happy and hybrid... with BELLES on!

...over at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ again this week, because we've got a fab kit called "jingle all the way" to work with, courtesy of our lovely sponsor, deedee's digis! jealous? no need to be, since deedee's digis is offering this kit absolutely free for the length of the challenge! how cool... and generous... is that?! head on over to the "try before you buy" section of the shop and grab that fun kit, and be sure to say a big jingly THANK YOU, ok? then hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and link up a hybrid holiday card (using ANY digital element, whether it's from deedee's or not) for a chance to win a $15.00 shopping spree in the deedee's digis shop!

want to see what i made this week? i hope so, because it's what i'm planning to show you right now!

digital bell paper and "jingly" sentiment from the "jingle all the way" kit at deedee's digis; printed on a 3m inkjet transparency, enhanced with machine stitching and framed with ranger black glossy cardstock and paper company textured red cardstock. florals: prima, making memories, k and co; jingle bell brad: oriental trading co; scallop scissors: michaels; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, sewing machine 

one of my little tricks for making my favorite digital elements look brand new is to print them on an interesting surface. you'd be surprised how different the same paper or stamp can look when printed on smooth cardstock, glossy photo paper, clear labels, sticky-back canvas, etc; the variety is AMAZING! in this case i've used one of my all time faves: an inkjet transparency. i've talked about these before, so i won't go into detail here, but the reason i love doing this is that the layering possibilities are absolutely endless. also... they are pretty much the best (and easiest!) way to make a shaker card, imo!

the other great thing about digis generally, and deedee's digis in particular, is that she gives you at least *two* versions of every image: a plain background for coloring and a transparent background, so you can easily place... say... a fabulous sentiment right on top of a pretty paper and print the whole thing as one layer. niiiiiiiice! :) being a texture junkie, i couldn't resist machine stitching over the beautiful script of the word "jingly" to make it stand out even more, and popping on a few flowers held with a jingle bell brad before backing the edges with foam tape to hold the tiny heart confetti inside the shaker part of the card.

i told you earlier this week that i was going to take another shot at crooked stamper sketch challenge #4, so i think you've probably guessed by now that this is it... what with the dramatic sentiment over a fab background... but let's see leslie's terrific sketch again, shall we?

want to see another cool idea for using the "jingle all the way" kit? hop on over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ to see stephanie's gorgeous card; then start planning what *YOU* want to make! ♥