My First Christmas Card for 2009!!!

Who's been to Church and lit a candle?.......

....here she comes......

Isn't she the cutest?

Ooh I just couldn't resist this little Tilda with her candle,
there is another stamp that is almost identical but I just
loved her tiny halo of flowers....
So onto this card, I have taken lots of photo's for a little
tutorial so you can see how it developed, I really don't
know what the outcome will be sometimes.....

Right, I really don't want to teach your grandmother
how to suck eggs so to speak, but lots of people are
really not aware of the time and effort we put into
our cards, some think that these images come ready
coloured and cut out and we just stick all these
ready made things onto our cards!!!!
NOT THE CASE!!! So here is my little Tilda,
Rubber Stamp stuck onto an acrylic block all ready
to be inked up with Staz On permanent ink. The
reason I have a 'New' sticker on this is, I have a few
that are not as wet, so rather than throw them out
I use them for any distressing or light stamping.
Here she is coloured-in using my Le Plume II
watercolour pens.


The idea for this card came when I was sorting
through my templates and found this beautiful Arch
shape, my original idea was of her looking
through the window (I will try that one next time)
then I thought I would have her coming through
the Church doors....

I cut the Arch shape out of the beautiful paper
that I would be using on my card (these papers
are My Mind's Eye signature Christmas glitter
Book and are a must)!!!
As my Tilda stamped image was not long enough
to reach the bottom of the door I used this blue
paper from Scenic Route. You can see that I have cut
the bottom of the white stamped image, just
leaving her feet, this is to give the impression that
she is walking onto the blue stone floor! I then added
to the outer stamped image distress inks from the
Tim Holtz range, Vintage Photo, Frayed Burlap and
then Antique Linen.

Next the doors; I cut the Arch Shape in half and
drew lines from top to bottom on both doors
with my Le Plume II Dark Brown water colour
pen and then using a little water on my brush
blended the lines. Each door was stuck-on in two
places with ds tape and left to run along the door to
look like panels of wood going in the opposite direction.
I then used the same pen to enhance the detail
of wood in certain places, I also drew some
fine lines and wood knots with a fine water
colour brush.

This is so you can see how fabby doo this paper is,
don't know if the glitter shows up much?

Ok, the doors have had another coat of Tim Holtz
Vintage Photo distressing ink to give it a deeper
colour. Don't you think this double sided tape looks
pretty good!! ha ha

Here I am measuring where Tilda will be once
the front of the paper and doors sit on top of
her and where she will appear when the doors
open. Also the little sentiment I got from the
internet, "Bless us Lord this Christmas with
quietness of mind, Teach us to be patient and
always to be kind"! Just thought that was so
sweet.

As you can see I have torn the edges of the sentiment
as it was too big, I then edged it with these two
colours and they made this fab teal colour, (I think
I will be mixing those two again).

The door handles were made from the stems of my
paper roses, I twisted one end around my
finger to form the circle and twisted again
to secure, then punched two small holes in the door
with my eyelet gun and threaded them through...

twisted them again twice and cut off the
excess. Here is the back of the paper with the back
of the door showing, you can see how the door is only
fixed in two places either side.

How fabby doo does this door look!! I am really
pleased with it.

I have then attached some lace (secured only at
the back) to form my trellis for my climbing rose,
this is so I can glue some of my beautiful white
leaves underneath as well as on top.

Now I stick my Tilda and blue floor together
before securing to the card, the paper with the
doors is then finally attached to the card.

Now I can decorate the trellis with these beautiful
leaves I have punched, my paper roses I have twisted
together for form a climber, sequins, hearts and a little white
butterfly. (I know there are no butterflies at
Christmas)! The ribbon on the sentiment is from stash
as is the little silver bell and diamante star.
I have then finished off with some beautiful glistening
stickles in Crystal, around Tilda, my roses and butterfly..
If you look on the third and fourth picture at the top
of this post you will also see that I have painted in some
stones for the floor on the blue paper.

Here she is all lit up!
Phew is this a record for the longest post?
I hope you all managed to stay awake?
TFL, and Happy Crafting to you all, Sue xx