WOYWW 436 A Tidy Studio and Some Zentangles

At last I have tidied my studio! As always happens when I haven’t been using it, it had turned into a dumping ground and was an absolute mess.

This is the further side of the room.

On the left, by the lamp, is my little gallery area. In the corner is my sewing zone with my sewing machine, and the storage boxes on the shelves contain mostly textile stuff. On the right is my drawing zone.

This is the side of the room looking back towards the window.

On the left is my iMac. My cutting machine is across the corner. Misc. supplies in the storage boxes on the shelves. I’ve got all my distress inks and Infusions and Dylusions sprays and paints out (in the plastic boxes on top) so it’s not over-tidy at present! To the right is my main work area – my desk, for the purposes of WOYWW! The white unit in the foreground is one of several pull-out units. When stowed away, this one would go under the main desk but it never goes in there because that’s where I mostly sit. When pulled out, it provides an extra surface and still gives me access to the shelves – this one holds card and paper.

Here’s the desk itself.

Apart from being a bit tidier than before, not much change – you can still see the current work in progress – my Infusions mini-album.

I continue to alternate between being busy with various commitments, domestic tasks and looking after the kittens, and crashing out on the recliner suffering from extreme exhaustion! I am taking a bit of a dip with my ME at the moment which is a tremendous bore because it’s preventing me from getting much creative stuff done – this is always what gets pushed to the bottom of the heap when energy is in short supply! I am trying not to overdo things on better days – I run on adrenaline on busy days and then pay for it later. My internal clock has gone all haywire again so I’m not getting to bed till well into the small hours, and then struggle to get up in the mornings – normal ME fare!

Zentangle

I was getting so fed up with not being creative that I charged up my Apple Pencil and started drawing Zentangles on the iPad again. I can do this from the comfort of the recliner or in bed, and I can also flip back and forth to look at the step-outs for the various patterns, either in my own folder on the iPad, or online. I can also listen to audio books while I’m doing it! Multi-tasking…

Here’s my experiment with Diva Dance flowing through Paradox – I’ve always found the latter pattern problematic but think I’ve mastered it at last! Full details here.

Yesterday I completed another one, which had taken me several days to do. Full details here.

Kittens

Lily and Ruby are now 4 1/2 months old – I can’t believe how quickly the time is going, or how big they are getting! As my hubby says, they may be growing, but they are not growing up! Here they are in the kitty bed, suckling on the fluffy toy.

They won’t use the lovely new kitten bed I bought for them, and they are now getting too big for it! I got the old bigger bed out for them and they wouldn’t use that either, until my hubby put the fluffy thing in there, and now they go in to suckle, but sleep either on top of the wooden cat tree my hubby made, or in the kitty castle.

Lily pending…

(In my hubby’s pending tray in his office!)

Together on the scratching post, looking like two little meerkats on a train.

They are getting on quite well with the clicker training but both tend to have off days when they won’t concentrate! Also, when I try and put what they have learnt into practice in a situation where there are distractions that they find far more interesting, they behave as if they’ve never heard of clicker training! We persevere, though.

A couple of weeks ago they discovered what fun you can have for a minute or two with a new roll of loo paper.

The latest video of them, wrestling on the scratching post.

Health update

I got the result of my recent CT scan this week and the hernia has definitely returned. The emergency repair done in February when I was admitted for emergency surgery because of a blockage, has not even lasted a year. I knew it would fail eventually. I am seeing my surgeon again soon, according to his letter, and we will discuss options then. I really hope he agrees to admit me for elective surgery for a proper repair, and doesn’t wait for another blockage…

Zentangle Again

Another day feeling poorly with my ME… just when I thought I was getting better this week! It seems to happen when I don’t actually have to do anything. I’ve obviously been overdoing things a bit “lately and as soon as it gets the chance, by body says “REST!!”

My lack of art has been getting to me recently, so today I got my iPad and Apple Pencil out and got back to tangling! I’ve been adding quite a few Zentangles to my Pinterest album over recent days and it’s got me fired up again to do some.

Rick and Maria, the inventors of the Zentangle method of drawing, recently uploaded a video with two different tangles interwoven, which was a new idea to me.

I was so taken with this that I thought I must give it a go. Rather than being tempted to follow what Rick did too slavishly, I deliberately didn’t watch the video again straight away, but did my own thing to see how I got on.

The two tangles are Paradox and Diva Dance. When I first started, I really struggled with Paradox and it always went wrong – I couldn’t seem to get my head round it! So I abandoned it, but I thought I really should get to grips with it and I think I’ve finally got it! Diva Dance was on my “to do” list, so this was a good opportunity to try my hand at both of them.

Here is my first effort (with only a memory of the video).

I got the basics of Paradox right, but didn’t follow Rick’s instructions to make each one a mirror image of its partner, so it’s a bit random and chaotic. I added quite a bit of shading and a different “front end” to the design and it ended up looking like some weird deep sea creature!

I decided to watch the video again and try and follow Rick’s instructions a bit better. If you go to the end of the video you can see his completed version, and compare it with my take.

This is the black and white version.

Doing the Paradox sections as mirror images does give the “gingko leaf” effect that I was after. Even with the shading, I didn’t think there was quite enough contrast between the two tangles, and the woven effect didn’t show up too well, so I decided to add some colour.

This is the final result. I added some spots to enhance the watery effect of the Diva Dance.

I am quite pleased with this result.

I drew these on my iPad Pro, using the Procreate art app. It’s great because you can work in layers, and save the different stages as separate images – I tend to save the black and white version of my drawings, which I can then colour again and again to get a different effect.

In my first version, I drew the Paradox sections first, and then simply drew the Diva Dance over the top, and went back in with the eraser tool to give the woven effect. This is the lazy way! It could not be used when drawing in the traditional way with pen and paper of course, so for my second attempt, I followed Rick’s directions on the video and built up the two tangles simultaneously to get the woven effect, so that I could learn how to do it properly.

I hope any Zentangle purists out there aren’t throwing their hands up in horror, but there are definitely advantages in using the iPad Pro for Zentangles – working in layers enables you to put the string on the first layer, the actual Zentangle on the next, then the shading, and finally any colour. You can delete the string layer if it shows on the final drawing, and it’s very handy working in layers because if you make a mistake with the shading or colour, you can erase it without damaging the actual Zentangle. You can also zoom in for fine detail, and tidy up any careless pen strokes along the way. Drawing on the iPad takes as much skill as with pen and paper – more, in some ways, because even with a screen protector, the iPad doesn’t have much tooth and the Apple Pencil moves a little more freely on the surface than a pen on paper. It’s also not quite so easy to turn the drawing (or the whole iPad) as it is with a paper tile, as you work. Apart from being able to overlay lines and erase them to produce a woven effect, there aren’t too many shortcuts, and anyway if there were, I wouldn’t use them because the whole point of doing it is to enjoy the repetitive strokes, building up the pattern step by step. I do use the Paintstorm app to start my mandalas, though, because it has a nifty tool for repeating what you have drawn by a selected number of times around the circle, and this gives a nice even result, and takes a lot of the hard slog out of it – you do still have to draw the designs and I always colour each section individually on a separate layer.

I have made a Zentangle tile template on Procreate, and saved this. When I want to do a new drawing, I duplicate this file and work on the copy, so the template is available to use again and again. It is the standard 3.5 x 3.5 inches square and consists of the four layers mentioned above.

Procreate has just undergone a major upgrade and there are all sorts of new features I have yet to discover and try out. As far as I can see, there is now the ability to choose what sort of “paper” background to work on, rather than just a plain background colour – there are various textures etc. I am looking forward to trying some Zentangles on tan paper with a bit of texture.

I particularly like the ability to do Zentangles while I’m out and about (waiting for a doctor’s appointment, etc.) – I always take my iPad with me and I don’t need to take paper and pens.

The Grater Light

A couple of nights ago I was just “putting the kitchen to bed” and noticed an intriguing reflection from my cheese grater onto a brown paper bag behind it on the worktop. I just had to run for my camera!

Close up:

Gorgeous, isn’t it! I love the 3-D effect from the second, fainter reflection. (This might be worth tracing into Inkscape and cutting as two layers… Possibilities, possibilities…) I decided to work on it, using Serif PhotoPlus (my excellent photo editing software) and after cloning out the paper bag crease, and increasing the contrast using the Levels tool, it looked like this:

I then decided to have some fun with it. First, I experimented with changing the colour, using the Colour Balance tool.

Experimenting with some of the filters, I came up with the following. The Kaleidoscope filter yielded this fascinating result – it reminds me of microscopic marine plankton, and the circular shape emphasises this effect, I think.

The Polar Co-ordinates filter produced this:

and finally, the Twirl filter:

If we keep our eyes open, there is beauty to be found everywhere, even in the most mundane settings, and with a bit of imagination, it’s amazing the paths we can be taken down. I am thrilled with the organic, fluid properties of this image of a reflection from an ordinary, everyday object.

With a bit of manipulation in a photo editor, even gash photos that might be consigned to the recycle bin can be redeemed! Amazing backgrounds can be created, and infinite variety can be applied to a single image. There is no limit to where your imagination can take you, given a bit of free rein, a spare half hour or so, and some decent software. Happy playing!!

WOYWW 149

Well hello again everyone – it’s Wednesday again, and that’s Desk Day!! Julia over on the Stamping Ground organises us week by week and we show off our messy (or otherwise) work desks for the world to see – click on the link in my sidebar to join in the fun.

My “Choc-a-bloc” mixed media project is progressing slowly. The first choccie box insert has now had its depressions between the projections filled with Polyfilla One Fill and it’s been in the airing cupboard all week! It’s had its first coat of gesso. The one on the left is ready to be filled with Polyfilla when I get time, and meanwhile it’s sitting on top of my hand-made paper from last week, and my Indian flowers. I have got a clay extruder coming from Ebay, and when this arrives I will be able to pipe some stems onto the project and really start to develop the piece.

Busy day today – we went into town this morning and went to the art shop where my hubby bought my birthday present (I’ve got to wait a while for it!) – he’s giving me a set of Derwent Inktense pencils – these are totally awesome! There will be more on this in due course. I also bought some nice heavy paper for mixed media work, and on the right of the desk you can see the new pens I bought for my Zentangling, together with a lovely fat 8B soft pencil for shading, and just beyond them, some cheapie little rollers and sponge applicators for my mixed media work. I bought a nice big tub of gesso too – less expensive than my Golden gesso. (That’s the tub that looks like ice cream lol!) Just beside that, the small white objects are some old fridge magnets that I’ve painted with gesso and which I will Zentangle eventually.

Finally, on the left, propped up, is my latest sheet of Zentangles – I’ve done a separate post about these. I am very pleased with how they are going!

I haven’t put my knitting on my desk this week because it looks pretty much the same as last week, only a bit longer!

The main thing I’ve done this week is revamp my blog background, which I hope you all like! It’s still a work in progress – see the post I did yesterday on it – and hopefully soon it will be as I want it.

Happy WOYWW everyone, and thanks to everyone who visited me last week – I hope to visit a few more people this week.

New Blog Background–Work in Progress!

Thanks to my friends Wendy and Rachel, I have now been able to get my newly designed blog background and header to work. It’s still a work in progress and I apologise if some of the headings aren’t yet that easy to read – for some reason the background is coming out much darker than my original design – it’s as if a dark semi-transparent layer comes down over it immediately after you open the blog. Hopefully we will iron out this small difficulty and you will soon see it as it should be.

Details of the Design

The header consists of a montage of photos (from left to right) of some knitting I did ages ago (now awaiting unravelling and knitting up again) – Kaffe Fasset style in yellows and purples. I love that tunic top, but unfortunately it is now too small for me, but one day it will be knitted again in all its former glory!

In the middle is a snippet of an interesting rock formation at the Bullring in Oban.

On the right is my first piece of hand-made paper made from recycled paper towels (kitchen roll), distress inks, DIY glimmer mist and gilding flakes.

The butterfly is an image I had on my computer, and the flowers are photos I took of several hibiscus flowers I made last year according to Penny Duncan’s cut file of the hibiscus flower – I extracted them from the background and they are now useful as digital elements in my projects.

I did the design of the whole blog background in a combination of Serif CraftArtist Platinum and Serif PhotoPlus, and the faux embroidered border along the bottom of the header was an element from CraftArtist. The montages were done by using different blending modes and transparency settings.

The main body of the blog consists of photographs I took last year of some ancient parish records dating back to the 1600s, from which I have created some vintage backgrounds. You can see some of them on this project – the book-style card I made for my mother’s 90th birthday last year.

Top left is a photo I took of some honeycomb, with a bee on it, and underneath this, and on the right as well, are some photos of a wonderful old cracked pot I photographed years ago when I got my first digital camera.

At the bottom on the left is a photograph of a beautiful wall that I photographed at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire when we were on holiday there several years ago.

I have also made a texture overlay of this.

Bottom right (but not really visible, I’m afraid, as it seems to be a bit cut off!) is a photo of a glorious Norfolk split flint wall. (I also made a texture overlay of this one.)

I love taking photos of walls, tiles, textures…

On both sides, I have added to the montage some of my recent digital backgrounds created from a still-life painting in oils.

Unfortunately, while the dark layer is still over the background, these are not visible.

I think this new blog background expresses far better the sort of person I am than the previous one, which I chose when I first started my blog. The new background incorporates my love of colour and texture, and photographing such things, and also some of the creativity I enjoy. It’s been a long hard slog to get it up and running, and hopefully over the next few days we’ll iron out the final niggles and you’ll see it in all its glory!

My Horrible Blog

My blog is looking HORRIBLE at the moment. I’ve been thinking for ages how fed up I was getting with the old background – I’ve had it since I first started, and it’s feeling pretty tired these days, and really doesn’t express who I am, so I decided to revamp it. I’ve designed a nice background in Serif CraftArtist Platinum, using my own photos, including some pictures of my own work.

Some time ago my friend Wendy sent me some instructions how to change the background, and I have been trying since last night, absolutely without success – the picture is coming out much too small, and if I try and change the size of my blog and the columns in the layout editor, nothing will fit.

I’m at the hair tearing stage now, and have emailed Wendy for some urgent help – and if I can’t sort this out, it will either go on looking quite ’orrible, or I’ll have to resort to another pre-made one, which I really don’t want to do.

So my apologies everyone for allowing such an eyesore to appear in my name in Blogland!! Hopefully it won’t be for too long.

Backgrounds from Oil on Canvas

Today I have created some new backgrounds to share, for use in digital art, or for printing out and using in other projects.

In the course of my parents’ clearing out their house in preparation for moving, they have been passing a lot of stuff our way, either for us to keep, or for us to take to the recycling centre for them. Amongst the last lot was a still life in oils that they no longer wanted; it’s rather dark and uninteresting, and certainly not worth much. We will probably try to sell it at a car boot sale along with various other items, but before it goes, I thought I would take some photographs of various parts of it, and create background images from them.

These were taken from the background of the painting. In each set, the first photo is the original, and subsequent ones are examples of the manipulation of the colour that I have done. I may also work on some other digital manipulation such as adding various filters, but that’s for another day. For this project I have been using Serif PhotoPlus X3 and using a combination of different Hue/Saturation/Lightness and Colour Balance settings, and converting the images to A4 size.

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Set 4

These are just a few of the backgrounds I’ve created from the oil painting. They are now all on my SkyDrive (see link in my sidebar) and can be downloaded free, if anyone wants to use them. You can also see them all in my Photobucket album:

http://s496.photobucket.com/albums/rr328/shoshiplatypus/Backgrounds/Backgrounds%20from%20Oil%20on%20Canvas/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ24

More on the Indian Floral Border

Warning – for non-Inkscape users, this blog may not mean much, but no doubt the instructions could be adapted for other vector drawing programs. Much of what I have written is for my own benefit so I don’t forget, but I hope it will also be useful for other newbie Inkscape users too. However, the svg file can be used with any program or cutter that recognises this file format, and you may simply want to use the shape without using a cutting machine.

After uploading the border to the Black Cat forum and describing what I’d done, I’ve had some very helpful hints from one of the expert members. There are always better ways of doing things, and shortcuts one doesn’t know about, etc. etc.! I’m only just beginning with Inkscape, and all hints and tips are gratefully received.

She suggested that rather than joining the pieces by combining the paths and then selecting the two nodes at each junction, it would be easier to create closed paths, and I could then just turn on “Snap to bounding box corners,” duplicate the blocks and snap them together, and then select them all and use Path>Union to weld them all together into the one piece.  Before doing this, to ensure the “holes” in the top layer remain visible, it is important to select them and join them as a single path, then select them with the outline and click “Path>Exclusion.”

She warned me that I would need to be careful that the sides to be joined were perfectly vertical or horizontal so that when they snapped together, they would meet all the way down/across, otherwise there would be a gap in the join when you pressed “Path>Union.” I asked how to do this, and she said I could introduce some guides, turn on “Snap to guides” and align the nodes to the guide. (You can also snap to the grid if you’ve made it visible.)

She also told me that if I use “stroke” rather than “fill” for my pieces, the thickness of the stroke will prevent the pieces from butting completely against each other, leaving the join line visible after pressing “Union.” Using closed paths and “fill,” they will abut completely. However, if I want to continue to use “stroke” (which I prefer), I can use geometric bounding boxes which will enable the centre of each stroke line to abut, thus eliminating the problem.

I have now done all this (a steep, but worthwhile learning curve) and have redrawn the pieces, which are now up on my Skydrive (link in sidebar) replacing the original ones.

This is the “stroke” version:

and this is the “fill” version, showing more clearly how the layers work:

As you can see from this illustration, I have designed a full pattern repeat (top centre), half patterns left and right (top left), corner piece (top right), end piece (centre), end piece with half pattern and two end pieces with a full pattern to use as a stand-alone motif (bottom). I think this covers most eventualities for using this file! I am working on a flower based on this pattern as well.

(For the extremely observant among you, you will notice in the first illustration that some of the pieces appear to have the red stroke on top, and some the green one. I have altered the version on my Skydrive so that the green layer is always on top, but did not alter these drawings as will affect various links to my Photobucket album.)

Indian Floral Border

I have finished working on my Inkscape design for this floral border today, and did some test cuts. The svgs have now been uploaded to my Skydrive and are available for free download – see the link in my sidebar.

As you can see from this bitmap image, I have created a left and right pattern repeat piece, a full pattern repeat, a corner piece and an end piece. This border can therefore be made any length or width, making a complete frame (square or rectangular) with the corner piece, or using the end piece for a stand-alone border.

All you’d need to do to create your own design with these would be to line them up as carefully as you can, and combine the paths. Both nodes at the overlap would need to be selected and joined.

The black shapes are cut from the green, so that when it is layered onto the red piece (mat layer), the colour of the mat layer shows through.

Here are a couple of test cuts I did. I was very pleased with how Sheba (my Black Cat Cougar cutting machine) coped with these. The corner was cut fairly large as I wanted to see how it would come out; it cut very well, so I reduced the size of the border somewhat, and then cut another piece which I created with several pattern repeats, and an end piece at each end. This could be cut smaller again, if you wanted.

I have deliberately used bright contrasting colours so that the design would show up. The card is American Crafts cardstock which cuts very well with the Cougar.

When I get the pen holder for Sheba, I will probably design another layer – a line drawing to embellish the top layer further. This could be done with gel pen, or a glue pen with glitter etc. added afterwards.

I am also working on a flower design using this motif, which I will share with you when it’s finished. In addition, I am working on some multi-layered Paisley designs for a rich effect. I’ve been looking at pictures of Indian fabrics, and these are a very rich source for design – lovely patterns, colours and textures.

My plan is to make up several different Paisley patterns, with layers that can be used in different combinations, and also design some background papers for printing, that these shapes could be added to. Many of the Indian fabrics have lovely small repeating patterns, with the bold printed or embroidered shapes on top. In paper and card, these could be further embellished with foiling, gems, embossing, glitter, etc. etc.

Watch this space!!

WOYWW 142

Another week gone by! On my desk this week is a continuation of last week’s project.

Having finished the 3-D silver butterflies card, I wanted to make an insert for it, and a box. I decided I would give it to my sister for her birthday at the beginning of March. We are seeing them tomorrow and I thought she could have it then – it’s really a combined card and present!

On the left is a piece of fairly dense silver-grey card with a bit of sparkle to it, which I bought at a craft show last year. It feels rather similar to the very stiff dark blue card that I blunted my blade and damaged my mat trying to cut when I first started with Sheba, my Black Cat Cougar cutting machine, and not wanting to risk any such thing happening again, I used her 60+ degree blade, which is a heavy-duty version of the normal 60 degree blade. The small cuts at the top of the sheet are all the test rectangles I cut, starting with very low force and gradually working up until I was happy. I was then able to cut out the mat layers for my silver butterfly – I designed the mat layer in Inkscape today so that butterfly svg is now complete – the revised version is now on my Skydrive for free download if anyone would like to use it.

On the right of my desk, at the front, you can see the small butterfly on its mat layer. I did two of these; one of them is used as a closure for the inside wrapper of the card box. I am doing another post about the completion of the 3-D silver butterflies project.

At the back of the desk on the right are a couple of doilies that have been hanging around – I am going to use them in project sometime, and they need to be put away till I’m ready!

In the centre is the box I’ve made for the card, made from the same card as the mat layer of the butterflies. The lid is covered with a printout of a free butterfly background paper I downloaded from the Internet today. In front is the 3-D butterfly card open, with its card insert fixed in. This is made of vellum, printed with another butterfly background image I downloaded and altered the colours – I first desaturated it and then re-coloured it blue, using Serif PhotoPlus. The sentiment is text on a path, in grey. I have stuck down one of my complete-cut silver butterflies under the card insert, bottom right, and it shows through the vellum in a nice subtle way – so subtle you can’t actually see it on this photo.

Not sure how many desks I’ll get to visit tomorrow as we are going to my parents’ in the afternoon and I may be too tired later. I am not sleeping at all well at the moment and spend most of the morning in bed!

Happy WOYWW, everyone!

Valentine Card for my Hubby

Following on from yesterday’s post, I have now completed the card for my hubby for Valentine’s day, based on the digital layout I did last year, using Serif CraftArtist:

The first thing I did was to cut out the three layers of card with heart apertures, using Sheba, my Black Cat Cougar cutting machine. Since learning from Black Cat forum members that setting the blade higher results in better cuts, I cannot believe how much better Sheba is cutting, and how much less force I am needing. I am now setting the blade two CDs’ thickness above the media on the mat. Of course, the card I am using has proved itself to cut very well – I have used 3 colours from the Tim Holtz Distress Core’dinations stack, not because I want to avail myself of the benefits of Core’dinations paper, but because the colours were more or less what I wanted – Aged Mahogany, Victorian Velvet and Milled Lavender. The effect is slightly less mauve than the digital layout.

I printed out a background on some 100 gsm paper, from the same digikit that I did the layout from – “Valentine’s Day 2011,” and cut a small piece from that, which I stuck behind the aperture in the Aged Mahogany paper, which is the back layer. (I also printed out a sheet of this background on some heavier card to go on the back of the finished card, to counteract the weight on the front of the card, and to finish it off nicely.)

I cut out some small hearts from red cardstock that I had – from an online paper mill, unknown weight but cuts really well – I cut 3 different sizes, ranging from 3/4 in down to just under 1/2 in. Some of these would be stuck down, and others would float above the surface on narrow acetate strips.

I thought I was going to have to make some new flowers for this project, but I had four pink roses left from my mother’s 90th birthday card that I made last year, and also various odd flowers that I’d made at various times, and with the addition of a few leaves and some dark red and white feathers, these would provide the embellishment for the bottom of the card.

Here’s a mock-up of the card pieces and the flowers.

Assembling the card was interesting. I wanted a good, deep dimensional feel to this card, to follow through from the digital layout inspiration. I used a double thickness of double-sided foam tape between each of the layers, and when they were all stuck together, I ran some double-sided tape around the edges and adhered some narrow pink satin ribbon with pretty picot edges to cover the rather unsightly edges.

Before I stuck it all together, I stuck some of the small hearts onto the background paper in the central heart, and stuck the rest onto narrow acetate strips, which I then glued between the layers, using Scotch Quick-Dry adhesive – a wonderful new find, thanks to Lucy on the Black Cat forum – it really does dry quickly, and it gives a very good strong bond, too. (Can one ever have enough different types of glue? One needs so many different ones for all the different things one does!)

The flowers and feathers were stuck down using hot glue, which has to be my favourite glue for this sort of thing, as it gives a more or less instant, very strong bond, and really is the only thing for making, and sticking down, flowers.

I had some difficulty cutting the small scalloped heart with the word “hugs” in the centre, as there was really too much detail to cut very small without the detail blade for Sheba (which I haven’t yet got). In the end I made it 2 inches across, and then made a mat layer for it in gold mirror card to show off the cut better. (I have just learnt how to do nesting shapes in Inkscape!) This embellishment was finished off with a small bow to match that on the floral embellishment, and also a tiny charm I bought at the recent craft show.

Here is a picture of the main design of the card. It measures 6 inches square.

To mount this whole design, I matted it onto some dark red card, and created a narrow mat layer in gold mirror card, which in turn was glued down to the main card, also made of the same dark red card. As the finished card is 8 inches square, I had to make this of two pieces, but the join is round the back, and mostly covered by the back printed background piece, so it is not obvious.

Here is a picture of the finished card.

The following pictures show various close-up shots, showing the detail of the embellishments etc.

The last two photos show the ribbon covering the unsightly edges of the layered card and foam tape.

After all my misgivings about not being able to make my dear hubby a special card this year, I have managed it after all! He is so wonderful, and does so much for me, and I am so grateful to have him as my lifelong companion and soul-mate, and I wanted to make him something special to let him know how much I appreciate him. I hope he likes the result!