Whimsy Stamps ~ Christmas is Coming!

Hey crafty friends, I'm way too invested in Halloween to be thinking about Christmas yet, but I just had an order arrive from Whimsy which included this beyond adorable set of Christmas Elves from Crissy Armstrong and I cannot resist her cute characters! So I've whipped up a card today, in fact two, but I'd lost the light by the time my second card was ready, so I'll save that for tomorrow. Let me know what you think of this sweet set, I absolutely adore it! 

I had been moving things around my craft space with my in-laws here the past few days and uncovered my colour pencils, so I pulled out some Gamsol and a blending stump and painted up this cutie. It's a nice quick process, but I went back to my Copic Markers for the second card which I'll share tomorrow, as I wanted some nice dark reds and I find the pencils give a soft colour, rather than a rich colour. I layered up quite a lot of colour on this cutie, but it softened right back the minute the Gamsol hit it. Cute for this sweetie, but as I say, I wanted dramatic colour for the image I'll share tomorrow. I stamped the image with Amalgam Ink, so it was safe to use with the Gamsol. This ink works well for all mediums.

This wee elf really is adorable and I enjoyed pulling out the pencils for a change. I need more practice with shading, but I like how it came out for this cutie, not perfect, but to pinch Gina K's expression, (as she's the one who inspired me to buy coloured pencils) it's better than horrible, hehe. I added a lovely word die from a previous Christmas release at Whimsy, that I thought would fit well with this sweet scene. A reminder to 'believe' in the magic of Christmas.

I chose to make this card a shaker, because the die I used to add a little interest to the background, is pretty perfect for turning backgrounds into shaker cards! It has a good border all around which makes it super easy to add foam strips to and has lovely open sections that shaker elements can be seen easily through, so it was kind of a no-brainer! I pulled out lots of lovely confetti mixes from my stash, but none were quite right for the colours I chose, so I inked the white background with some Spun Sugar Distress Oxide to have a nice soft wash of colour in the background and then chose a few sets of sequins to add into the mix. I started with some ditsy iridescent stars from my stash, then I added some pretty pale pink Glazed Candy Confetti from This Calls For Confetti and then found some slightly brighter Bubblegum Pink Sparkle Gems to complete the mix. I prefer when these are 'right side up'. They look pretty both ways, but the underside doesn't have the iridescent finish that the top does, so I added these in one by one the right way up. I know, I know, I'm bonkers, it was laborious, but I love the finish! 

I used a 'new to me' product when creating the shaker well, called It's No Secret by This Calls For Confetti. It looks like a mascara tube and has a similar wand, except the brush end is soft and covered with anti-static powder. I used it to wipe along the rim of the shaker window, where I often get gluey bits sticking to the sequins and from what I can tell, it has worked really well! So I'll be giving it another try very soon.

Thanks for popping in to visit today, I cannot believe I'm sharing my first Christmas card of the season with you, I would say year, but I have made some others! I'll be back with another tomorrow and then it'll be back to Halloween cards again for a bit. The latest Whimsy release is showcased so beautifully in the image above, so be sure to click through on the banner if you've not yet seen it, the team have created amazingly inspirational pieces, which you can get a closer look at in the store. I still have loads of Halloween makes to share with you, I've been having such fun creating them, so I will be back soon with more of those. Until then, hugs and happy crafting, Wends xoxo

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