so glad I wasn't born when women wore bustles) & sentiment from a new set called Christmas Happiness on designer paper and then added three shades of Pink Distress Ink.  I finished with my favorite pink ribbon and a spray of Pink Iridescent Spray & Sparkle Glitter Varnish."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I went (almost) all pink, too... SURPRISE, lol! I had originally planned a few more layers, but having come across this beautiful pre-cut piece of Fancy Pants xmas paper, with the holly leaves and text already on it, i couldn't bring myself to cover up too much. I just added the gorgeous Prima floral, a few snowflakes, and a little border and called it a day!"

And now it's time for you to decide if ♥YOU♥ are ready to go all pink... or just a little pink... or maybe you'll help us boost our total donation by making a few different ♥PINK CHRISTMAS♥ cards for the cure?! Link them up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keyword for galleries and our Flickr group is JB:13:21. There *may* also be a little random prize for one lucky cardmaker, as well... you never can tell, so link early and link often! :) THANK YOU for thinking PINK with us!

pretty (and proud!) in pink

take a bow, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥, in addition to creating some of the most lovely and amazing holiday cards of the year, you've helped us to raise $400 for the susan g. komen fund and we could not be more pleased! thank you, thank you, thank you for your generosity in embracing our favorite non-traditional holiday color for this very good cause! here are a few cards we especially loved this week:

electra of wishin' i knew how to blog

proved that she not only knows how to blog, she also knows how to make really, REALLY awesome holiday cards, by submitting *TEN* UNIQUE AND BEAUTIFUL pink christmas cards!!! and yes, we are donating $4 for each and every one of them! do give yourself the treat of clicking through to see all ten, and while you're there, be sure to leave her some love! 

vickie o'dell of heARTful stamper

made two exceptionally lovely cards (the other is here) which prove that you can add a little accent of pink to even the most traditional color scheme and have it look amazing!

candy blake of stampin' with candy

not only incorporated the color, but also the message of our pink christmas prompt with her simple... and simply perfect... "season of hope" card!

we want to thank EVERYONE who participated, because we know for a fact that some of you don't even like pink, but you were willing to go along with us for a good cause! we'd also like to to mention/brag about a few other lovely belles who made multiple cards this week:  deanne, marika gabez, nikki c, berit synnove, eveline, julia aston, cyndie, gina, marie bingaman and andreja each made two or more AMAZING cards that we know you are going to want to go and see... and they all get counted in our donation tally, no matter how they were linked, we have counted EVERY individual card submitted--even the ones we made-- for a grand total of 97... how ♥FABULOUS♥ is that?!  multiply 'em by $4 per card... and we came up with $388, but some of us really hate math... (ok me, lauren, lol) ...so we rounded that up to a nice even $400, just to make the division and subtraction easier; and we've zapped that contribution to susan g. komen for the cure; they have a super-convenient online donation form... just sayin'... something else we're just sayin' is: 

thanks

♥JINGLE BELLES♥

you all

SO TOTALLY ROCK!

♥♥♥

(by the way, we'll be back at midnight with the new prompt; c'mon back and play!)

pink-a-licious

we're totally thrilled with the response so far to our "pink christmas" prompt, both in terms of numbers AND the sheer gorgeousness of the cards involved! remember, you still have nearly a week to participate, and there's no limit to the number of new pink holiday cards you can link up, so g'head and make a second one, if you have the time and inclination.  we did! ♥

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "this has been a craaaaaaaaazy week for me, so i really needed to make a FAST card, and there's nothing like using products from the same manufacturer for speeding things up, is there? i've combined crate paper's peppermint collection with a few bits and bobs from other lines; made my own word art; and grabbed merry monday sketch #36 for my placement to finish in record time!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I combined one of this month's Hero Arts Sketches with fun papers from KaiserCraft's Christmas Carnival Collection ... love a holiday paper collection that includes lots of pink."

And remember ... we'll be donating a total of $4 for every linked-up card to the Susan G. Komen Foundation ... so help us support a cure for breast cancer.

♥ pink christmas... for the cure! ♥

if you played along with us last year at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ you might remember that we dedicated the first card-making prompt of october to breast cancer awareness month, and that stephanie and i (lauren) honored all of the brave women who are coping with, or have battled, that disease in a couple of ways: first by making pink christmas cards, and then by donating a dollar each to the susan g. komen fund for every pink christmas card our fellow belles made and linked up with us during the challenge period, and we raised $75! this year our prompts are twice as long, so we've decided to go twice as big: we'll be donating $2 each, for a total of $4 per card. so for anyone who's been thinking about joining in with us, but hasn't yet, *THIS* is the week, you guys, let's RAISE SOME MONEY!!! but first, let's make some ♥pink♥ christmas cards! 

the rules are simple: you can choose any shape, size, style, theme, sentiment, papers, embellishments and additional colors you want; you may combine with other challenges, use sketches from anywhere you like, and enter as many times as you wish, but you must make a NEW holiday card each time, and there has to be some pink on it somewhere! how much, and in what shade, we leave entirely up to you! 

we went all out, as you can see:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I decided to get pinky-inky for my card this week ... it started with a grunge board Christmas tree inked with Distress Stains, chalk ink and sprays of Glimmer Mist for all-over sparkle.  I used what I call my Flourish Surgical Technique (explained in more detail on my blog) to decorate my tree.  Finally, I used Distress Stain on a lacy doily for a pink background."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "i think everyone knows by now that i LOVE pink! i love it in every shade, from salmon to fuscia, from blush to cerise; i love it for birthdays and baby showers, and i really, REALLY love it for christmas! i don't think i can be alone in this, either, because every year i see a few more holiday paper lines with pink in them. on the other hand, you don't NEED a lot of specialty products; in fact, apart from my snowflakes and sentiment, everything on my card is from my "everyday stash" and yet i think it's very festive... and there's no arguing that it's definitely very VERY pink!"  

of course the ♥PINK CHRISTMAS♥ cards we're really longing to see are YOURS, jingle belles, so break out your pink cardstock, papers, ink, rhinestones, snowflakes, and... well... anything else you like, and link up here by 6pm (EST) on wednesday, october 17th. keyword for galleries and our flickr group is JB:12:21. 

i'm dreaming of a ♥PINK♥ christmas (& a CURE!)

gooooooood morning ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and welcome to the first official post of october, which as you may know is breast cancer awareness month. which is why, in honor of our sisters, our mothers, our daughters and our friends who have bravely battled --or are still coping-- with this disease, we are eschewing the more ordinary christmas colors of red and green this week in favor of PINK in all its glorious hues, shades, tints and tones!

yep, we're asking you to make a holiday card with some pink on it somewhere! don't worry, we'll make it worth your while... because... we'd like this one to be just a little more meaningful... so for every fabulous "pink christmas" card that gets linked up between now and next wednesday night, stephanie and lauren will each donate a dollar to susan g. komen for the cure!!! that's right, $2 a card, and you can enter as many times as you like... but each card has to be newly made, and it has to have some pink on it!

here's what we did:

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "it's no secret that i like pink... especially on cards... especially on *CHRISTMAS* cards, so this week was pure joy for me! :) i'm not sure how this card evolved into being french, as well, except that i found the pink eiffel tower fabric paper whilst searching for something else and that sort of set the whole thing off. i love it, though; especially since only the snowflakes and snowflake paper are specifically "holiday" products; everything else was regular stash!"

Stef's Card

Stef says, "I went with the deep vibrant pink of Authentique's Uncommon collection together with a Sketch from the CLASSRoom. I added EAD Stickerz sentiments and gold glittery snowflakes for holiday sparkle."

so now it's time to see what you will do: choose salmon or cerise, blush or fuschia... use the merest accent or a daringly dramatic monotone... keep it elegantly C&S or run to a riot of maximalism... (if you don't think that's a real word, please see lauren's card, above, lol!) but make a new holiday card (or cards, plural!) incorporating pink, and link up before 6pm (EST) next wednesday night, october 12th. keyword for galleries and the flickr group is JB41. and now...

let's make some cards

and

LET'S MAKE SOME MONEY!!!

♥♥♥