Aviary Jingle Bells

I was so excited this morning when, for the first time in weeks, I had an idea and it came together easily!!  I definitely have been struggling.  I'm still making cards and typically happy with the results - but they all seem to be so much work!  So many false-starts and do-overs and try-agains!

It's a good thing that I had the brainstorm this morning, because I actually had an entirely different plan for today's blog post but I am going to need my teenage son to help me with some blog/PC issues before I can post it.  So...here's some blatant self-promotion...

Coming next Friday...a Friday Focus post on Copics!!  I haven't done a Friday Focus in months.  These are posts that cover basic information with lots of tips and hints.  I've done Friday Focus posts on tying bows, embossing folder techniques, shimmer paint and many more.  Now I have a huge post almost ready to go on Copics.  I have photo tutorials of basic coloring, I have downloads of Copic matches to Stampin' Up and Papertrey paper.  And I have many, many links to advanced Copic techniques.  Be sure to come back next Friday!!

But right now, I am more excited about today!  I love the Stampin' Up Aviary set.  Those little guys and their cages can be so cute or they can be elegant.  I decided to embellish their cages and make them Christmas!!

The first thing I saw today was the CAS-ual Friday challenge to make a tag.  I knew right away I wanted to decorate the bird cages from Aviary for the Christmas season.  (Not many people wake up to the thought that they want to add jingle bells to bird cages??!!)

Then I saw the clean & simple Fall To Layout that had a tag and knew that I wanted to make a card/tag set!

Then at the very end I got stuck.  I was toying with a button in the lower right hand corner of the card but it wasn't right.  I looked around my desk and realized how much paper and ribbon that I had out and remembered that the current challenge with The Paper Players is a recipe challenge.  I looked and realized that I qualified except for the punch and one more dsp.  The light came on!!  I have a jingle bell punch and it's the perfect accent.  Then I used dsp for the leaves and it's so cute.  Thank you Paper Players!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Aviary and Great Greetings ('to' and 'from'), Papertrey Signature Christmas
• Paper: Stampin' Up Real Red dsp and CS, Lucky Limeade dsp and CS, Silver Glimmer paper
• Ink: Stampin' Up Real Red and Lucky Limeade
• Accessories: Stampin' Up silver cord, jingle bells and scalloped border punch, Martha Stewart jingle bell punch, green ribbon from Hobby Lobby, silver and red ribbon from Michaels