Noel

Something else seasonal to show today - this time a little  beaded Christmas plaque using a combination of  Peyote and Brick stitch.  The current issue of the Beadworker's Guild Magazine published designs for twelve of these little ornaments, each about 3.5 cm across and this is the one I've chosen to complete first.  I'm not sure how many I will be able to complete before the day this year - doubtful if it be all twelve!!  I hope the weather is better where you are - here it is very wet and windy but at least it is a great excuse to stay in and craft.

...in a Pear Tree

I've been doing my best to avoid visiting the newsagent and also decided I definitely didn't need to buy any new Christmas related 'stuff' as I have loads from previous years and don't  need to make a lot of Christmas cards. You can guess what's coming next - yes, this is a new die on the card I've just made but technically I didn't actually buy it as it was a freebie attached to a magazine; not from the newsagent but I was caught unaware in Tesco where they display magazines right where I go to pick up supplies of fresh fruit.  I really liked this Partridge in a Pear Tree die and I'm afraid I succumbed in a weak moment - well it was a very grey day and I needed cheering up so that's my excuse if I need one!!  The background paper is from a pad of seasonal papers which I must have had for several years, the white panel used a snowflake embossing folder, also a few years old.  The die shape was cut out from a scrap of Centura Pearl card and mounted onto some die cut circles cut from other scraps.  The sentiment was stamped using wording from a set of stamps received at a recent Christmas Extravaganza day which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Dies - freebie Partridge die and Spellbinder circles
Embossing - snowflake folder from Cuttlebug
Sentiment - from Stampin' Up Reason for the Season set

A 'Buckle' Style Card

I made this somewhat elaborate card some time ago as a demonstration sample following Sue Wilson's idea of using various die cuts  interlocked with each other and threading a strip of card through rather like a belt goes through a buckle.  I seem to remember it was a bit difficult to get everything lined up and glued in the right place but I think the result justifies the hassle involved (I'm sure an extra hand would have been useful at the time). Gilding flakes were used on the three Striplets pieces in the background and because these are quite long dies the card is larger than I make as a rule.

Background - Deco embossing folder Creative Expressions
Panels - Striplets dies by Sue Wilson
Circles - various Spellbinder circle dies

Pixie Snippets Week 201

My card for this week's challenge on Pixie Snippets is this one with several die cuts - a great way of using up the snippets of card which accumulate.  Of course another great thing to do with the smaller snippets is to make flowers.  Details of items used are given below.  The stamp set for the flowers also has a matching die set from Sue Wilson but for the time being I've contented myself with cutting them out with scissors. The background was one of my larger snippets which was embossed and sponged with ink to accentuate the design.  Flowers were stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Background - Climbing Vine embossing folder Creative Expressions
Dies - Caribbean Island Collection Sue Wilson
Flowers - Shaded Peony Creative Expressions