Spellbinders ~ Dancin' Gnome Alfie

Hello hello crafty friends, I'm glad to have you back with me today. I'm sharing a fun Christmas card that I've made for one of my nieces with the cutest kinetic die set from Spellbinders. There are several of these cute kinetic sets, that can be put together so the legs of the characters swing freely. You may recall I made a couple or similar cards with sets from a previous Spellbinders releases. You can visit those ones here and here. They were a huge hit with my extended family, so I was delighted when Yana asked me to create with a couple from the recent releases at Spellbinders. This is the first of the sets I'll share with this kinetic design, but I'll be back with a couple more. They're so fun and I'll be making them for all the little people in our family. 

I made a slimline design with this adorable tomte gnome character. This set is called Dancin’ Gnome Alfie. It was released as part of the Dancin' Christmas Friends Collection from Spellbinders. There are 10 thin metal cutting dies in this set to put together, but it's easy and very intuitive. The dies have little etchings where elements are meant to fit together. It takes all the guess work out of things and is a really nice design feature. The legs can swing back and forth if added over a round foam dimensional dot which is what I did. He is quite a tall gnome, measuring at almost 6 inches tall! So really perfect for a slimline creation. 

I used a lovely blue stripe paper from the Paper Rose Botanical Blooms Collection. I edged the paper once cut to size with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink, to distress the edges slightly. This collection from Paper Rose is now available at Spellbinders. They have some beautifully curated choices from other companies that work well with their collections and this is one of them. This is a double-sided patterned paper, so I've used the plainer side for this creation. The flip side has a lovely floral on it. But as this die set reminds me of Swedish Tomten. I wanted a stripe, as my Swedish bestie would always dress her boys in stripes, often blue stripes, so it totally reminds me of her and of Sweden. We've had lots of little Polarn O. Pyret striped shirts in our kiddos collection of clothes over the years. 

This die set comes with some fun accessories too, like the little parcel I have him holding. There are sweet little details on this too, like the tiny little bow and tag. I covered some white cardstock with some older Tim Holtz washi tape to get that lovely tartan parcel and then diecut the elements from that. I diecut the cute ribbon and bow from gold cardstock and the little tag from white. Such a simple few details but they really elevate the piece!

I added a strip of embossed cardstock top and bottom of the designer paper for a bit of texture and interest. I embossed this on cardstock I had spritzed with perfect pearls, so it has a lovely subtle shimmer to it. The embossing folder I used was the Spellbinders Origami Folds 3D Embossing Folder. This is now out of stock at Spellbinders, but you're still able to get this lovely embossing folder through Scrapbook.com. I used a lovely sentiment for this card from the Christmas Blessings Sentiments Stamp Set. This is part of the Season of Wonder Collection by Stampendous. I gold heat embossed this and adhered it with foam for a bit of additional dimension.

I've used some fun textures in this make for a bit of interest, the gnome's beard and the pom poms on his shoes and the trims are cut from white felt. I added dimension to his nose by using a ball tool for flowers to round the nose before adhering it. I coloured the nose with copic markers to add the skin tones. The pom pom on his hat I used an actual 3D haberdashery pom pom. I've used a mix of lovely cardstocks too to create this gnome. The reds I've used a lovely shimmer heavyweight cardstock. The whites I've used either the felt I mentioned or a lovely pearl coloured shimmery cardstock. Many of these are from a New Zealand art store called Gordon Harris.

Thank you friends for popping in to visit today. I love sharing my full adventures here with you on my blog. It's so much easier to share the full story in my blog and I hope you enjoy reading snippets of this crafty adventure or dip in for the information you're curious about. I'll be back as I mentioned with another of these fun kinetic designs soon. In the meantime I wish you a wonderful creative day. 

Spellbinders has just had the most wonderful sale and that's just finished, but I did spot some fabulous Clearance Deals well worth a look if you're a bargain hunter like me! Click through on the banner above for a direct link. You can easily click through to the UK store from there if you're shopping in the UK. I so appreciate you using these links if you are shopping. They cost you no extra whatsoever, but may mean the difference in my being asked to design again. So I'm grateful for your support, as I really love working with Spellbinders. 

(I share thumbnails to the elements I design with in order to make your search for them easier, in case you like something I've used. I do use affiliate links where possible, which gives me a tiny commission but costs you no extra whatsoever. It helps the companies I design for to improve their marketing practice and track my contributions. I am deeply grateful if you use them for these reasons. I am proud to design for the companies I do and always feel happy to share where my inspiration and where my crafty stash comes from. I am occasionally gifted products to use, but I only design for companies whose products I absolutely love and buy for myself. My opinions are always my own.)

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