getting in shape!

don't worry, there's no dieting or exercise required this fortnight at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we're just making holiday cards that aren't rectangular or square. I went with a fancy bauble shape. see?

patterned paper, florals and chipboard: prima marketing; creamy cardstock for card base: bazzill; gold kraftcore metallic cardstock: idea-ology... embossed with a maggie holmes e/f and sanded lightly; pearl flourishes: eyelet outlet; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, scor-tape by sookwang, gluedots 

here is my secret for making shaped cards without a traditional template: CLIP ART! i do a google image search for the shape i want to use, find a copyright free version that appeals to me, download it, and print it out at the size i need. this particular bauble shape is one i chose several years ago, and the hard copy i had was a bit too small, so i used my second favorite template trick, which is a version of how we all learned how to make symmetrical paper hearts in the third grade: i folded a piece of cardstock in half, placed the too-small bauble along the fold and traced around half of it... but... at a distance of about 3/4" larger than the shape. when i cut it out, i had a larger bauble shape that was symmetrical and ready to use as a template! then i went to town with papers from prima's "pretty pale" collection and loads of flowers and pearls!

check out stephanie's awesome card at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and link up your own masterpiece!