i have a bizarre form of crafty amnesia

because whereas i always remember how much i love making and sending clear cards, somehow i never recall how hard they are to photograph and edit; until, that is, it's time to photograph and edit them. then it all comes back quite quickly lol. so please accept my apologies as to the quality of the pics in this post, and please believe that my card for the second week of our ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ challenge, "it came upon a midnight clear" is easily 30% nicer than it looks here. maybe even 35%!

snowflake transparency: hambly; xmas tree diecut from a collage of torn and layered vintage paper using sizzix' christmas tree #2; patterned paper: blue fern studio; deco tape: october afternoon; acrylic snowflake: heidi swapp; gem snowflake: want2scrap; brad: my mind's eye; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape

sad to say i am down to my last few pieces of holiday hambly, despite stephanie's magnificent job of scouring the midwest for leftovers and my own valiant efforts at hoarding. so i do feel a certain responsibility in terms of making especially nice cards with them, and i'm pretty pleased with this one, as a matter of fact.

there are a few questions i get every time i post a card that's built on a transparent base, so i'll just save time and answer them straight off: "how do you write inside this card?" i glue a little panel of patterned paper inside. in this case it was easy, because i've glued a little panel of patterned paper outside, as well which hides it perfectly; but even when i've done a looser collage of elements on the front, it's always possible to place a small square or label shape in a way that coordinates with the design, as long as you work that into the original plan of the card.

here's another question, "doesn't the adhesive show?" yes. it does, a tiny bit, as you can see here:

there are a couple of ways to avoid this: one is to glue ANOTHER panel, the same size as this one, to the outside back of the card. another is to use the special adhesives made for vellum... which actually might still show a tiny bit, but less than regular old tape runner which is what i've used. the third method is to apply the adhesive neatly around the edges, then don't worry about it. this latter course is almost always the one i choose, and you can see i've done so here. life's too short, imo! hopefully the front of the card is sufficiently attractive to make folks not really dwell on the back of it. on the other hand, it seems like the people of the world who are actively looking to find fault really enjoy succeeding... so this can be an extra element of my holiday gift to them. :)

stephanie has also made a brand new card to inspire you, and it's waiting to do so at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥. won't you hop over and enjoy that right now? you'll be glad you did!