Holly – The Art of Cobwebs

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I’d been making some cards which were being sent to the USA, and I was a bit worried that none of them would get there before Christmas. Well … I had an email a couple of days ago telling me that the one card had arrived at its destination! So I’m thrilled to pieces to finally be able to share one of them.

This particular card was made especially for Beverly of More Ink Please. Beverly is a fellow crafter. She makes the most incredible cards – some of them are amazingly intricate and so, so pretty. She is also a very talented hand-made book maker. But … she has but one fault. She never finds time to blog about them! She will chat with me about some things that she’s making, but even though I push her to take a photo and pop it onto her blog …. she’s a proper rascal and never does! tsk tsk.

I decided back at the beginning of November what sort of card I wanted to make for Beverly. I wanted to make a card with a very Victorian feel, with lots of layers.

The Poinsettia flowers are all handmade and although I cut the centre (black) stamens from cardstock, I gave the flowers their yellow centres by adding some tiny glass beads.

The tiny pine cones you see on the card (covered in [fake] snow) are actually from my garden. I put Little Cobs to work during the summer, and asked him to collect me some fallen pine cones, but, I told him, “I want the teeny, weeny, baby ones, because Grammy wants to craft with them and put them on cards”, and, Bless his little heart, he took his bucket and went around my garden, picking up pine cones and either putting them in his bucket or, after doing a spot check, declaring them “Too Big!” and discarding them.

He then helped me to put all the baby Pine Cones inside a plastic bag, and zipped it up for me, so that I could force out any insects and part company with them.

I’ve put him on the payroll, and he now gets paid weekly, in cash.

Well look …. a week before Christmas and I’m only just posting a Christmas Card. Sorry about that … making them all is taking time and by the time I’ve finished making one, I’m onto the next ‘making’ and … well, time just runs away from me. It’s that things fault. Time. It’s times fault. Awww, let’s not get into Time and it’s horrors. grrrr.

Thank you so much for coming and having a coffee with me while I chatted away. I love seeing you. Especially on a Monday morning before Christmas. 😀

Have a blessed rest of your day my fabulous friend ~

I’m still racing to catch up after being poorly – and although I made this one last week, I couldn’t post it until I’d given it to my My Hermes delivery lady, and since it’s now in her possession, I can now share photo’s of it!

As were all my Christmas cards this year, I made this on a 6×6″ base card with a high gsm, so that it would take the weight of the embellishments and papers I wanted to use.

I began by searching for an Angel image that I loved, and then, once found, (image above – isn’t she just beautiful?), it was simply a case of seeking out some vintage sheet music which partnered her, and I couldn’t have found anything more perfect than “Hark I Hear the Angels Calling” – which I resized and printed out. (It’s a royalty free image – as is the Angel).

I used some vintage type paper on the outside of the card, in sort of muted shades which I knew would sit nicely in the background, and attached some cotton lace to the top and bottom of the card.

After printing out the Angel, I matted and layered the image onto two shades of blue linen effect card and attached it to the background using some dimensional tape. The sheet music, I rolled and then curved it so that it sat ‘naturally’ and adhered it in place.

I added a fancy, bright silver metal corner, some faux miniature holly and berries, a white Christmas rose and a deep burgundy smaller rose, a previously gilded miniature frame, and a length of pearls – which trailed around the card, in and out of the music, around the roses and under and over the holly. I added a little glitter here and there and the front was complete.

I’m not going to bore you to tears with how I did the inside of the card … instead, I’ll just show you what I did – because you’re all super intelligent beings, with brains far bigger than mine and you’ll be able to see what I did – so here goes:

The Bauble ↑ is a stamped image. – adorned with gems to make it look pretty.

“Oh!” I hear you say . . . “.. what is that on the inside front of the card?” ….

Ha! Who’da guessed! It’s a Christmas Stocking! (in the same shades of blue as the Angels Wings! …. see, … I do [sometimes] plan these things! lol)

I had to make it a little box as it was too chubby for an envelope!

Some close up details:

A ‘gem’ in the same colour as the deeper shades in the Angels Wings – I ‘glittered’ the gem to add opulence to it. A wooden lock – which I gilded. A miniature silver metal key which I did a little twinkling job on and made it shine like it was gold.

The frame around the ‘Merry Christmas’ sentiment – I only partially gilded, as I wanted it to look distressed.

I believe … do you? A metal charm which I kind of beat up a little to make it look aged, and then added a little verdigris twinkle around the edge to just take it up a notch.

And that’s this card done, delivered to my wonderful My Hermes delivery lady, and shared with you!

I’m back in my craft room tomorrow because I’m STILL trying to catch up! But … I won’t bore the pants off you with anything I produce after mid-day! LOL.

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve all. May peace rest upon your homes today and stay with you all throughout Christmas.

Thank you for visiting. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your time. It seriously means the world to me. Thank you.