Let It Snow

I love Christmas and I find that December gives me the perfect excuse to create as many Christmassy journal pages as I can (grin!). I hope you like my latest creation.

I started by stamping snowflakes over the page using Dovecraft embossing ink which I covered with white Stampendous embossing powder. I shook the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and tapped the page against the table to make sure I had removed any stray powder. Once the excess powder was safely returned to its container, I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder, sweeping the gun over the images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long, until the embossing powder changed to a glossy finish becoming smooth and dimensional. Next I applied Chipped Sapphire, Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks using a blending tool starting at the top of the page with the darkest colour of Chipped Sapphire, and finishing with the lighter colour of Cracked Pistachio, at the bottom. As the white snowflakes were on a white page, it was fun seeing them stand out as I added more layers of the Distress Inks to intensify the colours. Then I used a wood mounted snowflake stamp which I wet with a baby wipe and pressed onto the page so that it reactivated the Distress Ink. On removing the stamp I used some kitchen paper to absorb the wet ink leaving a pretty snowflake impression on the page. I added some shiny silver snowflakes to the centre of each impression which are from a Relief Sticker Set by Crelando and also some large 3D silver snowflakes which are wall stickers. Then I used some outline stickers to add the silver stars and dots for some extra detail and shine. The snowman is fussy cut from an old Christmas card and stuck to the page using a UHU Stic. To create the ground I used the negative image surround from the outline stickers, ripping it to fit the page. To finish, I added the “Let It Snow” wording which is a foam sticker from a Christmas craft pack and some white dots using a Uni Posca paint pen.

Living by the sea, we don’t usually have much snow, although snow is forecast for this weekend (grin!). This had me reminiscing about some heavy snowfall (for the UK) that we had for about a week when we lived in the South of England.  I found these pictures to share with you.

Our garden was like a winter wonderland with all the snow …

… and the snow-covered trees looked so beautiful too!

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Sheila from Orange Esmeralda who is hosting the “Let’s Celebrate” challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my snowy celebration.

Over at Try it on Tuesday they have a “Twinkle, Twinkle” challenge where you are asked to include stars, sparkles, glitter and shiny things.

I’m also pleased to join Moo Mania & More for their “Get the heat on – (Heat Embossing)” challenge as I included the heat embossed snowflakes on my page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the “Winter Wonderland” challenge over at A Vintage Journey with my “Mixed Media” style page. I was inspired by the description provided to their Creative Guides of “Let’s see some snow, snowmen …” so I included both of these in my design.

The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is “Icy Inspiration” so I drew inspiration from the dark blue colour, snowman and snowy pictures on the mood board provided to create my journal page.

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Chipped Sapphire, Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio)
• Dovecraft Premium Embossing Stamp Pad (Clear)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque DP100)
• Uni Posca Paint Pens (White)
• Clear Impressions clear stamp set (Woodland Christmas)
• Practical Publishing Embossing Folder & Stamp Set (Winter Wonderland)
• Papercraft 4 You Mary Hughes wood mounted rubber stamp (Snowflake)
• Crelando Relief Sticker Set (12 Sheets – Christmas)
• Home Bargains (Wall Stickers 16216)
• Poundland (Christmas Gift Pack 171319-MC16)
• Outline Stickers (Time Silver 90493S)
• UHU Stic