Happy Bank Holiday

No work today so it's a very welcome extra day to craft.  Although the weather is much better here, I haven't been able to break the pull of my craft desk . . . I think that it's probably my favourite place to be (apart from my bed, ha, ha !)

I thought I would share the topper that I made on Saturday with you.

It's Tilda with clover, I coloured the image some time ago now and can't remember what colours I used.
The background paper is K&Co from their Bestsellers stack.  The lilac paper is from the Papermania "Henbury Lane" collection.  I've used a Martha Stewart punch to create the lace effect on the plain lilac card.   The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the stems are finished with real Swarovski crystal beads.  The photo doesn't really do these justice . . . they are very sparkly in 'real life'.  The organza ribbon is from my local market, best market in Britain (in my opinion), there's not a lot you can't get there!!
Finally the topper is finished with some green cabochon gems which were a bargain buy from Fred Aldous, another great local source of crafting bits and pieces. 

Well that's how I spent my Saturday . . . now to show you how I have spent this morning, ha, ha !!

This is Tilda with Three Tulips.  I've been wanting to make a more subtly coloured card for a while now but I don't seem to know how to do subtle, lol.  The background paper is Papermania "Rose Garden" and wait for it . .  . I've used a Martha Stewart punch, I think it's called Double Arch (or something like that) to make the lace effect on the central card.  I also masked off an edge all the way around and distressed the card with Distress Ink which gave quite a pleasing effect.   The central oval on which Tilda is sat is from my stash and I distressed this too.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts (I have spent a small fortune here, lol!) and the spiral stems have been finished with faux pearl beads as have the outer most corners of the topper.  The yellow organza ribbon has been accented with a flattened bead cap, a tip that I got from Bev Rochester's blog All the things I love (probably my favourite blog; if you haven't looked at it before, be good to yourself and please go there and take a look . . . this lady is soooooo talented!).  I tried a cream organza ribbon at first but it looked too insipid, I'm glad I went with the yellow.  The yellow butterfly charm is from my stash and it's suspended from a chain which I no longer wore and so I have put it to a better use!  Waste not want not as my Mum used to say. 

The sentiment tag is one that I got recently from Whimsey Stamps in America.

Well that's all I have for you today.  I've decided that I will put my time to better use in future and I will try to write a daily post using my phone on my way to work each day, well that's what I'm aiming for . . . whether I can come up with a topper a day, well that's a taller order, lol, I can but try.

Thanks for reading,