Christmas stamps by Donna Ratcliff

Hello crafters!

I knew it wouldn't be long before we saw some more amazing creations from Donna, our chief Inkoid! This time she has turned her attention to Christmas and bought us a beautiful collection of classic and timeless images.

Firstly, I adore this gorgeous stag! It's the first card I had to make!....And we see as this beautiful creature makes his way to the top of the snowy slope and pauses to survey his surroundings, lit by a full moon, which seems to emphasize his majesty... I felt like I was channelling Attenborough whilst making this. 😉

I wanted him to be the focus, he seemed quite pagan with this holly antlers, therefore, I wanted him to look a bit magical and spiritual and thought creating a full moon, as a halo behind him, would achieve this. 😊 The background was created by flicking drops of Pebeo drawing gum on to it, to make snow later. I used a die cut circle as a mask for behind his head, I wanted a really bright moon.
Then Distress Ink was blended on to the background, paler in the centre. The stag was stamped and fussy cut. I didn't need to cut out some of the very tiny bits, around his antlers, they were white so would not show up against the moon and would blend in.  To create the glow around the moon, I removed the mask after inking, watered down clear sparkle pen and sponged it round the edge of the orb, it bleeds and becomes feathery, which is perfect. Coloured the moon with clear sparkle pen and then applied a little 3D foil glue with my fingers to add texture here and there, added the silver foil when it was dry. Rubbed away the drawing gum and positioned the stag which I coloured with Aquablend pencils.

This is another evening scene I created with the trees. I wanted to do something fairly simple for this one and a bit cleaner, so just a snowy landscape and a pretty sky, again, inspired by my love of the Northern Lights, something which I hope to see in real life one day.

Also, with this collection by Donna, comes this lovely cosy cabin. It teams up perfectly with the trees from the stamp set in the Aurora Borealis card above, so you can create a real scene. For this one I stamped the trees on the background and then stamped the house on a separate piece of card and cut it out. This is a decoupaged card but doesn't show up on the photos, it's comprised of three layers and then the decorated tree at the front is also decoupaged. There are lots of companion stamps with this set that allow you to create your own backgrounds and papers. 

Not just for cards as you can see, home decor too! 

Where would we be without a cheery little robin at Christmas? Donna has drawn us some cute little birds to play with. You can have them realistic or they also come with hats and stockings for a bit of fun. This Robin was decoupaged in the foreground as you can see they "play nicely" as Sheena would say with the other images.

I've got a soft spot for this little chappy, he's a real sweetie pie. I think he's hoping someone will throw him some crumbs whilst he's waiting for Santa to arrive. As Hayley and Sheena have just discussed on Hochanda, you've guessed it, this little bird is decoupaged! I know, shocker! lol.. He was fussy cut, shaped and placed on the background. He was stamped a second time and then I cut out his wing, the top portion is glued flat and 3D glue is placed under the middle of the wing to raise it and make it realistic. 

And now for something warm and cosy.. for these poinsettias I decided to go a bit vintage.

The moment is finally here...Santa Claus is coming to town!... He really is a lovely Father Christmas and because of the way he is drawn, he is really easy to decoupage ( not at all obsessed, actually yes I am! lol.) There is no hope...none at all... 

And finally, this is a door hanging I created with Saint Nick. I thought this would be nice to hang on a child's door, or the door of the room where the presents will be found... complete with jingle bells too! And I'll let you guess the other technique I used.. 😉

I had such fun making these and I am sure you will love playing with this collection too! So many things you can achieve with it. Can't wait to see what you make. I'm sure it won't be long before we see something else from our Donna. 

T.T.F.N peeps

Adele

xx