Christmas wreaths

I have been drawn to Christmas wreaths this year so decided to stitch the same pattern in a variety of colours.

Be warned this is a photo heavy post.

All of the envelopes or liners in this post are from Creative Park and I edged the first six with glitter.

To start I have a pale blue one. The rayon thread has a lovely sheen to it.

I used my Brick embossing folder at the base of the card to give it the look of being displayed on an outside wall.

 In real life this white one is lovely. I used rayon thread but unfortunately the sheen doesn't show up very well in the photo.

I used silver and white Bakers Twine for the bow.

I love this aqua one. If I had more aqua ribbon I would definitely have made another one. The ribbon was a piece left over from my gifts last year. I used this lovely card by Genistamps as my inspiration.

 I took my colour combination from this card by Ceedee over at Split Coast Stampers. Scraps of twine where used for the bows and I mixed cream and white flat backed pearls for embellishment. The copper dots are made with Paper Pen and the circles on the left card where made using Texture paint.

 A little more traditional however the shade of green I used gives it a modern take. Once again I used rayon thread. To complete green flat backed gems where added.

This black one is rather unconventional  but was inspired by Terri over at Think outside the Box. I added some brass coloured dots and some copper Paper Pen to complete.

... and to finish a more traditional one in red and green.

I distressed the edges and backed it with paper I got from a free download.

Supplies:

Pattern: Wreath Basics of Embroidery on paper by Erica Fortgens

             Sentiment Form-A-Lines  free greeting words
Flat backed gems in aqua, pale blue, lime green, red and clear.

Flat backed pearls in cream and white.

Silver and white Baler's twine

String in natural

Ribbon in aqua, pale blue, light green ans white

Cuttlebug

Embossing folder in brick pattern

Envelopes and liners: Creative Park winter selection.
Snowflake paper: Phillip Martin
Viva paper Pen No. 903
Glitzin' Glamour Crystalina
Creative Talents Texture Paint

A couple of centimetres

It's amazing the difference a couple of centimetres can make. I have been doing a fair amount of sewing lately and I wasn't happy with the dress I'm working on at the moment. PM (that's my darling Husband) thought it looked "very pretty" but to me it just hung. When I initially tried the bodice on for size it felt a bit tight around the waist so I have let it out by 4cms. Now that I have attached the skirt  it seemed to lack shape, so stifling my irritation I unpicked the waist and took it in by just 2cms and voila I'm a happy camper now. Sometimes it's just worth the effort.

Today's cards weren't any where near as much effort. If fact the first one of the three happened because I was showing a friend how to do hand dry embossing. Once the first butterfly had been embossed it seemed like a waste to throw the card stock away and so this design was born. I liked it so much that I tried two other designs for dry embossing.

Butterflies

Dragonflies

  and tulips.

I added some glitter glue to draw attention to the embossed image.

Supplies:

Pattern: 101 Ideas for Embroidery on paper by Erica Fortgens

Thread: Scraps

Butterfly punch

Stencils: no Brand name just set 3 written on them

Bostick glitter glue in silver or gold

Invitations

It's my birthday soon and so today I am going to share the invites I sent out for my celebratory breakfast.

Each card is slightly different as I punched the butterflies from paint chip card. I kept to tones of mauve, pink, peach, blue and green.

I used my oval die to cut the topper. Next I used satin ribbon to make the woven background and then added liquid pearls to the corners of each overlap.

Lastly I added the butterflies and a pearl in the bottom corner.

I made the envelopes using the Crafter's Companion. I kept to the same colours tones and then lined them in contrasting paper.

Edited 23/2/2015: I am adding this to the butterflies and ribbon challenge over at Butterfly Challenge

Supplies:

Satin Ribbon 1cm in width
paint chips in pastel colours
Liquid pearls in platinum
Flat backed pearl
Cardstock: 200gsm in white
Die: Sizzix 5 oval dies

Ballerinas

I am really enjoying sewing at the moment. There is a lovely selection of fabric out, something which in my opinion hasn't happened for a while, and so I have a couple of pieces stashed away carefully. This month I have got stuck in and sewed two dresses and I have a third cut out. There are always a lot of end of year functions and so this is the perfect oppunity to wear something new.

I love the movement in this pattern, both of the women and their skirts. It has been very cleverly designed. 

 I used verigated pink for the skirts. These woman looked distinctly like ballerinas to me.

 

and a small version (6.5cm x 7cm)

Supplies:
Pattern: Pinbroidery Nine ladies dancing
Thread: various, sorry no numbers or barands available.
Paper: Store bought embossed mauve and cercise, gold for framing and pink swirls from Paper Pizazz Soft Tints

A leaf wreath

Well the concert is finished and it all went extremely well and now I'm on to the next job which is report writing. School closes for the year in just over three weeks. I have managed to do about half of them so far. No prizes for guessing how I spent my weekend?!!!

Today's card is probably one of my favourite from this year. I have had the pattern for a while now but this is the first time I have actually stitched it. At the beginning of the year I set myself a target to make up as many designs as I could which I haven't stitched before. When complete, some of them remind me immediately of why I haven't stitched them before but this one was different. 

I like the delicate nature of the leaves and the colour combination works well for me.

Supplies:
Thread: Olive green
Green flat backed gems
8 green glass beads
Gold paper
Card stock: 160gsm in green and scarp of 200gsm in oatmeal.
Pattern: 101 Ideas for Embroidery on Paper by Erica Fortgens

Ladybird

We are in the middle of a school production of our annual concert at the moment. We have done two matinee shows and tonight is the final one. The boys have done extremely well and all the hard work has been worth it but to be perfectly honest I will be pleased when it's over for another year.

Today's card is for my God child. She has just become a teenager so I guess I'll have to start making more grown up cards from next year.

  

 For this card I CASed a box posted on the Made Marian blog. I used a page out of an old dictionary for the background and distressed the edges. I like to recycle old books as you can see from this envelope. The ribbon was a scrap and three flat backed flower shaped gems completed the design.

Supplies:

Sizzix 8 circle die

Cuttlebug

Flat backed gems in black

Flat backed flower shaped gems in red

Scrap of green ribbon

Page from old dictionary

Wobble eyes.

Another kraft card

I am enjoying working with kraft card stock at the moment. I have tried a couple of different colour combinations and white on kraft and todays combination, pink on kraft, are my favourites. I showed you a small pink christmas card last week and today's card was made as a birthday card for my sister. It was inspired by this lovely one made by Jeanne Jochna.

Here is my card.

As you know I always prick two toppers at the same time and so for the second one I decided to use this lovely variegated orange thread. I think it suited the geometric design perfectly. I stuck a flat backed gem onto the centre of a sequin to finish this design.

Supplies:
Pattern: 101 Ideas for Embroidery on Paper by Erica Fortgens
Thread: white and variegated orange (sorry no make or number available)
Flat backed gems in pink (top) and champagne (bottom)
Gold sequin
Corner punch
Orange paper: Free download from Crafty Ferret