Stencils and scenes (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a couple of very different projects using some of this months new stamps. I've created a large tag using Bearing Gifts and stamps from Sparkling Trees and some stencilling for the background. My card features stamps from Christmas Candlelight and Sparkling Trees used to make Christmas scene.

I've used one of the Ranger Giant Manila tags for this project. I began by splodging some Distress Stains (Gold, Picket Fence, Tea Dye and Broken China) onto my craft sheet and misting with a little water. I dragged the tag through the colour several time and while it was drying I splashed on a little water. I stamped the stars from Christmas Candlelight with Versamark ink and embossed with Gold embossing powder and then applied texture paste through a star stencil. Once the texture paste was dry I added gilding wax in shades of gold, silver and copper to the stars.

I stamped 'Bearing Gifts' and coloured with Derwent pencils, cut the image out and layered it up over some hessian, gold mesh and a little green ribbon. I added a sentiment from Christmas Magic, stamped on a little kraft tag and embossed with Gold EP.

I love to create scenic cards so I really enjoyed making this one. The stamps from the two A5 stamp sheets work beautifully together. I began by stamping the images using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I used PanPastels to add colour to the background so I didn't need to mask the stamped images as PanPastels are erasable. The only thing I had to mask was the moon.

I used shades of Blue and Grey PanPastel to Create the sky and the snowy hills and I added some silver to the moon for a little shimmer. I used a black fineliner pen to extend the post under the lantern. Next I coloured the trees, reindeer and lantern with coloured pencils. It was looking a little bare in the top left corner so I used one of the tree stamps as a branch, again colouring with pencils. Once I'd finished colouring I applied lots of glitter but the photo hasn't picked the sparkle up at all.

I've matted on white and red card and added pearls, ribbon topped with buttons and a little charm to finish the card off. The sentiment is from Christmas Magic, stamped with Rhubarb Stalk Memento Ink.

I hope you're enjoying all the inspiration from my talented teamies, they're sure to give you a kick start with your Christmas card making.

Claire xx