Monthly Swap Card

 I sometimes participate in a monthly card swap. 
This is the card I have made for this months swap.

This had to be a quick card as I have a load of stuff to do and make over the next couple of months.

This is a design I would use in one of my hidden hinge scrap books. I like the design, so I thought I'd try and scale it down and try it as a card.
I started this card by stamping the background paper using Always Artichoke ink on a shimmery olive green paper. 

The pretty band across the centre was  created using  Spellbinders Curvy Borders 2  dies twice. Now this takes a little bit of practice to get the design  to match up on both sides .

After cutting the lacy edges I used one of the less fancy dies to cut the pretty paper panel that runs through the middle. Again this takes a little practice  to get this even and match up with the lacy layer.
Even with measuring and taping dies down before cutting I found it could still be slightly out. 
Hence the bling to hide or distract from  any
unevenness.
I bought some bling ribbon and cut it into strips. I then ran a flame very quickly along the edge of the strips to melt the threads back to make it look neater. 

This stuff looks like it's encrusted with diamante, but it's not.  It's just hundreds of tiny cups that have a faceted inside and a metallic coating, which makes them sparkle a lot and giving the impression of thousands of tiny diamonds. It is obviously much lighter in weight that the real diamante so you can use loads of it on a card without worrying about how much it will cost to post and of course it's a faction of the price of the real thing. 
I think,  I paid 59p  for two metres but if I cut it  into single strips i'll have 12 metres.



I had bit of  an issue with glue attaching the bling to the card but managed to rectify it by using
Art Glitter glue..I have to say this is pretty good stuff...grabs quickly so you don't have to sit  holding things together  for ages waiting for the glue dry.
The flower I made using Heartfelt creations Arianna blooms stamp and dies. 

The leaf die I used for these leaves is from the Heartfelt creations Delicate Asters die set. The last thing to add was the stamped  and die cut sentiment. 
Well,  this card is off to Suffolk in the morning I do hope the recipient likes it.