neutral noelle?!

ok, sorry, that's my little joke, and probably i'm the only one who finds it funny, but this week, for the very first time in ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ history, we have a lovely guest star, whose actual given name is *christmassy*!!! and for a punny xmas-card-makin' person such as myself, this is almost overwhelmingly awesome, as you can imagine, lol! that's right, we've got the lovely noelle mcadams in the JB house, and she has proposed a most wonderful and challenging prompt for us, which we're calling "neutral noel"! what does that mean? we're asking you to leave out the COLOR, and create a holiday card which focuses on the NEUTRAL tones, such as: white, cream, ivory, ecru, beige, tan, kraft, brown, sepia, black, charcoal, grey... and yes, even though they are "blingy" we do consider silver, gold, and copper to be neutrals, as well, so use them all you like! one could even... if one were, oh, i don't know... *ME*... use ALL of them, together, in a super-layery combination of lots and lots of neutral tones. a bit like this, actually:

(transparencies: hambly, best creation, creative imaginations; vellum: the paper co; patterned paper: hambly; snowflake cut from ki lace paper; floral: prima; bling: want2scrap; snowflake sticker (inside card): martha stewart; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner... to tack papers + transparencies together, then machine stitching to secure; also 3m foam tape and gluedots to attach floral + snowflake)

ok, i know what you're thinking, you're thinking, "hey lauren! for once your card looks very nearly FLAT! so how can you call it 'super-layery'?!" well-spotted, darlings! this card actually is quite flat, but it has SIX layers!!! however, almost all of them are transparent, or nearly so, which makes it harder to tell. on the plus-side, to me, that makes it all a bit more elegant, because i'd actually prefer people to see one seamless card than six individual layers! here's a shot of the ingredients, which gives you a better idea of what i've done:

gold transparency cardbase... silver transparency snowflakes, white transparency frame, swirly ivory vellum, and dark grey/silver patterned paper. plus the flower, snowflake and bling. oh, and completely unexpectedly, when i had scored and folded the gold transparency layer which is my cardbase, i realized that the REVERSE side of that gold printing is more of a dark copper color, and of course you can SEE IT on the inside of the card. bonus layer!!! here's another shot, of the inside, complete with glamorous hand model! :)

remember, you don't need to use six layers on your own card, nor incorporate ANYTHING transparent, unless you wish to. you don't even have to have "noel" on your card (or "noelle" on your driver's license!!!) to play! just make a card that uses ANY combination of neutral colors, or pick ONE neutral tone and go monochrome! if you need additional inspiration, there's plenty to be had from both noelle and stephanie over at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ plus a bunch more ideas listed for you to try!

ps: i'm linking my card with 52-pick-up over at patrice's blog, won't you join me there?!