Holiday Fun

I'm participating in my first ever blog hop this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show (see the September 8, 2010 posting) and this is my entry. The theme is Holiday Fun and we could do any type of card, page or project for Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas. I love all those holidays, so it was hard for me to decide which to focus on for my project, but Christmas won. I just love doing these mirrors, they look completely different every time you make one. I've made them for the different seasons, for gifts, baby showers, "Up North" themes, the list goes on and on.

Start with a mirror from IKEA (they have great things there!), they come natural, black, or red. I used Wendy Vecchi's background words from her "Art of marking it Merry" set (LCS007) and stamped the words in the top left corner and bottom right corner of the mirror using Archival Ink Jet Black. Let that dry well. Using the flower from the same set, I stamped the flower six times with the Jet Black on Tim's Grungepaper and used Distress Inks to color them (Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany and Walnut Stain). I cut out three whole flowers, and three center flowers, and used Glossy Accents to glue the smaller section in the larger flower. Add a large drop of Glossy Accents to the center of the flower and sprinkle with Gold Glass Beads (do this over a coffee filter or container to catch the extra beads). Set aside to dry. The leave are from Wendy's "Ticket to Art" set (LCS001). Stamp them three times and use Distress Inks to color them (Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Pine Needles). Cut them out and I cut them apart to make them fit in my design better. You can add some Distress Stickles too if you like that (I used Pine Needles).

Next I used Grungeboard and Tim's Elegant Flourish die cut for the branches behind the flowers, and his Caged Bird die to create the wonderful birdcage and bird. Used Distress Inks to color (branches and cage were Rusty Hinge and Walnut Stain with Antique Linen Distress Stickles, bird was Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany with Ruby Slippers Stickles). I cut a piece of holly paper to fit behind the cage so the bird would show better. Hung some embellishments from the bottom with jump rings and added a bow and flower at the top to finish it off.

The scrabble tiles for the Merry Christmas came out of my stash that I have collected over the years. They come in very handy for projects like this!

The wood flourishes with the holly at the top are from KaiserCraft. I used the Distress Inks again, then added Pine Needles Stickles to the holly leaves and Ruby Slipper Stickles to the berries. These were a little thicker so I had to let them dry for quite a while.

So I'm off now to add my link to the "HOP". There have been a lot of great submissions so far, so go check them out!

Stop by the list of submissions from all over the world at the Challenge site and click on the names to see all the beautiful entries!

Happy Creating,

Louise