Last Minute Gift

Have you ever needed a quick, last minute gift? And since you're a creator of beautiful things, you know that the recipient expects something handmade. Recently, I was in this very situation. Here's what I made.

I used Arnold Grummer's 52 Card Fan Deck. The fan deck comes with chipboard covers, pages, and a post to secure the pages.

I decoupaged the outside of the covers with coleus leaves that I dried using Arnold Grummer's Garden Press. By the way, drying leaves and blossoms is so easy with the garden press, and I have lovely dried elements to include in projects even when the snow is flying.

I used USArtQuest's Matte PPA as my decoupage medium, because, unlike other decoupage mediums, when PPA dries it forms a permanent acrylic seal over my project. Other mediums can reconstitute and become tacky or sticky when exposed to humidity or moisture—not PPA.

You can see that as I was adhere the leaves, they extended beyond the edges of the cover. When the PPA dried, I turned the cover face down and used a sharp craft knife to trim the excess.

I can't call a project complete without adding a bit of bling. I used E6000 to glue a rhinestone to the top of the post and three smaller ones in the lower right corner.

Oh, and the recipient was thrilled with their handmade gift. Get started making your own handmade gifts.

Carole