Christmas Bells those Christmas Bells

This fortnight we're asking you to break out your Bells for the Belles and create a card that includes some sort of bell.

Here's how the Belles used Bells this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I die cut lots of Impression Obsession Jingle Bells from silver metallic cardstock and used some foam tape under some to create dimension on my purple glitter paper card base.  I used a sentiment from Kristina Werner's Merry Trees stamp set to finish the design."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I got out my Impression Obsession Retro Ornaments die set (because one of the ornaments is bell-shaped) as well as my tan/gold/neutral scraps folder and had a lot of fun putting together a set of sparkly ornaments, dangling from pearl bling. And what could be a better background for a bell-themed card than a re-sized color copy of the sheet music for "Jingle Bells"?!

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And now, how about an appropriately Bell-related prize that one lucky cardmaker is going to score, just for linking up with us this fortnight? It's Honey Bee's Layering Holiday Bells die set; Memory Box's 6x6 Madras Plaid paper pad and Spellbinders' Winter Wonderland Sentiment diecuts.

Link your Bell-centric creations right here. JB2510: Christmas Bells, Those Christmas Bells runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 21st.

True Colors

It seems we were not the only ones who felt extra-inspired by that fun Ornamental Color Challenge, so if you haven't had a scroll through the Readers' Gallery we highly recommend the trip. In the meantime, here are three takes that especially caught our eye:

Liz Williams of Old Right Brain Madness

...found the PERFECT patterned paper to capture the colors and a very handsome reindeer portrait to be the focal point on this marvelously mailable design!

Tina Z of Treebug

...handcolored this bell-issima embossing folder with the perfect shades of Distress Inks and impressively combined several challenges flawlessly!

Becca Yahrling who posts on Flickr

...made two very cool cards, both of which are shout-out worthy, and almost too close to call, but the embossed orange mat on this one was what took it over the top, in our opinion! 

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And now we'd all like to know where this very fun die is heading, right?! 

Well, the Random Number Generator chose Lucky #3 which means that Liz Williams of Old Right Brain Madness is our Lucky Winner! Liz, please send your snail mail info to llaurenb (at) hotmail (dot) com and we'll get that headed out to you ASAP. Congrats and Yay, You! ♥

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we loved seeing all of your beautiful, festive cards. We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will get your creative bells-a-ringing! ;)

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."

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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:

Remarkable Recycling

There was not a huge turnout for our annual Earth Day Recycling Challenge, but the shortfall in quantity was more than made up for by the over-abundance of brilliant and beautiful ideas! To celebrate, here's a recap of all the fabulous entrants:

Susan B of Cardmaker's Garret

...took the ubiquitous and humble corrugated coffee sleeve, added a little shimmery white paint and instantly had the perfect snowy backdrop for her gorgeous neutral-palette greeting. 

Jolanda Johnstone of The Inque Spot Studio

...speaking of coffee, Jolanda upcycled a vibrant holiday card to make her holiday beverage SNOW much fun! Bonus points for that fabulous fancy fold, as well!

Deb of Sendable Sentiments

...saved the festive red ribbon from a floral arrangement and made it the star of her CAS (but infinitely textural!) card! Love that cool wooden snowflake, too!

Deanne of A Little Bit o' Paper

...rescued two amazing ornaments from a holiday card she received last year, then really set the scene of a Christmas tree by adding hangers, floral toppers and evergreen branches!

Gail L of What's Normal?

...got back a bunch of her own handmade cards when helping a loved one downsize, and thus was able to reuse and upcycle her own designs! How cool is THAT?! 

Fabiola of Mon P'tit Monde

...added lots of texture and detail to various paper scraps and even diecut that beautiful tree from the perfect "leftover" of festive holiday paper!

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Many thanks for playing along! We'll be back at Midnight with a brand new prompt that we hope will suit your holiday cardmaking palette! ;)

recycle... reuse... and JINGLE!

We're still celebrating EARTH Day at Jingle Belles this week by creating cards featuring recycled materials.

Here is how we recycled, reused & Jingled this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "If someone hands me a present wrapped in beautiful paper which has a smooth, un-wrinkled, un-taped area that's card-sized or larger, I will (surprise!) be saving that giftwrap! I like to immediately back it with lightweight cardstock and store it with my regular patterned paper. This card has two such saves from Xmas 2024: the white snowflake background piece, and the torn tan snowflake piece. The snowglobe is a dimensional sticker which was part of a gift tag. In addition to these recycled items, I've got a scrap of lace, a bit of washi tape, part of an embossed snowflake panel and a couple of diecut snowflakes. The "joy" sentiment was cut from a larger dimensional embellishment, because it was the perfect size, color and vibe for this card."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "What can I say ... when a theme works I repeat it.  This week's card features a Puffs tissue box.  Since Puffs puts their logo in the corner rather than the center, a stitched circle made the most sense to get as much of that lovely floral holiday pattern as possible.  I used two smaller stitched circles to pull in some more of those white blooms.  I attached it all to more K & Company packaging and added a Simon Says Stamp CZ Design Merry & Bright sentiment & snowflakes die cut from scraps of a GelliArts print and vellum that were small enough to likely be headed to the recycling.  And to stay with the theme of last week's card, I added more of those delicious Concord & 9th Enamel Dots.  I love this unexpected  color combination for a holiday card."

Remember, you have until 6pm EST on Wednesday to link-up and join the EARTH Day fun.

Peace on EARTH DAY

It's time for one of the Jingle Belles' favorite holidays... (apart from Christmas, of course!) ...Earth Day.  

Our EARTH DAY prompt each year is 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!

Here's how we recycled this year:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "My card started by using a stitched rectangle die cut on part of a Kleenex tissue box.  Next I found a piece of K & Company packaging that made the perfect card base.  Finally, I found a recycled calendar tile in my stash to cover the Kleenex logo and finished with Concord & 9th Enamel Dots."

Lauren's Card(s)

Lauren says, "In December, we received an advertising mailer from a local bank that was about 5x9", made of sturdy cardstock, and bright teal with beautifully dimensional-looking snowflakes on it; so OF COURSE I saved it. Later that month, a second and third mailer arrived and I put those aside too. And here they are, trimmed down and paired with a plaid from Dare 2B Artzy's Snow Much Fun collection. I added strips of foil washi tape; the last two sentiment stickers in an ancient pack; plus some red metallic poinsettias and TA-DA!"

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JB2508: Peace on EARTH DAY will run until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 23rd. Link your newly made holiday card(s) featuring at least one re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled element right here: