ED203 FloralCompleted by Pamela Horton The whispering Platypus

I have made this unusual and eye catching design into a topper for a Christmas greeting card. I have used dark green embroidery floss in a single strand to complete all the swirl lines.

I then used a single thread in very vibrant red embroidery floss to stitch the flowers and the circle style stars, following the stitch length guide as instructed on the sheet supplied.

I completed the beading on this section before using the gold glitter metallic and the same vibrant red threads to stitch the lines.

I have used green floss and 20 green glass seed beads to complete each of the sets of 5 buds, at the end of which I have attached 6mm metallic rice beads using red floss.

For the inside of each of the flowers I have used a red 6mm metallic rice bead and 2 red glass seed beads.

For the green leaves I have used 2 green glass 6mm tube beads and 1 green glass seed bead.

I have used 8 gold glitter faceted sequins instead of spacers and attached red glass seed beads between them and on top of each sequin.

I secured all the stitching for this section using magic tape before completing the gold and red line stitching. I attached the 10 green glass seed beads with the red thread as I was working the red line.

I attached the 10 red glass seed beads with the gold thread as I was working the gold line. In total of 76 beads in the combination of 29 red glass seed beads, 31 green glass seed beads, 2 green glass 6mm tube beads, 6 red metallic 6mm rice beads and 8 gold sequins.

I printed the sheet to measure 13cm square and copied it onto a white 170 gsm card. I have defined the edges with a red permanent pen, before attaching it to a gold foil satin finished 14cm square backing sheet using red power tape.

The main white card is 200gsm matte photo paper measuring 29.75 x 15cm which I have scored and folded before attaching the topper using red power tape.

I have used a matte gold deer with antlers, to which I have stitched a tiny dark blue seed bead for the eye and used the nose to seem as if the deer was eating the green buds.

I have added the decorative edged gold gliittter peel of strips to the outside edges of the gold foil. To complete the insert, I have used cup830204_1398, Majestic Stag Insert, a design by Ceredwyn Macrae, which I have used many times for Christmas greeting cards.

I will be able to use this stitching design many times as a greeting card for many varied occasions, by changing the colours of both the threads and the beads.

Pamela Horton. The Whispering Platypus.