A Christmas Assortment

Last week saw a last minute flurry of Christmas card making, and completing some that had been "in progress" since the summer, to get them sent out to family and friends.

So here's a quick tour of the final makes of the year; some familiar faces and some new designs.

The green and purple backgrounds from November were revisited with squiggly free hand frames.

I had a play with a different shape watercolour background.

I tried stamping the sentiment before and after painting the tree, and for some stamped it over the tree.

Having used distress inks in crushed olive and dusty concord, I could stamp the card bases in the same colour snowflakes to match, to create frames and backgrounds. After doing a few I decided that second and third generation stamping looked best, and matched the colours most closely.

I used gems as stars and baubles on the trees, and mounted them up, and there's a nice batch of cards ready.

The next card is a version of the previous post, but instead of the frame I stamped some doodle shapes from a set of circular stamps I got in a charity shop, and coloured them in red to match the script. I think I prefer this version to the original!

Finally, some Groovi parchment cards. I created most of the parchment work while I was away on holiday in August, they've been waiting to be mounted. I used patterned paper from a gorgeous bundle in my stash that I bought from a local charity shop a few months ago. They quite often get a lot of craft things in, so it's always worth checking the window. These papers are quite shiny which doesn't work a lot of the time, but they look great behind the parchment.

I am really pleased with these, the parchment work is so pretty and has a lovely wintery feel. I'll definitely be making more for next year. I like the colouring, and feel confident doing it, but the white work (as on the Noel card) gives such a gorgeous effect I think it'll be worth the effort to practice and get better.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!