Festive Home Decor Tutorial by Julie Lavalette

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Hi Everyone, It's Julie here hosting the blog. Have you ever thought of die cutting your Dies using cereal boxes to make little chipboard shapes, painting, inking and making a Festive Home Decor project ? Well, I hope to inspire you today to try this and show you one of the reasons, why I have such a passion for Cheery Lynn Dies, through this step by step tutorial. I will go in depth explaining mixed media with your dies, so grab yourself a cuppa and I hope you enjoy my post.

I picked up a chipboard frame ( 10 x 8 Inches ) in a craft bargain store and next selected a variety of dies to use on my picture. I cut them out from a cereal box using the addition of my metal shim plate. I only needed to go forward and back once through my die cutting machine. Look how clear and precise even the most intricate of dies have cut out, hassle free.

Once I decided on my placement I glued all my die cuts in place, using Multi Medium Matte underneath and on top of the die cuts to make sure totally sealed in place. You will also notice I have cut some of the snowflakes in halves or quarters. I also layered up my Holly and Merry Christmas twice. This will become apparent why later on.

Once your glue has had time to dry, give your frame a coat of Gesso, this helps to prime it all ready for inking. I went around the edges of my die cuts with a small brush to get into every corner, but I like to use a baby wipe on the bigger areas as this doesn't leave brush marks and you get a smoother result.

While I was waiting on this drying, I started on my background. I used a piece of Black Bazzill Bling to give the shimmer of a frosty sky. I cut out a circle, instead of my snowflake I had placed earlier, inked the edges of my moon with Iced Spruce and sprinkled some Chunky White Frantage on both pieces of cardstock heating them from underneath to melt.

I also cut out Icicles and Snowflakes in white 300gsm card, using my metal shim. I like to use a thicker card when applying inks or paints and Cheery Lynn dies slice through this weight of cardstock like butter.I then placed into a cardboard box, right side up and sprayed with glue. Lifting them out and placing them onto a piece of paper I poured an Extra Fine Glitter over them and pressed onto my die cuts.

My row of houses I cut out 5 times with cereal boxes, gluing 3 together and another 2 together. I placed a book on top of them until dry. You will notice I cut the tree off the end on one set and not on the other. This is so the houses will sit inside my frame and then outside for a 3d effect. I applied glitter in the same way to my houses. I coloured a strip of acetate and placed in between my house layers for an illusion of lights on .

Once dry I edged the icicles and house with Iced Spruce Distress. See how it now defines the glittered die cuts.

My Frame I wanted to look like a snowstorm, so I placed it in a Cat Litter Tray I bought to use as my spray booth and started to spritz Distress Spray stains on - Pumice Stone, Iced Spruce and Brushed Pewter. I kept spritzing layers and drying in between with my heat gun until I was happy with the result. Whilst still damp I sprinkled on some Glitter Frosting.

Please be patient and make sure your frame is thoroughly dry before starting to dry brush on some Gesso. The cereal packaging holds dampness for a while and even though dry to the touch it may damp through your layers. I used an old paint brush I never clean deliberately, to add a little light and texture. Also using a soft brush to dry brush white paint over my die cut snowflakes to highlight.

Next I used my waste piece from cutting out my snowflakes as a stencil, picking up a little Gesso with a baby wipe and dabbing on my frame.

Santa and his Reindeer were cut out twice. I coloured with Copics and put Gesso on his beard and hair. I used a coffee stirrer stick to give a little height between them both for a 3d effect.

Finally, starting to glue all my layers in place. You will notice, some are glued in the frame and the others out.

Can you see the glossy accents I added to my icicles to give a cold wet look.

Do you see I have now added glitter to the antlers of my Reindeer and Rudolph is at the front of the sleigh.

You will also notice some Glossy Accents on Santa's Sleigh and Reindeer's collars along with a little sparkle under his sleigh.

A mixture of Polar White Flower Soft and Glitter frosting were added to my roofs and slopes for more interest.

I finally added my white glittered Snowflakes and rubbed a little Treasure Gold in White Fire and Silver onto my Frame. My Holly And Merry Christmas I rubbed only with the gold. The reason for 2 die cut layers was so it would stand out more prominent to my Snowflakes and also I wanted the gilding wax to be clear on these areas and not rub on the background.

And now for a final Look - remember to click on the image to enlarge. 

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial and are now feeling inspired to use your dies in this way. I'd love to hear your feed back.

Cheery Lynn Dies Used :

• S114 Metal Adaptor Plate
• DL175 Laced Pine SnowFlake
• B323 Winter Neighborhood Border
• B326 Santa's Sleigh and Reindeer.
• C146 Snowflakes
• B472 Icicles Border
• M4 Circle Classic
• B148 Holly Lace Flourish
• B477 Merry Christmas w/tree sentiment (set of 2)

Thanks for stopping by and good luck to everyone entering our Weekly Challenge.

Julie x