Vintage Father Christmas...

This is one of those projects that are just great fun to make, especially at the end, working out all the different bits of ribbon and lace and wool to use!
It's a fabric based stamping project and so I've used the DecoArt So-Soft fabric paints to paint in my Santa and also to stamp with. The stamp is from Crafty Individuals CI-396, a lovely traditional image.
I used StazOn to stamp it onto a piece of calico:

and then painted it with  the So-Soft paints:

It ends up like this - you can still clearly see the stamping lines, which I like:

Then I put paint directly on the stamp to make a text background:

added some stars cut from CI-374 (I've used these in loads of projects!):

painted them yellow to make them stand out:

Then I took some slightly coarser weave material and stamped more stars in the paint:

and layered it all up:

Start arranging all the twiddly bits:

I then added machine stitching - nothing perfect or neat - it's just like drawing with thread:

and various embellishments:

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Christmas Class...

I've got a class at The Craft Barn on Saturday where we're going to make a Christmas Cottage which will look something like this:

or this:

So, if you fancy having a go, take a break from the Christmas rush and come along and join the fun!

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Moody Blues Angel...

Here I've made a Christmas decoration to celebrate becoming a member of the DecoArt Helping Artist Programme.
The paints I've used are by DecoArt - I actually used some of the So-Soft fabric paints on the chipboard as that was what I had to hand - also tried out some of their Dazzling Metallics paint in Ice Blue, which is gorgeous!

I took my Tando Mixed Media Board (if you haven't seen these, they come in 2 different sizes) and stamped the Crafty Individuals angel from CI-396 onto white tissue paper:

Then I painted the board with So-Soft Indian Turquoise and Ocean Blue and edged it with the Ice Blue Dazzling Metallics:

Flip over the angel and paint the reverse in colour:

and then block out the whole image in White when dry:

Stick to your board with a glue/sealer:

While that's drying die cut and paint a swirl (Tim Holtz die):

I thought it was a bit plain so I then added StazOn Teal Blue stamping to the background using the music from CI-330 and the text from the angel plate.

I then wanted something a bit darker round the edges so used Midnight Blue StazOn to stamp the borders of this reindeer stamp CI-332:

I literally just inked up parts of the image and stamped away, not bothering with a block:

I also stamped the swirl:

and then it was a case of adding the twiddly bits!

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Christmas part 2...

Here's the next instalment:

Now I've just got to layer them onto an actual card and get them written!

Thanks for looking!

helen

Christmas....

Yes, I have been making my Christmas cards!
Every year I say 'Never again!' but I took a fancy to this paper kit from Craftwork Cards. I added some embossed swirls, a few die cuts and, on some of them, some pictures cut from some Graphic45 paper that I bought several years ago and then couldn't bear to cut up! Well, now I have!
Here we go, there are several variations:

I'll post a few more tomorrow!

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Down by the Riviere....

This is just a little arch I made (love that shape) using tissue paper, paint and Lynne Perrella stamps. 

It's very simple but the detail of the stamps makes it look more complicated! I painted the arch first and then blocked out the reverse of the building in Snowflake white.

I felt it needed a little something at the bottom so added some ribbon and the crown brad which I painted gold.

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Happy Birthday

Yes, it was my youngest daughter's birthday the other day - can't believe she's 18! We survived the party (although the earplugs weren't much use!) and a great time was had by all!
Here's a pic of the birthday card I made for her:

One of those cards that are great fun to make - layer on layer of twiddly bits!

Thanks for looking!

Helen