A Sparkly Christmas Garland

Hi, I'm Candy Spiegel and I am so excited to be a guest designer for Linnie Blooms Designs this month!

I created a Christmas banner and started with primative stars. They began as a blank slate, like this ...

 I wanted to try some airbrushing techniques with the Copic Airbrushing System. Since that technique uses air to apply color, your pieces will fly all over the place. To hold them in place I used Removable Glue Dots to hold them to a scrap sheet of paper while I applied the color.

 I used Y18 for the stars.

Next came theCanvas Evergreens. I used Washi Tape to mask off the trunks while I sprayed the tops of the trees.

 I used YG63 and YG67 for the trees. I colored the entire top with the lighter color. Then, I went back and did stripes in the darker color to mimic the branches and depth in the tree.

Then I covered the trees and used E44 to color the trunks.

 For the stockings, I taped off the top portion and then used R46 to color the base. Red is not a nice color. It does not play well with others and it goes everywhere. I learned I should have taped off the entire top of the stocking, not just a few strips!

 Then I taped on a stencil by The Crafter's Workshop. I colored it with R89.

Once it was dry, I covered the top portion with Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive and then added Fun Flock. For the stars, I covered the entire top with a thin layer of glue and added glitter over the top.

Once the flock dried, I sewed some gold twine to the stockings and then added a little bow. I also used the Tiny Attacher to make little staple "x's" on the tops. I used Stickles to add garland to the trees and then Robin's Nest Dew Drops for Ornaments. Here are my completed pieces ...

 I wanted one more piece for the middle, so I cut out a chipboard reindeer and covered it in paper. Then I added some greenery and a few Stickles for berries.

 To hook the pieces together, I used jump rings. On the middle jump ring, I added a few tiny jingle bells.

The jump ring can easily pull out of the fabric on the trees. To prevent that from happening, I applied a bit of Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive to the back of the tree with my finger to prevent any fraying and make it strong enough to hold the jump rings on the delicate branches.

Then, I used another jump ring at the end to add some ribbon to hang the banner with.

And here is the finished banner ... I hope you like it and I hope it inspires you to create a banner of your own!

PreSeNTs

by Kelly Hoernig for Linnie Blooms

I have been collecting Bingo cards for a couple of years now and thought it would make a nice background for a holiday piece. It is not expected but nice and sturdy, both of which I really like. I just purchased some old viewmaster disks and on a closer inspection found one for the “the Night Before Christmas” so knew it would be a perfect addition to the design. I worked with a nice variety of Linnie Blooms canvas shapes and tried to give each one its own personality just to be fun and different.

I used DecoArt Americana acrylics in Light French Blue, Light Avocado, Foliage Green, Terra Coral an

d Spicy Mustard to create this exact look. I pulled out my favorite stencils to add some flair to the background, the stocking and the heart. Some are subtle and some make a statement, you decide on what goes better with the look you want to achieve.

Because I wanted to add depth, I used fabri-tac and paper glued to the backside of the stocking. It makes it stand up just enough giving you the look of things being filled in it. I then used fabri-tac to hold all the elements to the background. For the disk I attached it to the bingo card with a brad.

Can’t wait to see what creative twist you put on this inspiration – hope you will share it when you are finished! Enjoy and Happy Holidays from me to you!!