JINGLE BELL!

Hi there,

Here today with a personal card that I just finished up for the Handbell Choir Director at the church. Just want to point out that there is a definitely a dearth of handbell stamps out there!  Anyone have any leads? I've managed to pick up a wee collection over the years when attending handbell festivals with the kids.

Each winter and summer break for the past 10 years at least, I've been making a card for this wonderful lady. She has instilled a love for handbells in our family, particularly Gillian, who is set to pursue this as a career. This Christmas, I was stumped, as I hadn't managed to get a new bell stamp this year.  Well, I'll just have to do something different with the fold and use this little Christmas handbell stamp as the main focus. 

I had taught a class for Sparkle N Sprinkle at a Convention in the fall and thought that I could use the same card fold idea. The base of the card is 11" x 5 1/2". You will score 2 3/4" in from each end of the long side:

I had been at Michael's over the weekend and picked up some metallic paper - and thought that the red, with gold and silver flecks might work for what I had in mind.  It wasn't too heavy a cardstock, so I had to beef it up with cream on the inside. I added some Goldenrod Velvet Glitter with 1/4" Tear-ific Tape to the edges of the middle inside panel. I used a Tim Holtz Holly bough stencil for the side panels, sponging with Memento inks Pistachio, Ladybug and Desert Sand.  

For the focal image I heat embossed the pretty little Christmas Handbell in Gold Detail and colored in with Copics, to match the colors of the holly on the inside.

I added Dimensional Glue to the bell base and berries and left it to dry. Then used the Sakura Glue pen to add some Celestial glitter to the leaves and bell for extra sparkle!

Using Spellbinders Labels 13, the frame is made by cutting and embossing two of the dies from Gold Metallic cardstock - so pretty!

For the center of the frame, apply Super Adhesive Sheet to white cardstock and use the smaller of the frame dies to cut and emboss, then rip the protective backing so that there is a strip left in the middle of the piece, and to the exposed tape add Reflection Velvet Glitter. Remove the middle section and apply Goldenrod.

Glue the right hand side of the gold frame to the middle of the front and using 1/4" Tear-ific Tape, stick the left hand side of the glittered piece to the left hand side panel. The little handbell, cut and embossed with the small sized matching die cut is attached with a Wobble!

Now for the sound of the bells! I added my "jingle" to the left hand side panel with some gold thread. Here is the closed finished project:

You get the jingling of the bell when you open the card! Hope you've enjoyed my little show and tell today.  Enjoy the rest of the holiday bustle - only 13 days to go! Hey, but whose counting?

Hugs,

Shona