Tuesday 15 July 2014

Christmas card - upcycling again

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is to 'glam it up' with sparkle, glitter, bling, shine etc. I used the lot after starting out with a Christmas card from last year's 'received cards' box:
 I used:

- 6" x 6" square cream card blank

- Christmas card front which was about 6" square until I trimmed it down a bit - shiny with gold sparkle on, a great starting point! To finish off the edge of the image I ran a Sakura Calligrapher 5.00mm gold pen around the edge - a trick I picked up whilst looking at a Joanna Sheen tutorial

- the red backing card I used is lovely deep red matt mirri card, just bought from Joanna Sheen's shop and it's called 'Red Velvet'. Not overly cheap at £2.49 for 3 sheets but really lush. Had actually bought it with die cut poinsettias in mind (as suggested on the website) so that would be more economical use in future 

- next was the sentiment, although me not daft and did it before assembling the card. Instead of sparkly embossing, I found a packet of lovely gold Papermania Glitteration's Sentiments hidden away - much to my delight!

- next I assembled the card and gawped at it for a while before realising that a touch of gold holly (Anita's Dimensions sticker) plus a few red blingy gems for the berries would sort of balance it more

- the one thing I'd forgotten to do was to run the gold pen around the edge of the Red Velvet backing card so I took a huge gamble, bearing in mind that the card was finished by then. As I use Collall glue there was just enough 'play' to allow me to slip a piece of paper just marginally underneath each side in turn for protection and to run the gold pen down the side of the red card. Not a perfect result - but what's a little wibble wobble on a hand made card :) Plus, it certainly taught me to always do that part first!

So there we have sparkle, glitter, bling and shine all together :) Plus, I'd like to enter this card into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for July.

Len spotted the card on my desk and asked where I'd bought it (in the middle of July?!) - praise indeed though!

Di
x

19 comments:

  1. THis is absolutely stunning Di! And to think it's a recycled card makes it even more special! I love the gold edging and spring of holly & berries! Well done!

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  2. Me, I like touch of wiggle wobble on edging...sort of a distressed glimmer edge! If I wigle wobble, I just go back over the other edges and wobble once on each one too...then it looks as if i planned it. I do the same with inked edges! lol

    Great upcycled card. It was our week to upcycle!

    I really love the gold holly border...so shiny and beautiful!

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  3. Wow Di this is gorgeous, love how you have finished the edges with the gold pen and the holly sprig looks great!! xx

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  4. Another lovely card for the Christmas collection. They say we learn by our mistakes LOL!!

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  5. Beautiful card Di and I love sparkly and blingy Christmas cards ...I think its great to up cycle any cards...

    Anne

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  6. Gorgeous card, Di - thanks for sharing for both of my CHNC challenges - hope to see you again soon. x

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  7. What a great idea..love how you added all the sparkle! Perfect for a Christmas card!

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  8. Fabulous upcycling! Thought I left a message already but must have deleted it...or put it on the wrong post.

    I do try to get round all the playmates. I know most of the ladies now and it is fun to drop by and see what they have created.

    Sometimes life gets busy and I only get one row visited...but I do try to visit everyone. I also visit everyone at Rudolph Days.

    Again, there are a lot of the same ladies participating.

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  9. Hello there Di,

    This is a beautiful card! How smart of you to use cards from the previous year. I don't send out many so don't receive many.

    Hope you and Len are doing well.

    Love,
    Kay

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  10. Gorgeous card Di, definitely glam! There's something very luxurious about red and gold together which really draws the eye. Len is clearly a man of taste :) Hugs, Elizabeth xx

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  11. Fantastic creation and brilliant up-cycling, love the gold holly and the sentiment.
    Thanks for you lovely mail and very well done you, I am very proud of you.

    Kath x

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  12. Gorgeous card Di loving the sparkle and great image to recycle xx

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  13. This is beautiful Di, I love the red and gold, and the blingy image, perfect for recycling.
    Jean x

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  14. I likie. Wibbly wobbly and all! Great card there.
    Hugs
    xx

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  15. It is gorgeous! Yourself, Mrs A and Hettie are fabulous upcyclers! It's a lovely card and anyone will be happy to receive it. Couldn't see a wobbly line and I won't look back at it now. Your email had me laughing a lot, lol! Have a good rest of the week, hopefully no idiots/twatts/twits allowed Karen xx

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  16. Oh, my, this looks like a treasure chest! The gold holly and Merry Christmas sets it off beautifully! Thanks so much for the birthday greetings! You helped to make my day special!

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  17. This is definitely glammed up! Nice and sparkly!!

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  18. Gorgeous and sparkly!

    Thanks for joining us at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra.

    Helen x

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