Dashing Through the Snow (Wrap-Up)

Many thanks to everyone who played along in our special Christmas in July crossover with the Double Trouble Challenge Blog, including the Double Trouble Design Team whose cards are incredibly inspiring. It you haven't had a change to check out the Readers' Gallery here at Jingle Belles and also at Double Trouble, we highly recommend the trip. Meanwhile, here are a few SNOWY masterpieces that especially caught our eye:

Lia of Lia's Design

...constructed a beautifully intricate and detailed snowy landscape scene with a fully functioning window and a sleigh-load of vintage style!

Jacinda of Lazzie J's Crafting Corner

...has completely mastered the art of "flat layers"! By virtue of foiling, ink blending, masking and stamping she's created an impressively dimensional-looking scene, that's entirely postal-friendly!

Jeanne J of A Kept Life

...proves that snowy cards can totally embrace lots of BRIGHT colors; while incidentally also presenting perhaps the best ever version we've seen of the Postal Collage trend!

♥♥♥

Now we need to know where our fun little snowy prize pack will be heading off to! 

The Random Number Generator has chosen... 

Lucky Number 16 

which means that Susan Sudbury of Eden Land Designs is our lucky winner!

Congrats, Susan, if you'll send your snail mail info to llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com those goodies will be on their way ASAP!

Stay tuned because we'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we think you'll find especially useful right after all the wonderful Christmas in July festivities we enjoyed this summer!

Dashing Through the Snow (Week 2)

It's week two of our snow-centric Jingle Belles challenge for which we've teamed up with our friends at The Double Trouble Challenge, thus giving you a chance to participate in TWO challenges with ONE card! As the title implies, for "Dashing Through the Snow" the brief at Jingle Belles is merely to make a card that features SNOW, whether it be snowflakes, snowmen or a snowy landscape.

As you may know, the "Double" in "Double Trouble" refers to the fact that there are several parts to their challenges, though the only requirement is to play along with Thing 1, which in this case is to make a window or aperture card. But the Double Trouble Gang encourage you to add some fun... try their options by participating in Twisted Sister's Thing 3 and/or Double Dare's Thing 2 to earn additional chances in their random drawing. This time, those twists are as follows:

And here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card(s)

Lauren says, "I had made a few extra white-embossed panels during our Jingle Belles' "EMBOSSING" challenge, and since they happened to be snowy, when I found them again, I decided they were perfect for making an aperture card. I used an ancient set of Nestabilities' Labels 20 to cut the largest size from a panel I had inked with Wendy Vecchi's Night Sky Archival; then the next size down to cut a smaller version of the same shape from a  Sky Blue Archival Panel; then I layered both of those over a third panel inked with Violet Archival. I embossed the "Noel" from Wendy's Statements Chippies, inked it with Night Sky, added it on top, embellished with a few diecut snowflakes, et voila. Since all of my supplies were still sitting there, including the beautiful label shapes cut from the apertures of card one, I decided to build a second card with the leftovers and another Chippie from the same set."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "For this week's Double Trouble window card, I used Lawn Fawn Stitched sentiment banner to die cut the sentiment (which I attached to the inside of the card) and again on the front of the card, so the sentiment could peek through.  The sentiment & snow jar are both from Woodware Snow Jar stamp set."

Scroll down to the original Dashing Through the Snow post to find the linky tool, not to mention a photo of the fun little prize one random cardmaker will receive, just for linking up a snowy card with us here at Jingle Belles. If your card is snowy AND has a window, be sure to link up at Double Trouble Challenge #171 too, for a shot at their prize!

Dashing Through the Snow

It's the middle of July, which seems like an excellent time to team up with our friends at The Double Trouble Challenge, so that you have a chance to participate in TWO challenges with ONE card! As our post title implies, for "Dashing Through the Snow" the brief here at Jingle Belles is merely to make a card that features SNOW, whether it be snowflakes, snowmen or a snowy landscape.

As you may know, the "Double" in "Double Trouble" refers to the fact that there are several parts to their challenges, though the only requirement is to play along with Thing 1, which in this case is to make a window or aperture card. But the Double Trouble Gang encourage you to add some fun... try their options by participating in Twisted Sister's Thing 3 and/or Double Dare's Thing 2 to earn additional chances in their random drawing. This time, those twists are as follows:

Remember, you need only make a card featuring some sort of SNOW to enter here at Jingle Belles; and the only requirement at Double Trouble is to make a window or aperture card. BUT... if your card has both SNOW and a WINDOW... you can link up on both blogs for a chance at two different prizes!

Here's how we approached the challenges this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "This card started with me needing to clean & re-ink my gina k. designs white ink pad.  I had accidentally transferred some red ink onto the pad, and when I tried to use it for emboss resist last week, I kept getting ink instead of white.  I rubbed the ink pad direct to a piece of light blue cardstock until it appeared to be gone, and then re-inked.  As I went to throw the inky cardstock away, I thought - what if I embossed it with Hero Arts Iridescent Lavender Embossing Powder .. and voila.  

I decided to stencil that clean white craft ink through the gina k. designs Snowflake Mandala Stencil and emboss with white detail embossing powder.  Next I used the smallest of gina's double stitched circle die cuts to cut create the *window* in the center of the snowflake to create a shaker card (positioning the center cut portion at the back of the shaker).  The Pretty Pink Posh Winter Clay Snowflake Confetti fills the shaker and the sentiment is gina k. designs Sparkle and Shine.  With my shaker *window* and snowflake, I'm going with Double Trouble."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Generally speaking, if I'm making a window card, I go all out and make it a shaker; so that's what I've done here. Stephanie gave me an adorable set of Doodlebug Winter Wonderland stamps and dies for my birthday, and I was excited to be able to use them so quickly. I found a few sheets of D-bug's Polar Pals patterned paper to coordinate and used an older set of Spellbinders' Nestabilities to build up that fun scalloppy frame. Inside the shaker I placed a background of pale blue snowflakes, a glittery hill, a handsome yeti and a mix of Eyelet Outlet Snowflake and Round Sequins."

♥♥♥

To make this gala Christmas in July celebration even more festive, we have a fun little prize for one randomly selected cardmaker who links a snowy card up here at Jingle Belles:

Sunny Studio 6x6 All is Bright paper pad, Inky Antics Winter Song stamp set and some gorgeous Crafter's Square gems.

Link your SNOWY masterpieces right here, by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, July 31st. Keyword for galleries, etc is JB2415.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter 

Double Trouble Crossover Challenge! - BLING on the Holidays

This fortnight we Jingle Belles are happy to be partnering with the lovely ladies of the Double Trouble Challenge for exponentially more fun AND a chance at some cool prizes! First, we should mention that our part of this event is called, "Bling On the Holidays" and we'd like to see your brand new holiday cards that include jewels, gems, pearls, sequins, glitter or pretty much anything sparkly! 

For the Double Trouble Challenge, it's "Christmas in July", and basically any holiday card will qualify; so if you make a card to link up with us here at Jingle Belles, we hope you'll also link it with them to be included in their drawing! Then be sure to check back every fortnight or so, because they have a new challenge every other week and it's a great way to find some new challenges and loads of inspiration!

If you're new to us here at Jingle Belles, welcome! We make holiday cards from January through November, and we reveal a brand new prompt every other Friday, with a reminder post in between. We're mostly a "just for fun" challenge blog, but we do include a little prize on special occasions, which this definitely is, so we hope you'll scroll down for that. 

But first... here's how we were inspired to use Bling on our cards:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started my card with sheet of Swirl Bling in Jewel Red from Eyelet Outlet.  Next I chose the pair of ice skates from my holiday ephemera drawer and then paired them both with some collage designer paper and framed the skates with a vintage journaling card.  After I got it all assembled on a 5" x 7" card base, I added two sentiment strips from my ephemera drawer to finish the design and a piece of red bling on the skate bow (I just love those plaid skate cuffs)."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "As you can see, I've also added LOTS of Eyelet Outlet Bling, in the form of an XL Snowflake atop my white poinsettias, and Clear Swirl Bling that I've cut up and rearranged to fit the space better. All this takes place on top of a diecut holly panel (ancient Hero Arts!) that I misted with glimmery blue spray ink; layered over green metallic cardstock and ...though it's hard to see in the photo... a mat of white glitter paper."

♥♥♥

Now here's a little prize pack we'll award to one randomly selected holiday cardmaker who links up with us this fortnight; featuring super-cute Pebbles clear stamps, sparkly chipboard snowflakes, colorful stickers and sequins, and of course some BLING!   

Link your Bling-centric creations right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, July27th. Then be sure to head over to Double Trouble too!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Shopping Our (Jingly!) Stash!

Long-time readers are probably aware that in addition to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ Lauren also makes cards each week at Shopping Our Stash, where the crafty mission is to re-discover and creatively use the neglected or forgotten older supplies we already own. You may also remember that last year our two blogs teamed up for a super-fun "Christmas in July" event. So fun, in fact that we're doing it again... though not the July part, obviously. :)

Would you like to make one card and get two link-ups, plus a chance at two lovely prizes?! We thought you might! Can you predict what we're going to ask for? We bet you can! The Jingle Belles part is to make a brand new holiday card, of course; the SOS part is to use something from your stash that is at least a year old and be sure to tell us what that item is, so we can marvel at how cleverly you've used it!

In addition to all the other "twos" this fortnight, we've got gorgeous and inspirational cards on both blogs, so be sure to check out what Barbara, Chris, Donna and Stephanie have done over at Shopping Our Stash. Meanwhile here are the rest of our design team cards:

Leslie's Card

Click through to Leslie's blog, "The Crooked Stamper" to find out what her stash items are!

Deena's Card

Click through to Deena's blog,  "A Deena Card" to find out what her stash items are!

Jessi's Card

Click through to Jessi's blog, "One Crafty Mama" to find out what her stash items are!

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Since Stephanie and I got to spend some crafty time together last week, we decided to add a little *extra* level of challenge to our own cards by using the same stamp. This Christmas tree qualifies as senior stash, since it's from D.O.T.S. --a company that's been gone for at least a decade! For my card I decided to stamp it on several different scraps of green paper, then piece them all back together. When my tree didn't quite fill up the green panel, it occurred to me I could stretch it a bit by stamping and cutting out a few extra layers, which I think worked pretty well. I used Sweet Sunday Sketch #285 to guide my layout."

You may recall that we mentioned *prizes*? Be sure to check out SOS for the details of that one; meanwhile here at Jingle Belles one randomly chosen card-maker who links up with us this fortnight will win this little bunch of (appropriately) brand-new-but-older goodies from the prize box:

Now it's time to search through your stash, find something that's at least a year old... (though we bet you can find something reallllllllly elderly if you put your mind to it!!!) ...and use it to make a brand new holiday card. Link it up here and at Shopping Our Stash before 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, September 23rd. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:15:19.

An InLinkz Link-up

Shopping Our Jingle Belles Stash

This fortnight we are incredibly excited to welcome the lovely ladies of the weekly challenge blog Shopping Our Stash to a special crossover event! Just in case you've never played along at SOS, here's a little bit about the concept:

Shopping Our Stash (or SOS) 

is a weekly challenge blog which evolved from a personal desire by our founder, Carla, and the rest of us, to focus on using the supplies we have on hand, or "shopping our stash" instead of always thinking we have to have something new! Shopping Our Stash posts a brand new challenge every single Tuesday morning, and would love for you to grab some of your older supplies and join the fun!

Isn't that a fantastic idea? Yep, we think so, too! So in honor of this special event, we've got a special "two-fer" challenge for you. Here's what to do: 

1. Make a holiday card that uses something from your stash 

which is at least a year old.

2. Post the card on your blog or gallery, and be sure 

to tell us what your older stash item is.

3. Link your card at the bottom of this ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ post 

and also at this Shopping Our Stash post.

4. Check back at both blogs on July 17th to see if you've won 

one of the lovely prizes! (More on that in a minute!)

Since this is an extra-special challenge, we've got more than the usual amount of inspiration to share, and we're spreading it around! Shopping Our Stash design team members Leslie, Donna and Alica, and our own Stephanie have some lovely items to show you right here; whilst Lauren's card is proud to be featured over at SOS, with those of design teammates Jessi, Barbara and Chris.

Leslie's Card

...features a totally hilarious (and totally TRUE!) stamp from 2000!

Donna's Card

... is made from a 2012 card kit, she just added some sequins, which she's pretty sure are at least a year old, also!

Alica's Flower Tree

...is an amazingly lovely use of paper scraps and brads!

 Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "One of the good things about moving are all of the great *discoveries* you make while packing ... like this lovely Christmas Card Stamp I purchased on Etsy in February 2011.  Not only had it not seen ink ... I hadn't even cut into the rubber sheet and mounted the stamps.  Well that has been remedied ... and as I thought when I purchased the stamp, it makes a very quick and mailable holiday card."

Now what about those prizes? Well, here's what one lucky random cardmaker will win who links up here at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥:

Crate Paper "Peppermint Collection" 6x6 paper pad and buttons; Hero Arts "Snow Much Joy" clear stamps; Recollections sparkly chipboard snowflakes and Christmas tree ribbon spool

...to find out about the prize at SOS you're going to have to mosey on over to Shopping Our Stash and read about it there! :)

Be sure to link your stash-using holiday cards both here and at Shopping Our Stash between now and 6pm (EST) on July 16th, 2014. Keyword for galleries and our Flickr group is JB:14:14. ♥

An InLinkz Link-up

Holiday Fall To Layout

This week we are thrilled to be partnering with the fabulous designers at the Clean & Simple Stamping Blog who designed a great Fall to Layout for us to use for this week's Jingle Belles prompt. We are also asking that you also incorporate a clean & simple style with your design & then make sure you link-up your card here & at the Clean & Simple Stamping blog.

Here's the Sketch

And here's what we created this week:

Natasha's Card

of Clean & Simple Stamping

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "i predict my card will be the least "clean & simple" one we see all week... but JB regulars will realize how very verrrrrrrry pared down this is for *ME*! downright minimalist, in fact, lol! :) i re-sized a vintage book image for my centerpiece, and kept my patterns as un-obtrusive as possible, with lots and lots of white to help with the "clean" feeling. since i am a remedial stamper, i applied my sentiment to a clear label and attached it to the card at the very end!"

Stephanie's Card

Stef says, "To help keep my card clean & simple, I went with one stamp set and a monochromatic palette (can you ever go wrong with purple for the holidays?). I stamped the image from Hero Arts Merriest Christmas Wishes twice in warm violet chalk ink. I used the second image to punch out the spotlighted circles. I finished with tiny touches of glitter pen for the sky."

And since we're sharing the challenge spotlight this week with the Clean & Simple Stamping team, we though it would be fun to offer a little pile of goodies for one random participant.

The Prize:

Some clean green felt thickers, some simple (but adorable) christmas "flair", some holiday stamps... plus one or two other little goodies! :^)

So now it's your turn to show us what you can create with this Clean & Simple Stamping Sketch (which I realize is more of a challenge for some ... ahem Lauren ... than others).

Inlinkz will be open until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, August 24th ... use keyword JB34 for our Flickr gallery & other galleries too.

Lonely This Christmas

This week's theme is Lonely This Christmas (aka Tagging Along).

We've teamed up with Rosemary and Jana and the rest of the talented team at The Order of the Opus Gluei for a special "crossover event"!

This week's prompt is to make any kind of holiday card for Jingle Belles (yes, we're letting you off easy this week) ... and then so you're card won't be Lonely This Christmas ... make a second project inspired by your card that you will to link-up at The Order of the Opus Gluei.

You second project can be a tag (get it ... tagging along), a gift box, a gift card holder, a gift bag ... you name it ... some inspired project you'll be so very glad you already have completed when the holidays roll around.

Here's what we came-up with this week:

Rosemary's Tag and Card

Jana's Tag and Card

Stephanie's Card

When I was hunting through my stash for something this week,

I discovered a pad of Tim Holtz Papers I'd completely

forgotten about (almost like Christmas in June). I used the vintage

papers and this week's Sketchbook Saturday Layout together

with a sentiment from CatsLife Press and some vintage

buttons for my card.

Stephanie's Tag and Bag

Since I was having so much fun with my vintage paper discovery,

I used more of them to create this holiday tag and a cute

little 2-5-7-10 bag that will be perfect for a piece

of jewelry or other small gift.

Lauren's Tag, Card and Box

Lauren says, "my favorite holiday color combination is green and pink, and imo the best collection ever to use those colors was the (alas, short-lived) "noel" collection that elise flannigan designed for ki memories, which i admit to having seriously hoarded. i was so inspired by these beloved products, that in addition to my tag and card, i used last week's sketchy thursdays sketch to customize a plain wooden document box from michael's to serve as storage for my increasingly large and beloved stash of JINGLE BELLES cards! this replaces my previous card storage solution... a big (but not very festive) tupperware container!!! :)"

Link up your tag and card here and at Opus Gluei by 6pm (EST) next Wednesday, June 29th for a shot at *both* randomly-awarded prizes!!! Keyword for galleries and flickr is JB26.

Our prize package for one lucky participant includes a set of Holly Jolly Acrylic Stamps by My Mind's Eye; a Vintage Postcard Kit from Crafty Secrets; and Susan Winget Grand Adhesions Dimensional Stickers by K&Company.

Jingle Belles are... *BUZZING*??!

YES! Because this week we're having a "cross-over"! Betty Bee's Buzz is a super-fun paper-crafting blog hosted by Betty Brett and her lovely swarm of Honey Bees!

Their weekly features include Monday Motivational which inspires us with a new idea, technique, or theme; HoneyBee Showcase on Wednesdays in which the design team create projects that fit the theme (& invite us to, as well); and the awesome Buzz, Brag and Bee Happy Friday in which everyone, everywhere is invited to link up a project or post that makes them happy or proud! We're happy and proud to welcome HoneyBee design team member June Houck to share her card today, while Lauren--and her card--will be the featured guest on B3 this coming Monday Motivational.

June Houck is a fun and fabulous scrapper and cardmaker, as well as mom to the cutest twin daughters you have ever seen! Her blog, Simply Elegant Papercrafts, is constantly full of beautiful, clever, C&S design goodness, and if there's a more friendly and supportive blogging friend around, we have yet to meet her.

June says, "Blogging is an outlet for me to share my passion and meet people that share in this obsession. I have made some good friends! I love these ladies as much as the friends I can see in person. My blog friends are a wonderful source of information regarding ideas, the latest trends, where to go for new purchases, and organization of supplies."

On behalf of Betty "Bee" and my HoneyBee sisters, I think you for this opportunity to "cross-pollinate" with the Jingle Belles, Stephanie & Lauren.

Our challenge to you is:

Create a Christmas card to die (cut) for! This week we're featuring *DIECUTS* in our cards. They can be store bought, mechanically made (a la cuttlebug), electronically generated (think cricut or spellbinders), or... if you're feeling ambitious... all of the above?!

Here's what we did:

June's Card

June says, I purchased Flower Soft "Polar White" (her pom pom and fur lined hat and boots) and this MFT "Snow Day" stamp last autumn, but they did not get used at all last winter. You may know that my favorite paper company is BasicGrey (though I am an equal opportunity buyer ... I haven't found a paper company that I have not supported in some way! *sigh*

BasicGrey "Eskimo Kisses" is one of my favorite collections. I like to layer light, dark, light, dark; e.g. my image is light, so I chose the darker BG paper for the oval beneath her, the light paper of the houses and trees, and then the darker pattern of trees. I also wanted my card to be a scene of sorts: the girl and the snowballs, then the houses behind her, and the forest behind the houses. I agonize over these details, so I am a very slow crafter."

My die cuts:

Spellbinders Nestibilities Ovals for the image and pink wcallop frame Cricut "Plantin Schoolbook" cartridge for the two oblong ovals beneath the main image Cricut "Accent Essentials" cartridge for the top-note-style shape dies

Stephanie's Card

Stef says, "I knew I wanted to feature these wonderful felt die cut snowflakes from Stampin' Up. The gorgeous red one coordinated with these lovely papers from Echo Park's Wintertime Collection. I layered on a few more metallic snowflakes and positioned my snowflakes on top of a die cut from Sizzix - Frame Back, Ornate #3. I finished with a winter sentiment from CatsLife Press."

And now it's time to see what you will do, Jingle Belles! Dust off your diecutters, put on your thinking caps, and let's see your best holiday masterpieces! Link them up before 6pm (EST) Wednesday, April 20th. Keyword for SCS or Flickr is JB16. We're DYING...to see your cards! (Ok, sorry, but you know what we mean!)

Make sure you also remember link up your card at Betty Bee's Buzz on Wednesday, April 20th.

we've got "SKETCHY THURSDAYS"...on friday?!

goooooooooooooooooood morning ♥JINGLE BELLES♥! this week's prompt is a very special one...we've teamed up with the gang at SKETCHY THURSDAYS which means we've got an utterly FABULOUS sketch that diana made just for us. but wait, there's more: everyone who makes a card using said sketch will have TWO chances to link it up--once at here jingle belles, and then a second time at sketchy thursdays! oh...and did i mention there will be a prize awarded on each blog??! uh-huh. want to hear more? (thought so!)
but first here's the sketch:

and here's what we did with it:

stephanie's card

stef says, "When I saw the half-circle in the sketch layout it kept saying "snow globe" to me, so that's where I started my design ... with a glittery snow globe that I found in the "Christmas Tags" section of the craft store ... I got a whole package of tags much cheaper than standard paper crafts "embellishments" ... so very fun. "

lauren's card

lauren says, "i started with this sweet vintage illustration from an old "ideals" magazine; added bits of ribbon, silky ruffles, wired pearls and punched paper scraps; and topped it all off with a white poinsettia and a couple of snowflakes. at the end i did a bit of machine stitching to add texture and interest...and also to make sure all of those layers were really ON THERE for good!"

there are also gorgeous cards by the mega-talented sketchy thursdays design team on their blog, so you'll definitely want to hop over and see those, as well, for an extra-helping of holiday card inspiration! of course, sketchy thursdays is also currently running their regular challenge as well, for which you can submit layouts, altered projects, cards, etc. they post a wonderful sketch and TONS of drool-worthy DT inspiration each and every thursday morning, and announce the winner--plus a selection of favorite projects--the following week. you'll definitely want to be adding them to your blogroll, so you don't miss a thing!

and now it's time to see what you will do! but first...it's time to see what you could *WIN*:

(THE GOODIES: 6" Dear Santa Collection Pad from KaiserCraft, Reindeer Snag 'em Stamp from Imaginisce, Kolette Hall Studio G stamps with gems, Scrappy Cat Christmas Sentiments stamps, Zva Creative Ho Ho Ho adhesive green crystals)

this fabulous prize pack will be awarded by random draw to one lucky cardmaker who links up a holiday sketch card here between now and 10pm EST on thursday, february 24th. (yep, this week is so special you get a whole extra day to submit your holiday finery!) the keyword for posting to SCS or flickr is JB08. don't forget to also head over to sketchy thursdays and link your card there, as well (under the "second chance" card sketch) for a chance at the prize they're awarding!

that's right, there are TWO prizes on TWO blogs and you only need to make ONE CARD to have a shot at both!!! it doesn't get any better than that, right?! so off you go, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥, and let's see your very best sketch cards!

(please link to the specific post which has your card, and not to your whole blog! thanks!)