Last Christmas..

I really wasn't very prepared for anything last Christmas. Let's face it, I'm never prepared for any Christmas. Other than for what I need to do, obviously. If writing lists equated to actual presents being bought, wrapping paper and ribbon being selected, addresses being found, cards being made and then cards actually being written in and sent... I'd be done by now and have a comfortable few months ahead. Instead I started my seasonal card making today.

It started like this.

I apologise for the cornflakes. Well I don't really, they were nice (best eaten bone dry) and they shouldn't really be offending you in a picture. Besides card making and 'breakfast' (lunch) work well. In my head. It also started with a card made for a friend at uni, but this is a Christmas blog post (this is, in fact, obvious by the discussion of breakfast I know.) Anyway, most of my cards start out as me gazing at a lot of bits of paper and grumbling a bit. Ink pads and stamping blocks? This was a fancy* day!

I ended up making eight cards. Considering I didn't play theme hospital (blame the boyfriend for introducing me to that one) in the middle, that was a reasonable result. I'm choosing to ignore the hour or so on the phone to various friends. Sadly only one really merits the attention of this blog. Everything else was roughly a cut/slap on/stick affair. Hey I said all my cards were going to be individual, it's pot luck** if you get an interesting one.

No, the card I chose to make was loosely based on a window. If you have crimson, satin windows, black satin bricks and holly wallpaper, I practically created your living room window...

I spy stockings

Sadly I don't think this photographed well. The front is entirely black and red satin ribbon, and I haven't yet learnt how to photograph texture so it appears touchably appealing rather than annoyingly garish. The stockings (of a Father Christmas, snowman and teddy bear) are made of wood, which worked as a contrast. This was just a basic craft knife exercise, as well as canyoupleasenotfraymisterribbon one. I found when I'd finished that all the extra space slightly distressed me, in its open, holly focused blankness. Sadly, I need somewhere to write come the time a list tells me to do so.


*unnecessary. By which I mean they were only used once, and that was not for Christmas cards.
** It's not. Nice people get better cards. Fact.

A card of cringes.

My previous 'relationship' was one of those things that should only ever be talked about in inverted commas. It was short, pathetic, and doesn't deserve to be talked about. It did, however, elicit one decent thing.

It wasn't conversation.

Naturally, it was a card.

Mainly because it was around Christmas, so one had to be made. And I like making cards, so whatever happened to be on my mind (and it was a nasty little Christmas in general, so there were a lot of things) I think the card turned out well. Other than the fact it makes me cringe.

A black piece of card with various holes cut out of it, over a red piece of card, with different pieces of ribbon, card, stickers and shiny things stuck all over it. Not the most complicated thing I've ever made, but I think it looked nice enough.

I just hope that every Christmas card I send this year will put more of a smile on my face. A few, I know, will have my actual beating heart sewn in.

Digging out an example

I wrote that introductory post between an hour and two hours ago. Since then I have discovered I haven't got any well photographed examples of my work, anywhere. I suspect this is because I'm in the habit of giving them to people, rather than photographing them. This will have to change. Whilst being reasonably happy about this because it means only recent (less messy) work will appear on here, it does mean I'm shortchanging you a little in terms on pictures. Tut, Aimee.

So instead I'll show you some ancient, appallingly photographed (on a mobile, no less) work. Aren't you lucky?

A birthday card:

This dates from exactly a year ago. That much I know simply from the fact I'm due to make her another birthday card a few days yesterday. I only bothered to take pictures of it at the time because it encompassed a couple of different firsts. It was, I believe:

• My first box card
• The first time I bothered with lots of hand done decoration (I'm not arty, I'm crafty. Sadly there's a world of difference.)
• My first 'fashion' card. I use that term very loosely.

I think at the time I just wanted to try using the box cards I'd bought. I mean they had shiny bits of clear plastic you could stick inside to make windows, it was exciting! Unfortunately I had to come up with an idea after that. I wasn't being particularly creative, I'd just bought a make up brush kit with a box that echoed the look of a fashion shoot. It really was a 'looking around for inspiration' day.

I googled the models I used, and then drew them out on the same black card I placed over the front. They're raised up a little on foam. A craft knife was a must to deal with the hair. I gave the rest of the card a black/gold/general metallics theme, in the kind of glitzy yet slightly tacky way I think my brain imagines the whole fashion business to be. Including fake diamond type jewels. Fashionista I am not. I skived all mention of Sixth Form Fashion Shows for a reason. Black goes with everything, luckily.

A Beginning

Hi there,
You won't know me. I don't really appear on the internet very much beyond twitter. I certainly don't blog. In fact, I leave that to my boyfriend. So why have I started up this.. I hesitate to say blog, don't those things have some kind of content? I'm aware that as this is the first post of this site, I'm rather lacking in that department. Anyway, I started this. I wouldn't say I was bullied into doing it either, but pressure was certainly applied by various people.

Why? I think, perhaps, because I have too much time on my hands. Other - kinder - people would argue that it's because I've made cards since my early teenage years and in the five, six years that have followed I've gained a knack for it. (As is exhibited by all the pictures, I know, I know. They'll appear soon, I hope.) And a colossal collection of craft stuff.

So what actually is this? To begin with it'll just be photos of cards I have made, perhaps a little information about them, the different processes that went into making them. Most likely it'll just be me raving about a pretty bit of ribbon; you're welcome to skip that bit. If people like them then I'll offer up my services as personalised card maker and see what response I get. If I get.

But this is just a mere beginning, the future of earning two million pounds for a card coated in 24 carat gold is a long way off.

Aimee.