Wednesday 10 December 2014

Santa’s Stable – Crafty Individuals

My Christmas cards are now well under way and I've made this stand up cabinet card, mind you I still have most of them to write and get in the post.  The stamp set is CI 396 and I love the Santa and angel painted in the sepia tones. I did this with distress inks and a water brush. My youngest grandaughter looked like this for her Christmas nativity play this morning, with a long dress, wings and tinsel in her hair. I so love this time of year but I really miss being in school and sharing the build up to the big day with the children.
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Now for making the cabinet card. I looked on the internet for cabinet card designs but most of them were just rectangular and I have the Tim Holtz vintage cabinet card die but I knew it would be too small, but I am into extending dies where I can, so I took a piece of mountboard, and die-cut just the top part. Using a ruler and pencil I drew lines to extend both the sides and length, they’re straight lines so it was very easy to do. I used my rotary trimmer and scissors to cut the shape out and hey presto I had the size I wanted to fit my image.

Of course there were cut lines still showing but covering the front and back with papers hid those and gave the shape it’s strength back. I glued the frame onto the papers and cut round the shape. I didn’t worry too much about neat edges as I knew I was going to sand them down.
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Whilst in preparation mode I also cut a piece of normal 300 gm card and covered it on both sides with the same snowflake backing paper as the cabinet card and die-cut Tim’s small easel.
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Then I was ready to do the background for the image and as Tim says it’s just a background, I used CI  017 text stamp with walnut stain distress ink and that was it simple. I knew it needed to be quite plain as the stars and images needed to take centre stage.
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I had just bought a bag of stars made from wood, so I chose one, dabbed it with picket fence distress paint and sprinkled both gold and silver glamour dust over it. The small stars are die-cut and given the same treatment.
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To give some dimension I popped this little angel up on foam pads and tucked a small glittered tree behind her.
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The base has been cut with die-cut festive greenery and red berries with some silver bauble berries. It finished it off quite nicely.
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I hope your preparations are going well.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

hugs Brenda xxx

16 comments:

massofhair said...

As always beautifully vintage colours and images. Must use the easel die more as it gives your cabinet card the look and feel of an ArT piece :-) xxx

Redanne said...

Such a beautiful vintage piece Brenda, I do love the stand you have placed it on too! Hugs, Anne xx

2amscrapper said...

the sepia tones really make this pop--love the shape and your stars

Juliz Design Post said...

This is gorgeous Brenda, love your soft vintage tones against your sparkling stars. Your granddaughter must have looked so sweet at her nativity play.
Julie x

Cocofolies said...

This is really gorgeous Brenda, a lovely composition and so cleverly done for the cabinet!.. I love it!! Hugs, Coco xx

Terry said...

Lovely vintage Christmas card! The soft warm colors and cabinet shape is so attractive. Love this! Hugs!

Anonymous said...

Brenda,
This is so beautifully nostalgic and makes me feel all warm and cosy.
I like the colours you worked with.
Stunning!
Wishes
Lynne

Sylvie Collet said...

Your vintage creation is gorgeous Brenda!!!! bises
Sylvie

Meggymay said...

A beautiful vintage project Brenda, love the design.
Yvonne

Silvia(Barnie) said...

That's an amazing piece of art. Fabulous details.

Julia S-W said...

Lovely piece Brenda. I really like the colours you've used and the raising of the child figure works perfectly. I've never seen Tim's easel used before - it's a very useful die. . . . on the list.
Juliaxx

Jane said...

You are so clever Brenda, this is so very beautiful. Just 2 weeks to go now! Hugs xx

S@ndy Diller said...

Really beautiful card Brenda, so much work but well worth it in the end.

Aspiring crafter said...

This is just so lovely Brenda and very nostalgic, beautifully made,
XxxRuth

Paper Profusion said...

So sweet as if from a bygone age of innocence. Love your structure too. Nicola x

Marjie Kemper said...

So beautiful... love the soft warm coloring and the way you've raised the figures.