Christmas Angel

For the Women’s Institute section of our local agricultural show, we had to make a Christmas Decoration one year. I had recently done a stumpwork class so thought I’d incorporate that into this angel. She hasn’t got the prettiest face in the world but she’s all mine so I’ve got to love her!

I designed her myself and just played around with a variety of embroidery stitches, used some flat gold braid for her hair which I frayed at the front so that it looks like mine does when I’ve been out on my bike! There are sequins on her sleeves, long bugle beads for her halo and small seed beads stitched into every other square on her dress. More beads, heart-shaped and leaf-shaped were stitched (all by hand!) around the hem of her dress and the whole thing was backed in red felt and outlined with gold cord.

I’ve got to admit that she lives in my china cupboard – I can’t bear to put her in a box after Christmas.

Centre panel

Braid hair

Sweet Face?

Back view

Hair-do needed

Wing detail

Angel

Engagement card

Both of my sons think that cards are a waste of time! What can I say….I thought I’d done a pretty good job of raising them but I guess I failed somewhere….

My younger son got engaged just before Christmas last year and I had to make a card even if  ‘he doesn’t do cards!’ His name is Stuart and his fiancee is Amy, hence the S and A in the heart.

The backing paper is one I printed myself, just repeated all sorts of ‘lovey’ words and changed the font style before printing on a nice linen paper. The flourishes and the hearts are stamps from Prickley Pear and the circles at the side are a Mackintosh design (‘cos she’ll be a Mackintosh when she marries!) from Elusive Images, all stamped on red and embossed with gold.

Lots of heart shaped brads and peel-offs to finish it.

I also sent them a Christmas card last year – don’t usually bother ‘cos the boys don’t appreciate them! This is using the same design as above but stamped out like a bauble with a circular version hanging in the cut-out. Snowflakes stamped around just to take away the whiteness.

Mackintosh Christmas