Do you like to make your own christmas cards but feel the effort involved in making a quantity of cards is too much?
This is a way of making your own Christmas cards very personal. We talked earlier in the week about creating Christmas cards through embossing. Today we are going to look at three different kinds of embossing through embellishment.
For the first design you need to think about the people that you want to send the cards to. Do they like to ski, do they like to hunt, are they sports nuts, shopaholics, or computer wizards? Make a list of each person that you want to make a special card for and then list two or three things that are unique to that person. Now take the list and go to the scrapbooking department of your local craft store and match up the characteristics of your friends and family to the premade embellishments. You will also need to purchase blank cards with envelopes. They usually come in sets of a dozen. They are also available at the craft store. Then all you need do is put them together, add the slogan or holiday greeting, sign and mail.
For the second method you are going to need some materials.
Materials needed:
blank cards and envelopes
3 x 3 sheet of scrap paper
scissors
pencil
embroidery floss- baby blue
4 x 5 inch felt squares- baby blue, periwinkle
needle
pinking shears or rotary pinker
Fold the scrap paper into eighths, and using the same concept you used as a child, cut out.a snowflake. Lay the snowflake on the periwinkle felt and using the pencil carefully outline the snowflake. With the scissors, cut out the inside of the snowflake being careful not to cut the negative of the snowflake on the periwinkle felt.
Using your pinking shears, pink all four sides of the periwinkle felt rectangle. Now lay the negative of the snowflake onto the blue felt. Thread four stands of embroidery floss through needle. Beginning under the blue felt, stitch around the outline of the snowflake about and eighth of an inch in, joining the periwinkle and the blue felt. You should now have a blue snowflake framed in periwinkle.
Lay the felt snowflake on your blank card, and starting from the inside cover of the card, using a running stitch, stitch the snowflake to the card along the edge, just inside the pinked edge of the felt. Trim to fit. Now you can include your message on the inside of the card, and sign.
While there are limitless possibilites for creating your own embellishment you can begin here, take the idea and see how far you can push it into your own design.
The third method that we are going to talk about is the combination method. I can do this easily by using the design above in a smaller form (2" x 3") and applying the heat gun and embossing powder in the area that is not felted. I can also use the stylus and stencil method and add heat and embossing powders to raise areas even further.
Above all else, relax enjoy and have fun!
visit these related sites:
Embossing with Stencil and stylus
History of Christmas Ornaments
Chair decorations for the holiday
Ornaments to use or give as gifts
gift bags for the kids to make
"Copyright 2006, Mary Welling-Bonney & Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright."
