Banner Holiday

Can you believe we've reached the final Jingle Belles prompt of the 2025 season? This year just RACED past at lightning speed! For the last few years, we've ended with a challenge inspired by the Jingle Belles Blog Banner, which this year looked a bit like this:

You can choose as many aspects of the banner as you like: maybe you can't get enough of the color palette; maybe the sparkly white letters and jeweled snowflakes rock your crafty boat; perhaps it's the watercolor vibe or the frosty trees that you love? Any or all of those are great choices; just be sure to let us know what aspect(s) inspired you if it isn't obvious.

Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I combined two setts of adhesive letters with a collection of silver glitter snowflakes & silver bling for this flat mailable holiday card.  It's also perfect for the Teal & Silver Color Hues Challenge."

Lauren's Card

Lauren Says, "Yes, my card is VERY literal; and NOOOOO yours need not be!!! As I was thinking about the header, I realized that I owned real-life versions of nearly every feature, so I just grabbed ALL of them and got to work. I found an ancient Webster's Pages vellum sheet of exactly the right shade; Stampabilities' "Jingle All the Way" die looks pretty fab in white glitter cardstock; Taylored Expressions' Evergreens are each cut twice (once from white and once from scraps of blueish green or greenish blue); and the background is made sparkly with several Want2Scrap Bling Snowflakes. Job done!"

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Link up your own Banner-Inspired designs right here. JB2524: Banner Holiday runs until 6pm (Eastern) on the evening of Wednesday, December 3rd.

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Holiday Leftovers

One of the best things about a big holiday meal is the LEFTOVERS, don't you agree?! But in a cardmaking sense, when we Jingle Belles say "Holiday Leftovers" it means we're creating cards using all those leftover offcuts and scraps of patterned paper, alphabet stickers, little snips of ribbon, extra diecuts that didn't get used when cut... you know, all of those tiny things we save because they're too pretty to throw away? Well this is the fortnight let's drag them all out and see how many we can use on holiday cards! (Be sure to tell us in your post what leftovers you've used.)

Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I've never done a great job of saving leftovers, but this year I designated a container and put all of my bits and bobs in it throughout the year.  I challenged myself to make a card with only pieces from my leftover pile, and I was successful.  I only added the sentiment stickers and an enamel dot in the middle of the snowflake to finish."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "For this card, almost all my leftovers are older Wendy Vecchi items. The poinsettia is from her MAKE ART Doodle Christmas Stamp Set (it was embossed but not colored); the small flowers (from Floral Doodles) were stamped and colored on sticky-back canvas tape, I just needed to cut them out. The square panel of sheet music was attached to a 6" card base that for some reason didn't get used; and the MERRY Chippie had been white-embossed with her Perfectly Plaid Background Stamp, but the embossing wasn't very prominent... (likely why it became a "leftover" instead of an element) ...though I discovered I liked it once it had a coat of Leaf Green Archival Ink. The additional sparkly foliage is newly cut, using the Xmas Add-On from Not Your Ordinary Card Collection. The washi tape is from an older roll that I *thought* I'd be finishing up but no, there's still some... wait for it... leftover!"

Link your Leftover Masterpieces right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, November 19th. ♥

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Dashing through the SNOW

For our next Jingle Belles prompt, we are asking you create projects that celebrate the white fluffy flakes of snow … it might be snowmen, snowflakes or just snowfall, but include some snow on your cards.

Here's how we got SNOW-y this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I love the new Kristina Werner Snowflake Season Border Die that I cut from a paper sample of brushed silver.  I used the bits that were left to cut out some of the smaller snowflake dies in the set and scattered them around my distressed GelliArts print made using Paper Artsy Forget Me Not Chalk Acrylic paint.  I die cut the Kristina Werner Calm & Bright dies from vellum and a slightly darker  purple cardstock, but the busyness of the snowflakes through the vellum didn't work, so I tried a silver glitter background that was too much.  I ended-up layering both backgrounds together, which was just right.  I attached it with foam tape and finished with a scattering of AlteNew Mother of Pearl Gem Sparkles.  The entire piece was attached to a metallic silver card base."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I serendipitously discovered this blue and purple gelprint (made ages ago, using an ancient Darice snowy embossing folder to left some of the paint off the plate) and added torn sheet music, purple Core'dinations cardstock and snowy washi; before layering on ALL the flakes from my Tim Holtz/Sizzix Stacked Snowflakes die in sparkly white plus various blues and purples."

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JB2522: Dashing Through the Snow runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, November 5th. Join us by linking your snow-centric cards right here:

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I'm Dreaming of a PINK Christmas

It's the first week of October and thus it's time for PINK CHRISTMAS at Jingle Belles; the annual event where we ask YOU to make and link up as many predominantly PINK holiday cards as you possibly can, because WE (Stephanie and Lauren) are each going to donate $2 per card to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation! 

So what qualifies as a PINK CHRISTMAS card? It's pretty simple: the cards should be newly made, with a winter holiday theme, and they should 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! Can you link up more than one PINK CHRISTMAS card? Yes, indeed, please do!

Here's what we made this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started by cutting 3/8" strips from my collection of bright pink GelliArts prints and attaching them to a thin piece of white cardstock.  Next I stamped on top of the painted strips with Gina K. Designs Merry Everything and cut out the tree.  I cut two more trees from the strips edging the triangles with pink ink and attached them to a light pink GelliArts print using the October Sketch from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  I finished with a sentiment from the same stamp set and added a silver star on top of the tree."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I've recently remembered how much I love the technique of adding salt to a wet panel of watercolor; it makes a pattern/texture similar to Jack Frost painting our windows in the winter. This panel looked so pretty that I didn't want to cover it up very much; thus I only added some Wendy Vecchi holly leaves (from last year's Christmas Add-On to her Not Your Ordinary Card Collection) cut from two luscious shades of self-adhesive felt paper; plus a few Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads and tiny Pearl Bling. A dark pink mat and a bit of machine stitching complete my A6 card design."

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We'd love for you to join us in celebrating PINK CHRISTMAS and of course it's for a very good cause, so start making and linking those PINK holiday cards today! JB2521: I'm Dreaming of a PINK Christmas runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, October22nd.

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Home for the Holidays

There's just something about being Home for the Holidays … so that's the theme (and feeling) we're celebrating at Jingle Belles with our next prompt. 

That means we're asking you to make a holiday card that includes a House, Housing-like materials (wood-grain paper, a brick embossing folder), or the word Home.

Here's how we "built" our Homes this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I built my house using the Concord & 9th Home for the Holidays Stacks Dies together with a sentiment and banner die from Concord & 9th Festive Blooms using the colors from the current Color Hues Challenge palette of Sage Green and Smokey Blue."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "As a cardmaker who sometimes feels silly saving all my off-cuts of patterned paper and cardstock, this design is a bit of a triumph because, apart from the 5.5" square cardbase, it's made entirely of scraps! I used both dies from Penny Black's Trees and Hills set; both curvy dies from MFT's Stitched Basic Edges 2; and the house, fence, trees and snowflakes from Spellbinders' Winter Label Motifs set. The diecut flag sentiment is also Spellbinders and was in my leftover diecuts box, glued up and ready to roll."

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Link your HOME-made masterpiece(s) right here!

JB2520: Home for the Holidays runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, October 8th.

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Baby it's GOLD Outside

This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're asking you to incorporate some GOLD into your card design. Okay, we'll stretch it a bit and allow silver, bronze, copper, platinum and brass as well ... just make sure we see your metallics!

It can be ink, paint, metallic paper, embellishments, embossing powder ... just make sure it has the Midas touch.

Here's how we got golden this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie say, "I started by die cutting a gold GelliArts print with the Simon Says Stamp Mid-Century Ethereal Plate and attaching it to a metallic teal and gold GelliArts print.  Next I stamped the Circle Tree from Simon Says Festive Trees is black ink on another metallic gold GelliArts print positioning it on a Pinkfresh Studio Nested Oval Double Stitched die cut from brushed metallic gold cardstock and topped with a gold star.  I finished with a Savvy Stamps Happy Holidays Block sentiment."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I also embraced gold this week; it's in a bunch of different elements: the vintage postcard I scanned and re-sized is framed with a gold diecut and matted on part of a gold doily; the strip of music paper and the scalloped piece beneath it are both gold metallic (I have recently re-discovered my collection of ancient border punches!); it's impossible to tell from the photo, but the reindeer sticker has glittery accents, as well."

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One lucky participant will win a brand new Simon Says Stamp Mid-Century Ethereal Plate die that Stephanie used for her card today, so break out those metallics and come join the Jingle Belles fun.

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JB2519: Baby it's GOLD Outside runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, September 24th. Link up your own Metallic Masterpiece(s) right here!   

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Cardstock Christmas

This prompt, we're asking you to step away from the designer paper … yes, put it away … none allowed … not even a scrap … because the next prompt is to create a card using only cardstock. 

You can tear it, ink it, stamp it, spray it, emboss it … but stick to only cardstock for your holiday card design.

Here's our Cardstock Christmas:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I created my card base using white cardstock with an ink smooshing technique using three colors of Distress Oxide Ink (Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint & Mowed Lawn).  I stamped the images and sentiments from Simon Says Stamp CZ Design Clean Line Christmas.  I used a die cut from the set on brushed metallic gold cardstock and finished with some brushed gold embellishments."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "One of my favorite ways to make a fast, easy background is with Wendy Vecchi's Build a Plaid Layering Stencils from Spellbinders and her Ranger Archival Inks. In this case I used Carnation, Goldenrod, Mulberry and Fern Green. As I often do, I built my plaid on a diagonal, and at the end I added some gold pen lines as well as two coordinating (cardstock!) mats, plus some poinsettia and foliage diecuts from the Christmas Add-On set for Wendy's Not Your Ordinary Card Collection. I couldn't resist finishing off with a few white velvet holly leaves and some glittery gold enamel dots."

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link up your own cardstock-centric masterpieces right here! JB2518: Cardstock Christmas runs until 6pm (Eastern) on the evening of Wednesday, September 10th.

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The Spirit of Christmas Past

This fortnight we're celebrating the Spirit of Christmas Past … which means creating a card with a vintage or retro feeling. That could mean incorporating actual vintage elements, using new products that have a vintage style, or using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe – whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive to your endeavors, this fortnight we're sponsored by Lauren's fantastic Etsy Shop Just Enough Stuff, so there's a Deluxe Christmas Ephemera Assortment of vintage holiday goodies (see photo below) for one lucky card member who links-up their vintage-inspired design.

Here are our vintage creations for this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I built my card around the vintage photo image from Tim Holtz Layers & Paper Dolls that I covered with clear Gesso and then colored with Derwent Inktense Pencils.  I layered it with a vintage doily, vintage dictionary page and vintage trading stamps.  I finished with a combination of vintage-like elements from Tim Holtz and sticker sentiments."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "This week I chose to use only commercial products to make my vintage-inspired collage, but the absence of actual OLD stuff didn't slow me down at all! I raided my stash of Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Pocket Cards, matted them on red shimmer paper and arranged them into an interestingly stacked compilation. A trimmed down TH Vignette Box Cover frames up a beautiful Authentique old-fashioned Santa journal card as focal image. I added everything to a background of older Ciao Bella plaid patterned paper, and finally affixed the whole thing onto a brushed gold A7 card." 

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But what about that PRIZE we mentioned??!

One lucky cardmaker will be chosen randomly to receive a Deluxe Christmas Ephemera Assortment like this one, full of vintage holiday goodies from Lauren's Etsy Shop, Just Enough Stuff. All you have to do is link a newly made vintage- or retro-inspired holiday card using the linky tool below!

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JB2517: The Spirit of Christmas Past runs until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, August 27th. 

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'Twas the Sketch Before Christmas

...and all through the blog, we're busy making new holiday cards based on this clever and inspiring layout by our own Jingle Belles Sketch Diva, Stephanie! 

As always, you can interpret the sketch using any colors, stamps, papers or supplies; and you can flip, rotate, stretch or smoosh it; even swap the circle for a different shape... just make sure we can see "the bones" of the sketch in your design!

Here's how we got SKETCH-y this week:

Stephanie's Sketch Card

Stephanie says, "I went searching for a circular tag in my stash to use for my sketch, but instead fell in love with this round-topped penguin gift tag.  I paired him with a coordinating teal scrap of designer paper and some red glitter paper.  I finished with a vintage woodblock Memory Box sentiment ... because clearly he's too cool for yule."

Lauren's Sketch Card

Lauren says, "As you can see, I flipped the sketch upside down (unintentionally) and I shifted things (on purpose) a bit to the righthand side to accommodate my square card format, but otherwise I was quite faithful to Stephanie's beautiful sketch. Unusually for me, ALL of my items not only come from one manufacturer (49 & Market) but from one collection, "Christmas Spectacular" with which I am a bit obsessed. I used parts of three patterned papers and built my focal collage from the "cut outs" sheet that's included in the collection. I did lots of distressing and a bit of machine stitching and called it a day."

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And we've got a fun little prize for one lucky (randomly selected) Sketch participant - the Winter Foliage Stamp Set from Uniko.

Link your Sketch-centric card(s) right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, August 13th. 

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Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe

This fortnight, we're playing Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe, which is kind of like "Beach Blanket Bingo"... but Christmassy... and with a lot more embellishments! We'd love for you to join us; all you have to do is pick a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) and create a lovely new holiday card featuring all three elements in that row. (Please note that you can, of course, use more than one animal, more than one ornament, etc etc.)

There are *lots* of possibilities, so let's get started!

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "My Tic-Tac-Toe is vertically down the right side with Ribbon, Ornaments and a One-Layer Card.  I started with a large Dina Kowal Large Pixel Christmas Tree background image from Impression Obsession that I stamped in green inks on natural ivory cardstock.  I used watercolor markers on the red berries and the brown pinecone.  For the ribbon element, I added tiny gold ribbon bows to two of the ornaments hanging on the tree."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I chose the left-hand column, which gave me: Animal + Diecut + Red, so I went with the sweet bunny (plus a couple of trees) from Pretty Pink Posh's Holiday Pals stamp set; Diecuts in the form of Penny Black's Trees and Hills in the background and MFT's Happy Holidays frame; and three different patterned papers (plus a mat) in Red."

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Link your Tic-Tac-Toe masterpieces right here by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, July 30th.

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Poinsettia Perfection

This fortnight's Poinsettia Perfection prompt is asking you to create a card that features a Poinsettia or other holiday blooms; plants or greenery like Mistletoe or Holly; or even a Pine Branch wreath.

Here are the blooms we're sharing this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "This was the perfect opportunity to break out my never-before-used Hero Arts Color Layering Poinsettia Window Stencils.  I used four colors of Distress Ink - Candied Apple, Fired Brick, Distress Oxide Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness.  I die cut the blooms with the Hero Arts Nesting Rounded Rectangle Infinity Die and finished with a sentiment in the window from Hero Arts Comfort and Joy Messages."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I have a few choices for holiday foliage and flowers, but one of my favorite options is the Christmas Add-On set for Wendy Vecchi's Essential Envelope dies from Spellbinders. I used the triple holly leaf die on two shades of glimmery yellow/gold cardstock to build double-layer poinsettias, which the set's  feathery foliage die complements beautifully. I broke out Wendy's Studio 490 Perfectly Plaid stamp to use as the background (embossed in Ranger's Vintage Pearl powder) and again on a Statements Chippie (in Marigold powder). A sage green mat and some WV Washi Tape complete the design of my 5.5" square card."

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Link your own poinsettia-centric masterpieces right here, by 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, July 16th. Keyword for galleries and socials is JB2514. 

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Festive Frames

This fortnight we'd like to see cards that incorporate at least one frame as part of the design. Here's how we got festively frame-y this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "To make my frame, I used two Nested Ovals Double Stich Dies from Pinkfresh Studio and silver glitter cardstock.  I used this week's Sketch Saturday layout together with a tree from Fancy Pants Cookies for Kringle Ephemera, a vintage Memory Box sentiment and an edge die cut from Tim Holtz Sizzix Vault Edges Thinlets."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "One of my favorite ways to make frames is using a set of nesting shape dies... of which I have an (almost) embarrassing variety! With my Hero Arts Circle Infinity Dies, it was simple to make four different sizes of circle frames (I used the smallest twice); I then used the same circle dies on some very fun Photoplay Holiday Gnomes journal cards. I clustered the framed gnomes, added a sentiment, scattered a few (ancient) coordinating circle brads, and my 5.5" square card was complete."

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Link up your own Framed masterpieces right here! JB2513: Festive Frames runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, July 2nd.

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Fa-La-La-La-La

This fortnight we're celebrating one of our favorite things at Jingle Belles ... Christmas Music. 

We're asking you to create a card that incorporates music, a musical instrument, or a holiday song title or lyrics.

Here's how we're singing for you this week.

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started by scanning some holiday sheet music from my collection and printing it out sized for a card front.  I chose this song because it made me smile when I thought about learning to sing it as a child.  I added a couple of designer papers for layers and curled one edge of the sheet music.  I added two stickers, a stamped sentiment from Flora & Fauna Bottle Brush Snow Globe set, and some adhesive gems."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "Having decided I wanted to use musical patterned paper for this card, I was pretty excited to find a few half-sheets of absolutely ancient Love Elsie holiday papers from American Crafts! It turns out they paired really well with my fave Doodlebug character stickers and a chipboard sentiment I found in the Big Box of Miscellaneous Items!"

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JB2512: Fa-La-La-La-La runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, June 18th. Link your Musical Masterpiece card(s) right here:

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Animal Antics

The next prompt at Jingle Belles is Animal Antics.  

We're asking you to create a holiday card featuring an animal having some Christmas fun (and yes, in the Jingle Belles work, a Yeti would qualify as an animal).

Here are the antics of our animals this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I chose the drumming doggie from Penny Black's 12 Days of Christmas. I stamped him in black and colored him with alcohol ink markers.  I used the Penny Black Shimmering Tune Stick & Shine with gold foil for the background."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "This handsome bear is the star of Sunny Studio's Holiday Hugs Stamp Set and I smile whenever I see him. I added an Eyelet Outlet Polar Bear Cub Brad to his mug of cocoa and used a piece of tree-festooned patterned paper as well as a few diecut mats and some stray stickers to finish off my card design."

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Link your Christmas critter cards right here! 

JB2511: Animal Antics runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, June 4th.

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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.

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