JB:12:13 - mele kalikimaka

Sheesh, I can't believe that I haven't posted a Jingle Belle challenge in so long.  How long you ask?  Don't ask.  Life has gotten in the way of some of my favorite things lately, but rest assured, not all of it has been bad.  

In case you don't know, and probably there are a lot of people out there who don't know (I'm talking the world guys, not my blogging buddies!), mele kalikimaka means Merry Christmas in Hawaiian.  The highlighted link will take you to Bette Midler's version of the song that goes along with it - have a listen.  

So for this challenge we were asked to make our cards hot or tropical and we can "do this by using bold, saturated colors... or by incorporating tropical flora and fauna like palm trees and flamingos... or by taking santa from the north pole to the beach... OR... well, however you'd like to interpret "hot" or "tropical" in a holiday context!"

I made a cheater card of sorts.  I used some hot colors on a printed base card which is a notecard that I found in the $1.50 bins at Mike's.   I'm calling it a "Deconstructed Christmas Tree"

You see all the balls laying on the background with the streamers and lights not yet on the tree.  The only thing that made it to the tree was the little shiny star at the top.  The tree itself is actually one that I had made for a previous Jingle Belle challenge that I didn't finish - that was to be the one inspired by a Christmas Carol and I think I was going to say it was "Oh Christmas Tree", but luckily for me, the cs matched the green in the notecard and there you have it.  

I almost forgot, the directions for the tree I found on Pinterest with directions from this lovely blogger Sarah Jane.  It's cute and simple and I've been seeing them all over the place now.  (Yes, that's another hole I've fallen into - Pinterest - great for ideas, if only I used them!)

Oh, and my friend Michelle showed me a great way to do those banners and get even ends.  I know I should have taken pictures, but maybe you'll understand if I explain it.  You make a cut into the center of your strip from the end as deep as you wish your tails to be, then you snip from the corner of the strip to the center cut on each side and you have perfect sides.  Look at what she did to a toilet paper tube - click here - and you'll see her demo the banner too. 


Gotta hurry off to get some more projects done.  It's been a lovely day here - quite breezy and not too hot and I've been procrastinating with these projects.  I promise more creativity in the near future!

Let's go see the rest of the Jingle Belle creations - click here.