Jingle All the Way with the card created for today’s project. This card uses a partial gold embossed background, boughs from our pre-made ink smooshed background panels, and the glorious jingle bells die-cut from the Sounds of the Seasons dies. 

Here is the card.

FUN FACTS

But before we get to our instructions, I have a few fun facts about jingle (or sleigh) bells from the Oxford University Press’s Academic Insights for the Thinking World.

• Jingle bells are in the percussion family of instruments.
• The bells are made from sheet metal bent into a spherical shape with a small ball bearing or short metal rod placed inside to create the jingle sound.
• Small bells have been around for a long time. In Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, and Egypt they were commonly suspended from the trappings of horses, mules, and camels.
• Sleigh bells were fastened to horses to signal the approach of someone important or to warn pedestrians of an approaching vehicle. Sleighs were unable to stop quickly enough so they needed a warning sound.
• William Barton opened the first US sleigh bell company in East Hampton, Connecticut in 1810. East Hampton eventually became known as “Belltown” because it produced so many bells.
• Sleigh bells, or jingles, are rarely used to produce specific pitches. Mozart, however, prescribed this in the third of his Three German Dances K605. (Can you hear the jingle bells?)
• The song Jingle Bells, also known as “One Horse Open Sleigh,” is one of the most popular and most recorded songs on Earth. It was written in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont and was originally meant for Thanksgiving. (Who knew?)
• Sleigh bells were one of the first instruments played in space. In 1965, Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra, smuggled bells and a harmonica onto their spacecraft and played Jingle Bells for mission control as a light-hearted holiday joke.
• The affluent ornamentally wore bells as a symbol of wealth and status.
• In old Pagan beliefs, jingle bells were used to ward off bad luck, diseases, and evil spirits. Today, some motorcyclists strap small bells to their handlebars to ward off road demons.

Now that we are all properly enlightened, here are the instructions to create the Jingle All The Way card.

• Soft Seafoam cardstock:
  • 4-1/4″ x 11″ scored at 5-1/2″
  • 8-1/2″ x 5-1/2″ (pre-made ink smooshed panel for die-cutting)
• Brass Foil:
  • 3-15/16″ x 5-3/16″ for panel layer
  • 3″ x 3″ for die-cutting
• Poppy Parade cardstock: 3-3/4″ x 5″ for card panel
• Whisper White cardstock: 3-3/4″ x 5″ for message insert

Stamp the Good Morning Magnolia image onto the vellum panel using Basic Gray ink. The lines will be blurred by the Stampin’ Blends and the alcohol to create a faux watercolor effect.

Color the image starting with the lightest color. Use Dark Daffodil Delight for the center. Dip a fine-tip paintbrush into the rubbing alcohol and gently move the color. I added Champagne Shimmer Paint to my rubbing alcohol.

Next, color non-adjacent petals with Dark Flirty Flamingo. Gently blur the stamped line. Let dry and repeat on other petals. Do the same for the leaves. TIP: Blow into a straw to gently direct the ink flow in the desired direction.

Add a second layer of color after the image is dry. Repeat the process of alcohol painting and gently blowing the ink.

OPTIONAL: Pick up some clean rubbing alcohol with the paintbrush and flick it over the image. This will create small droplets that will lighten some areas by moving the color outward.

Adhere the vellum panel to the Basic White cardstock panel using Stampin’ Seal or a light amount of Multipurpose Liquid Glue. Add to Basic Black card base.

Stamp the sentiment in White Craft ink and heat emboss with with embossing powder. Trim to you liking. Add to card panel with small black Dimensionals.

Customize the message insert and the envelope with some flicks of color from the brush end of the Stampin’ Blends.

Background

• Place a couple die-cuts (of anything) that you want embossed) randomly across the middle of the Poppy Parade panel. I used a couple leaves cut from the Stitched Leaves dies.
• Stamp with any texture-type stamp in Versamark ink. I used the retired Crackle background stamp. Other options include the Textured Essentials, Birch, Stacked Stone, or Drybrush stamps.
• Heat emboss with Gold Embossing Powder.

Bells & Boughs

• Die-cut all the bells from the Sounds of the Seasons dies from the Brass Foil. TIP: Be careful when removing dies so that you do not lose the holly detail.
• Add Black Dimensionals on the back under the holly detail to keep it in place.
• Die-cut the 2 smaller pine boughs from the pre-made ink smooshed panel using the Beautiful Boughs dies. Find instructions for making ink smooshed panels can be found HERE.

ASSEMBLY

• Assemble as shown.
• Add jingle bells then tuck in the boughs. TIP: I use glue dots to adhere the boughs.
• Stamp the sentiment from Cherish the Season stamp set on the message insert. TIP: The Stamparatus is invaluable for perfect alignment. It is so easy to stamp multiples perfectly EVERY time.
• Add a jingle bell above the sentiment for added glitz.
• Customize the envelope and you are ready to send this beautiful Jingle All The Way card.

I really like this card and will definitely be making more. I hope that you will try the ink smooshing and partial embossed background techniques. Until next time – Be Safe, Be Well, and Be Creative!

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