The Christmas Table

The Christmas Table

Hello Everyone!

Such fun to have special place mats

for the Christmas Table, especially

if you have all the family there with

you.

Here's Claire Jackson with her

place mats for this year........

"Christmas will soon be upon us 

and this year my family will be hosting. 

Time to think about a few decorations and

 the table setting. 

There’s nothing better to impress your 

guests than one-of-a-kind place mats.

I chose the 8x8” ClaybordTM which is very 

sturdy and will take a warm dinner plate 

(not recommended for plates straight

 from the oven).

 It provides a very smooth surface and

 will take a wide range of media.

First I brayered two coats of Fresco Finish 

chalk paint in smurf..

. ...before stencilling some blue oyster

 with a Kaisercraft stencil.

Confession time! 

I don’t have a Christmas foliage border

 so it was time to improvise. 

I used the Deep Red nature’s borders 

palm trees and masked off an area to

 stamp the border in Archival ink. 

I reused the masking tape from my 

practice go!

With the border completed I used a stamping tool

 to stamp the Deep Red color me poinsettia

 in the centre.

Next I painted the images with Fresco Finish 

chalk paints, selecting the translucent shades

 so the stamping would show through.

Now for the magic!

 I scratched into the board to reveal the 

clay surface and added highlights.

I drew berries onto the border, scratched

 them back to white and added red paint. 

I added a little water colour pencil to

 the centre image and the border to give

 some shadow, and to finish I added a light

 edge of faded jeans and black soot Distress Ink.

 To seal it all I gave it a spray with

 DecoArt acrylic matte sealer."

Materials used:

Claybord

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish chalk paint

Kaisercraft stencil

Archival Ink

Deep Red stamps

Distress Ink

Watercolour pencils and black gel pen

Lovely place mats Claire.  Thank you

for showing us how you made them

I just love the way Claire solved

the problem of not having the 

right stamp for the job by

using part of another, don't you?

'Til tomorrow

Mickie xx

Christmas Flora

Christmas Flora

Hi Everyone!

We're halfway through this strand

and today Claire Jackson has

brought some Poinsettia for us:

"When you think of Christmas flora the showy 

poinsettia immediately comes to mind. 

Over the years I have collected a few poinsettia

 stamps. My latest addition is by Deep Red and 

perfect for Christmas cards.

Stamp the image and heat emboss with 

gold embossing powder. 

This stamp has particularly fine details 

so using Versafine ink is a good idea

Repeat this until you have four embossed images. 

Cut away parts of the images to varying degrees.

Watercolour each piece. I used Pixie Powders 

because they have a lovely shimmer, 

perfect for the festive season.

Alternate dark and light layers and build up

 the colour to add a little shading.

Stamp the image in aged mahogany 

Distress Ink in the centre of a 12x12cm 

card blank. 

To make sure it is perfectly centred 

I suggest using a stamping tool and 

practising on some scraps cut to size...

that’s what I did! 

Add a sentiment.

With a paintbrush or water brush paint

 over the image with water to draw out 

the ink and create shading.

Put the pieces face down on a sponge mat 

and use an embossing tool to gently rub over

 the reverse of the images to create 

a domed effect. 

Put a sticky dot in the centre of each 

image and foam pads around the middle, 

not too near the edge as you want the edges

 to curve downwards.

Layer the pieces over the card blank 

and add a gem to the centre.

 Changing the colour of the embossing powder...

..or the Pixie Powders or ink will give a

 different effect.

Products used:

Poinsettia stamp
White card
Versafine ink
Distress Ink
Embossing powder
Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powders
Gems
Stamping tool
Waterbrush

Thank you for such a lovely

card Claire.  Always so good

when you can change the

colours to suit the recipient

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx