merry Christmas!

hello and

happy halloween eve!

I know...it's been a while...

yikes!

we took off for a 10 day get-away

 to celebrate our anniversary...

we had fun...

and before that it was finalizing 

NEW STAMPS & stuff for CHA January...

S U P E R  F U N!

so, that's where I've been...

normal blogging

 is now on the schedule...

before moving on to the little art, 

I need to update my schedule...

I started getting questions about attending the OOAK stamping convention, 

at the Alliant Energy Center,

 in Madison, Wisconsin...

I replied to at least 10 people & said it was not on my schedule...

but...

change of plans...

now it is!

so I'll be there November 20, 21 & 22nd demoing and 

doing a make & take 

for the event on Friday evening...

I hope you can plan to come see us!

ok...

I know it's halloween eve...

but Christmas is really my favorite holiday, 

so...

here's a fun little holiday art for you today...

instead of sending a card, I thought it would be fun to make little "arts" that can sit on a shelf...

or they could be hung on the tree 

with a hinge clip...

 magic mat board is a nice sturdy, 

lightweight surface to work on & 

it likes paints, embossing powders & 

both distress and archival inks, very well...

you get a 6 x 12 inch sheet of white and 

a 6 x 12 sheet of black in the package...

for a REALLY great price...

here's the steps...

cut a piece of white magic mat board

 to 3 x 4 inches...

cut a piece of black magic mat board 

to 3 ¼ x 4 ¼ inches...

swipe the cornflower blue archival pad onto the craft sheet, add rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol and mix the ink into the alcohol with a palette knife...

place the white mat board 

into the inky solution & dry...

lightly ink the script stamp with 

tree branch archival and

 stamp over the base...

use the happy holidays stencil 

to stencil the large tree 3 times, 

using fern green archival...

make sure to vary the heights of the tree...

ink the spatter stamp 

(it comes in the faux graniteware starter set)

with glacier white pigment ink & stamp over the base & dry...

ink the large black mat mini pine tree with 

fern green archival, then sprinkle with 

fern green embossing powder & 

heat to melt the powder...

ink the spatter stamp with glacier white 

and stamp over the tree, then dry...

use jet black archival to stencil

merry christmas at the top...

it's easy to add a snow bank to the bottom, 

using white embossing paste...

sprinkle with rock candy distress glitter, 

while the paste is still wet...

glue the mat mini pine tree to the base and add

 a mirrored star to the tree top...

to create the little bird...

use the custom brick embossing powder...

here's the recipe...

mix one scoop of red geranium embossing powder with one scoop of orange blossom embossing powder and add 1/2 scoop of watering can embossing powder and then mix in 2 scoops of frosted crystal embossing powder...

ink a manila scrap with

red geranium archival ink & 

sprinkle with the brick powder, 

while the ink is wet...

heat to melt the powder, 

then use tim's bird punch 

to create a custom little bird...

this is a great way to use those scraps & create custom perfectly coordinated embellishments...

add the bird to the left side of the snow bank...

add a black glaze pen dot to create his eye...

then mount the white base onto

 the black magic mat board base,

 to act as a frame...

you can write your greeting on the back with a metallic or white pen...

or use one of the metallic distress paints to 

stamp a sentiment...

or you could stamp or stencil it,

 using glacier white...

it shows up very well on dark surfaces...

here's the finished piece...

take a closer look at

 the different textures on this piece...

you can see that the 

custom brick embossing powder 

creates a 

 very textured surface on the bird...

and it's much more matte than the embossing powder on the pine tree...

that's because of the 

frosted crystal embossing powder...

it's a jar of magic, because it doubles your embossing powder options...

 it can be mixed with any of 

the colored embossing powders 

to change them from shiny to more matte, 

and it adds texture too...

just mix equal parts of colored powder with the frosted crystal...

I store the "frosted" powders

 in these little jars...

the faux graniteware tree has a smooth shiny surface...

and the embossing paste sprinkled with 

the rock candy glitter

 makes the best authentic snow!

it's a bonus that the glitter sticks to the paste very well & stays put...

so...think about it...

instead of sending a card...

you might want to try this...

I hope YOU have fun and...

make art!

wendy

ps...I thought about saying...

GO BEARS...

but I think it's a hopeless situation again this year...