Elegant Ladies

The theme this week for Make My Monday is ELEGANT LADIES and I've used an Art Deco image to make my card. The image is from a Card Creations CD, as is the backing paper and the border.  The embossed panel was made with a Papermania embossing folder and the sentiment is a Papermania stamp.

Rosebud Bag

I've been stitching this morning making a bag using a Clover template - these are excellent templates with very clear and concise instructions for six different bags of similar style.  One of the members of our craft group had very kindly brought along some pieces of what I imagine are samples of up-market furnishing fabrics to share and this one with the 3-d embroidered rosebuds appealed to me.  I also had a plainer piece of linen type fabric for the lining and handles.  This piece had rows of vintage ruched ribbon which of course I removed and saved to be used on a card or three!!  Because the fabrics were quite heavy I could only make a fairly plain style of bag but I will enjoy using it and I'm sure it will be a useful addition to my collection of bags - love them - and they do all get used at some time depending on how much shopping I need to carry.  Sorry it isn't the best of photographs but I'm sure you get the idea.

Caldera Bracelet

I have long admired the geometric beadwork designed by Jean Power and this design is in a book which she published last year.  This pattern was available to people who pre-ordered her book as a download and a selection of beads was offered in a range of colours chosen by her.  I added about three more colours from my stash and used them randomly with the black being a constant throughout the design.  It feels as if I've been working on this forever and I  dread to think just how many tiny beads were stitched in one at a time but at last it is finished.  I don't really have any way of displaying it nicely but hopefully you will be able to see roughly what it looks like from this photograph.  I worked on this mainly at a weekly craft group meeting and usually managed about one and a half triangles each week, sometimes a bit more if I didn't chat too much and of course I have done some of it at home, particularly the finishing off and joining as concentration was required to ensure that the bead colours matched up on the join.  There is no fastening as it slips over the hand and that was another hurdle to overcome, making sure it would go on without too much difficulty yet not be too loose in wear - hopefully I've got it just right.  I did enjoy making this but won't be making another one in a hurry.  I'm beading a couple more pens next - birthdays and Christmas coming up and I think a couple of family members would like one as a gift.