Merry Christmas!

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government
will be upon his shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 

Isaiah 9:6

 

I want to wish all of my readers a blessed and merry Christmas! I pray that all of you have the peace that passes all understanding! One of my greatest blessings is all of you who read this blog on a daily basis. I am thankful for each of you as you enrich and bless my life with your support, your comments, your caring, and your prayers. I hope you stay with me in 2013 to see the new things I have planned.

 

I want to share two projects with you today. I finished these earlier and got this post all ready to go in order to have time to "relax" over the Christmas holiday.

 

The first project was part of my Summer CHA items made for Graphic 45, using the Nutcracker Sweet collection.

Now, I must confess that I don't like nutcrackers. My friends and family know that I have an aversion to clowns...and to me, nutcrackers are just clowns in soldier clothes! But, I understand that they are part of our Christmas decor due to the Nutcracker Ballet...so, I play nice.

To "jazz" up the metal doorplate I painted it with several coats of gesso, and while the gesso was wet, I sprinkled the metal with several types of glitter.

I did have a blast cutting out the nutcracker and making him pop, literally off the tag! To create a more realistic feel, I added glossy accents to his boots, belt, and hat! He really shines! The dove came "pre-glittered" from a Christmas supply store.

I used some jingle bells and some items cut from a floral spray to decorate the top of the tag. (But, dude, those teeth! Scary!)

You can see I added some Glossy Accents to the letter "N" to make it shine as well.

This next project is for the Hampton Art blog. The Santa image is a Graphic 45 wood mount stamp from Hampton Art. (#PS0721 Santa's List)

Now that our kids are older, we no longer "do" Santa at our house, but I still have a love for vintage Santa images. Here is Santa checking his list, surrounded by some dry embossed snowflakes. He is looking great in his "instagram" frame!

I stamped the image with Schoolhouse Mix'd Media Inx, then embossed with clear embossing powder. I stamped the image again onto some scrap paper and trimmed it out to make a mask. I placed the mask over my embossed image, and then stamped over the top with the text from the Art Warehouse Believe in Christmas set. I stamped the text several times with Chestnut Roan chalk ink.

I created the frame by stamping the Polaroid image from the Ki Flashback Click Click set with Pheasant Gold pigment ink. I embossed the image with clear embossing powder then trimmed it out. I cut out the center and place the Santa image behind the frame.

I decorated the inside of the card to match.

 

 

Nutcracker Tag:
Graphic 45 Papers: Nutcracker Sweet
Enchanted Journey
Holiday Magic
Christmas March
Nutcracker Sweet
Endearing Sentiments

Graphic 45 Staples:
Metal: Doorplate

Graphic 45 packaging tag

Ink: Clearsnap Colorbox Creamy Brown Fluid Chalk Ink
Ribbon: May Arts
Adhesive: Glossy Accents, Glue Dots, foam squares, tape runner, white glue, Liquitex matte gel medium
Other: bells, floral picks, dove, brads, gesso, glitter, wire

Santa Card:
Hampton Art Stamps:
Graphic 45 Santa's List
Art Warehouse Holiday Dreams and Wishes, Believe in Christmas
Ki Flashback Click Click

Clearsnap Ink:
Colorbox Chalk Warm Red, Chestnut Roan, Creamy Brown
Colorbox Pigment Pheasant Gold
Colorbox Mix'd Media Inx Schoolhouse

Embossing powder: Hampton Art clear

Cardstock: American Crafts Pomegranate, Coffee; Neenah Natural White
Designer paper: Echo Park Season's Greetings
Ribbon: May Arts
Embossing folder: Cuttlebug Snowflakes
Tools: Sizzix Big Shot; Bow Easy; EK Success border punch
Adhesive: Scotch 3M tape; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L foam squares; Beacon Fabri-tac