...Vintage Ornaments and Festive Foliage...

So, how are you liking the previews so far? This is my last post of projects before I post the full release Stamp designs here tomorrow at 7pm my time (2pm US Eastern, 1pm Canada Central, 6.00AM 8th Nov Australia-Sydney)

You might have already visited the ladies today but if you haven't simply scroll down to the previous post for a handy link list to see what they've been up to! You will be amazed!!!

Kicking off tonight's samples I have a little Tussie of sorts for you. So very simple to make using the Spellbinders Heirloom Ornament die template, I have pics of the how to, but I will do another post on this as there are a ton of pics for you to see in this post already, expect the 'How-to post' a few days after the release.

I love Christmas tree ornaments, and the moment I saw the Heirloom die templates from Spellbinders, I just had to have stamps to suit! I grew up in love with Christmas and everything it brought. I remember one particular toy from when I was about 5, but the rest of my Christmas memories are filled with smells and sounds and smiling faces. I remember trimming the tree, or rather watching my mum trim the tree! My mum is a very artistic lady, sadly she's not been well for some time, but when I was wee, everything she did was done with the greatest attention to detail, our tree was a work of art every year, people actually did come from far and wide...lol!

There was a group of glass tree ornaments that we were never allowed to touch, they hung on the highest branches, and they were the particular shape that Spellbinders have captured in their dies.

The Vintage Ornament stamp set releasing tomorrow is destined to produce ornaments and decorations that i hope my wee folk remember when they are not wee anymore.

I tried to make stamps to match as many of the die sizes as possible, it is always a source of irritation to me that I cannot fit stamps for all of the die sizes into one set! lol, I was determined to have a stamp for the biggest die and I wanted to use the vintage pattern from the Very Vintage Christmas set, not only is this a hugely popular set, I simply love the pattern, I think it has just the right balance of light and dark, perfect for heat embossing and also colouring!

So you can see below that I used the largest stamp from the Vintage Ornaments set to create my Tussie. I love to make quick and easy projects that look difficult and believe me, this is one such ornament! Joy!



I stamped the ornament 4 times in Memento Rhubarb ink, one of my fave colours! I trimmed out the 4 images with the largest die in the set and then trimmed out another two 'blanks' with the same die. I used the point at the bottom of the shape as a guide to score two lines up each ornament shape, I will explain this fully in the 'how-to' post. I folded the shapes along the score lines and adhered the 4 stamped shapes together to get the outer shape. (I had already sponged and stamped a snowflake in the ovals (Very Vintage Christmas ). I stamped the sentiment Merry Christmas from Say it with Style on the 'front' panel. I stamped te reverse of the ornament shapes with foliage from the Festive Foliage set, out tomorrow, and sponged in greens.)


In the pic above you can see how I used the two 'blank' ornament shapes to make a divider in the centre of the tussie. The two blanks are glued back to back and the little folded edges are glued to the inside 'walls' of the tussie. Of course everything was stamped and sponged first, and left to dry, before gluing/taping.

I set an eyelet into the top of the divider before gluing it in, this is the perfect place to add your hanging ribbon.


You can use the tussie either as an ornament or, as I will be doing, a spot to stash little sweeties on the tree!! I love the two compartments and look forward to filling these up with all manner of little goodies!! You could use this to present a little gift of sweeties as well!


Do pop back after the release is over for directions these are such fun to make, there's no measuring involved, just something like a scor-pal is handy! I aim to make these in a few different sizes!!



I used another of the ornament stamps from Vintage Ornaments to make a sweet little taggy for an itsy bitsy jar of coiled ribbons that I will slip into a Christmas stocking for a crafty friend. those wee snowflake designs are the perfect spot for some bling!


I used the large Ornament stamp again to make another ornament for the tree. This one uses 3 ornament shapes, stamped, trimmed out, scored down the centre and stuck back to back. Three ovals housing the sentiment are inserted into the ornament so that they curve outwards adding further dimension to this well known style of paper ornament. Again directions for this will be in the post release 'how-to' post.

This time I stamped in black Versafine, clear embossed, and then coloured with a red copic. Colouring these is so easy! The sentiment is also from Vintage Ornaments. Two glossy bows are adhered back to back over the hanging string...which i forgot to colour with copics...



And now after all that fuss, two very simple CAS cards using Festive Foliage.


Ok, hands up who doesn't love winter foliage? very few folks I'll bet. Isn't there something so festive about glossy green leaves and red berries, the smell of the pine and cones of all shapes and sizes! I love a walk in the woods about now, to gather cones and acorns, leaves and such, I pretend I'm Martha Stewart out getting supplies for a fabulous door wreath or the like and inevitably when I get home, my bags of damp leaves have to wait 'till dinner is made, or the laundry folded...you know how it is...and so I designed a wee set of winter foliage that I can pull out at any time when I need a quick 'nature' fix! lol!



The large pine cone and needles stamp used on the card above is one stamp. Easily inked up in two or more colours. I use Tsukineko Versacolour inks when I want to blend ink on a stamp like this, I find the sponge pads are perfect for this, in a way that the material pads on my beloved distress inks are not!

When inking the pine needles, i turn the little cube so that I can get the corner of the pad right up close to the pine cones. I'm trying to avoid getting an obvious divide between the brown and green inks, I want them to blend together.



I inked up the little sprig on the card below in the same way, and then, stamped a separate pine cone, immediately clear embossed and then heated again and sprinkled with glitter! A sentiment from Around Christmastime to finish, easy peasy lemon squeezy!


Hope they tickle!!!

The schedule for tomorrow's release looks like this:

6pm (my time) - the store will close to allow me to add some final details.

7pm (my time) - I'll be back on the blog with full artwork for the new sets! We'll be announcing the Winner of the tag you're it comp!! So, pop back and see if you won!!

7pm (my time) - Out traditional DT blog waltz will be open for you to dance along for yet more eye candy, can you stand it??? And there will be the usual Waltz competition!! Don't miss out!

7.15pm (my time) - The store will re-open. All four sets will be available to add to your basket and purchase at the store, but due to our technical hitch mentioned yesterday, two of the sets, Around Christmastime and Festive Foliage will begin shipping immediately while the other two sets - Vintage Ornaments and Twas the Night will ship later in the week or early next week.

Righty ho! it's off to bed for me! Nighty Night!