I can be a bit bah humbug about Christmas, especially the day itself, but if there is one thing I do love about the season, it's twinkly lights everywhere. They make the dull dark months so much more bearable! So as there are some brand new Christmas Light themed products out just now, I thought I'd start the twinkly season off early.....
First off I wanted to play with the new two layer Light Strings Stencil from Newtons Nook. I love their double layer stencils as they cleverly etch the opposing design onto each stencil so they are the EASIEST thing in the world to line up!
For my first card I simply used Unicorn White ink onto a kraft base card for the lights and weathered wood oxides for the strings. I added a tiny dab of stickles to each light to get a twinkly effect and then added a sentiment strip and some more lights (you really can't have enough lights for me at Christmas!) by stamping Newtons Nook's Holiday Lights onto pixie dust glitter card and gently shading with a BG000 copic marker before cutting out by hand as I didn't want the border from the die. The sentiment is from MFT's re-released You Shine from their A la modes vault release.
The stencil can be selectively coloured too - so I did a more colourful version using peacock and raspberry oxides with a detail blending tool.
I used the same weathered wood for the strings and then used pencils in matching tones to add some shine lines. I left the corner clear from stencilling so I could add one of my favourite sentiments from last year's Avery Elle release - Corner Sentiments Holiday which matched perfectly to the shape and theme.
Whilst I had the vault release stamp out, I also coloured up the girl and made a quick card just with some simple colouring with copics and added glitter and glossy accents to the lightbulbs. The papers are from Simple Stories Country Christmas pad.
Finally I made a couple of different cards just using the Holiday Lights mini stamp from Newton's Nook - you get a whole lot of power from a tiny set with this one! Firstly, it seemed to make sense to go for acetate - lightbulbs are clear so let's create a clear card with them.
I stamped onto the front of an acetate card using Stazon Pigment Inks using 4 colours plus grey for the bulb-holders and adding the shines lines with the same colours. Then I flipped the card over and coloured on the BACK of each bulb with a copic marker - as you can see from my dodgy lines - it can be a bit tricky - you end up lifting the colour back off if you go over the same area so you need single smooth strokes next to each other. If you are unhappy, use a little stamp cleaner on a cotton wool pad to wipe it off and start again. I finished with a sentiment from Concord and 9th's Merry and Bright stamp.
Finally I made one more by stamping again onto pixie dust glitter card and colouring using Ganzai Tambi Gem Colour paints. I think this is my favourite of all 5 cards as its super shimmery!
I stamped them all using Extreme black Hybrid ink, coloured them and then whilst they dried I stamped just the bulb holders onto silver glitter card and cut those and layered them up (you could just use a silver paint instead) and then arranged them on navy card stock around my corner sentiment again (white detail embossed). I stamped the shine lines with oxide inks and then used a white gel pen to draw a curly wire to link them all together.
Hope that inspired you to get twinkly - which is your favourite?
NEWS FROM THE STORE
Please note - we will be out of the office on Tuesday afternoon and ALL of Friday this week. We won't have access to emails during that time and won't be checking Facebook either. We'll catch up on shipping and any queries just as soon as we can thereafter.
In terms of stock we expect the following brands to arrive this week customs willing and providing they don't turn up on Friday:
We have orders in for upcoming releases from Altenew, Reverse Confetti and Mama Elephant. Watch this space and Facebook for news of their arrival.
Thanks
Tara
First off I wanted to play with the new two layer Light Strings Stencil from Newtons Nook. I love their double layer stencils as they cleverly etch the opposing design onto each stencil so they are the EASIEST thing in the world to line up!
For my first card I simply used Unicorn White ink onto a kraft base card for the lights and weathered wood oxides for the strings. I added a tiny dab of stickles to each light to get a twinkly effect and then added a sentiment strip and some more lights (you really can't have enough lights for me at Christmas!) by stamping Newtons Nook's Holiday Lights onto pixie dust glitter card and gently shading with a BG000 copic marker before cutting out by hand as I didn't want the border from the die. The sentiment is from MFT's re-released You Shine from their A la modes vault release.
The stencil can be selectively coloured too - so I did a more colourful version using peacock and raspberry oxides with a detail blending tool.
I used the same weathered wood for the strings and then used pencils in matching tones to add some shine lines. I left the corner clear from stencilling so I could add one of my favourite sentiments from last year's Avery Elle release - Corner Sentiments Holiday which matched perfectly to the shape and theme.
Whilst I had the vault release stamp out, I also coloured up the girl and made a quick card just with some simple colouring with copics and added glitter and glossy accents to the lightbulbs. The papers are from Simple Stories Country Christmas pad.
Finally I made a couple of different cards just using the Holiday Lights mini stamp from Newton's Nook - you get a whole lot of power from a tiny set with this one! Firstly, it seemed to make sense to go for acetate - lightbulbs are clear so let's create a clear card with them.
I stamped onto the front of an acetate card using Stazon Pigment Inks using 4 colours plus grey for the bulb-holders and adding the shines lines with the same colours. Then I flipped the card over and coloured on the BACK of each bulb with a copic marker - as you can see from my dodgy lines - it can be a bit tricky - you end up lifting the colour back off if you go over the same area so you need single smooth strokes next to each other. If you are unhappy, use a little stamp cleaner on a cotton wool pad to wipe it off and start again. I finished with a sentiment from Concord and 9th's Merry and Bright stamp.
Finally I made one more by stamping again onto pixie dust glitter card and colouring using Ganzai Tambi Gem Colour paints. I think this is my favourite of all 5 cards as its super shimmery!
I stamped them all using Extreme black Hybrid ink, coloured them and then whilst they dried I stamped just the bulb holders onto silver glitter card and cut those and layered them up (you could just use a silver paint instead) and then arranged them on navy card stock around my corner sentiment again (white detail embossed). I stamped the shine lines with oxide inks and then used a white gel pen to draw a curly wire to link them all together.
Hope that inspired you to get twinkly - which is your favourite?
NEWS FROM THE STORE
Please note - we will be out of the office on Tuesday afternoon and ALL of Friday this week. We won't have access to emails during that time and won't be checking Facebook either. We'll catch up on shipping and any queries just as soon as we can thereafter.
In terms of stock we expect the following brands to arrive this week customs willing and providing they don't turn up on Friday:
- MFT November release
- CCC November release
- Waffle Flower Crafts November release
We have orders in for upcoming releases from Altenew, Reverse Confetti and Mama Elephant. Watch this space and Facebook for news of their arrival.
Thanks
Tara
