Enamelling Letters - How I Did It

Hello Everyone,


I recently mentioned in a WOYWW post (Week 478) that I'd been shown a way to give old letters a new look ... you know the ones, bought on a whim but never been used! I should say that although it's new to me, I'm sure many of you have seen it/done it before. This is what the letters looked like after the makeover.

For the record, just in case, like me, you haven't tried it before, here's how it's done.

First, I chose a set of flocked letters that I didn't love - American Crafts Thickers Emerald - how inappropriate is that name! Look at them - they don't stick to the backing sheet anymore, in fact I don't think they ever did, and, in truth, there's never been any call for that colour in any of the scrapbook layouts I've made.

I picked out the letters for the title I wanted then did a colour tester on a letter 'z' - there's not much call for 'z's making them pretty disposable.

Next I coloured the letters using two Promarkers in the colours I wanted, Cardinal Red and Cobalt Blue.

This proved to be more tricky than I thought because of the flocking - I pressed too hard with the pen to begin with - something to bear in mind next time I do this.

The letters were left to dry before I covered them with embossing fluid using an American Crafts brush tip pen. These pens come in a pack of three, all with different tips - the others are broad tip and medium tip but I found the brush tip the best for this job.

The final stage is to cover them with clear embossing powder - I used Stamps Away powder but any clear EP will do - and use a heat tool to melt the powder. This is the really fiddly stage - I found I needed a pair of tweezers to stop the letters scooting all over the place.

Also, it took several reapplications of both the embossing fluid and the powder before I got the high gloss finish I was looking for but the end result is well worth the effort. One thing to note is that the affect of embossing was to deepen and enrich the two shades chosen as can be seen in this photo. This turned out to be a happy accident!

Here's the page with the finished title and as can be seen the colours are perfect.The photo was taken at the Artist Textiles Exhibition - Picasso to Warhol at New Lanark in April this year.

I was delighted with the result - I love the glossy finish - and changing the colour extended the use of letters I might have eventually consigned to the bin.

Take care and have a great day tomorrow.

HANDY HIPPO THURSDAY! - WEEK #6

Hello Everyone

And happy Handy Hippo Thursday to you all - I hope you are all well and having a good week.

This week’s card is an A5 tent shape which features a beautiful panel of embossed butterflies and a topper of gorgeous dandelions, stamped and heat embossed in white, both are matted on to gold mirri card. The embellishments are tiny punched and glittered butterflies, you can just about see the glitter in the photograph, and a pretty blue ribbon.

As usual materials used for this project are available from Handy Hippo and if you would like to make the same project then simply click on the magic button below and it will take you directly to a shopping cart that contains everything you would need to make it. Once there, you can simply and easily remove any of the items that you already have in your craft stash.

It’s easy to add to your basket any other purchase that you might like and if something is temporarily out of stock you can request to be emailed once it is back in stock.

Here's how I made the card:

• Adhere a piece of K & Co patterned paper to the front of a white A5 card base.
• Using the Wings embossing folder, emboss a piece of brown card measuring 5¾” x 4" and mat it on to gold mirri card measuring slightly larger all round. 
• Wrap a length of the patterned ribbon, the aqua shade, around the panel.
• Create the topper by stamping, using VersaMark, the dandelion stamp onto a piece of the K & Co patterned paper and heat emboss with white powder. 
• Trim the stamped image to the desired size and firstly mat it on to brown card trimmed slightly larger and then mat it on to gold mirri, again measuring slightly larger than the brown mat.
• Create a greeting topper in the same way using the 'Thanks' stamp and the tiny butterfly from the Everyday Greetings set. Trim the greeting and mat on to a piece of the K & Co paper and gold mirri card.
• Punch three tiny butterflies.
• Glue the embossed panel as in the photograph, then set the dandelion topper to the top left, overlapping it slightly. 
• Using glue gel, fix the butterflies as shown and when set add glitter glue to the bodies and wing tips. 

Once again, I haven't added an insert to the card yet ... I will when I decide to send it to someone. 

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to WOYWW this week ... I've been feeling a bit ropey these last couple of days and consequently been absent from the craft space. In fact, for the first time I'm going to attempt to schedule this post - I doubt I'll be up at midnight as is my usual way of making sure this post goes out on Thursday ... wish me luck :) Will be back as soon as I'm feeling up to it.

In the meantime, happy crafting,

Altered Notebook Cover

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend and that Monday hasn't come as too much of a shock for you.

I didn't accomplish much yesterday but I did complete this little project.

I have quite a large collection of notebooks with fairly boring covers, leftovers from when the craft space was my home office, and this one was no exception. But it's no longer an office so my notebooks don't have to be so plain and uninteresting to look at so I'm on a mission to alter the covers of them all starting with this one.

I like green, or should I say, certain shades of green are my favourites, e.g. olive tones, hunter green, some pastel shades such as eau de nil and the duck egg shades, but there are other shades that are just not to my taste at all - the vile greens. And the cover of this notebook was very definitely the latter.

I began by painting with Adirondack dabbers, Mushroom and Juniper, around the edges just to tone the green down a bit, before building a collage on both the front and back covers. Then I brought together pieces of torn pattern papers, an old map print-out, a French dictionary page and a variety of antique images of flowers and birds, most from Green Paper, and put together a collage.

The flowers and butterflies were punched out of more snippets of paper and glittered up with yellow Stickles. The notebook is going to be used for pasting/writing in any words, etc., which I think could be used on cards or scrap layouts so the EM brought out his trusty Labelmaker and typed up the relevant words - all I had to do was randomly stick them onto the front.

The back - no flowers and butterflies here.

Being a thing of 'shreds and patches' the collage is definitely one for Di over at Pixie's Sunday Snippet Challenge #9 and as nothing new was used in the making - even the notebook was so old it had an address label from out years in Derbyshire on the front ... we've been in Scotland some 10 years now!!

If you've ever thought of doing something similar I can recommend it and can only urge you to have a go. You don't have to be a super talented artist - something I always thought you had to be - you just have to give it a go. If I can do it, anyone can :))

I think the collage has cheered up the notebook immensely and now it's a pleasure to behold.When I find the time those other notebooks are in for a complete makeover too :)

No headbanger on Dancing on Ice last night, but a few moves I thought decidedly chancy! And I'm not entirely happy with the result ... but then I don't phone vote so I can't be too critical.  It's many years since I donned a pair of ice skates, and after watching this series I've lost the yen to do so ... skating has got way to much like a blood sport for me!!!

Right, I'm off to do a bit of blog visiting ... I've a bit of catching up to do after a weekend of being out and about and generally playing hooky.

Happy Crafting,

Creating a Scene for Christmas - It's Rudolph Day

Hello to you all,

Here I am at the end of a busy day and it's not been bad at all. My DH was at the hospital today and has been declared officially free of cancer - yippee! It's been a long five years and we're so glad it's all over :)

After the obligatory domestic stuff this morning I managed to slip into the craft space for a bit of R&R this afternoon.

Hazel over at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - #60 - set us the task of creating a scene and here's what I came up with.

I've been recycling again ... the idyllic winter scene was cut out of another commercially bought card we received two Christmases ago! I have added glitter glue (Stickles Crystal) to it and then backed it with a die-cut that is also edged with glitter glue (Stickles Burgundy). I've added sprays of holly (Penny Black Winter Bough) embossed with transparent crystal powder (Stamp 'N Stuff) to a white card base and strips of iridescent glue on the front and inside edges. Finally, I've embellished it with some red card candy in the corners.

I really like the effect of the embossing, subtle but pretty. I thought this stamp, one of my favourites from Docrafts,  Penelope & Percy, Christmas Greetings, appropriate for the scene.

As well as submitting this card to CHNC, I will be entering it over at Sandra's, Stamping for Pleasure, for February's Rudolph Day tomorrow when Mr Linky is up and running - it's my first entry for this challenge as I was too late discovering it in January.

Okay, I'd better get a wriggle on if I want to get over to Hazel's before the challenge closes.

Happy Crafting,

Sleepy Puppy - a recycled snippet card

Hi Folks

I'm nice and early this morning ... no idea why, but I was up with the lark :)

Whilst doing a bit of blog hopping yesterday, I came across Cynthia, the Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog and was tickled to read that it was Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day. As Cynthia says, a very odd day to celebrate :) However, it prompted her to challenge us to make something that features a dog/dogs and this is what I came up with:

My recent organising session turned up this wee chap. He first appeared on a High Street bought card a non-crafting friend sent me for my birthday ... I thought he was way too cute to throw out so cut him out of the card for recycling one day.  Because the illustration is monochrome, I've stayed with the black/white colour combo. This is the first time I've used this embossing folder ... which is a crime since I got it way back in the middle of last year! ... and it is lovely. The tiny paw print stamp is one I brought back from Massachusetts in 1996. The price tag is still on it - $3.99! That's £2.55 in today's exchange rate and a bit of a search in the online catalogue index found at Blade Rubber Stamps suggests that it is still available, now costing £3.90 ... now that's inflation for you :)

Strategically placed paw prints on the inside ...

All materials are either from my snippet mountain, recyled items box, or from stash so it's another for Di's Crafty Snippets, Number 8, and as not a new penny was spent in the making of it, it definitely is:

Materials used:

• White  5" square scalloped-edge card base.
• Pieces of  card, black & white, trimmed to fit card and recycled topper.
• All-In-One Cuttlebug embossing folder, True Love.
• Magenta Paw Print stamp.
• Memento ink pad, Tuxedo Black
• Black/white stitched ribbon and black self-adhesive gems from stash.

The sun is out today and there's a gentle breeze, well, for now at any rate, so we should get out this afternoon for our daily walk ... in this mercurial climate of ours, what's the betting it will be raining by then. The EM has an OP appointment this morning - hopefully his last after his brush with cancer, as it is over 5 years since he had an operation to remove a malignant melanoma - fingers crossed.

The visit to the dentist was good and bad - good news that I'm a good girl and maintaining my usual high standards in the teeth cleaning department, bad news that I really must have that root canal job done - the temporary filling, is just that - temporary! So an appointment has been made for next month :( Oh dear, someone pass me the morphine!!!

It's almost 10am my time, so I'm off to brew another cuppa before contemplating my next project.

I hope all is going well for you, that you are well, and if not, wishing you a speedy recovery. Have a great weekend everyone and ...

... keep crafting :)

HANDY HIPPO THURSDAY! - WEEK #5

Hello Everyone,

And a very Happy Handy Hippo day to you all too, wherever you are. Here in Scotland the weather is dire, hope that's not the case for you.

I've made a very simple and easy card to share with you this week. 

This is a white A5 size card covered in a stunning vintage floral design glittered patterned paper from K & Co ... too beautiful to cover up. The topper, made by Kanban, is of one of the small native British birds, matted on to two co-ordinating designs from the same paper pad as the floral base. 

Materials used for this project are available from Handy Hippo and if you would like to make the same project then simply click on the magic button below and it will take you directly to a shopping cart that contains everything you would need to make it. Once there, you can simply and easily remove any of the items that you already have in your craft stash. 

It’s easy to add to your basket any other purchase that you might like and if something is temporarily out of stock you can request to be emailed once it is back in stock.

How I made this card:

• First, I covered the front of an A5 card with the design paper layered on a coordinating paper from the same paper pad - the design chosen has an illustration of the lilac flower of the hosta plant which I thought would look good with the topper, and the mat is of a small dark brown pattern.
• Edge the front of the card with distress ink
• Next I used only the smallest layer of the decoupaged bird  topper - there are three layers in the pack so two are left for another day - and I cut two mats from two complimentary sheets from the paper pack. 
• As you can see they are shaped to match the topper - if you have a die the right shape you could use that to cut your mats. I don't have these yet so this is how I make them. Firstly, I trim a square of coordinating paper just slightly larger than the topper, then trim another square in the second coordinating paper. Using a small circle punch I snip out the corners to match the topper - simple to do and effective.
• Glue the layers together with glue gel and edge the topper with glitter glue - leave to dry before adhering to the card front. 
• Embellish the card with a length of organza ribbon, one of the greetings that comes with the toppers (there's a few to choose from) which is matted on to a daisy flower punched from one of the coordinating papers, and two rows of tiny white pearls.

You will have noticed that I haven't decorated the inside or back yet as I normally do, I decided to leave this card until I know who is going to send it to.

Handy Hippo stocks a wide range of 12 x 12 paper pads full of stunning designs that would be suitable for cardmaking as well as scrapbook layouts. The Flora and Fauna pack by K & Co that I've used here is packed with stunning designs, and they are double-sided too - there's even some printed vellum in a gorgeous shade of teal.

If you haven't thought of using 12x12 papers for cardmaking before, I hope this card encourages you to give it a try.

I'm out this morning ... the dreaded dentist ... but I'll be back later to read your comments.

In the meantime, happy crafting,

Spring Aconites Card

Evening All,

Well, it's rained all day here, hardly let up at all, so not much sign of the spring sunshine we are all hankering after. However, the yellow aconites, from an original watercolour by the artist Elizabeth Davies, in this card remind us that spring is on its way.

While I was tidying the drawer that holds all the envelopes & card bases   - and there's a lot of in that drawer - I came across this long forgotten card base. It's ancient ... bought back when I did cross stitch for a project that was never completed. In fact, never got started ... my eyesight just got too bad to be bothered. Anyway, I almost threw it out, but then thought the spray of aconites at the bottom were too pretty for that, so I pondered as to what to do with it and this is the result.

You'd hardly believe it but there are gold highlights, made using gilding flakes. I tried every which way to get the gold to show up on the photograph and eventually had to lay it down under the Ottlite to get anything near the look of it.

Not perfect, but you can just about see the gold on the cage and around the aconite spray.

I found some pretty paper that, once trimmed and edge-punched, blended well for the inside ...

... and the back.

Almost everything in this card has most definitely risen from the ashes of my stash: the stamp had its first inking even though I've had it since last year, the ProMarkers got the first airing in many a month, the gilding flakes date back almost a year, the patterned paper is from September 2010 magazine. Even the ink pads, edge punch and the ribbon have been around forever :) That being the case this card qualifies for Di's Snippet Challenge.

Materials I used:

The very old cream card base with oval aperture.
Piece of leftover paper - mine was from Romantique 6x6 paper pad from Prima and chosen because the colour was fairly neutral.
Patterned Paper - The Nancy Watt Collection, Owls and Swirls pack - free with Making Cards
Ink pads - Memento, Rich Cocoa for stamping, Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo.
Stamp - Crafty Individuals, CI-320
ProMarkers - Pastel Yellow, Buttercup, Pear Green, Marsh Green, Sandstone
Quickie Glue pen and Creative Expressions Sunshine Gilding Flakes
Martha Stewart edge punch - the name is long forgotten but it is my one and only much treasured MS punch :)
Ribbon and gems from stash.


I'm also going to submit this card to the following:

Waste Not Wednesdays - #8  - as it is the first outing for this stamp.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 142 - anything goes
Crafts and Me Challenge 72 - shades of spring

And of course it merits the following:

Yes, I watched Tim Holtz on QVC TV for an hour or so yesterday and did not succumb to temptation ... true, I sat on my hands all the while, but even Tim's persuasive chat did not make me break my pledge to use it up! However, I was sorely tempted when I saw some of Anna Griffins stunning papers in a later programme - I may have to take the pledge not to watch QVC TV on craft days :)

I'm off to the dentist for a check-up tomorrow ... I'd rather give birth if truth be known but there's no getting out of it.

On a happier note I'll be back with my Handy Hippo Thursday share tomorrow too ... much more pleasant ... so see you then.

Happy Crafting,

HANDY HIPPO THURSDAY! - WEEK #3

Good Morning Everyone

Yippee, it's Handy Hippo Thursday again - I can't believe a whole week has gone by already. It must be because I'm really enjoying this experience, hope you are too.  Before I show this week's fab project, I'd like to thank everyone who pops in on Thursdays and leaves such lovely comments - I appreciate the support.

Now here's the card I want to share with you this week.

Front

Because I didn't make a Valentine Card last week, I thought I would this week, but one with a difference ... there's a heart, yes, and even a couple of butterflies, but with a more non-traditional colour combination of coffee, cream and gold.

This project was made using the following stamp set. I haven't used the small stamp on this project but I can see its potential. As you can see, it's a beautiful set of stamps, and very popular, so popular that stock is selling very quickly.

I used the lovely sentiment in the inside of the card.

Inside

These Wild Rose Studio papers and stamp set are just gorgeous and suit the romantic theme perfectly.

Back

Materials used for this project are available from Handy Hippo and if you would like to make the same project then simply click on the magic button below and it will take you directly to a shopping cart that contains everything you would need to make it. Once there, you can simply and easily remove any of the items that you already have in your craft stash.

It’s easy to add any other purchase that you might like to your basket and there's even a wishlist facility - you can even add out of stock items to this list.

So how did I go about making the card ... here is a step-by-step guide:

• The base of the card is a ready-made white A6 size card - quick and easy.
• Adhere the London postmark patterned paper from the Wild Rose Studio, Letters From Paris paper pack to the front, wrapping  it around and on to the back. Distress the edges by inking with the TH Pumice Stone ink pad.
• Tear the handwritten letter patterned paper from top left hand corner to bottom right, ink the white torn edge with the TH Tea Dye distress ink pad, then adhere it to the front of the card.
• Tear a small triangle of the postage stamp patterned paper, ink edges with the Tea Dye ink and adhere to top right corner. 
• Decorate the inside of the card using the rest of the pattern papers, again edging with Tea Dye ink.
• Using Versamark, stamp the large heart image on to another sheet of the London postmark paper and heat emboss with gold embossing powder. Repeat this and make a second image of the stamp and do the same with the sentiment stamp. 
• To make the topper, trim the large stamp, leaving just a narrow margin around the image and use a corner punch to round the corners. Trim a piece of gold mirri card to measure slightly larger than the stamped image and again round the corners with the punch. Mat the stamped image with the mirri card. Glue the topper, using glue gel to get some dimension, to the front of the card as shown.
• Trim the butterfly from the second of the stamped images and glue it to the back of a small piece of the mirri card so that the underside of the butterfly will be gold too, trim round the butterfly and ink the edges. 
• Add three of the self-adhesive pearls along the back of the butterfly and shape the wings by bending slightly upwards before adhering it with glue gel to the front of the card.
• Trim the sentiment and a gold mirri card mat, same as for the card topper, and adhere to the inside of the card.
• Trim a tiny strip from a sheet of the striped pattern paper in the pack and adhere this to the back of the card to give a decorative finish to the postmark DP.
• To finish add three of the self-adhesive pearls to the front, top left and bottom right. 

And that’s the card for this week. I do hope you like this project and that you will even make it for the Valentine in your life.  If you do, I’d love to know. Leave me a comment here, and let me know.

I'll be back next Thursday with another quite different project but, in the meantime, I hope you all have an excellent week and a lovely weekend.

Happy Crafting All,

Lovebird - a snippet card

Evening Folks

We've had our first snow here this morning, and then the sun came out this afternoon and melted it all away ... maybe that's our winter done :)

Now that I've recovered and feeling more sprightly, and many thanks for all the kind 'get well' wishes - all were  most appreciated - we spent the morning attending to neglected domestic duties. My DH is great at housework and we normally share the load 50/50 but when one of us is poorly, as I was this last week, the other's workload doesn't just double, it seems to triple, because of the added caring duties and that means some jobs just have to be ignored ... like dusting, for example. So we tackled it with gusto this morning and the house is back to its sparkling best ... lovely :)

Having done that, I can now concentrate on some crafting ... yippee! First though, here's the card that's been lying around on my desk for some time now - intended for Pixie's Crafty Snippet Challenge last week so late, but better late than never.

The eagle-eyed will recognise the paper from a recent post, Winged Love; I used the same double-sided paper, pink side only, on that Valentine card. Once again, I thought I'd use the leftovers up immediately on another card ... saves finding a home for them in the snippet box. More wings on this card ... and more love too ... well, why not? :)

This time I've used both sides of the paper and because there's green in the design I've teamed it up with a zingy green for the matting. To tone it down just a bit I've sponged all the edges with TH's Old Paper DI.  The pretty leaf trim has been in my ribbon box for more than a year, it's a leftover from something, I just can't remember what. And the bird is a die-cut sticker from a pack of quite quirky birds and butterflies - I felt it lacked a bit of definition so added a pink gem for an eye and a few more for a wing. The trim across the bottom is made up of a vintage style chipboard ribbon tag threaded with a lovely length of lime coloured satin ribbon - it's a reversible ribbon, pink on the other side ... you can just see the pink on the edge. A few more tiny  pink and green gems finish of the front.

You can see the birds more clearly on the DP strips inside the card ...

... and on the back too.

Materials used:
- white scalloped-edge base card
- Papermania textured cardstock, lime green
- My Mind's Eye Deena's Penny Lane, Feeling Groovy 'Uniquely You' Individual Blooms Paper
- Tim Holtz, Old Paper Distress Ink
- Studio112 Die-cut Stickers Bird & Butterfly
- Papermania Chipboard Tags, Nostalgia Collection
- Leaf trim and reversible satin ribbon, green/pink - Funky Farm Scrapbook Barn
- Gems - Anita's Gem Wheel

So, at the risk of overcrowding Di's playground even more this week, here's my snippet card come to play.

Still no new purchases made, so the materials for this card were all definitely sourced from stash - mostly from the snippet or forsaken and unloved pile ... I'm referring to the chipboard tags. I know lots of you love chipboard tags, and no doubt make good use them all the time, but they are the sort of item that I magpie-like drop into my basket just because I like the look of them, only to find that I never use them ... madness really!

The EM has just called up to me, he's brewed, so I must be off ... we usually watch whatever drama is on the TV at nine o'clock together and tonight it's The Hustle.

Before I go I'd like to welcome my newest followers ... I hope you are entertained and/or informed by my wee blog and that you'll keep popping in when you can.

In the meantime, I wish you all a fun-filled weekend and happy crafting,

HANDY HIPPO THURSDAY - WEEK #1

Good Morning Everyone

I’m delighted to share with you the exciting news that from today Thursday is going to be “HANDY HIPPO THURSDAY” here at the Craft Space.

Some weeks ago I was asked by Suzy at Handy Hippo if I would be interested in designing a regular project with the aim of introducing and promoting Handy Hippo’s online catalogue of crafting goodies to you all.

As I was already a happy and satisfied customer, I was absolutely delighted ... I’m sure it’s going to be fun creating projects using materials from the Handy Hippo cyber-shelves and it's my hope that you all like my projects and enjoy the experience with me.

If you haven’t already discovered Handy Hippo then you are in for a treat. This award winning online shop, established in 2004, is one the leading craft suppliers in the UK carrying a huge stock of craft products ... this includes a great range of stamps, rubber, clear and cling, embossing folders, all the popular brands of paper punches, dies, jewellery making supplies, and much more than I can possibly mention here.

 Handy Hippo also  has a well earned reputation for quality, competitive prices, I can vouch for that, and excellent customer service.

As it's nearing Valentine's day I've opted to make a romantic card using one of my favourite sentiment stamps and punched hearts - lots of them. So once you’ve checked it out, do pop over to Handy Hippo and browse the packed cyber shelves.

Craft supplies used in this project are available from Handy Hippo and if you would like to make the same project then simply click on the magic button below and it will take you directly to a shopping cart that contains everything you would need to make it. Once there, you can simply and easily remove any of the items that you already have in your craft stash.

It’s also easy to add any other purchase that you might like to your basket.

As I don’t have to list the materials I’ve used, happily that has all been done that for me, I thought it might be helpful if instead I give you a step-by-step on how the card has been made.

• Trim a sheet of  pastel pink cardstock to measure 10" by 5", then fold to form a 5" square base card.
• Cut a piece of the pink polka patterned dot card to form a 4¾" square. Ink edges with pink ink pad.
• Trim a piece of pink cardstock to measure 31/10" x 4¾" and the floral patterned paper to measure 3" x 4¾". Adhere the patterned paper centrally to the pink card. Wrap a length of the pink ribbon, cut to measure  6½" approximately, widthways and adhere securely in place at the back. Next wrap a length of the grey organza ribbon, measuring 12" approximately, lengthways, tie in a bow and trim.
• Stamp the Cherish sentiment with black ink on to a piece of the polka-dot patterned card measuring 37/10" x 3" and ink the edges with the pink ink pad. Trim the patterned paper to 1/10 more all round than the stamped topper, and the pink pastel card 1/10 more again, to create a mat. Adhere all three pieces together and then position to the right of the ribbon bow. 

• To make the flower punch a circle out of cardstock for the base, 6 heart shapes from the polka dot card, and 1 daisy flower from the patterned paper. Using a pen or your fingers shape the punched hearts to give them a bit of dimension and then rub the pink ink pad along the edges to add a bit of definition. Place a generous amount of silicone adhesive in the centre of the base circle and then position the hearts evenly in a circle - allow to dry. Glue the punched daisy and when dry add a small adhesive pearl to the middle. 
• Glue the flower to the top right corner of the topper and embellish the corners with pearls.

• To decorate decorate the inside cut two strips of patterned paper 5" long by 1¼" wide. Punch a heart shape from base of each strip and adhere a strip to each side.

• Decorate the back with one of the heart shapes from the strips used for the inside.

I hope you like my first project and I will be here again next Thursday with my second project.

By the way, signing up to receive the Handy Hippo newsletter will ensure that you are informed of the excellent on-line sales and special offers.

Happy crafting folks,