Jingle Belles - Wrap it Up

 

It's the most wonderful time of the year!! Time to get a head start on 2024 holiday and Christmas cards!!!

The lovely ladies of Jingle Belles are encouraging us to use some wrapping paper or tags on a project.

We  (I) make our own gift labels every year, cuz let's face it, I have a LOT of Christmas paper.

Here's a label that was on one of my gifts this year (actually a recycled tag from last year!!)

And here are the two cards I made using that same paper (and Sharpie) featuring a few dancing characters sent to me by my awesome crafty pal Deena. She is so awesome she even put them together for me. I love the little dancing / swinging legs, but I loathe all the tiny pieces!!!

Entering these cards for JINGLE BELLES - WRAP IT UP

As my lovely crafty pal Jo pointed our, there is a wee bit of gold in each card, the star on the tree and the belt buckle on Santa, I am also entering these into the CHRISTMAS KICKSTART CHALLENGE #82 - THE MIDAS TOUCH

JINGLE BELLES - NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING

 

Had a little crafty time over the weekend, finally cracked into a card kit I bought last year and some of the cards, with a mix of dogs, a cat and a reindeer are a great fit for the current challenge at Jingle Belles...NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING

Here are 4 of the 8 cards I made (the other 4 didn't have any creatures) using the super cute Mix & A-Mingle card kit from Simple Stories.

I love love love the colour combo in these cards (kinda looks like the Jingle Belles photo above!)

Jingle Belles - What Did Santa Bring You

Greetings and salutations crafty friends!

The first challenge of 2023 with our friends at Jingle Belles is What Did Santa Bring You.

I hit the Christmas crafty jackpot this year! Santa brought me some card kits and paper collections, and a shiny new paper trimmer.

So far I have made four cards with the Simple Stories "Baking Spirits Bright" card kit.

Seriously, these are so cute, I am not sure I can bring myself to give them away...nonetheless...I am on my way to creating my 2023 Christmas cards and it's only January 9th!

Here are two of the four cards I made so far:

Quick and easy cards, you pop all the pieces out, adhere them all together and voila...super cute little ginger people cards!

Jingle Belles - Bling It On

Greetings and salutations crafty friends.

I am trying to make the most of my Christmas in July mojo while it lasts.

I was inspired by the Bling it On challenge at Jingle Belles (who by the way celebrate Christmas ALL YEAR LONG!!).

I got a super fab die from my crafty and lovely pal Deena and thought this would be the prefect challenge to break it in with some shiny metallic papers (which are a bit of a pain in the buttocks to photograph).

I also used black and white shimmer cardstock to up the bling factor - you can't tell in the picture, but I promise it's there :)

Shite I used to make these cards:

• Black and White shimmer cardstock (Rcollections)
• Metallic papers (gold, red and green) (Recollections)
• Peace on Earth die (Elizabeth Craft Designs)

Challenges entered:

Bling It On - Jingle Belles

Christmas in July - Double Trouble

Crafting for Fun!!! With Jingle Belles

 

Greetings crafty friends!

Look at me! Crafting just for fun!!! When is the last time THAT happened?

I have the lovely ladies at Jingle Belles to thank for the inspiration...and ya I like making Christmas cards ALL year long!

Their current challenge is Stars or Stipes Forever in honour of Independence Day.

I got both - stars AND stripes (yay me!)...I used the super cute Fa La La collection from Bella Blvd and added a few glittery foam stars from my stash.

Shite I used to make this card:

• White cardstock base (Recollections)
• Fa La La design paper and ephemera (Bella Blvd)
• Foam stars (Michaels)
• Foam tape (Dollar Tree)

Keeping It Neutral with Jingle Belles

I am on a Christmas card making roll this week!

I may have mentioned before that I REALLY like making Christmas cards.

Not so much for my crafty pal MICHELLE who was lovely enough to gift me a bag of Christmas themed stuff (yay!).

When I saw that the new challenge at JINGLE BELLES is Neutral Noel, I knew that some of the papers and embellishments would be perfect!

Here are the two (mostly) neutral cards I made:

Shite I used to make this card:

• Kraft cardstock (Recollections)
• Lost and Found Christmas design paper (My Mind's Eye)
• Lost and Found Christmas brads (My Mind's Eye)
• Lost and Found Christmas accessory sheet (My Mind's Eye)
• Foam tape (Dollar Tree)

Then I made this card, it was in the bag of Christmas stuff, but I have no idea where it came from or who made it (lemme know if you recognize it!).

As noted at the beginning of this post, I made these cards for the JINGLE BELLES Neutral Noel challenge.

Jingle Belles - Merry Sketch-mas

Greetings and salutation crafty pals!

I actually found a wee bit of mojo today and made a card for something other than one of my two design teams!! YAY me!!

One of the advantages of working remotely over the past year (other than not having to get dressed or drive to my office) is that my work space is also my craft room - what better way to spend a lunch hour than getting crafty (or at least picking challenges to work on later).

Stephanie designed this fab sketch for the Jingle Belles Merry Sketch-mas challenge:

And here is what I made based on the sketch:

I did make another card first, but I totally missed the circle part of the sketch...soooooooo....I'll use that for something else...LOL

Shite I used to make this card:

• White cardstock (Recollections)
• Fa La La design paper and ephemera (Bella Blvd)
• 2.5" circle punch (SU)

Now that I have a card with a circle that more closely matches the sketch, I will enter this into the Jingle Belles Merry Sketch-mas challenge!

Jingle Belles - Not A Creature Was Stirring

Greetings and salutations crafty friends!

Hope all is well and safe your corner of the world!

Coming at you today with a card for the Not A Creature Was Stirring challenge at JINGLE BELLES.

Motivation is setting in to get rollin' on those holiday / Christmas cards.

Here's one I made using the Holly Jolly collection from Simple Stories.

I love the "decked out" deer - hence the selection of sentiment...and the colours in this collection are not necessarily traditional Christmas colours - which I love!!

Shite I used to make this card:

• White cardstock (Recollections)
• Holly Jolly Christmas Joy / 3x4 Journal cards (Simple Stories)
• Holly Jolly Cozy Christmas design paper (Simple Stories)
• Holly Jolly Dark Red design paper (Simple Stories)
• Holly Jolly Combo Cardstock Stickers (Simple Stories)
• Holly Jolly Enamel Dots (Simple Stickers)

Want to join in on the Jingle Belles fun?

Click on the link to the Not A Creature Was Stirring challenge.

Jingle Belles - Dashing Through the Snow

In an ongoing effort to use up some of my crafting stash, I made three cards for the DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW challenge at Jingle Belles.

I used a card kit from December 2014 featuring the "Jingle All The Way" collection by Echo Park.

There are lots of snowdudes in the background paper, several snow mentions on the sentiment piece on the one card and a bigger snowdude on the card with the red cardstock.

Shite I used to make these cards:

• White cardstock (Recollections)
• Red and black cardstock (Hollo's Papercraft)
• Jingle All The Way design paper (Echo Park)
• Bling (Michael's)
• Foam tape (Dollar Tree)

Jingle Belles - Have Yourself a Very Vintage Christmas

Greetings and salutations crafty friends!

Hope you are safe and well in your socially isolated corner of the world!

I am so very grateful to be #safeathome and I am very lucky to have lots of crafty supplies and challenges to keep me busy - when I'm not working of course!!

Today was a not working day, so I thought I would play along with the Have Yourself a Very Vintage Christmas challenge with the super festive gals at Jingle Belles.

I have had this Kringle & Co paper and embellishments in my stash for good few years at least and I think it has a very vintagey feel to it.

The big Christmas tree die cut reminded me of the HUGE trees we had at home growing up (that my dad to this day hangs from the ceiling every year!!).

Never too early to get a start on your Christmas cards right??

Shite I used to make this card:

• White cardstock (Recollections)
• Kringle & Co design paper (American Crafts)
• Kringle & Co "Bits" die cut cardstock shapes (American Crafts)
• Small Talk Occasions sentiment Sticker (Tim Holtz)

As mentioned above this card was created for the Have Yourself a Very Vintage Christmas challenge at Jingle Belles.

Take good care, stay safe & be well friends! 💓

It's Starting To Look A Lot Like....

I have been having perhaps a bit too much fun and getting a bit too far into the Christmas spirit this week.

BUT - I have been having soooooo much fun digging into my stash to make these uber cute Christmas cards for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge with Jingle Belles!

Not to mention I am getting a good head start on my Christmas cards!

Here are two more I made for the challenge using a kit that I think dates back at least to 2014.

(we can pretend these are two turtle doves right??)

Shite I used to make these cards:

• White cardstock (Paper Studio)
• Cheerfully Christmas ICONS and DOUBLE TAKES cardstock stickers (Doodlebug Designs Inc.)
• Christmas TAGS and TABS cardstock stickers (Doodlebug Designs Inc.)
• Santa's Workshop FANCY FRILLS cardstock stickers (Doodlebug Designs Inc.)
• Santa's Workshop design paper (Doodlebug Designs Inc.)
• Happy Holidays Boutique Buttons (Doodlebug Designs Inc.)
• Random green enamel dot I found in a drawer and stuck on because the label wouldn't stay stuck
• Small Talk Occasions stickers (Tim Holtz)

As mentioned, I would like to enter these cards into the 12 Days of Christmas challenge with Jingle Belles.

Christmas Kickstart Challenge - Get a Head-er Start

Two Christmas card posts in one day....I am on a roll!!

I made this card for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge blog, which is hosted by my lovely Snarky Sister Jo.

Their new challenge is "Get a Head-er Start" which means they want to see a project inspired by their header photo which looks like this:

Super cute right??!!??

Here's what I made using that as my inspiration:

It also works for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge at Jingle Belles...so it's a twofer!

Shite I used to make this card:

• White cardstock (Hollos)
• Cheerfully Christmas ICONS and DOUBLE TAKES cardstock stickers (Doodlebug Designs Inc.)
• Christmas TAGS and TABS cardstock stickers (Doodlebug Designs Inc.)
• Santa's Workshop FANCY FRILLS cardstock stickers (Doodlebug Designs Inc.)
• Santa's Workshop design paper (Doodlebug Designs Inc.)
• Happy Holidays Boutique Buttons (Doodlebug Designs Inc.)

As noted above, I would like to enter this card for the Get a Head-er Start challenge at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge blog.

I would also like to enter it for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge at Jingle Belles.

Jingle Belles - 12 Days of Christmas

It's the first day of September...you know what that means!!

Time to get crack a lackin on CHRISTMAS cards...he he he

Mostly I made this card to play along with the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge with the Jingle Belles

I dug back into my stash for a 2014 kit that featured the "Jingle All The Way" collection from Echo Park.

Shite I used to make this card:

• White cardstock (Hollos)
• Jingle All The Way design paper (Echo Park)
• Jingle All The Way element stickers (Echo Park)
• Doily piece

As noted above, I would like to enter this card into the 12 Days of Christmas challenge with Jingle Belles.

Now....off to make more Christmas cards!!!! Muahhhhhhhhh ha ha ha ha!!!!!

Jingle Belles - Embossing Around the Christmas Tree

ACK!!!

There is just over 2 months to go until Christmas and I am sooooooooooooooo far behind in my holiday card making!!

Sometimes there is a benefit to the ever so fun combo of insomnia and anxiety, at 5:30 this morning I got up and started making Christmas cards!

I had an idea in mind of what I wanted to try (yet to be used Christmas die and a certain embossing folder) and as luck would have it, the current challenge at JINGLE BELLES is Embossing Around the Christmas Tree

I started with this one

And liked it so much, I made two more!

That last one, the cardstock is a really nice bright teal colour, I am bummed it looks kind of wishy washy in the photo.

Shite I used to make these cards:

• White cardstock (Fireworx)
• Cherry Cobbler & Early Espresso cardstock (SU)
• Teal cardstock (Recollections)
• Woodland Textured Impressions embossing folder (SU)
• Merry Christmas / Deer die (manufacturer unknown)

I'd like to enter these cards into the Embossing Around the Christmas Tree challenge at JINGLE BELLES

Jingle Belles - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

People!!! It's August!!!! Time to kick your Christmas card making into high gear!!!! 

I've made about 75 Christmas cards so far and I am planning on making a whack more for a Christmas bazaar I will be attending to support my son's Army Cadet Corps #canadasfinest #armycadets #1626

Jingle Belles challenges are perfect for inspiring Christmas card making when it's 35 degrees celsius outside.

This time around, the challenge is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and cards need to predominantly feature the colour red...reindeer is optional.

Here's one I made for the challenge (OK really I made like 30 of them, but they are all the same sooooooooo...

Shite I used to make this card:

• White cardstock (Fireworx)
• Sugar Plums Paper Pack (Recollections)
• Tag (Recollections)
• Bling (Dollarama)

Then I made this card as well...ok maybe only 6 of these ones. While they are not predominantly red...there is a LOT of red in there, if you squint and let your eyes go out of focus...all those little dots on the background paper are red like the bigger dot in the centre of the snowflake.

Shite I used to make this card:

• White cardstock (Fireworx)
• Sugar Plums Paper Pack (Recollections)

Until next time...

Shopping Our Stash #234 - Something New

Hello again crafty friends! Thanks for coming back to check out the new SHOPPING OUR STASH challenge.

This week the crew want to see something new on your project. 

Did you get some craft supplies over the holidays? Have something new in your stash that you've never used? Have you been just itching to try something new in your crafting?? Well friend, here is the perfect chance to show us what you've got!

To fully embrace the challenge (you know, I don't like to half ass challenges, always use your full ass in everything you do!!) I used new supplies AND tried something new.

My new supplies are from a card kit featuring the "Hello Winter" collection by Echo Park.

My new thing I tried was using distress paints and stains on chipboard.

I used new things and stash things on my card, so I am also going to link up to the JINGLE BELLES "Something Old and Something New" challenge...just under the wire, the challenge closes tomorrow!!

New shite I used to make this card:

• Hello Winter "Winter Snowfall" design paper (Echo Park)
• Hello Winter die cuts (Echo Park)
• Washi tape (Echo Park)
• Chipboard snowflakes

Old shite I used to make this card:

• Broken China distress paint (Tim Holtz)
• Brushed Pewter distress stain (Tim Holtz)
• White cardstock (Fireworx)
• Bling (Dollarama)

The SHOPPING OUR STASH crew would love for you to play along with us. Check out all the details for the challenge on the SHOPPING OUR STASH BLOG and while you are there please show the rest of the crew some crafty lovin'.

Until next time...

Shopping Our Stash #225 - Go Paperless

Greetings and happy Tuesday crafty friends! Thanks for coming back for a new challenge with the SHOPPING OUR STASH crew.

This week we want you to Go Paperless...no design paper on your projects this week.

Here's what I made for the challenge:

Shite I used to make this card:

• White and pink cardstock (Recollections)
• Sleigh Ride edgelits dies (SU)
• Jingle All The Way stamp set (SU)
• Tuxedo Black ink (Memento)
• Stampin Chalk Marker (SU)

I tried to do the snowy background with the snow stamp that comes in the Jingle All The Way stamp set, but it kept smudging, so after 3 or 4 attempts I gave up and used the chalk marker...much easier.

I will also admit I made this card as a two-fer to upload for the JINGLE BELLES Pink Christmas challenge but as usual I am a dollar short and a day late and that challenge ended...sigh...

All is not lost, it kinda fits their current Do You Sketch What I Sketch challenge so I am going to link it up anyway :)

Be sure to visit the SHOPPING OUR STASH BLOG for all the details on the challenge and while you are there please show some crafty love to the rest of the crew! We'd love for you to play along with us!!

Week Two - Jingle Belles / Shopping Our Stash BONUS CHALLENGE

Just a quick reminder that the "Christmas in September" bonus challenge is still on at JINGLE BELLES and SHOPPING OUR STASH. 

You can visit either blog for all the details on the challenge.

We'd love for you to play along with us, remember, you need to use something on your project that is at least a year old.

Here's the second card I made for the challenge:

Don't forget to visit the blogs of the design teams and show them some crafty Christmas lovin!

Shite I used to make this card:

• White cardstock (Fireworx)
• December Documented design paper (Simple Stories)
• Frayed Burlap distress ink (Tim Holtz)
• Mini ink blender tool (Tim Holtz)
• Cappuccino twine (The Twinery)
• Chipboard stockings and sentiment (no idea who made these, I bought them at a yard sale)

Jingle Belles / Shopping Our Stash BONUS CHALLENGE

I don't know about you but I LOVE making Christmas cards when it's still 30 degrees Celsius out! 

This week the  SHOPPING OUR STASH crew is celebrating "Christmas in September" with the gals from JINGLE BELLES! 

To play along you must use something from your stash that is at least a year old on your project. For me that was easy, the design papers I used are from a 2013 card kit...hooooray for using stash stuff!!

You can check out the SHOPPING OUR STASH BLOG or the JINGLE BELLES BLOG for all the details on the challenge and be sure to visit both design teams to show them some crafty lovin!!

Remember, it's never too early to get a jump start on all those cards you are going to need in December!

In an effort to use different designs I started with this sketch that I found HERE

Here's what I made for the challenge:

Shite I used to make this card:

• White cardstock (Fireworx)
• December Documented design paper (Simple Stories)
• Chipboard flower and sentiment (bought at a yard sale at least a year ago)