we three... (it's a tricky one, lol!)

this fortnight's theme at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ is called "we three kings" but you don't actually need to include any kings in your card's design. we just want to see *THREE* of... well, something! for example, i've got three beautiful ornaments on my card, see?

baubles: various shades of blue colorburst (ken oliver crafts) painted onto strathmore watercolor paper; cut into bauble shapes; liquitex matte white modeling paste and fabercastell glass bead gel spread through some tim holtz stencils and outlined (when dry!) with a pitt artist pen; bauble hangers: clear jewel bling strips from eyelet outlet; patterned paper: doodlebug + some bright white sheet music from my stash; colored cardstock: gina k; glossy white kromekote: the paper cut; scraps of glossy silver paper from tonic studios as the bauble tops, distressed with a little colorbox chalk ink;

one of my favorite uses for leftover colorburst (i *always* mix too much when i watercolor, lol!) or for panels that come out a little differently than i expected, and get put to one side, is diecutting! because you know that you've now got a beautiful hand-painted piece of paper that will be different from everything premade! technically, only one of these pretty baubles was diecut (the smallest is from a set of elizabethcraft dies that i adore!) and the other two were handcut using templates i made a few years ago from clipart. i've used several different types of modeling paste through various stencils to get the raised designs. then i used a very fine-tipped black pen to emphasize some of the patterns so they'd stand out a bit more. i layered them over sheet music and a coordinating panel of patterned paper, then added eyelet outlet jewel bling strips to serve as hangers. there's room for a  sentiment on the front, and i might add one later; but for now it's blank because i like to have a couple of "unaffiliated" cards in december, that can serve as all-occasion cards or even thank you notes, if necessary.

stephanie also has a trio of loveliness to show off. why not hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ right now and see that?