ED188 Christmas starCompleted by Pamela Horton The whispering Platypus

This is a beautiful design for a Christmas star and I have stitched and beaded it completely in metallic gold on a blue Christmas Lace effect design by Clare Walker cup814313_7993. I have then backed it with a powder blue backing sheet and a gold foil backing sheet, then attaching the completed topper onto a white gloss card front. The A4 white gloss card is scored and folded and then trimmed to measure 15.5cm high. The gold foil backing sheet is cut at 15 x15.5cm and has the 14cm square powder blue backing sheet, with the edges defined using a royal blue permanent pen, attached using power tape and the red ribbon attached vertically over the middle of the front and secured at the back of the gold foil before then attaching these backing sheets onto the white card front. NOTE I have made the gold foil card wider at the top of the backing sheet group to allow room for the bow.

The backing sheet for the design is cut at 13.25cm square. I completed all the stitching lines as instructed in gold metallic thread before beginning the beading. To stitch the long lines in the design I have used the thread double, and I have used this same thread double to complete all the beading. To complete the beading I have used 16 gold metallic 6mm rice beads, and to each of these I have attached a tiny glass gold seed bead. There are 16 tiny gold glass seed beads in the 8 diamond shaped areas of the stitched design and I have used glitter gold sequins instead of spacers for the 16 spacer marked areas and each of these has a central tiny gold glass seed bead attached. In total I have used 64 beads and 16 sequins to complete the project. I secured the stitching at the back using red power tape and attached a 12.35cm square of 80gsm copy paper to the back to cover and help secure the stitching using red power tape. I attached this completed topper to the card front using red power tape, and used fine line gold peel corners and strips to the outside edges and a sprinkling of tiny gold stars to the rest of the card front. I used red power tape to attach the red bow at the top of the card front where the gold foil is slightly wider to allow room for the bow to fit. The insert is a lightly striped Christmas paper cut to size and I have added the sentiment and the verse. The verse by Janyce Cotterill and is available from the free Christmas section for friends. I am delighted with this Christmas Card and love the design. Thank you Emy I am sending you a Christmas hug. Pamela Horton. The Whispering Platypus