Having a Winter Moment!

The Winter Moments to which I refer is actually the name of a Range of Sizzix dies and folders designed by the wonderful (and also pretty talented!) Paula Pascual. Anyone who has taken even a passing interest in my blog will know that it is never too early to make Christmas cards, Boxing day is a good time to start in my opinion!

The Idea came from something I saw in a local shop, an idea which I was able to recall thanks to the wonders of modern technology (camera phone!). 

The finished card in no way resembles the Welsh love spoon which inspired it in the same way that my best ideas rarely come from within the craft industry itself. with the busy lives we all seem to lead these days it's so important to record ideas and inspiration before they are snuffed out by something more or, as is usually the case, less important.

The Sizzix products I used are below, click on each one to link to the website:

• Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit - 658300
• Framelits Die Set w/Stamps - Flowers, Star By Paula Pascual (658621)
• Framelits Die Set w/Stamps - Trees, Leafy By Paula Pascual (658623)
• Sizzix Sizzlits Alphabet Set - Antiqua Capital Letters (658337)
• Sizzix Bigz XL Alphabet Die - Block Talk (658563)

I started by die cutting the letters L, V and E from red glitter card, Next I cut three flower shapes from Red and green glitter card. Using a stylus tool and a moulding mat ( the Susan Tierney-Cockburn tool kit is a must in our design room at the moment!) I added dimension to the small and large red flowers by applying a stirring motion in the centre of each before mounting all the flower elements together finishing with an adhesive gem in the centre. I used the flower in place of the letter 'O' to form the word 'LOVE'. Next, I arranged the letters and measured along their length.

At this point I turned to my PC and typed the phrase '....and best wishes this Christmas from the Hughes Family' before printing it in red onto a 16 x 22cm sheet of quality heavyweight white card (I always use Inspire Me Papers) The phrase measures 13cm the same as the word 'LOVE'. Once the base card was folded I carefully attached the word/poinsettia one at a time.

Here are a couple more created using the same principle, the word Christmas was die cut using the Block Talk Die which is one of my current favourites for obvious reasons! If you love the flower/star dies, and let's face it, who wouldn't? they are accompanied by a fabulous set of coordinating stamps, which is staggering value. and the other great thing about them is that you can use them all year round!