you're not the (EM) boss of me!

because this fortnight ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ is the (em)boss of me: we've been making cards that incorporate either heat- or pressure-embossed textures and i have to say that our fellow belles--who absolutely ALWAYS rise to every challenge we think up--seem to be especially inspiring at the moment, so why not hop over to the gallery and check it out?!

but first, here's my second card, for which i've used a couple of different cuttlebug embossing folders, one of which (the floral one, in addition to the oval nestie mat!) came from miss leslie's awesome blogiversary candy which i was lucky duck enough to win a couple of weeks ago!

 (patterned paper: cosmo cricket, basic grey, 7 gypsies, echo park, sassafras, pink paislee; kraft cardstock: hobby lobby; cardstock pointsettia sticker: basic grey; fabric poinsettias: prima; sentiment rub-ons: tps studio; scallopy trim: crate paper; pearls: kaiserkraft; oval and fancy dies: nestabilities; embossing folders: cuttlebug; edge punches: ek success and fiskars; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine)

speaking of luck and winning and being super-excited, i was thrilled to have my mother's day tulips card in the super six over at card patterns last week, an honor for which i thank those inspiring ladies most heartily! so of course i couldn't wait to have a go at their latest sketch (#164). i went with landscape instead of portrait, ovals instead of circles, and pointed my little sentiment pennant the wrong way, but other than that was completely faithful:

as far as the "embossing" part goes, irl this thing has texture galore, but since you can only see it via my typically mediocre photos* i thought a closeup might help you to see that i used the floral plate on the top oval mat, then highlighted the effect with a little bit of shimmery chalk and a verrrrrry thin (.01 i think) copic outliner; the polka dotty kraft colored band has also been embossed--with dots--and chalked:

and now i cannot wait to see what YOU will do, so head over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and link up some embossed goodness!

*of course, as always, darlings, you're all invited to pop by at any time and see it in person! just let me know, i'll have a fresh pot of coffee ready and everything! ♥♥♥