Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

This time I thought that I would show some craft that I did not make but certainly love

Last year, whilst in Germany, we fell in love with  the German Candle Arches or "Schwibbogens" that we saw in all the markets.  The best ones were the original ones from Erzgebirge but they were rather expensive and we ended up with a small one from a market that was not from Erzgebirge.

We had told our friends in Germany that we had bought a smaller and cheaper one this summer and then found that in our Christmas Hamper this year that they had included an original Erzgebirge Schwiboggen and this was not small - it is 25.5 inches long.

Needless to say that this has pride of place in our window and looks lovely especially when lit at night.  

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year and wish good health and happiness to you and your families.

Parchment Envelope Card

Although this card looks like an envelope, it is in fact a card.  It was made for a wedding card as usually these are rarely stood up. 

I traced the pattern onto plain parchment paper and then embossed the outer edge of the back of the card and also the dots in the pattern on the front.  I also lightly embossed the pattern of the outside front border. 

Then using Gold tinta ink, I drew around the dots and also filled in the pattern of the outside front border and the ring joining the two halves of the pattern. 

Using a grid I perforated where I had filled the pattern in with Gold tinta ink. and also the crosses on the pattern. I also perforated the shape of the card. I then stippled  the border on the front of the card.  Using a star tool, I embossed on the front of the card.

I then cut out the cross and also around the borders to create the shape of the card.  I then coloured the reverse of the parchment paper with Dorso to give the shade of pink that I wanted. 

To finish, I attached a piece of pearlescent paper to the inside slightly smaller than the border.

For my Mum's Sister

When my Mother remembers that I make cards, I usually offer to make a birthday card for her sister.  As she knew roughly what I was going to make, it did mean that I had to make her a different one.

I had used this pattern before to make an easel card but this time I made the parchment pattern a little smaller and mounted it with small brads on to  a black pearlescent oval card that I cut out with Spellbinders.

I then mounted this onto some snow white Centura card and cut out the sentiment from Britannia dies.

The bow was cut out from the Die'sire Christmas Bow Die onto a Double Sided Self Adhesive Sheet and then put Golden Sand Silk Glitter onto one side and attached it to the card.

When my Mother saw the card she was really pleased so hopefully her sister will be too.