Christmas cards are now done...

I've been making my Christmas cards and today's the day I start to write them and post them too - especially the overseas ones!

 The card above features hand made paper, gold foil paper, a stamped sentiment and is finished with a button glued over ribbon.

These two cards below were made with hand made paper, recycled vintage sheet music and die cut trees. The handmade paper was made in Burnie, Tasmania, where a group of paper makers experiment with different fibres to make paper eg plants, cotton and even animal droppings from plant eating animals! Yes I've got some - and No - it doesn't smell!


Hand made blue paper made from denim fabric.

The handmade red paper made from towel offcuts from a towel factory.



The next cards are made using scrapbook papers, ribbons, embellishments and a stamped sentiment.

Christmas Greetings to my readers.

CHRISTMAS CHEER

Christmas has crept up slowly but calmly for me and my creative pursuits have put me in the mood. Family and friends are what it's all about and I am very fortunate to have many of these. Here are some of my preparations...



Simple Christmas Cards - using scrapbooking paper, ribbons, a border punch



 My Christmas Present wrapping has a recycle - re-use theme this year - newsprint and ribbons I have saved from previous Christmas' - I am very pleased with the effect. Why keep buying when all I/you need to do is look around at your stash!


Red and Green




Pink and Gold




Red stamps on newsprint



CARD SWAPS

I have met some lovely people through Lawendula's Paper Swaps over the past two years and emailed them to see if anyone would like to swap a hand made card with me this Christmas. All of them are from places other than Australia. Some people were too "snowed" under and busy, some don't do Christmas but I had 6 "takers". Here are my first 2 cards which arrived very quickly. They are both of gorgeous Christmas trees but so different. Lee has painted, used lace, glittered circles and 'gem stones' ; Emma has pieced together recycled Christmas cards and sewn over them with gold thread. Thank you ladies - I love them both! Hopefully the very busy postman will deliver my other cards this week - but I know some of them have a very long way to travel.

I sent...

The cards I sent - very easy to do - I used a card measuring 12.5 x 18 cms, cut strips of co-ordinating paper between .5 and .9 cms wide in staggered lengths the attached them on a 'trunk' of card with a couple of ribbons tied in between.This was mounted on a cuttlebug textured card which was the mounted on the base card. I used foam double sided squares to give dimension.

Then - another card swap - this time with the lovely ladies in our Beyond Altered Book Group, which meets monthly. As you can see there are cards, small canvas' and even a fabric star. Stamps, 3D shapes, hand painted paper, ribbon, fabric, buttons, punched and textured shapes, glitter - everything goes.

Thank you ladies.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL.