GOLD-en Years

We're still celebrating a Metallic Christmas at Jingle Belles this week. Create a GOLD (or silver or copper or bronze) card ... just make sure we see your metallics.

Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Laurenb says, "This card has FOUR different styles of silver metallic cardstock: matte, sparkly, glimmery and full-on reflective metallic silver... a personal best, lol! It's also got three different metallic tapes and some deep blue shimmer paper that isn't quiiiiiite metallic but adds to the vibe of the card, I think. I've paired Penny Black's Glorious poinsettia die (cut three times, clustered together and blinged up a bit) with Altenew's splendid Perfect Poinsettias 3D Embossing Folder... that I highlighted with a bit of metallic rub-on paste in a rich blue shade."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I went with silver this week by die cutting the Memory Box Tall Pine from Silver Metallic Cardstock.  Next I attached it to Teal Metallic cardstock before adding a star and Pinkfresh Studio Teal Gems.  I finished by attaching it all to a silver glittery card base and adding a sticker sentiment.  My other color inspiration was from the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Silver & Teal Challenge."

And remember, one lucky participant will win this new Mid-Century Ethereal Plate background die cut by Simon Says Stamp.

Colors of Christmas

We're still creating cards using our Ornamental Color Challenge this week.  We ask that you use at least three of the five colors to create your card.

Here is how we got colorful this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week, I was inspired by the inspiration photo itself, so I made an ink-blended background using Distress Oxide Inks in the shades closest (imo) to the top three colors in the palette: Uncharted Mariner, Broken China and Speckled Egg. Then I embossed the panel using Spellbinders' Forevergreen e/f and flicked some watered down Liquid Pearls (in White Opal and Gold Pearl) on top. I made a large snowflake stack to stand in for the fancy bauble in the photo and finished the whole thing with some clear gems that look a bit like the bokeh fairy lights."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "Since I leaned heavier into the teal/blues last week, I decided to start with the darkest coppery/orange that I skipped last week.  I cut 3/8" strips from the next three colors and positioned them horizontally.  I'm joining Amy T for her Woodblock Wednesday using a one of my favorite woodblock Savvy Snowman paired with a woodblock Memory Box sentiment."

And remember, one lucky random participant will receive this fun Yay You Die Cut by CZ Design, so link-up by 6pm EST on Wednesday, May 7th.

Ornamental Color Challenge

We have a marvelous Ornamental Color Challenge for you this time. We're asking you to make a card featuring at least THREE of the five colors in the palette below.

Here's how we got colorful this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I used four of the five colors this week in my layout using this week's Sketch Saturday layout and Jolly Holiday Greetings from Concord & 9th.  Colors are Concord & 9th as well - Rainforest, Peacock, Powder & Sorbet."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "As I was puzzling over what I wanted to make, it suddenly occurred to me that one of the things I liked in the inspiration pic is the sidebar with the colors stacked together. I was pretty sure I had scraps of cardstock in all of those colors, and sure enough I did! I found the sentiment on a mini journal card and diecut a Hero Arts Snowflake Cluster from glossy white cardstock to emphasize the winter/holiday aspect."

♥♥♥

We will choose one lucky participant to win this fun little Yay You die cut by CZDesign for Simon Says Stamp.

Just a reminder, you needn't use ALL five colors of the palette, we'd just like to see three; though as you can tell, we both had fun using the entire set! JB2509: Ornamental Color Challenge runs until 6pm (Eastern) on the evening of Wednesday, May 7th. Link your cards right HERE:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Get Your Grinch On

This fortnight we're asking you to Get Your Grinch On, which means we're celebrating our friend the Grinch by creating cards that are predominantly GREEN (and bonus points if you throw in a Grinch too).

Here's how we're showing our GREEN this week.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a fun green polka dot card base.  Next I matted a tag from Doodlebug Designs Candy Cane Lane with a link layer of blue to match the present and give a big of contrast to the background.  I added some glittery silver ribbon, a tie of lime twine, and a tiny bit of red bling for the gingerbread man's button.  I finished by using foam tape to add the tag for a bit of dimension."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I started with a (seemingly firm) plan that involved a Christmas Tree layered with about six different shades of torn green cardstock. But then... I found this little quartet of adorability on a sheet of journal cards and the next thing I knew my card had four snowmen, two green polka dot papers, three EO Snowflake Brads and eight washi tapes. Because that's the way I roll, lol. (Not to worry, I can make the other card for next week!)"

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And the Luck of the Green will be with one lucky participant who will receive a brand new Nordic Dimple Trees Die set by PoppyStamps.

JB2506: Get Your Grinch On runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday evening, March 26th. Link as many newly made, mostly GREEN holiday cards as you'd like to, right here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Snoopy vs. the ♥♥RED♥♥ Baron

We're still Celebrating Rudolph (and the RED Baron) at Jingle Belles this week by creating cards that primarily feature the color RED.

Here is how we created with RED this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I recently got this beautiful Altenew Perfect Poinsettia 3D Embossing Folder at Paper Anthology, and couldn't wait to use it! I embossed the design on watercolor paper, added color by scribbling all my favorite RED Tombow Dual Brush Pens onto my craft mat, then picking them up with a waterbrush and painting the flowers. When the panel was thoroughly dry, I added some RED Metallic Rub-On to make the design stand out even more, with a bit of Sunburst Stickles on the berries. I diecut the sentiment (ancient Hero Arts) from both deep red cardstock and Red Non-Shed Glitter Paper, which I also used to mat the poinsettia panel."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie say, "I started by creating my own background using Red Pan Pastel on my Gelli press and picking up the print with a vibrant pink paint.  I die cut my Impression Obsession Poinsettia from vibrant red cardstock adding a pink gem center.  The finishing touch was a stitched wacky circle and Impress sentiment."

Scroll down to the original post to see the beautiful Readers' Gallery and link up your own card!

Rudolph the RED Nosed Reindeer

This week's Jingle Belles prompt is a color challenge inspired by our friend Rudolph - we're asking you to create holiday cards that primarily feature the color RED (not just a little - we want to see a lot of RED).

Here's how we created with RED this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie Says, "I die cut 1/2" strips from a Recollections paper collection called Peppermint Stripe.  I attached the papers at a slight angle and then topped them with a mug of hot chocolate sticker.  I finished with a Ho Ho Ho sentiment from Impress Holiday Word Set on the mug."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "My card was inspired by a recent sketch from Atlantic Hearts (#561). The challenge has ended, but I fell in love with the distinctive "three triangles" concept and I thank them for the inspiration. All of the elements on top were cut or diecut from various older journal cards and patterned paper: The Santa and background plaid are Authentique; the flowery circles are ancient Basic Grey; the sentiment and holly are American Crafts; and the bold plaid is Simple Stories. This was a quick card to make in a busy week and I'm happy with the result."

♥♥♥

Link your RED masterpieces right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, February 14th. Keyword for galleries and flickr is JB2403.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Neutral Noel

This fortnight we're asking you to create holiday cards which embrace only the neutral color palette – white, cream, ivory, ecru, silver, gold, black, gray, charcoal, obsidian, brown, tan, kraft, camel, oatmeal, sienna (you get the picture). If you're feeling limited by lack of color, why not think texture? There's burlap, jute, paper bags, cork, chalkboards, sandpaper or lace... Use them all together or chose one hue and rock the monochromatic design  as long as it's NEUTRAL it's in.

Here's what we made for our Neutral Noel:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a piece of upcycled Tim Holtz packaging on an ivory cardbase, and then I built my collage from there with lots of neutral bits and bobs. I finished with some Eyelet Outlet Black Pearl Swirl Bling and a neutral poinsettia."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I raided my well-hoarded stash of Ciao Bella's Snow and the City papers (from Paper Anthology a couple of winters ago) from which I took the bokeh paper, the brick paper and tag, and I was even able to make my focal point by punching a circle from one of the thumbnail pictures on the collection's cover sheet. I mixed in a fabric poinsettia, Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling, some Pavilio White Lace Tape, a Tim Holtz sticker sentiment and lots (seriously LOTS!) of distressing and machine stitching."

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Link your Neutral Noel masterpieces right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, August 9th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB2316.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

♥ Pink Christmas... for the Cure! ♥

This week we're still creating PINK holiday cards to support breast cancer research ... and for each one linked-up, Lauren & Stephanie will each donate $2.00 per card to Breast Cancer Research Foundation. 

Remember, you can link as many times as you'd like, but the majority of each card should be pink; and they do need to be newly made; so please no back-linking to cards made prior to the challenge.

Here's how we went PINK this week:

Lauren's Other PINK card

Lauren says, "Prima's new holiday line, Candy Cane Lane, is coming soon to my LSS, Paper Anthology. Luckily, I was allowed to sneak a few of the gorgeous papers a teeny bit early, so I could use them for week two of PINK CHRISTMAS! This Santa's face miiiiiight be my favorite image in the line, though the whole collection is so adorable, it's hard to just pick one. I did some tearing, some fussycutting, some distressing and layered on flowers, ribbon and White Lace Tape for extra interest. Would it be wrong to send this one to myself in December??!"

Stephanie's Other PINK card

Stephanie says, "I went with a different Doodlebug Collection this week - Night Before Christmas.  I paired three different papers from the collection with the Layout from Sketch Saturday."

Scroll down to the original PINK CHRISTMAS post for details and for the Linky tool to add your own card(s) to the gallery!

I'm Dreaming of a PINK Christmas

If you've played along with us in prior years, you may already know that at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we always devote the first theme of each October to making pink holiday cards as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that for each card that gets linked up, we each (Stephanie and Lauren) donate two dollars to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. 

There aren't many rules for this challenge other than the fact that each card has to be newly made, it has to have a winter holiday theme, and it has to feature PINK prominently. Does your whole card have to be pink? Certainly not. Can you combine other colors with the pink? Of course! Should you have more pink than say two or three baubles on your green tree set against a snowy white background? Well, yes... that would be good, lol. But other than that, we'll leave it to you to decide how much pink, what shade, and how to employ it!

We're pretty low key about self-promotion around here, but this cause is near and dear to our hearts and we'd love to get GREAT participation, so be sure to tell all your cardmaking friends, and feel free to share the official graphic and our link on your blog or social media.

Here's how we created with PINK this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I used papers from one of my all time favorite pink holiday collections, Doodlebug Winter Wonderland.  I used a sketch from Try Stampin' (or Not) on Tuesday and a tiny little A Muse sentiment to finish my card."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "It's no secret that I love pink at any time of year, especially at Christmas, so I had plenty of readymade items from which to choose: an ancient pink My Mind's Eye chipboard tree, diecut poinsettia layers from leftover patterned papers, an Eyelet Outlet Pink Pearl Brad and Enamel Dots, a shimmery stripey border sticker, and kraft paper with pink polka dots that is so old I don't know whence it came!"

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Link your PINK cards right here, by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, October 19th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-22-21.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Blue Christmas

This week we're asking you to channel your inner Elvis ...

and break out the BLUEs for this week's holiday card ... make a card that primarily features the color BLUE (at least 75%).

Here's how we got the BLUEs this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I decided shopping in my gel press drawer was a great way to find lots of blues to combine for this week's card.  I even found a shimmery blue inky piece to add to the mix.  The stamp is Unity Stamp Company Holiday Joy Christmas Tree and the sketch is a great one from Sketch~N~Scrap."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I stamped the sweet baubles and evergreens from Wendy Vecchi's Doodle Christmas Stamp Set a few times at the top left corner of a splashy Morning Glory Archival Ink background, then used brushmarkers and a sparkly gel pen to color the ornaments. I lightly dabbed more Morning Glory onto the chipboard "LOVE" embellishment from Wendy's new Statements Chippies, and stamped the same color, full strength, randomly all over the word with the sparkles stamp. Finally, I added a strip of bright blue washi and matted on glitter and metallic papers in a coordinating shade of blue." 

Link your Beautiful Blue creations right here, by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednsdays, August 10th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-22-16.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Ombré 'Oliday

We're still creating cards featuring an Ombré color palette for our current prompt.

Here's how we got colorful this week.

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week I created my own unique version of ombre by blending six different shades of Distress Oxide Inks through an older Hero Arts Stencil. I originally intended making an absolutely seamless series of tone-into-tone shades of green; but then tweaked the idea slightly and decided to work the overlapping blend to include some of my favorite shades in order of intensity rather than strictly by hue. I used Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Mowed Lawn, Evergreen Bough, Pine Needles and Rustic Wilderness. And I really like the results!"

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "I created my own Ombré background by painting with Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide Spray on watercolor paper.    I used Salvaged Patina and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink on my die cut Pine Boughs from The Greetery, and then stamped my two-part sentiment from The Greetery Snowflake Soirée in Pinecone Brown and Peacock Feathers."

Ombré Wonderland

This week we're asking you to create holiday cards that feature an Ombré  element or design (moving from light to dark in a single color family).

Here are our Ombré Wonderland designs:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I chose an Ombré designer paper from Pinkfresh Studio Office Hours Collection as the starting point my design.  Then I used the Sketch (and circle inspiration from the photo) at Fusion Card Challenge with some embossed white cardstock, a stitched die cur circle, and Pinkfresh Studio Holiday Vibes Epoxy Christmas Badges & Epoxy Dots."

Lauren's Card(s)

Lauren says, "Despite the fact that we never confer beforehand, my cards are surprisingly similar to Stephanie's!!! However, since I failed to find a ombre-printed patterned paper in my stash, I constructed my own by cutting and overlapping 3/4" strips of cardstock in a whole bunch of shades of red and green. After I had my ombre backgrounds, I added clusters of punched patterned paper circles and holiday stickers. Easy, Peasy!"

Link your Ombre masterpieces right here, by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, June 15th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-22-12.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Think PINK!

It's another week of PINK creations to support Breast Cancer Research. Remember, for every predominantly PINK holiday card you link-up in the post directly below this one, Stephanie & Lauren will each donate $2 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (and just a reminder to do those self-exams and get your annual Mammogram).

Here's how we created in PINK this week.

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "The Santa Baby papers from Prima are some of the most lovely holiday papers. I used them (together with one vertical piece from Dress My Craft Christmas Bells).  I used the layout from The Sketchy Challenges to put it all together.  The finishing touches were some pink enamel dots and some gold sticker strips." 

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week's card was as fast to make as last week's Pink Couch card was slow! After I made a design of seven or eight miscellaneous washi tapes featuring every shade of pink and red in my collection and topped it with pink poinsettias from MME's (older) Sugar Plum collection, all I needed was an anonymous diecut sentiment, a few Eyelet Outlet Glitter Enamel Dots and a bit of machine stitching, et voila!"

♥♥♥

I'm dreaming of a PINK Christmas

If you've played along with us in other years, you may already know that at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we always devote the first theme of each October to making pink holiday cards as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that for each card that gets linked up, we (Stephanie and Lauren) each donate two dollars to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (yep that's $4 total for each card linked-up). 

There aren't many rules for this challenge other than the fact that each card has to be newly made; it has to have a winter holiday theme; and it has to feature PINK prominently. Of course your whole card need not be pink, and you can combine other colors with the pink. 

Here is how we celebrated went PINK CHRISTMAS this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with a pile of pink designer papers that I assembled using a World Cardmaking Day sketch from Sketch ~N~ Scrap.  When I pulled in the floral holiday paper, I decided it reminded me of the Taylored Expressions In Bloom Background, so I stamped it in pink on my background designer paper.  Then I pulled out the Taylored Expressions Mythical Grumplings and Simple Strips Christmas to finish my design.  My final embellishment was a pink glittery snowflake to complete the sketch design."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "When I saw Lawn Fawn's 'Window Scene, Winter' stamp set at Paper Anthology I let out a little squeak of joy, because as a matter of fact, I own a couch a bit like that one (there's a pic on my blog) which sits directly in front of a large and dramatic window. The real-life couch truly is pink, though the rest of the room is a bit more neutral. And we've never had a plaid tree, but the blue spruce that I cover with my vintage ornament collection each year sits exactly where the tree from LF's 'Joy to All' is in the card. There are Eyelet Outlet Pink Pearls on this tree, and (white) snowflake sequins in the shaker that's behind the window frame, which is diecut using the add-on 'Window Frame' die set."

Link your beautiful PINK CHRISTMAS cards right here, by 6pm (est) on Wednesday, October 20th. Keyword for galleries and flickr is JB-21-21.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Leave it in Neutral

Rather than the traditional red & green, we're still asking you to feature your favorite NEUTRAL papers, inks and embellishments this week for your holiday card. Let those whites, ivories, tans, browns, blacks & greys shine in your creations. And don't forget the metallic neutrals: silver, copper and gold are all fair game, too!

Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "I punched a bunch of hexies from scraps of white, off-white and tan patterned paper; arranged them on a nicely patinated page from an ancient and partially water-stained copy of 'A Christmas Carol'; then added machine stitching, a big chunky wood veneer sentiment, and some Eyelet Outlet Heart Pearls and Snowflake Brads."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "My process was to grab my scrap bin and start trimming papers for a neutral collage.  I added some vintage sheet music and a bit of transparency before wrapping with some golden threat.  I finished with some Idea-ology ephemera and holiday sticker sentiments."

Neutral Noel

This fortnight at Jingle Belles we're creating holiday cards which embrace only the neutral color palette: white, cream, ivory, ecru, black, gray, charcoal, obsidian, brown, tan, kraft, camel, oatmeal, sienna... ok, you get the picture! Use them all together, or chose just one hue and rock the monochromatic design. As long as it's NEUTRAL it's in. Need some texture to replace the missing color? There's burlap, jute, paper bags, cork, chalkboard, sandpaper, lace... so many choices! 

Here are our Neutral Noel creations:

Stephanie's Card (or cool layered tag gift-card holder)

Stephanie says, "My card was inspired by Ardyth's Layered Tag Card Tutorial that she recently shared on SplitcostStampers.  I used two Manila and one Kraft tag and tied them together using lots of non-holiday neutral items including three coordinated journaling cards, neutral hexagon tags and papers from Ciao Bella Blue Note Collection.  I finished with three sizes of snowflake buttons, SRM Clear Stickers and Tim Holtz Holiday sentiment stickers.  I used a die on the journaling card on the front card and attached it with foam tape created a side opening gift card pocket.  You can click through to the blog to see the individual tags."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I combined a bunch of different browns and tans, with accents of silver and white. My focal image is once again an older Ciao Bella patterned paper; plus I've got some copper-enhanced specialty cardstock; silver metallic mats and diecut sentiment; rounding off with a few Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads and silver Star Sequins on a dark brown A7 card."

 

Link your amazing creations right here, by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, June 30th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB-21-13.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Rudolph the *RED* Nosed Reindeer

In case you couldn't guess from the title of this week's prompt, we're creating cards that feature PREDOMINANTLY the color RED (not just a bit, but a lot of RED).

Here are our creations:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started with this week's Sunday Stamps Tag You're It Sketch and a cute little North Pole tag in my stash.  I added a red designer paper card base, a Doodlebugs Santa Doodlepop in his recliner and a sentiment from Hero Arts Stylized Christmas Trees stamped in Red Ink ... and the grand finale, some glittery red ribbon."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "This is a pretty good example of a collage card which has absolutely nothing vintage on it... though admittedly some of the stickers are pretty old! Santa is from an Idea-Ology Holiday Sticker Book, and the oversized plaid paper is My Mind's Eye's "Holly Jolly" collection; both came from Paper Anthology this past December. The rest were stickers and diecuts and bits of paper from my collection that I punched into circle shapes if they weren't already, and clustered around my Santa-adorned journaling card. And yes, pretty much everything is RED!"

Link your scarlet, cranberry, crimson, candy apple, raspberry or brick masterpiece right here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, February 26th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:20:04.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter