Sunny September and making Christmas Cards already!

I groan if I see Christmas products at the shops before November and here I am in sunny September making Christmas cards! But I have to be one skip and a jump ahead of you all. Apparently now is a good time to start planning! So without further ado, here are 3 cards I made from one technique and that is rosette making!

By the way, you can adapt this to suit a non-Christmas theme. No doubt you guessed that already. Maybe I'll even make a dent in my ribbon stash!!!

Rosettes are pretty easy to make! You need a cardboard circle from a cereal box (about 3.5cm diameter and it can be wonky) and mark out the quarters and eighths.

Fold 1m of ribbon in half, then in half again, then again and again (4 times) so you have 16 pieces, all the same length. Cut them. They should be around 6.5cm long.

Fold each one in half and glue the ends together. I used Helmar 450 glue, you can do it with a heat gun, if you prefer.

Start at the top mark of your circle and glue on one ribbon loop at the time. The loops point outward and the glued-together ends sit on the centre spot. 4 ribbon loops in each quarter.

Continue all the way around and tuck the last one under the first one.

Now it's time to embellish! Gather your bits and pieces and get creative. I have added a list with links to the things I used.

As you can see, there are many ways to decorate the centres of your rosettes. I really like the filigrees to decorate as they look very vintage.

This border filigree is especially nice tugged under. I have cut mine in half (a big pair of scissors work just fine).

And here is the finished card:

What I used for this card:

- square card in white

- December Documented paper in black by Simple Stories

- Bingo card by Simple Stories

- metal filigree border

- 1m satin ribbon with gold presents

- round filigree

- white paper flower

- microbeads (find lots of colours here)

- golden flower from a flower chain

- 2 silver stars

If the antique golden colour of the filigrees doesn't suit your project, you can rub Inka Gold over them. Inka Gold is available in many colours here, under mediums (pg 4-6). No, it's not always golden! It not only changes the filigree's colour, but keeps the classy shine and even adds some depth to the design.

Here is what it looks like with Platinum Inka Gold:

What I used for this card:

- square card in white

- December documented paper in blue by Simple Stories (with some light stamping around the edges)

- Bingo card by Simple Stories

- metal filigree border coloured silver with Inka Gold in Platinum

- 1m satin ribbon with silver stars

- round filigree

- blue bow

- blue aluminium flower

- holly charm

And if you're feeling lazy and just want to put something ready-made into the middle, use the I ♥ family embellishments (available in lots of colours and themes in the Charming Words section here)

What I used for this card:

- square card in white (stamped lightly around the edges)

- 2 Bingo cards by Simple Stories

- metal filigree border coloured silver with Inka Gold in Platinum

- 1m satin ribbon with red presents

- I ♥ family embellishment

- letter stickers

So, even though it's a bit early, maybe I have given you some inspiration for your Christmas cards this year!

GELI