Sunday 28 October 2012

A sign that Christmas is on its way.....

I have been playing with my sizzix dies again and I discovered that with a little bit of imagination and fussy cutting I could turn these:

into this:


isn't it cute! also see what I did with my blog post title there too?  tee hee.  Obviously feeling very inspired this morning!  After a few more hours play I got this:


I used T!ms snowflake stamps from the mini Holidays 2 stamp set and inked them up with versamark, covered them with clear embossing powder and then inked over the whole card with Stormy Sky distress ink.  The sleigh I had prepared beforehand by cutting up the above sign pieces, covering the black cardstock with orange inka paint (I do have gold but the orange just looked a lot better), inked it gently around the edges with Vintage Photo and then filled it with lots of sizzix presents from their Gifts sizzlets strip die.  The reindeer is from T!ms Reindeer Flight die set and he is cut from kraft card and inked with Vintage Photo, finished with bling for his eye and nose, some cut down tinsel and red/white striped twine for his ropes. 

The houses are just cut from black card and covered with paint and glitter to look like snow.

Here is a quick tutorial on how I get my snowy effects on dark cardstock:

Get your black diecut:

Load a paintbrush with a white paint or gesso and then drag it from front to back over the areas you want to have snow on:
(sorry its a bit blurred - bit early in the morning for my OH!)

Then sprinkle it liberally with glitter and leave for a few minutes:

Then give it a good shake and you should get this:

the dark cardstock will be covered up nicely with no greyness.  If you want to add more snow use stickles and then more glitter over the top.

Hope you have enjoyed my Sunday morning inspiration card - sorry the pictures aren't the best but it's a dark overcast morning here in England and there is only so much my daylight bulbs can do!

Thanks for looking - Showing the Signs from Solihull

edited to add - I have just seen that this post has been selected as one of T!ms blogworthy holiday links - whoo hoo - how cool is that!  If you want instructions of how to make the sleigh using T!ms sign die please email me or leave a comment (please ensure that I can reply to you via email) and I will send you a pdf. Thanks and Happy Christmas!

32 comments:

Bernice Hopper said...

I hadn't realised the sleigh was from the sign die. I thought you had a sleigh die! Good job.

Sparky said...

Ohhhh heavens, Nicola...this is a piece of ART..yours....

Teje Karjalainen said...

Wow, wonderful work! Looks great and interesting! I'm having a giwe away for a scrap booking software if you are interested! x Teje

Hettie said...

Well done on the sleigh Nicola! Another die on my wish list for NEC now!! Just ordered the poinsettia die after playing with Helen's at The Crop!
x

Silvia(Barnie) said...

Such a great idea, a wonderful piece of art.

Jenny Marples said...

That sleigh is genius!! Don't know how you realised it could do that but it is SO clever. Loving those snowy rooftops too. Hugs, Buttons x

Missus Wookie said...

That sleigh is so clever! Such a cute card :)

Denise :) said...

Oh, very cute!! Love this little sleigh!!! :)

Mrs A. said...

Thats brilliant!!! Well thought of.
Hugs Mrs A.

Katrina said...

What a great transformation!! I have all those dies and love the outcome.

Antoinette Voorn said...

Really good invention to turn that die in to a sleigh!!! Good job. Love it . And youwr crards are really awesome.
But why so difficult when there is a die called, Sleigh from Marianne Design LR 0178. Look at this awesome website were I buy my dies !!!http://hobbynu.nl/product/show/1296.

Gr Antoinette
http://antoinettecreacards.blogspot.nl

Julie Brooks said...

Fabulous sleigh! I love everything about this scene and will definitely be doing something similar to have as a Christmas picture for my son!

Dria said...

WOW!! I love your sleigh! Now I want to have time to go through all of your posts!

Laurie said...

Thanks for the tips, will definitely try your realistic looking snow piles on rooftops ... so clever. Thanks

Capescrapper said...

Amazing use of the sign die! Well done and incredible attention to detail. Thanks for sharing. :)

Donna Gibson said...

Congrats on the Tim Holtz mention! I love what you did with this. The sleigh and scene are adorable!!

Jan Castle said...

WOW...how creative! Love what you did with these die cuts!!!
Paper Hugs,
Jan

Juel said...

Way to think outside of the box with die cuts!!

Gabby said...

Saw you on Tim's blog today! What a creative way to use your hanging sign die! TFS the sleigh and your card! :)

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

So fun!!! I love the leaping deer! Congrats on the shout out!

Ruby Craft said...

Tim sent me! Love your sleigh, very creative!

redmom said...

I totally love how you used that sign die, genious!!!!

Karen in Canton, MI said...

Very creative! You must be flying high after getting kudos from Tim! It's very generous of you to share the pdf.

Ann said...

Your Christmas vignette is just lovely and very creative!! So glad to find you through Tim's Blogworthy links--congratulations!

Winnie said...

So creative and adorable! I can see why Tim Holtz linked to you! Awesome job.

CraftyJo said...

Well done getting 'linked' by Sir Tim :)

I have that hanging sign die and love what you did with it - wish I had that much vision. I'll love the pdf details if possible, thanks.
Joanna

Trish said...

What an inovative way to use the hanging sign die, WOW! I will subscrive and see what other great things you do! Thanks for the inspiration! Happy Holidays!

Bonnie said...

Fabulous!

dvcrztb said...

LOVE IT!!!!!! So very cool!

Maura said...

Love how you totally thought outside the box with this one!

Stamped Impressions said...

Fabulous idea! Thanks for sharing!

MORMOR said...

Cute card and so very clever!