The card that nearly wasn't

This is the card I mentioned earlier in the week, the one that caused me so much trouble in its making.  Yo save you searching back to see what I am on about, I have copied its construction details below.  I had promised to show it to you, but having forgotten to photo it, I had to wait till we visited the recipients again last night.

My final card to be finished this year nearly sent me to an early grave.  The topper was already done, one of my stained glass variety of a Nativity stained glass window, with the acetate married up with the paper version underneath.   I needed a frame to cover the glue holding the two halves together, but then I discovered that nothing was the right colour.  OK, strong sticky tape round ti and Martha Stewart fine glitter rubbed into it.  That looks good.  Now back it onto black card.  Fine.  Now I need gold card as the final matt - problem, nothing matched the gold glitter.  Here we go again.  this time, spray glue on the mount, stick the topper on that and rub glitter into the edges of the matt.  Then the whole thing was finally stuck on to the black pearlescent card.  That looks fine.  Now all I need is the gold holographic sentiment - problem - I used all the gold ones, only silver left.  Out came the spray glue again.  I cut the sentiment off the sheet, sprayed it with glue and rubbed in more glitter.  Then I peeled off my newly glittered sentiment and stuck that on black card and mounted it in the same way as the topper.  All that was left the the simple job of printing out the insert, which was already set up.  Did I say simple........  What a mistake that was.  It printed fine, but then it needed to be trimmed.  After three disasters when bits got chewed off, I looked at the guillotine and found that the channel the blade runs in was clogged with glue and general stuff.  After I cleaned that out, things worked better and the card was finally finished, and was very well received.

Since then, I have made two calendars and two birthday books from Joanna Sheen's "Patience Strong" discs.  A couple of problems with that, too.  Forgot that they are interactive, so you need to remove the instructions before printing - that only took one complete reprint before I got that one sorted.  I think my New Year's resolution of choice should be to read instructions and check the previews before pressing the Print button.  It always happens, though, when you are in a hurry.

My other resolution is to build up a stock of special occasion cards to avoid the panic that sets in when they are needed yesterday.  However, that would not have helped in my other project for today and tomorrow, which is a birth congratulation   for twins over in Spain.  You may remember that we went over there for a wedding in August - spectacular.  The sister of the bride had her twin boys in the early hours of New Year's Eve, and as I wanted to personalise the card, using the boys' names and all the writing in Spanish, this card had to wait.  Birth cards are not my strong point - I struggle to get past the storks and prams scenario, but this one seems to be going together fairly smoothly so far.  Even gluing down the toppers onto the card went without a hitch, so I am hopeful.  If it works, i will show it to you later in the week.

In the meantime, i hope you all had a good time last night and that 2012 turns out to be a really good year for all of you.  I have loved reading your blogs and your messages to me.  your help with problems has been so great, showing just how generous crafters are.  I look forward to seeing much more of you all throughout 2012.