Making Mini26 Festive!

Welcome to Magpieheaven, where I'm still busy with Christmas makes! I promise that next week I'll be taking a bit of a break from Christmas, as I don't want to overdo the festive spirit too much before the actual festive season begins! Over at the Craft Stamper Blog Here they have a challenge that my crafting friend, Chris of the blog Pearshaped Chris thought might interest me! I've been challenging myself to create cards with non-Christmas stamps and that is what Craft Stamper would like to see so I should like to link up this pair of Christmas cards to the challenge. The stamp I chose for these cards in PaperArtsy Mini26 - a really versatile little script stamp, which is not specifically Christmas themed.

I began with a new Masterboard: lots of brayering, stencilled birds and branches from a big stencil by StencilGirl and some stamping with my chosen non-Christmas stamp, Mini26. With its medieval look...

It reminds me of illuminated manuscripts in vibrant colours with gold lettering. If you click on the image, you might be able to see how the text blends in with the winter woods. There's a JOFY Mini snowflake Christmas stamp to create the wintry atmosphere.

After die-cutting some Tim Holtz deer, I painted them with PaperArtsy Fresco paint, then stamped them with some paint sponged onto the Mini26, embossing with clear embossing powder and then covering with Treasure Gold. The arch I'm experimenting with in the picture is also a Tim Holtz die-cut. I spread it thickly with Prima Crackle Paste and left it to dry.

In this close-up, I hope you can see the effect of the crackle on the arch and the raised embossing on the deer. I stamped the script on the arch too - without a block to give an aged, worn away look. I sponged the edge of the arch with some Fern Green Wendy Vecchi Archival ink to give the look of lichen.

The deer are fixed with little foam pads to give a 3D effect. Although the script is not intended for Christmas projects, I think it gives an impression of a medieval manuscript coming to life and it reminds me of one of my favourite carols:
The rising of the sun and the running of the deer,
The playing of the merry organ sweet singing in the choir.
I used the text from Artistic Outpost's 'Snowy Woods' plate to give a context...

and fixed all my elements to Kraft card. Thank you for stopping by Magpieheaven today. Have a lovely weekend full of creativity!