Merry Christmas Bells

YAY--I MADE IT! I actually finished a card for each of the challenges in Bugaboo's 2nd Annual "Holiday Chaos" series!!!!! The final day's theme is "Clean and Simple," so I broke with "tradition" (mine, at least) and made a true one-layer card. I took the inspiration for my card from this one by Kristina Werner. I liked the repeating bell element and the somewhat haphazard arrangement with the line the bells hang from providing some stability.

To begin, I opened my image, Bugaboo's "Christmas - Mistletoe Bell," in Photoshop, and placed it on a blank (digital) canvas sized to 4.25x5.5". I duplicated it 4 more times, for a total of five bells. I centered one vertically on the canvas, and moved the others so all the bells were about the same distance apart. To add a bit of interest--and because I intended to draw in a wire for them to hang from--I made sure to stagger how high each bell was placed on the canvas. After I got them positioned, I merged all those layers into one, and centered the merged layer on the background. I cropped the greeting from this set by Fred, She Said, and added it to the lower right of the background, lining the "s" up with the right side of the bell above it. Finally, I printed the completed composition onto a letter-size sheet of 110 lb. white cardstock. I cut the sheet in half, and scored the final card base to create a landscape A2 card.

I colored my bells with colored pencils, blending the colors with Gamsol on a paper stump. When that was done, I lightly penciled in my "wire" for the bells to hang from. When I got that how I wanted it, I erased it enough so the line showed only faintly, and then traced over it with a red gel pen. I folded the card in half and creased along the fold line with my bone folder. And there it is--probably the fastest card--and simplest design--I've made since starting our Christmas cards for this year!