Preperation

So, it may be a little early, but I remember frantically trying to make all my Christmas cards at the last minute a couple of years back and having to post them all first class, so this year I have made a start good and early!

My other half has a friend over and they are having a hardcore gaming session of sorts in the lounge, so I have been hiding out in the bedroon all evening to leave them to it! I settled down in front of an episode of midsomer murders (I'm sounding like such an old lady, I know) got some of my card making bits out, just to see what I would come up with :) I am quite happy with the results thus far, even if I did only get 4 cards made in 5 hours, they are very fiddly, requiring much tweezer work and patience, but the results are rather pleasing. Here are the photo's of what I have made:

Mid way through filling in. 

I am very pleased with the effect of filling in the outline sticker with the scrap inner pieces from a sticker of a contrasting colour. Whilst fiddly and time consuming, the end result is fairly striking :) although I won't have time to make this sort of card for everyone on my Christmas card list for sure!

Here are some examples of cards I have made in previous years, these are decorated with glitter and take a long time to dry, but are fun to make, even if a little bit messy! The edgings are made sprinkling glitter over very thin strips of transparent double sided sticky tape. I have also used punches, in various ways, and used the 'waste' from the punches to add decorations to cards, some with a 3D effect by using 5mm squares of double sided tape to make them stand out. I'm sure I will make some more of these this year, though the clearing up and cleaning of the stamps takes almost as long as making the cards!

These types of cards are very versatile and can easily be personalised, as I have done for a couple of them. Some of them are a little scruffy, but mostly I'm pleased with them, and hope that the people who received them were too. I always think there is something a bit more special about a handmade card, even if they are a little rough around the edges! It's difficult to get these perfect, sometimes the wet glue crinkles the card as it dries, and it is difficult to get an even spread of the glue even with the special tip I have, but they are all certainly one of a kind!

Over the last week I have also completed a couple of small sewing projects, including another little blackwork piece. Pictures of those will follow shortly :)

Catch ya later, S x