Mother's Day 2015

Hi, hope you've all had a good week.

Mother's Day was a few weeks ago so I thought I would share my Mother's Day gift and card.  It's taken me a little while to sort my photos out, so apologies for the delay.

Firstly the gift; I started with a 'special mum' MDF blank from Anna Marie Designs and glued, then painted it with a Range Paint Dabber in Juniper.

When the paint was completely dry I stamped an Inkylicious script stamp with Flitter Glue and used gilding flakes over the script.

Next I went round the edge with some pale rose gilding powder that I bought from the Stencil Library, it's hard to see in the pictures but you can just see it on the edge of the glittered flowers that I covered in in PVA glue and then added two colours of Chloe's Chunky Glitter.

Next I used some Arianna Blooms and Arianna Lace die cuts for the flowers and flourishes and dug out a packet of rosettes I had in my stash.  I inked round the edge of the flowers before assembling them and added a couple of the flower stamens (also from Anna Marie Designs).  I only used a few as they were so floppy ... it didn't occur to me until later that I could have put some PVA on them to stiffen them up, doh!

I then placed the buttons and pearls (both from a Tattered Lace show) in place and shuffled everything around until I was happy and then I glued everything down with my brilliant hot glue pen.

This is the rear view and also where I did my practice run on the stamping and gilding!

This is a view from the top and you can just about see the gilding powder on the top and at the front.

The card was quite simple; as ever I had spent so much time on the gift I had to be quick with the card.  The base card came from a pack I ordered from Create and Craft a while ago and  I embossed the next layer with a Tattered Lace Embossing Folder then inked round the edges.  Next I cut three of my favourite Labels 1, the patterned paper on the left side was from my scrap box and the right hand side was printed on the PC and then die cut.  I covered the messy middle with a ribbon, added a bow and a paper flower from Wild Orchid Crafts and ended with two stick pins that I made a while ago that happened to match.

No bloopers this time ... just my usual slightly rough looking inking, I definitely need to practice making it blend better.

Well that's it for this week, thanks for reading, hope you all had a great week.

Tattered Lace Country Treasures Paper Kit Samples - February 2015

Hi everyone, hope you've had a lovely week.

This time I have some samples from a paper kit that I really enjoyed working with. When I first saw it I had a bit of a grumble to myself as there was some kraft card and some decoupage in there, and I am not much of a decoupage girl.  Once I got going I found I just had to be a bit more creative as the decoupage didn't look right on ordinary flat cards, and I ended up really enjoying it.  The background card designs were just lovely and so were the little round embellishments that I put in the middle of the bows. Talking of bows, you will see quite a few on these samples, which is quite a change for me. Although I still have a way to go to get them perfect, the Bow Maker has just changed my whole view on bows on cards, it used to be such a faff to get them straight that most of the time I didn't bother!

Anyway, on to the cards ... the first thing I did was put the decoupage animals together, as soon as they were done I knew that I had to have lots of foliage to go with them so I got out my Tattered Lace dies (they were 3 for 2 at the NEC in November) and cut lots of Ornate Leaves and Fiddlehead Ferns. I also cut out some tiny flowers from the Mini Blooms set in different colours to match the background cards.  I have had SO much use out of the Mini Blooms set, whenever there's a bit of a gap on a card, or it just needs 'something' I usually end up with some of these flowers and you can cut lots at once.

First card was a panorama style card which I had never done before but was so pleased with the effect, that I bought an A5 set of Panorama Dies to have another go.  This is so easy, just fold the card, put a panel on the back, some of the precut foliage on the middle layer and up the side then stick things to the front ... it really was that easy.  The most difficult part (which wasn't difficult at all) was cutting out the card stock at the front to match the frame!  Add some glitter, a sentiment and a Puff Ball flower and it was done.

I haven't worked with kraft card before either, so this was a challenge to 'pretty it up' a bit.  Although it really doesn't show up well on the photo, I stamped an A4 piece of card all over with the Heartfelt Creations Birds and Blooms stamp using Perfect Medium then coloured it with green and pink mica powder (although the pink looked lavender on the kraft card).  I then cut down the kraft card piece and cut out a heart from the Spellbinders Lace Hearts set and stuck buttons and pearls in pink and green round the edge.  All that was left to do was to add the ribbon, bow, owl, foliage and sentiment.  I stuck the buttons on with my hot glue pen which is brilliant as it is cordless and heats up in a few seconds. 

This card I think I overdid by putting the pearls in the top two buttons.  I really liked the effect of the buttons, but as I used hot glue for the buttons and then the pearls there was no moving them!  The card is really simple but I liked the effect of the bow and just loved the design of the top background card, the colours are so pretty.  And of course had to use the bunny ... we used to keep two huge house rabbits so bunnies are always a winner for me!

Next up I used the Presscut Step Card Die One for the base then added some of the pretty background card for the base.  Then I punched out the sentiment and added some more of my tiny Mini Blooms die cut flowers and used the spare image from the panorama style card for the main picture and added the duck and some buttons - another card with no glitter!

I loved the embellishment on this card, I used some Stick and Spray on it and covered it in crystal glitter and was really pleased with the effect.  The card itself is just one piece of card that I cut using rectangular dies then matted it on pieces of kraft card, so it is actually quite economical with card.  You just have to be careful not to use mounting foam that's too high so you don't see any gaps.  I added a bow, my glittery embellishment, a sentiment and a few pearls and it was done.

And finally the squirrel card, which was made out of one piece of A4 kraft card and lots of foliage.  The sentiment and side pieces were punched out and again I used the Mini Blooms flowers to add a bit of colour.  I hadn't made this type of card before and it wasn't too tricky, the worst part is putting the middle support pieces in so you can add the foliage etc, I put mine a little bit too far down, next time I would definitely put them nearer the top to give the foliage more height.

Well, that's all folks ... I hope you liked them, let me know what you think.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy week, thanks for stopping by.

Floral New Home Card

Hi again

Have been looking at my Project Life album again this week. I really enjoy getting the photos and bits and bobs in the album - still got a way to go though.  I have also been playing with displaying my photos on the blog differently, so let me know what you think.

This card was made for my step-aunt who lives in Ireland and is the first time I have tried to recreate someone else's card completely. I usually take an element or see something I can adapt for myself but this one I saw on Selma's Stamping Corner (Selma's Vintage Floret Tutorial) and I knew I had to try it, although you will see that my flowers aren't a patch on Selma's.  Selma's blog is stunning and packed with brilliant tutorials and ideas.

I started with the Cuttlebug embossing folder 'Eyelet Stripe' and embossed both the folder and the border. After matting them on pale pink, I trimmed the short edges and stuck it on a card.

Next up were the flowers, and although they do look great they took me an absolute age. As ever, I didn't have the dies that Selma had so I used my Heartfelt Creations Arianna Blooms die instead.  

I cut lots of flowers out of 120gsm paper and then inked the edges in pink and the centres in yellow. Then I misted the petals with plain water and shaped and scrunched them over a shaping tool. When they were drying I used a large ball tool to shape the centres.  This did not come naturally to me! Trying to keep the petals damp enough to shape but not so wet they turned to mush was tricky for me and I was a bit upset at the time that the ink looked like it was all being left on my glass mat.  The ink problem went away when they dried and I could see how the ink had blended really evenly.  

When all the individual petals dried completely I made up one large flower, two medium and two small, for the very centres I used some fine beady stuff that I have had in my stash for ages.  After adding a couple of white swirls, some inked leaves, pearls and a printed sentiment, it was all done.

My aunt had decided to give up her apartment and move into more sheltered accommodation so it was a big move for her so I wanted to send something pretty to cheer her up, and it worked!

I will be making some more samples this weekend for MCS and I love the images on this CD, very different from the last few, not sure when the show is on though.

No bloopers on this card but it did take a huge amount of time.  Although the flowers are really pretty when they're  done, I'm not sure how many more I will be doing!

Hope you all have a great week and thanks for reading.

MCS Magazine Issue 4 - Eskimo Kisses

Hi everyone

I haven't been around much recently as my mum has been poorly again so the blog has had to take a bit of a back seat.  I have still been making cards though, so here are the samples I made for the show on Sunday 19 October.

I liked this CD as the characters are so cute without being sickly, I love Robins at Christmas, but all the other characters are lovely too.  When I watched the show back one of the design team had made a card with the seal looking out of the picture as if he had photo bombed it, it was really cute.

First sample was a Pillow Box, and they are so simple to cut out and decorate but they make a great gift box.  I cut out the box and added a strand of lace and on top of that a blue ribbon.  The flourish is a Heartfelt Creations die and the flowers are a pom pom die by Tattered Lace.  I stamped a piece of card and embossed some snow flakes on it before die cutting so it gives a bit of background shimmer.  Some glittered gems from my stash with a bit of Chloe's chunky glitter and it was done.

Now the photography on this one makes it look like Rudolph has a nosebleed, but it actually is red glitter!  I covered an 8x8 card with a background paper from the CD that I had added the moon to from the picture builder section, then used the Tattered Lace Reindeer and Christmas Greetings dies.  Next I  die cut the Christmas Tree and added some snow white flower soft to finish off.  I debated for a while about whether to decorate the tree but in the end decided to leave it all white.

This card is actually a tag that with the MCS software I put two side by side and then cut out.  With some peel offs, a bow and a sentiment it was finished.  Now, I did say a bow and it was made with the MCS Bow Maker that I love.  I have heard some people on line muttering about Afro Combs being the same, but I love the bow maker.  It is so small and simple to use, much easier than some of the more expensive bow makers I have bought.  Maybe it's because I am so useless at tying bows that I love it, and would recommend it to anyone who struggles tying bows like me.  I used to spend more time tying the bow than making the card, and a double bow would have been out of the question!

This card was made using a Sheena snowflakes embossing folder that I die cut into a frame and then rubbed really lightly with some teal gilding wax.  I used the picture builder section of the CD to place the tree, the seal with bauble (that I changed the colour of as it was red originally and blended into the scarf) the teddy pulling the sleigh in the background and finally placing the moon. I stuck the frame on the image then matted it all on some silver mirri card, some small die cut snow flakes and stars from a Memory Box die added the Tattered Lace Christmas Greetings die and sample four was complete.

This card almost made itself.  I embossed the front of the card with another Sheena embossing folder and then inked lightly over the top.  I have always been a bit light handed with ink but really found that the more I added the better it looked, I think I just need to be a bit braver!  Next I cut out the aperture with a Spellbinders bauble die and put the image behind it that I had made using the picture builder section of the CD.  I just love robins at Christmas.  I cut out a bright red bracket label and stuck on a sentiment from the CD that I punched out and then inked round.  Finally I added a bit of glitter to the bauble and the red beads to make the leaves look more Christmassy.  Looking at the card now I think I should have put a red bow at the top of the bauble to finish it off.

This final card was a glitterfest!  I used one of the toppers from the CD and then cut out an additional blank label for the sentiment.  The base dotty card is from Anna Marie Designs that I bought at the Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham sometime this year.  The next layer is one of the backing papers that I distressed using one of those little circular distressing tools and a bit of ripping!  Then I distressed the topper and the blank label and then glittered away using some PVA glue that I smeared on with my fingers and then some of Chloe's chunky glitter.  After adding the sentiment that was the die on a recent Tattered Lace magazine and some Card Candi, it was done.

Well that's all for this time, no massive bloopers this time, although it was a close run thing on the Tag Card, as when I first put the bow on you couldn't see the owl!  If you would, please say a little prayer for my mum as she isn't well at the moment.

Hope you all have a great and crafty week.

Samples for My Craft Studio Mega Word CD

Hi everyone

Hope you all had a great week.  I went to the Great British Craft Festival last weekend and had a really good time.  What I particularly liked was that it was nearly all paper crafts rather than painting or sewing.  I saw lots of lovely demonstrations and (as usual) spent too much money!  The shuttle bus was a bit of a saga though, the hosts asked us to get on the bus on the way there but almost everyone around said they would rather walk the ten or so minutes to the show, the lady next to me called over that it would be a different matter when we were on the way back with all our goodies and we all laughed.  So I went round my first Stoneleigh Craft show and had a good time, came out and hopped on a bus almost immediately which was great as I was taking my mum to lunch.  The bus just said 'shuttle bus' on the front and when about 9 or so people were on board we set off on what should have been a two minute journey ... except the driver left the Stoneleigh site!  A lady called to the driver and asked where he was going and he replied 'to the station' .... what!?!?!  which station?!?!  how far away was it?!??!  were just some of the questions asked.  It turns out that we had to go to Coventry Station which was 20 or so minutes away, wait at the station for 20 minutes and then drive back 20 minutes, what a faff.  I felt very sorry for the lady whose son was upset and waiting with her husband in the car park and she couldn't get back to him.  That will teach me to take the lazy way and not walk back to the car park!

Anyway on with the cards; these are for a My Paper Stash show that should be on Create and Craft today, I hope you like them.

First up was a nice simple card where I chose one of the pop out sentiments then went to the Papercraft Library - Paper Words CD and faded out two papers so they would match the sentiment.  I printed them back to back and then cut down the centre so I could fold back the paper and pop the sentiment in.  I did mess up a little bit in that I stuck down the paper near the fold back which meant I almost couldn't tuck the sentiment in, but managed to wiggle it in just enough.  To finish off I added some Card Candi and a button with some bakers twine knotted in it.

I loved making this card which actually started off with the paper, rather than the sentiment.  I found the paper on the 6th Anniversary All About Words CD and just had to use it.  This card is really quite big, so I had to make the card out of two pieces of A4 card, it's like a pumped up DL!  I inked round the sentiment and the main image and stuck the main image on to some lovely card from Pink Frog Crafts (can't remember what it's called as I bought it quite a while ago).  I made the flower buds out of the smallest Delicate Aster flower, inked then cut in half an rolled and stuck it under one of the leaf flourishes from the Cut Matt Create die sets.  I made up two of the next sized up Asters, again inked and added a pearl, then arranged the leaves and flowers over the image, and not a hint of glitz or glitter in either of the first two cards.

Now this card had LOADS of glitter!  The main image comes from the Papercraft Library - Paper Words CD again and as soon as I saw the snowflake image I knew I had to use it.  I matted and layered using the same colour as the snowflake and then used come Cosmic Shimmer PVA glue dots in silver glitter round the outside of the white layer (even though they look dirty grey in my pictures).  I went round one of the pale teal layers with the edge of a chisel tip glue pen and added some glitter and carefully used a Quickie Glue Pen on the centre element and added silver glitter to the writing already on the image.  I used one of the sentiments from the pad and cut it into a circle first of all, but that looked a bit boring, so changed it to the scallop shape using a Little B die.  To make the snowflake rosette I printed off an A4 sheet in the same pale teal colour and stamped it all over in silver glitter using a Chloe Snowflake background stamp and then cut out four pieces from the Brenda Walton Snowflake Medallion die.  I think I should actually have cut out less, so the medallion wasn't quite so folded, so you could see the stamping a bit more.  To finish it off I used some Chloe Sparklicious Glitter on the edges for a bit more bling.  Finally I punched out some snowflakes, some from silver glitter paper and some from the waste from the pale teal matting and layering that I covered in glitter, a couple of gems and it was done.

This card came from the Wonderful Wordbooks CD and I had forgotten how much fun wordbooks are.  I love the way that these print off and fold over giving you both sides of the letter.  All I added to the whole wordbook were some pop out sentiments (cut in a Labels 4 shape and on a Labels 4 matt) and some keys from the Spellbinders Lacy Hearts set.  The waste from the middle of the keys I used as hearts on the Home is Where the Heart is page.  To finish it off I inked round the letters and the sentiments a bit to give them some definition and then stuck it all together.

This is another really sparkly card but there's no glitter!  The image is taken from the Simply Sentiments CD and then chopped down so you just have the three hearts made out of roses (the pictures make the images look much brighter than they really are, in real life they look a much softer colour).  I cut a frame out with Jus-Cutz Rectangle dies and matted it on some soft pink card.  I covered the main image in a sticky sheet and then put Cosmic Shimmer (I think it's Iced Snow) on top of the whole image then rubbed it in with my fingers until there wasn't a shower of bits coming off each time.  Then I added the sentiment on top of a tulle knot (so I didn't have to do a bow) and finally added some gems that I bought from Joanna Sheen absolutely ages ago.

Last up is a really bright happy card made from the Simply Sentiments CD.  I actually did this one in Craft Artist rather than MCS as I wanted to change the colour of the big pink balloon to a yellow one, so it wasn't quite so obvious that I had chopped down the image then flipped it and stuck it together.  I used Die-Namics Pierced Fishtail Flags dies to cut out the sentiment and the bottom shapes that I had printed out in colours that matched the balloons in the main image.  To finish it off I added some confetti balloon shapes that I have had in my stash for years.

Although I used Craft Artist on the last card, looking at all the CDs to do these cards, it did remind me how good the images are on MCS CDs, some of them are really beautiful and I have earmarked some of them for up and coming cards I need to make.

Only one blooper this time; I wanted a snowflake shaped sentiment so found a die big enough and cut it out, completely forgetting that snowflakes are lacy and the die laced right through the sentiment leaving me with just a couple of black lines that you couldn't read ... doh!

Have a great week everyone and thanks for reading.

Blue Birthday Card

Hi

I hope everyone is having a good week.  I am just starting to get ready for my holiday in a couple of weeks time, I haven't done long haul before so it will be a whole new experience for me.  I have been to Boots and spent a fortune on plug adaptors, insect repellent and other travel stuff so I can at least contact the outside world while I am away ... as well as charge my trusty Kindle.

I did this card a couple of weeks ago for a friends birthday.  I was inspired by Kathi whose blog I follow (Paperplay by Kathi) who did some single colour cards and this is my take on the same thing.  Have you noticed that when you see a card you really like, the bit you like best is usually a die or something else that you haven't got?!

Apologies for the photos, they were taken on my phone which isn't as good as the camera.  The blue hasn't come out quite right and is more of a Wedgwood blue in real life.  

The whole card is A5 so I started with an A4 piece of blue card and embossed it with the mBossability Dainty Dots folder to make the card base.  Next I made a frame out of Labels 4 and stuck it on with some mounting foam ... I debated with myself for quite a while about whether to ink the edges of everything, but in the end decided to leave it absolutely plain.  Next I did the corners which come from the Becca Feekin Filigree Delight die.  I really love Becca's dies and her blog (Amazing Paper Grace) is a real inspiration, check it out if you haven't already.  I don't do much stamping but have bought some of Becca's Justrite stamps and dies ... between Becca and Sue Wilson, they could cost me a fortune if I let myself!

The sentiment is a Britannia Die and as usual I put a gem instead of the dot over the 'i'.  The flowers and leaves came next and they were done with the Heartfelt Creations Sweet Juliet dies on 160gsm paper as card made the flowers difficult to shape.  I don't know if it's just me but I found the flowers, especially the smaller ones, quite fiddly to put together as you have to bend all the loops underneath and catch them on a brad, probably just my clumsy fingers.  Anyway once I had finished I did like the dimension that the flower loops gave to the card.  I thought the card was finished but it lacked something, so I got out my Tattered Lace Chantilly Bow die set and cut one of the smaller bows and put it on the bottom with a gem.

No bloopers this week, but the card is quite simple really, a bit different from my normal style but I liked it.

Hope everyone has a great crafty week and thanks for reading.

My Craft Studio Samples for Winter Wishes CD

Hi everyone.  What a whirlwind the last couple of weeks has been!  Firstly I got a new job (thanks to everyone for their good wishes and crossed fingers!) which I will start next week and then there has been sample making and my favourite of all going to the Hobbycraft Show at the NEC.  My feet were red hot by the end of the day as it just happened that OH had bought Billy Joel tickets for that night.  I was so tired by the end of the night that I didn't even look in the Hobbycraft bags till the next day – I have never done that before!

Anyway, this week’s post is all about the samples I made for the My Craft Studio Winter Wishes CD.  As ever they were a bit of a rush but I love doing them.  I know that I can say no and not do the samples, but I am just too nosey!  Once I know there is something happening I just have to say yes so I can see what it is!  Now if I am completely honest I am not really a ‘fairy’ person, I have two nieces so I do venture there occasionally but it’s just not me as a rule.  However I did like this CD – the fairies are not adult looking and are really sweet.  It has also got lots of boxes and crackers and things on it which I just loved making – and Christmas is the one time that you can get as heavy handed as you like with glitter!  The cracker hardly took any time at all to make and I was amazed how good it looked (if you ignore the big blob of ribbon I put on mine, but more of that later!).

The first card up was the first thing I imagined when I saw the images.  It didn't work out quite how I wanted however and this ended up my least favourite card sample.  I used the Heartfelt Creations Ornamental Add On dies and some Artemio Circle Dies that came with my Happy Cut Machine.  The topper image I took into MCS and played about with until I had covered the flowers in the corners with a cut out of the background colour.  Then I used the digital punch to cut out a circle and then softened the edges to blend out to white.  I used a sentiment off the CD and made it slightly larger and then used another Artemio circle die to just cut out the middle as it was originally a snowflake shape.  In the software I chose a backing paper and then intensified the colour and adjusted the contrast to make it much darker to contrast better against the white.  I added some gems and it was done.  All in all it wasn't horrible, but it just didn't come out as well as I had hoped.  Can you spot the blooper?

Next I made one of the pillow boxes, they are so quick to make and with the lovely snowflake pattern I just roughly traced sections of the snowflake pattern with a quickie glue pen and then covered it in crystal glitter.  I traced round the gold flowers and glittered them with gold glitter and then stuck on some small cream roses from my stash that I had also added some glitter to.  I also cut out a card stand out of white centura pearl using a Joy Crafts Lattice Card Stand die as I noticed that last time I did a pillow box they put it right at the front of the set but as it was lying down you couldn't see the decoration, I did have to cut it down a bit so that the pillow box could sit on it correctly.

This next card worked out quite well and Diane from MCS kindly sent me an email saying that she particularly liked it.  I started out using the Heartfelt Creations Oval Window die and cut two of them out of white centura pearl card.  Next I measured the die to see how big I wanted the window to be and then found the a nice blue backing paper and using the digital punch feature in MCS cut the window oval out of the backing paper so I could see where everything would be on the card, in the left hand corner I used a sentiment and robin from the MCS Christmas Overture CD.  Using a backing paper and a topper that I thought would go together I digitally cut a circle out of the topper, and faded out the edges, then I made the circle larger so the faces would show through the window and not be too small then I blended the topper into the backing paper.  Before I grouped it together I used the front blue backing paper to make sure that the faces were in the correct position once I cut out the window.  Next I printed everything out on 120gsm paper as I was going to die cut through both the paper and the card beneath and didn't want the print to add too much weight to the card stock.  I used an oval die that was close to the size I wanted, but a bit smaller, to cut out the window and then using the window as a guide kept trimming it back by eye until it was the right size.  It didn't have to be too perfect as I was sticking a window on the back as well!  Then I cut out a couple of sets of the Tattered Lace Snowflake dies and a Tattered Lace Reindeer, I put the windows and the snowflakes in a box and sprayed them with Stick and Stay and then glittered them all with crystal glitter and finally put a red gem on the reindeer’s nose and then just stuck it all together.  I added a piece of acetate between the two windows so I could stick on some round glittered pearls as faux snow.

Next I made a lovely (if I say so myself) cracker and then ruined it by putting too much of the wrong ribbon on.  The crackers are really quick to cut out and make and I again followed the pattern with a quickie glue pen and crystal glitter and added a few small stick on glittered roses.  I left a gap in the glitter on the edge that I was going to stick using the red liner tape so it would stay stuck.  I was really pleased with it until I had to finish it off by securing the ends – nothing I had looked right so I used some cream ribbon, that didn't look great but I also tied the bows too big and spoiled the whole effect.  I was really short of time by now and had stuck the ribbon down with wet glue so the knots wouldn't come undone – so that’s how it had to stay!

This was my favourite card – and it didn't take too long either.  This card came out of a mistake when I was doing the window card!  I cut the window out of the card instead of separately so to cover it up and not waste the card I got out my large circle dies and cut out a circle that was larger than the window.  I then stamped in sepia some Heartfelt Creations (I just love their stamps) leaves from the Holly Berry Precut Set on to green card and then cut them out using the Ornamental Add On dies – I think I cut out 11.  On the actual card front I used the Inkylicious Happy Christmas stamp and heat embossed it in gold – I am getting braver with my stamping, I think using the Perfect Medium pad and then putting the powder makes it not seem so daunting.  I added the red glitter gems that I bought in a Hobbycraft sale last January as the holly berries and then stuck the leaves onto the card.  Next I cut out the small baubles out of two toppers (one that I had flipped so they both faced the same way) and then the larger baubles out of glitter card, I used the Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments from 2011 for all of them.  I added an edge of wet glue round the edge of the smaller baubles and added glitter – not as neatly as I would like but I have never had a very steady hand with that sort of thing.  When everything was bone dry I brushed away all the spare glitter and taped the baubles together trapping a piece of clear thread that I wound round two tiny brads that I covered on the front by adding a couple of extra holly leaves that I cut off the stem.

And finally I did a quick gift bag.  These are so easy to do using the software.  Just measure the bag, size up the topper and sentiments and then matt and layer and add some ribbon.  And how much nicer does it look that just a plain bag to give a gift in, I like to add a name on the topper too, so it looks really personalised (I didn't on this one but I do when I use it for myself).




Phew – another massive post, it will be quite a lot shorter next week!  Let me know what you think of them, and did you spot the blooper on the first card?  I only noticed it when I had already sent the cards off and was showing my mum the photos.  Look at the bottom left corner – I forgot to add one of the gems!

Thanks for reading and have a great week.