Fa-La-La-La-La!

This week we're celebrating one of our favorite things at jingle belles ... Christmas Music.  We're asking you to create a card (or gift card holder, or whatever else you'll be needing for the holidays) that incorporates music, that is inspired by a holiday song, or that includes a holiday song title.

Here are our musically inspired designs:

Fa-La-La-La-Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "i built my entire card around a 3x4" sheet music embellishment from october afternoon's holiday style miscellany collection; i loved the soft colors, the charming retro-style and even the magical feeling of christmas snow... so i tried to expand on all of these in my design. i used the may 21st layout sketch at sketch support to guide the placement of my elements, and i'm quite pleased with the result!" 

Fa-La-La-La-Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I started by scanning some vintage sheet music I had in my collection and re-sizing it for my card front.  Next I stamped Hero Arts Merriest Christmas Wishes in Blue Iris on the music-printed cardstock.  I intended to use the image stamped directly on the music, but managed to flub my attempt at a hand-drawn frame, so I cut out the stamped image and placed it on top of a second piece of the printed music (I always print enough to cover a piece of cardstock) using a blue cardstock frame to cover the flub.  I added red colored pencil to my cardinal for a little pop."

If you're stumped, here's a list of Christmas Songs to get your creative juices flowing or put in some holiday CDs and start singing (or humming or whistling) those holiday tunes and link-up your creations by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, June 13th using keyword JB12-12 for our flickr (and other) galleries.

so very *GIFTED*!

yes, that's definitely the way to describe our lovely belles when it comes to creating gift card holders, or indeed anything else! here are a few we found particularly impressive:

 lisa j. of snowy moose creations

made this clever "pop up" holder that is indeed both merry and bright, inside and out!

paula (aka pajalu) of scrappy me

used die cut label shapes to create a flap which cleverly hides her gift card on the outside of a mail-friendly flat card!

linda of snail's space

designed a gorgeous traditional card... with an equally pretty, perfectly coordinated pocket inside! 

and now for the winner of those gorgeous hand-carved stamps from miss gina's tyggereye etsy shop, we've personally consulted mr. random, of random.org, who has decided that lucky #10 is our winner which means we'd love to hear from:

♥EVELINE♥

please email your address to us at jinglebellesrock @ hotmail {dot} com so miss gina can get those on their way to you!

speaking of our lovely guest star, please join us in one more round of applause for the amazing gina cunningham, who has been a pleasure to have along for this fortnight. do check out her blog and etsy shop for more fabulous eye candy!

then do stop back at midnight when we'll begin a brand new prompt that we hope will have you singing along! ;)

the gift(cards) that keep on giving

we had soooooo much fun making gift card holders last week, we're back with a bit more inspiration for you:

Stephanie's Other Gift Card Holder

Stephanie says, "I loved this little Beanie Hat gift card holder from SCS.

Basic Grey papers are so perfect ... and I omitted the bow

for more mailability."

Lauren's Other Gift Card Holder

Lauren says, "the assorted pillow box set from the cutting cafe is my go-to for this type of thing, i love that it comes in PDF format so that those of us without electronic cutters can still get our old school goodness on! :) speaking of "old school" i went a little bit nutso with some exceptionally elderly white swirly rub-ons, not to mention a bit of bling, and a snowflake-flower embellishment unlike anything found in nature... except maybe... in mrs. claus' garden at the north pole??!"

remember, you needn't make anything fancy or three-dimensional for this prompt! you can add a slot, pocket or little envelope to a regular holiday card; you can even alter or decorate a store-bought gift card wallet, cardboard holder, or tin! scroll down to last week's post to see the clever ideas your fellow belles have had, and link up your own creation! ♥  

on the first day of christmas ...

my true love gave to me ... a gift card in a gift card holder!

that's right dear belles, we're changing it up just a teeny bit this time, because, as our lovely guest star ♥GINA CUNNINGHAM♥ pointed out to us, at least *some* of our lovely holiday cards each year also need to hold a gift ...in the form of one of the many fun and practical gift cards we all love to bestow, so she suggested we get started early and make at least one of them right now... an idea we heartily support!

you may recognize gina's name and uniquely fabulous card-making style from the many prompts she's played along with (and one she helped us host!) here at JINGLE BELLES in the last two years; if you've not yet checked out her blog, tyggereye art, you definitely have a big treat in store! in addition to being one of our favorite crafters who works in a variety of media (including paper and digital scrapping, art journaling, sewing, painting, stamp-carving, and more!) gina is mom to two adorable dudes, and supervises a menagerie which at any given time might include rescue pugs, huskies, lizards, rats, fish ...and a very easy-going husband, lol! :) be sure to check out her gorgeous hand carved stamps and digi-kits in her tyggereye etsy shop!

Gina's Gift Card Holder

Gina says, "I made the card with mostly scraps of Cosmo Cricket papers. I took a very old Stamping up set I had with a large cup of coffee, stamped it on some shrink plastic and colored it in with copics. Then I shrunk the coffee cup stamp image to use on the card. I added the green Starbucks card in a pocket on the front of the card with the half circle punched out of the paper so that you can see the gift card better. Lots of sewing happened on this card and some added pieces from Cosmo cricket like the ticket and snowflake. The base is Bazzill cardstock. I usually make gift card holders for teacher gifts and this is perfect for that; I can't wait to be able to give this out at Christmas-- One less card to make for the holiday season!"

The Outside of Lauren's Gift Card Holder

...and...

The Inside of Lauren's Gift Card Holder

Lauren says, "i've done lots of little wallets and pocket cards, but one i come back to time after time is this little folder that i found on amy tsuruta's blog a few years ago. not only does it always look fab, thanks to amy's wonderfully clear tutorial, it's super-easy to make and can be changed up in size, shape and style to accomodate absolutely ANY design! this time, i adhered basic grey and fancy pants papers back to back before scoring, folding and stitching my pocket... (you could use adhesive or washi tape if you don't sew!) ...so all that remained was the good part-- embellishments! i've used a fabulous revival of a sketchy thursdays sketch from platinum scraps and the palette of the EAD designs may color challenge in my design." 

Stephanie's Gift Card Holder

Stephanie says, "I saw these fun little owls, and knew that one would make a perfect gift card holder.  My pillow box template was larger than the one in the post, so I had to make some revisions to the punch sizes (details on my blog).  It will be fun and sparkly for the holidays."

speaking of owls... and AWESOMENESS... miss gina did not come along empty handed! she's offering two of her gorgeous hand-carved stamps, a happy little reindeer and an adorable owl, as a prize to one lucky (randomly chosen) belle who links up with us this week!

just in case you need some EXTRA inspiration--or engineering help--here are some gorgeous gift card holders from the two peas' garden girls; the google image search results for gift card holder template; and a similar search of pinterest to get you going! make them as plain or as fancy as you like, but don't forget to link them up here by 6pm (EST) on wednesday, may 30th! keyword for galleries and our flickr group is JB12-11.

Everything's Embossible

Another fabulous week here on the ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ blog ... thanks for embossing around the Christmas tree with us.

Here are a few cards that really caught our eye:

Shelley Germann

combined elegant background embossing 

with a distressing & a fantastic watercolor technique

that made her paper flowers look like fabric.

Lorraine A

turned embossed chevron stripes into snowy slopes ...
a touch of glittery stickles were the perfect finishing touch.

Vickie ODell

combined multiple embossed textures (and a bit of glittery sparkle) 
for this regal holiday design.

If you've not done so yet we strongly encourage you to scroll down to the thumbnails and spend a bit of time seeing your fellow ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ in action! then come on back at midnight to see our next jingle belles prompt (and a talented lovely guest star)!

Dream the Embossible Dream

We love that embossing offers so many creative opportunities ... because there's nothing more fun than playing with paper & ink.

Here is our second round of embossed designs:

 Stef's other card

Stef says, "One of things I like best about making holiday cards all year long is the chance to play and experiment ... because if something doesn't work, there's no pressure ... I just try again.  One of my co-workers reminded me this week that often there must be failure before you can truly recognize success.The background for this card involved lots of inky play (you can see it before I covered it up here).  I stamped the Hero Arts Florentine Pattern background in Versamark on top of red holly designer paper & clear embossed.  Next I sprayed with copper glimmer mist, but after drying, I didn't get the contrast I was hoping for, so I inked and inked (wiping with baby wipes in between) until the non-embossed flourishes showed-up against the background design.  

Next I thought ... I wonder if I could pressure emboss glitter paper?... turns out the answer is a resounding *YES* with a very cool effect.  I also learned that EAD Rub-on sentiments will adhere to ink embossed surfaces (another creative win).

The sketch is from 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown."

Lauren's other card

Lauren says, "having gone wild with powders, potions and inks last week, this time i'm re-ensconced in my 'comfort zone' with layers and layers (and LAYERS) of pretty paper! i grabbed this week's awesome card patterns sketch, a couple of cuttlebug embossing folders, and *seven* different  patterns, and went to town in a more traditional--but still hopefully fun and vibrant--way. my favorite bit is the pressure embossed vines on the oval panel which i highlighted with some shimmery chalks and then outlined with a super-fine-tipped pen to give it a little more weight."

We hope you're having fun embossing with us.  Remember, you have until Wednesday, May 16th at 5:00 pm EST to link-up your creations ... use keyword JB12-10 if you upload to galleries (including our Flickr Gallery).

Embossing Around the Christmas Tree

This week we're celebrating embossing ... dry embossing, heat embossing, or even textured or embossed papers ... whatever you can do to add a little texture to your holiday project.

Here's what we created this week:

Lauren's Card
Lauren says, "yep, believe it or not, this inky, stamped card *IS* actually MINE... and no one's more surprised than i am! :) but i was inspired AND educated by this card and video of jennifer mcguire's to try out the "emboss/resist" technique and found it surprisingly easy and fun! i've also pressure-embossed my acrylic letters and snowflakes with a cuttlebug folder, to add a subtle-- but rather lovely-- extra bit of texture."

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "My card features both heat embossing (which I do with almost every sentiment I stamp ... I always use Transcendence Clear Embossing Powder, which works with all kinds of inks & lasts forever) and dry embossing.  I found some cool silver metallic shelf liner at the hardware store, so I had to give it a try.  I removed the adhesive & attached it to white cardstock before running it through my Cuttlebug ... and voila ... shiny metallic texture.  
I also embossed the edge of my die cut frames.  

The layout is this week's CPS Sketch."

So dig out those neglected embossing powders ... or your favorite cuttlebug folder ... or even some dry embossing templates and let us see how you can add embossed texture to your holiday cards.

You have until Wednesday, May 16th at 5:00 pm EST to link-up your creations ... use keyword JB10-12 if you upload to galleries (including our Flickr Gallery).