Creative Coloring of Christmas

We loved seeing all of the color mediums in the gallery ... and here are a few that particularly caught our eyes.

Lindsey

of

Bashful Blogging

created fun graphic holiday trees by combining die cuts with Distress Ink *coloring* 

... such a great way to add wonderful pops of color.

Alison C

of

Cranberry and Eggplant

found the perfect use for a previously discarded water-colored background 

and combined it with perfect coloring with Brushos and Pro Markers ... 

that Polar Bear is such a cutie.

Helen

of

Helen's Craft Haven

shared beautiful coloring with watercolor pencils ... 

but we particularly loved her doodled frames.

Join us at midnight tomorrow for a fun *LITTLE* prompt to keep our Christmas card making juices flowing.

We Bring You Season's Colorings

We're still breakout out all sorts of coloring mediums at Jingle Belles this week ... so many possibilities.

Here's what we created for our second round of holiday cards.

Marianne's Card

Marianne says, "This week I decided to get inky. I started by creating a few panels using ink smooshing, both on plain white Neenah and watercolour cardstock. My Neenah panel looked a hot mess, but after some additional ink blending, embossing with a new to me embossing folder and blending some Pentart vanilla stencil paste over the raised embossed pattern (and, unintentionally, the rest of the panel as well), my panel had quite unexpectedly been transformed into something soft and pretty AND shimmery. A die cut sentiment and a heat embossed sentiment strip were all the embellishments it needed."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Stamping and coloring is not my forte, but... these Lawn Fawn reindeer and Pretty Pink Posh trees are kind of irresistible, aren't they? Luckily, both companies have blogs with lots of examples of GREAT coloring with shading, etc, which really helped me get it right! Once I had all the stamped elements done, all I had to do was build a wintery background using Penny Black dies and various white patterned papers!"

Stephanie's card

Stephanie says, "Sometimes all you need is a little coloring to bring an image to life ... like the colored pencil highlights I've added to my Technique Junkies Christmas Kitty ... green for the eyes, pink for the nose & red for the Santa hat.  I used the sketch from Sunday Stamps."

Remember, Link your gorgeous "COLORING" masterpieces right here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, February 21st. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:18:04. 

A-Coloring* We Will Go

Description:This fortnight we are delighted to have one of our favorite, long-time Jingle Belles-- Marianne of Marianne's Cards 'n Stuff-- designing along with us. She's thought up a brilliant prompt to inspire us all: for "A-Coloring We Will Go" we'd like you to create a holiday card that incorporates any type of coloring medium: markers, pencils, crayons, inks, watercolor, etc; in any way you want, whether that's coloring stamped images, creating fun backgrounds or getting as creative as you'd like!

Before we show off our own cards, let's meet Marianne and bid her welcome!

"Hi everyone, I'm thrilled to be making a guest appearance at the Jingle Belles blog this fortnight. I'm a Dutch native living in Crete, Greece, who loves creating Christmas cards and intends to do more colouring this year. That is why I approached Lauren and Stephanie to ask them if we could go a-coloring together some time. The idea for this fortnight's prompt originated quite a while back, when Lauren and Stephanie were inviting us to come a-caroling. This idea resurfaced when I was thinking of my crafty goals for 2018. So how about it? Will you come a-coloring with us?"

Here's what we made this week:

Marianne's Card

Marianne says, "I started with this sweet image that I had originally watercoloured using Tombow markers. I used coloured pencils to add a little shading. For my background, I masked off an area, blended some distress inks and finished off with some splatters and a little snow."

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I did my coloring with a blue Gelato directly on the rubber of this Snowy Scene Stamp from Hero Arts.  I lightly spritzed with water and stamped it on watercolor paper.  I trimmed and added a sentiment from Essentials by Ellen Modern Christmas.  The piece along the bottom was created with another type of abstract *coloring* ... splattering alcohol inks on texty printed Yupo paper.  I also *colored* with a Nuvo Glitter Marker pen by dotting it in the night sky to create glittery silver stars.  Click through to my blog if you want to see a second version using the same techniques."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I think everyone knows that my favorite coloring medium is watercoloring with ColorBurst Pigment Powders from Ken Oliver Crafts. In this case I've combined some of my favorite blues (Indigo, Turquoise and Cerulean, to be specific) on a piece of watercolor paper and trimmed bauble shapes from the result. After they were completely dry, I used stencils to add plain white modelling paste to the larger ornament, and a glittery embossing paste to the smaller; when that was dry I brushed a little bit of Platinum Mineral Burst on top for a shimmery effect that I haven't quite captured in the photo (but it's really cool IRL!)" 

Link your gorgeous "COLORING" masterpieces right here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, February 21st. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:18:04.

An InLinkz Link-up

*or possibly, A-Colouring! ♥

12 Days of Christmas

Thanks to a great suggestion from our lovely friend Lela Meinke, we're still rockin' with the classic holiday tune, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" so here's a reminder of the options:

Create a holiday card for your *TRUE LOVE* 
or for any extra-special person in your life 

OR...
Create a holiday card with HEARTS on it 

OR... 

Create a holiday card that references any aspect of
"The 12 Days of Xmas" that appeals to you

Here's a reminder of that dozen rather distinctive gifts!

 On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: 

Twelve Drummers Drumming 

Eleven Pipers Piping 

Ten Lords a Leaping 

Nine Ladies Dancing 

Eight Maids a Milking 

Seven Swans a Swimming 

Six Geese a Laying 

Five Golden Rings 

Four Calling Birds 

Three French Hens 

Two Turtle Doves 

and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
♥♥♥

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I really DID go with the "easy" option of hearts, lol, thanks to having serendipitously stumbled upon this super-cute Doodlebug holiday paper! (...though I wouldn't rule out the possibility that marching, parade-style, behind Santa's Vespa are, in fact, 12 Drummers Drumming and all the rest of the gang...) I've used this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge to guide my layout."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week's card is a take on *12 Drummers Drumming* with my rock & roll Drum Set design.  I even used a Santa Sticker to create a Christmas skin for my bass drum."

There's still plenty of time to join the fun! Scroll down to the original post for all the details! ♥

My True Love Gave to Me

"On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my TRUE LOVE gave to me..." is actually the complete title of this fortnight's theme ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ so hang on for a second while we explain it, because there are some cool twists this time. First, let us tell you that the title and idea come from our lovely friend, Lela Meinke (some of you may know her as "Serenity Stamper" on SCS) who always comes up with great ideas! Now let's consider the brief. This fortnight we'd like you to choose any of the following options:

Create a holiday card for your *TRUE LOVE* 
or for any extra-special person in your life 

OR...
Create a holiday card with HEARTS on it 

OR... 

Create a holiday card that references any aspect of
"The 12 Days of Xmas" that appeals to you

Here's a reminder of that dozen rather distinctive gifts!

 On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: 

Twelve Drummers Drumming 

Eleven Pipers Piping 

Ten Lords a Leaping 

Nine Ladies Dancing 

Eight Maids a Milking 

Seven Swans a Swimming 

Six Geese a Laying 

Five Golden Rings 

Four Calling Birds 

Three French Hens 

Two Turtle Doves 

and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
♥♥♥

Plenty of inspiration there for all of us, right?! Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "When I explained this week's Jingle Belles theme to my husband, he suggested that if I was making a card for him, the Bob & Doug McKenzie version of the Twelve Days of Christmas would be more appropriate for him ... so that is what inspired my card.  Because on the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me ... Two Turtlenecks (and a Beer in a Tree).  Stamps & sentiment are from Essentials by Ellen 'Tis the Season  with MFT Die-Namics Rectangle Peek-a-Boo Window."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I'd planned to stick with option #2 (hearts!) when, during the recycling challenge, in my box of saved holiday cards, I stumbled upon one that actually had all twelve of the (alas, original and not McKenzie, lol!) items in question. You can't fight serendipity like that, can you?? Since the panel was fairly large and already a bit busy, I only needed a sentiment, a couple of mats and a few Eyelet Outlet Heart Brads to complete the design. I used the current Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge."

And now it's time for you to decide which option you will choose... or maybe... you'll combine more than one?! Link up here by Wednesday, May 10th. Keyword for galleries or Flickr is JB:17:09.

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

Let it Snow!

We're still celebrating those fabulous flakes, we've still got the lovely Leslie Turner helping us out, and you've still got plenty of time to link up with us in the original post, just below this one... Which we hope you will! Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:

Leslie's Other Card

Leslie says, "My mid-challenge project is clean and simple - a technique I love but don't delve into very often. I couldn't resist this time because I had the perfect stamp to match that paper scrap. Yep, the scrap was the bottom part of a 12 x 12 sheet. Love, love, love how this simple card turned out! Please see my blog post at Love To Scrap 2 for more details and photos. C'mon and link-up... we'd love to see what you create!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I pulled out my favorite vintage snowflake stamp from Hero Arts and had some Color Burst resist fun this week.  With the addition of some punched silver glitter snowflakes I used this week's Feeling Sketchy Layout."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "Yes, my card is a quite bit more traditional this week, lol! Mostly thanks to the beautiful vintage postcard which I scanned and re-sized just a bit smaller, before printing out on semi-glossy photo paper. I've used this week's sketch saturday layout as my road map, and employed a gorgeous Eyelet Outlet Cardinal Brad to watch over the snowy scene as a sort of mascot!"

Jump down to the original post and join the fun; you've got until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, February 15th! ♥♥♥

Let the Flakes Fall Where They May

We've got a brand new prompt at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ this week, suggested by our lovely guest star, Leslie Turner, who is the owner and hostess of the Love To Scrap Challenge Blog and the Love To Craft Challenge Blog as well as a design team member at House of Cards and Let's Craft and Create! We were thrilled when this very busy lady wrote in and suggested such a cool (sorry, for once the pun was unintentional!) challenge idea, so let's let her say hello and explain this fortnight's theme:

 Hi everyone! I'm Leslie and super stoked to be guesting for Jingle Belles this fortnight. My theme is Let The Flakes Fall Where They May and my challenge to all you Christmas crafters is to create a project that includes snow... snowflakes, snowmen or a snowy landscape! I chose this theme because of very wishful thinking. This winter we've had to run the air conditioning several times here in north Florida! That's not what I'd call winter, lol! 

Here at Jingle Belles, we kind of prefer our snow on holiday cards rather than our local roads, and are just slightly jealous of a "winter" that needs air conditioning; but we're thrilled that Leslie is joining us, and she's made an amazing card, so let's get right to that: 

Leslie's Card

Leslie says, "My opening project is a twisted gate fold. I am a fancy fold fanatic and when I found this fold on the web, I just HAD to make one! I absolutely love the super easy construction that packs a powerful punch, and using the cool snowflake papers and snowflake sequins was an added bonus! Please see my blog post at Love To Scrap 2 for more details and photos. We can't wait to see what you create!"

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I went with the traditional snow colors of Merlot and Copper. obviously. :) Ok, so, it's not a traditional card in any sense of the word. But i found two funky panels leftover from experiments involving Color Burst pigment powder, stencils, gesso and Dreamweaver's luscious copper embossing paste, and one of my crazier card ideas was born. I even think I already know to whom I will send this card, so I feel especially prepared and "ahead" of the Xmas rush this week!"

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with an embossed piece of acetate that reminded me of the way the ice breaks when you step on a frozen puddle.  After that I layered on the snowflakes ... clear stickers and lots of layered felt snowflakes topped with icy blue Eyelet Outlet Round Jewels."

So now it's your turn to break out those snowman stickers, snowscape stamps and snowflake dies and compose a holiday masterpiece that shows the snows! Link up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, February 15th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:17:03.

An InLinkz Link-up

Shake, Rattle & Roll

This week we're excited to welcome the very talented Sybrina K, who emailed us to suggest a prompt with the awesome title, "Shake, Rattle and Roll" so of course she got our attention right away! What's the assignment? We're creating cards with an interactive element ... it could be a shaker card, a pop-up, unique folds, sliders, games ... you get the picture, right? There are lots of Pinterest Boards and Tutorial Forums that are filled with possible ideas... or you can use one of ours. But first, let's meet Sybrina:

"Hi, I'm Sybrina, for me, card making is all about sending cheer, hope, and encouragement one card at a time. As a shipper for Send A Smile 4 Kids, the majority of my cards are made to send cheer, hope, and encouragement to in-patient kids at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. In addition, I'm a co-founder of the monthly words-inspired challenge blog Words 2 Craft By and a member of the Cards in Envy design team. My adventures in card making can be found at Chapter Three: Taking Life One Page at a Time"

Here's what we made this week:

 Sybrina's Card: Outside

Sybrina's Card: Inside

Sybrina says, "Thanks so much to Lauren and Stephanie for inviting me to join them today and share my passion for Send a Smile 4 Kids. When making cards for SAS4Kids, I'm always looking for new ways to include features that will appeal to children. It's hard to go wrong with interactive cards, and I've been wanting to come up with a Tic-Tac-Toe card for a while now. This fortnight's Shake, Rattle, and Roll challenge was the perfect opportunity to see what I could do with a little Velcro, paper, and adhesive."

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I won't lie, when I heard this week's theme, I was a little intimidated.  I'm not a very precise crafter (I mostly *eye-ball*) and cards with movement and interaction usually require precision to work correctly.   I found a great step-by-step and video tutorial for making a *Never-Ending Card* at SplitcoastStampers which was easy enough that even a goof-ball like me could figure it out.  I used three different blue patterned papers from the same holiday collection and added coordinating stickers and lots of snowflakes.  This picture is the four views of the card as you move through the *never-ending* fold (there are closer pictures on my blog if you want to see more."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I confess that when I heard this fortnight's title, I hardly even listened to the "Rattle and Roll" part because I was already planning my shaker card, lol. I started with the pretty winter scene --which is actually a store-bought Christmas card I was sent a few years ago. I built the shaker frame from coordinating Pebbles patterned papers; the window from a scrap of inkjet transparency; and the "snow" is composed of tiny clear microbeads. I used sketch #272 from Sketch Saturday to guide the placement of my elements."

Now it's your turn to "Shake, Rattle and Roll"! Go as wild (or as tame) as you'd like with any sort of interactive card-design that inspires you... then come back and link up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, May 18th. Keyword for galleries and flickr is JB:16:10.

An InLinkz Link-up

Warm Washi Wishes

So many amazingly lovely tape-centric creations in the gallery, and every single one of them is a WINNER! You guys sure do make it hard to only choose a few to "feature", but here are some that especially warmed our washi-loving hearts:

Electra of Wishin' I Knew How To Blog

...made not one, not two, but *NINE* beautiful, unique, fabulous tape-based holiday greetings. If you haven't already seen them, you must GO... go NOW! 

Kim M of Art Keeps Me Sane

...combined a bunch of gorgeous tapes-- some holiday ones, some not-- to beautiful effect, then went for bonus points by cutting some of them into arrows to point out her stamped sentiment!

Steffi H posting on Flickr

...proved that you don't necessarily need a lot of tapes --or a lot of ANYTHING, for that matter-- if you've chosen wisely and well!

I think we're all longing to find out who'll be getting that fun prize from our wonderful friends at Eyelet Outlet, right? According to Random.org the lucky number is... *4*! Which means that

♥MISS ELECTRA♥
is our lucky winner, congrats!
(ok, yes, this is the very first time that we've ever had someone be in the shout-outs and then ALSO turn out to be the prize winner, which just goes to show you, it really *is* a RANDOM draw done by the little widget thingie at Random.org!!!)

Please email your address to Lauren at llaurenb @ hotmail.com so we can get that prize to you ASAP!

Once again we'd like to thank Eyelet Outlet for sponsoring us and providing the prize; our Eyelet Outlet Design Teammates Barry Lynn Snarr and Dawn Mercedes Barrett for being our lovely guest stars; and of course we are always grateful to have such wonderful, creative readers who share their inspiration with us each fortnight! ♥ 

We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt and another very talented "co-star" we hope will really shake up your holiday cardmaking!

Here We Come a-WASHI-ing

We're still celebrating the many joys of decorative tape, and there's still time for you to link up a tape-centric card (or cards, plural!) for a chance at the fun prize from our lovely sponsor, Eyelet Outlet, so please scroll down to the original post for full details and to link up your own masterpieces!

Meanwhile, we're very excited to have another of our Eyelet Outlet Design Team cohorts joining the fun this week: please welcome our amazingly talented friend, Dawn Mercedes Barrett; she's made two gorgeous cards and there are even more lovely things to see on her fabulous blog, Sunnyside Up, so be sure to check it out!

Here's what we all made this week:

On her first card, Dawn Mercedes used Glitter Green and Glitter Gold Tape as well as Pearl Flourishes; her second card features Holly Brads, Ornament Brads, Wreath Brads, Red and Green Pearl Bling Strips plus a few varieties of Holiday Washi Tape that were exclusive to the Eyelet Outlet Booth at a recent trade show-- another great reason to be sure to visit EO in person when they come to your part of the country with Scrapbook Expo or CKC or other craft shows! ♥

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I used two kinds of glitter washi (glitter red & glitter green dots) both from our sponsor Eyelet Outlet.  I covered scraps of cardstock with washi and trimmed the pieces to work with the sketch at The Paper Players.  Instead of a circle, I used a black chipboard ornament that I decked out with adhesive white jewels."

Lauren's Other Card(s)

Lauren says, "The 'quilt squares technique' (for which there are more details on my blog) is one of my go-to's for tape because it's easy, it comes out differently each time, and you get to combine a whole bunch of tapes! Here I've used Holiday Dots, Ornament Washi, Pink Foil with White Dots, and Music Notes; I've added Bumpy Heart Bling and Pink Flower Jewels to stacks of Red and White Paper Flowers as well as a few Pearl Strips."

Be sure to scroll down to the original post for full details on the challenge, the prize and how to link up ♥YOUR♥ holiday tape creations!

Walking in a ♥WASHI♥ Wonderland

We're thrilled to have a fantastic sponsor joining us this week, please join us in welcoming... Eyelet Outlet!

We (Stephanie and Lauren) both have the privilege of being on the Eyelet Outlet Design Team, so they provided both of us with Washi Tape to use on our cards, as well as a prize for one lucky participant that will include these adorable holiday sock monkey brads, as well as red glitter washi tape (which Stephanie used on her card this week) and holiday glitter brads. Of course, one of the best things about being on a great design team is getting to meet the other team members, and we're pretty excited to have our fellow EO designer, Barry Snarr playing along with us this week. Be sure to check out the fabulous creations on his blog, The Prince of Paper, and leave him some love!

Meanwhile, here's what we created for our WASHI wonderland:

Barry's Card

Barry used these cool Eyelet Outlet goodies on his card:  

Glitter Silver Washi Tape, Glitter Dark Blue Washi Tape and a Snowflake Brad  

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I used the gorgeous red glitter washi tape (which is all of the sparkle & none of the mess) together with stippled gem brads and a blingy flourish to decorate a journaling card.  I added silver shimmer paper and a blue card base to match my wrap of twine using this week's Retro Sketch."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Eyelet Outlet's ornament washi tape might be my current favorite, but don't tell the other tapes, ok?! ;) It inspired me to make some baubles similar to the ones on the tape. The green one has a base of patterned paper, adorned with eyelet outlet paper flowers and clear edge bling; the golden one is made of plain white cardstock, gussied up with glitter gold washi tape; and the third is composed of holiday dots washi tape applied in neatly lined-up strips, to make an all-over pattern. For hangers I've used white pearl strips; I also have smaller pearl strips in red to highlight the original piece of tape I started with. I knew exactly how to arrange everything because I used the super-cool current (#408) Sketch Saturday!"

Now it's your turn to grab your favorite washi tape (deco tape, glitter tape, packing tape and fabric tape are also fine!!!) and make as many gorgeous new holiday cards as you feel inspired to create! One lucky card-maker who links up with us this fortnight will be randomly chosen to win the super-fun Eyelet Outlet prize described above. Deadline is 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, May 4th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:16:09.

An InLinkz Link-up

Peace on EARTH (day)

Those of you who have followed us over the years know that we have a special place in our hearts for EARTH DAY.

So our EARTH DAY prompt each year has been all about RECYCLING ... and we'd like you to create a holiday card that features re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements.  You know you've got that stash of things that you saved because they were just too pretty to throw away ... break them out and create with them.

In the past we've used everything from Kleenex Boxes & Soda Cans to Gift Wrap and we *always* have a lot of fun making our own cards and admiring yours! Something you may not know is that this prompt was suggested in the very first April of our Jingle Belles adventure, by the wonderful and talented Kathe Deck, who has jingled along with us since the very beginning, so it seemed only right to ask her back as our lovely guest star once again, and we thank her for joining us this fortnight!

Here's what we recycled this year:

Kathe's Card

Kathe says, "I made this card using tissue wrap from a Christmas gift given to me by a friend in 2014. I used the same tissue for a card I made in January 2015, and I remembered to send the card to the friend who gave the original gift. This year I added a snowflake medallion cut from a Christmas card; I think it was one of the business-to-business cards I brought home from work."

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "In case you didn't know, Lauren is the best present wrapper ever.  When I got a little box wrapped in this gorgeous wood bark paper, I removed it extra-carefully so I could recycle it for a rustic holiday card.  The paper was so pretty, all I had to add were a few vintage chipboard pieces for my design."

(To which Lauren replies, "Thank you" and blushes a bit!)

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "My mom is also a pretty great present-wrapper, and gold paper in the background here is giftwrap from one of my xmas gifts from her; it was fairly thin so I smoothed it out and Xyroned it onto some plain white cardstock to make it a little sturdier. The mat behind that cool vintage-style Santa illustration is a bit of packaging from the yummy blue burlap ponsettias! The leafy gold thing is actually a vintage applique for sewing; it's HEAVY and needed quite a few gluedots to secure, but I absolutely fell in love with it, even before I realized how perfectly it coordinated with the gorgeous Eyelet Outlet Glitter Gold Washi Tape that makes me swoon every time I use it!"

And now it's your turn to create a little re-used, re-cycled or up-cycled EARTH DAY magic on your holiday cards! Link them up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, April 20th. Keyword for galleries or Flickr is JB:16:08.

An InLinkz Link-up

Superlative Stash-Shopping!

Soooooooooooo many gorgeous holiday cards linked up this fortnight! Here are a few feats of stashly derring-do which especially caught our eye:

Bobbi of Bobbi's Treasure

...stamped a previously uninked partridge onto vellum and layered it over sheet music, for a card that'll put a song into anyone's heart!

Pink Unicorn of Invisible Pink Cards

...mastered her previously unused spritzer tool to create this incredibly cool snowflake-bedecked background!

Janis of Her Peaceful Garden

...revived this beautiful Angel stamp from several years ago and created this fabulous metal effect (it's called Molten Double Embossing) to really show her off!

I suppose we'd all love to know who won those super-fun goodies, as well, eh? Be sure to hop over to Shopping Our Stash to see who won that prize; meanwhile as for the ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ portion of the festivities, the fine folks at Random.org have chosen #37... which means that

♥Carol L♥ 

of Our Little Inspirations
is our lucky winner!

(please send your snail mail to lauren via llaurenb @ hotmail (dot) com to claim your prize!)

Many thanks to everyone who played along, and a big cyber high-five to our lovely friends at Shopping Our Stash, for co-hosting with us! Stephanie and Lauren will be back at midnight with a brand new prompt guaranteed to give you more than eight crazy nights of fun, be sure to pop back then! ♥

Santa Says, "WOW!"

The only thing more fun than making holiday shaker cards, or Santa-centric designs ourselves, is watching you guys do that... and we have a gallery full of awesomeness to attest to how brilliantly it was accomplished! Here are a few cards that made us smile especially broadly:

Marina of My Perfect Life

Used an image called "Disco Santa"... what else could you possibly need??!?!  (Ok, yeah, there's also perfect stamping, beautiful coloring and lots of glittery touches!) :)

Jessi Fogan of One Crafty Mama

Created a super-fun, totally dynamic design by making the circular element of a fab card sketch into an awesome snowman shaker!

Barbara of The Knackered Grouse

Combined both elements of the prompt-- and added lots of extra interest-- by placing the translucent shaker element on the front of the card with the Santa image inside! Awesome!

Please join us in thanking the lovely and talented Marianne of Marianne's Cards 'n Stuff for such an awesome idea, and for coming along with two absolutely brilliant cards to inspire us all! We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt that we hope will help you take stock of your holiday card supply! 

Claus and Effect

We're loving all your beautiful cards for Marianne's fun "Shake it, Santa Baby" prompt! Why not scroll down to see the reader's gallery and then link up your own card that features The Big Guy or rocks the holiday shaker card design?! Meanwhile, here's what we made this week:

Marianne's Other Card

Marianne says, "This week I just had to make a shaker card featuring this cute digital Santa babe (Winter Wryn) by Tiddly Inks. I coloured the image using coloured pencils and created my shaker using stitched dies, some patterned paper from my favourite Christmas paper pad, silver beads, sequins, a sheet of acetate and a double layer of foam tape. I applied a few tiny dots of multi-medium matte using a piercing tool and dropped some of the pierced interiors of the sequins (that were included with my Studio Calico sequins) and a few beads onto those for a little added interest."

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I decided to focus on the man in the red suit this week, using a bunch of cuuuuute ready made embellishments and the rather wonderful sketch from Fusion Card Challenge."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "This week I combined Santa with a Snowman, a Jingle Bell and some Peppermint Washi Tape using a sketch from STAMPlorations."

Remember, you have until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, June 17th to link-up your card.