Silver blends in perfectly with the traditional colours of the season: green, red and gold.

FRAMES

Add tin punch frames to ready-made plain picture frames, or simply glue the frame to a photograph’s border. 1 Make a template by tracing the frame or photograph. Add a crest to the top of the smaller frame (facing page, bottom). 2 Lay a soft cloth or a cutting mat underneath the foil and trace the template onto the foil, then cut it out. Cut four discs for the corners of the larger frame (facing page, top). 3 Working from the back, use an embossing tool or a ballpoint pen to add designs to the frame. Make dotted lines with a tracing wheel if you have one, or use a ruler and the tip of the ballpoint pen. Emboss the flowers as in step 4 of the wreath (see below). 4 Glue the embossed frame onto the frame or picture. Glue the discs onto the corners of the larger frame. 5 Add string or ribbon to hang the frames, if desired.

WREATH

A simple silver wreath will add sparkle to your decorations. 1 Make a template by tracing around a bowl or a dinner plate. Draw another line about 1cm inside the traced circle and draw the leaves around the circle, inside and outside, as shown on page 110. Cut out the template. 2 Lay a soft cloth or cutting mat underneath a piece of foil and trace the template onto the foil using an embossing tool or a ballpoint pen. 3 Cut out the wreath and cut some small discs for the flowers (you can use a 20 cent coin as a template). 4 Working from the back of the foil, emboss patterns onto the wreath and flowers. Add dots to the circle with a tracing wheel, or use a ballpoint pen to press them into the foil; use the ballpoint pen to draw veins onto the leaves and add some short scratches to the edges. Emboss the flowers by pressing firmly in the middle with the tip of the ballpoint pen with the nib retracted (just be careful not to push through the foil) and draw lines to the outer edge of every flower. 5 Turn the wreath over and slightly bend the leaves up to give them more dimension. 6 Carefully glue the f lowers at random places around the wreath. To complete the look, slightly fold the flowers up to make shallow cup shapes.