Majestic Unicorn

My creativity has been on hiatus.  There is a reason for this - my attention has been elsewhere.  You see, it all began with Black Panther, which led me to find out who Danai Gurira was, which led me to the Walking Dead where I boarded the Good Ship Richonne and sailed to Binge Watch Island.  I followed a trail that led me to the rabbit hole that is fan fiction which I promptly fell so deep into that I'm surprised I can still see daylight!

Anyway, I'm determined to claw my way back out and regain some sort of balance in my life and get back to making and creating in some capacity.  After catching up with my blog reading list I decided to join in with last week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Animal Magic.  I cut several star garlands from gold mirror card to create the backdrop and then overlaid nesting stitched edge oval die cuts in white and gold.  Finally I used the Tattered Lace Majestic Unicorn die for the focal point.  

Black and Gold

Back in September I bought some nesting triangle dies, but I've never used them! I knew I wanted to use the triangles to cover opposite corners of my card and I had recently seen some products from the Crafter's Companion Black and Gold Collection, which inspired the colour scheme.

I decided to use a black card base and cut the triangles from gold mirror card.  To add some interest I embossed the gold mirror card using the Crafter's Companion (CC) 3D Lace embossing folder (which I love but have also never used since I bought it!) and the black card with another CC embossing folder - Blooming Vines from the Country Garden collection.  I added some black flowers to the triangles, but they were a bit lacklustre so I added a few highlights with gold pen.  The sentiment is a Tattered Lace die that came with one of their magazines.

I used the off-cut from the die cut triangles to make a similar card.  This time I cut the flowers from gold card and the sentiment from black card.

Which do you like better?

Patchwork Butterfly Birthday Card

My friend asked me to make her mum a 60th birthday card. I make a lot of cards.  I even send some of them to friends and family for various occasions, but I have never made a card for someone to give to someone else.  It was different, trying to make for someone whose tastes I didn't know that much about.  It didn't help that the only direction that I received from my friend was to "make it nice"! 😒
I ended up making a variation on a card that I'd made before that I thought was really pretty,

I made a patchwork base using 4 blocks consisting of 4 strips of patterned paper.  Each block was rotated through 90°.  I cut the Tattered Lace Red Admiral Butterfly from gold mirror card and then cut another from which I separated the butterfly and flowers.  I placed those elements on top of the first die cut, lifting the wings of the butterfly and using foam tape behind the flowers to add dimension.  I also used the mirror card to cut the sentiment.  The card was finished with gold flatback gems in each corner and a couple of pearls for the flower centres. 

I really love how it turned out, and it went down very well with my friend's mum too 😊

Christmas Decorations - Indoor Wreath

I love Christmas decorations and in an ideal world every room in the house would be festooned to bursting point. In reality though, every year the living room looks beautifully festive but the decoration of the rest of the house is sporadic at best. So I vow to craft up a storm for next Christmas, but it always seems to creep up on me! You know, it's ages away, it's ages away. it's ages away, oh shit it's here! It's like that scene out of Monty Python's The Holy Grail (but without the carnage 😂!) You'd think by now I'd be better prepared...

So in my attempt to boost the decorations stash I have made a few things, including this indoor wreath. I will be attaching one to every internal door in the house.

I cut a ring from Kraft card with a 15cm outer diameter. I then lined it with pine sprigs that I die cut (I don't know the brand) from green paper. I then die cut holly leaves from two shades of green mirror card using the holly dies in the Tattered Lace Holly & Robin set. Finally I cut several poinsettias using two sizes from the Tattered Lace Poinsettia 2016 set to place over the leaves around the frame. The wreath is finished off with a red bow at the top and a loop of red ribbon for hanging glued to the back. As I cut the holly from green mirror card, I went back over all of the berries with red glitter glue.

In our house the decorations go up on the 1st December. That's only a couple of days away so I won't have a full complement of decorations in time for that, BUT technically I've got until Christmas Day so I'll keep making them and adding them up until then.

6x6 Holly Wreath Card

Wow, was it really May when I last posted on this blog?!  Time is racing past at an alarming rate, which means that Christmas will be here in the blink of an eye!  So, it seems like a good time to start sharing some Christmas projects.

This is a card that I made last Christmas, but I think that I will make some more this year too.  It's pretty straightforward to make.

You will need:

• 6x6 card blank
• Gold Mirror card in different shades
• Kraft card
• Flat back pearls or Liquid Pearls
• Embossing folder
• Bow or ribbon
• Foam Pads
• Glue

I used my Silhouette Portrait to cut out the holly leaves, but you could use a die, or a punch, or if you have the patience, do it by hand!  I also used the Portrait to cut out a ring about 3 inches (7.5cm) in diameter to act as a base for the holly wreath.

• Start with a 6x6 (15x15cm) card blank.  
• Cut a piece of mirror card to leave about a 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) border around the outside (so 5.5x5.5 inches or 14x14cm) and affix to the centre of the card blank.
• Cut a piece of Kraft card about 5x5 inches (13x13cm) and emboss using an embossing folder of your choice.  I used Sheena Douglass' 7x5 swirls folder (one of my favourites).
• Affix the embossed Kraft card square to the centre of the mirror card mat.
• Cut about 20 holly leaves out of different shades of gold mirror card.  If necessary emboss the veins onto each leaf using a ball tool or blunt pencil.
• Cut out a ring about 3 inches (7.5cm) diameter and 5/8 inch (1.5cm) wide from card for the wreath base.
• Attach the holly leaves to the ring, alternating shades and layering some to add dimension.
• Attach a bow at the bottom of the ring.
• Place flat-back pearls in groups of three around the wreath for berries.
• Attach the wreath to the card with foam pads. 
• Place a pearl in each corner of the embossed Kraft panel.

You could also add a sentiment to the front if you wanted.  This would also look great with traditional green holly leaves with red berries, but you could also try pink leaves with turquoise berries, or purple leaves with gold berries or any colour combination that you like for an alternative look.  Just be sure to match the colour of the mirror mat with the holly leaves.