Those of you that know me know that I rarely throw anything away, preferring to ‘put it in a safe place because it might come in handy’. Unfortunately I have so many safe places in my home, it takes me three hours to find most things. An upside of this is that I spend much of my time rediscovering items I’d forgotten. A recent foray under my bed revealed the plastic bag of diamanté beads and crystals I’d given up on, the enormous embroidery hoop I’d accused my stitchy friend of still having, and a jar of random pretty things that included some lovely antique brass charms and a large handful of brightly-coloured buttons. Oh, and some wooden cotton reels… they’re everywhere!

I’ve now made the effort to put everything in a truly safe place. The charms are with their compatriots in the jewellery making drawer, the embroidery hoop is tied up with the other 18 I have and hangs from a nail in the wall above my armchair, and some of the buttons are in the big mason jar on the windowsill. The rest were the inspiration for a contemporary Christmas card. And the cotton reels? Yes, well, let’s not go down that road…

Corinne x

To mix things up, I wanted to create a card that was obviously festive but used papers that worked any time of year. The Serendipity collection from Dovecraft fitted the bill and the handful of under-the-bed buttons made the perfect embellishments. Want to find out how you can make the card? Find the project here.