gingerbread... in the house!

for years, at christmas time, i've been saying that *someday* i'm going to make a gingerbread house. of course, i don't bake... i don't even cook... so that's slowed me down a bit, lol. but seeing as we're still rockin' the "no patterned paper" assignment over at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ this seemed like an excellent time to whip up a bit of a cardstock confection:

colored cardstock: core'dinations; glossy white cardstock: paper accents; flower sequins and brads: queen and co; heart button: doodlebug; snowflake embossing folder: spellbinders (used as a stamp with ranger tumbled glass distress ink); tree die: sizzix; clear glitter: michaels; adhesives: elmers brand glue tape, 3m foam tape, quickie glue pen, sewing machine

ok, i know what you're thinking, you're thinking, "hey lauren, you cheated! there's totally a snowflake patterned paper in your background!" but NO, that wasn't a pre-made paper, i stamped that! well... sorta... i loaded up a really cool metal embossing plate with pale blue distress ink and applied it to some glossy white cardstock, so it would look like the house was standing in a snowy landscape.

i was hoping to use a cool digi-kit or template for my design, but i couldn't find anything i really loved, so me being me, i wound up winging it. of course the most fun was decorating the house once i had the doors and windows and things in place. instead of candy and icing i used colorful cardstock, sequins, buttons, brads, glitter and lots of machine stitching.

of course, you don't have to construct a whole scene from the ground up using only cardstock. just think up a fabulous holiday card design that features NO patterned paper and link it up with us at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥!