Jingle Belles - A Banner Holiday

As November comes to a close so do the Jingle Belle challenges for this year.  The final one is to be inspired by the Jingle Belle Blog Header......

I knew I had a stamp in my stash for some time that had the word Jingle on it that I hadn't ever used  because it was so detailed and I wasn't sure how to color it.  But with a little sleuthing, I found something online that pointed me in the right direction.  I should have paid more attention to the plan the original stamper had and it would have saved me a bit of time though.  I knew I wanted to emboss the design first and started off by stamping in VersaMark ink and embossing in black EP, but it wasn't detail enough and both of the black powders I have didn't give good enough coverage.  Then, after I did take the time to read the stamper's recipe, I saw that she stamped in black and then clear embossed over it....... what a difference.  I should also mention that this was a wood mounted stamp that I unmounted so that I could use it in my MISTI which was a game changer with all that detail and the double stamping.

When I got that done all that was needed was to color it in.  I lost count of the number of Hallmark Christmas movies I "listened to" whilst coloring.  

I used a plethora of coloring media - shimmer paint, glitter gel pens, gel pens, alcohol ink pens, and Micron pens.  I used the failed black embossed pieces to try out colors on which was a great help.  

I knew that these would take time to color, but I figured it was easier to stamp a few of them and color them at the same time using the same colors rather than go back at a later date and try to remember what I used.  Sometimes working with duplicates takes only a little while longer than doing things one by one.  

I hope I captured the inspiration of the blog header well enough.  I see the word JINGLE, a tree, and red and silver sleigh bells as well as a pair of golden jingle bells.  I also gave the whole image a light blue shadow.  

Time to go visit the Jingle Belles and see the other header inspired cards.  Also time to count what I have in my stash and see how I'm doing with my count.  There's still time to make cards, but I think mailing time will be tight this year, so I better get moving.  Please click here to join me in admiring all the beautiful cards.