Christmas Morning by Julie Lavalette

Happy Christmas to everyone, it's JULIE here today. This week I have made a mixed media wall hanging with my inspiration coming from thinking Santa has delivered all his presents and is now relaxing whilst his washing dries. You may want to grab a cuppa while I take you through all the techniques and photos.

Starting off with a piece of corrugated card I ripped back the paper to reveal the corrugation in parts. Next I applied a layer of Gesso with a baby wipe and added some Crackle Paint to the edges. Once dry I rubbed over some Distress ink to highlight the cracks. I then scattered embossing powders over my Cardboard in lots of frosty colours and sparkles to give the effect of a snowy scene and depth within a Forest from the corrugation. I just wish cameras would pick up all the sparkle !

Now to the fun part with my dies. I cut out my birch tree 4 times, inking down one side of the birch tree with Distress ink. On the other side I shaded with a Versamarker Pen and applied some White Embossing Powder. You will now see the difference between the inked tree to the one with added snow.

Building them up I wanted my trees to look slightly different on each side so I now layered extra branches behind the main tree, notice the difference between the two trees.

The Icicles had Glitter Embossing Powder added in a frosty shade with a little ink added to the drips, finally I added some Glossy Accents. This gives the look of the ice melting.

My little wildlife animals were all shaded with Distress Ink and Black Liquid Pearls added into the centre of their eyes. I also highlighted the tiny details that Cheery Lynn are fab at putting into their dies, with a Fine Liner Pen.

Santa's Laundry - First I coloured the areas I wanted red with a Copic Pen. Next I rubbed over my die cut with my Anti Static bag and then I used my Versamarker Pen over the red and applied a Red Sparkle Embossing Powder to make Santa's clothes glisten. I repeated the process on the white areas of the jacket using a White Puff Embossing powder. His underwear was shaded with Distress Inks and once again I highlighted all the details with a Black Fine Liner Pen. The washing line was coloured with Copics.

My Christmas Lights once again were heat embossed with different colours. Once built up I added a fine black line between the baubles and wiring, this gives an illusion of depth.

Finishing off with my Happy Christmas Sign and Holly which has all been heat embossed with different shades.

A final tip before I finish ... Should you not have a large range of colours of Embossing Powders in your stash, colour your die cut with Copics and add Clear Detail Powder or Sparkly Clear Powder. This is how I got the effect on my grass using Copics.

Cheery Lynn Dies Used -

Thanks everyone for your continued comments and Good Luck to everyone entering our Weekly Challenge. I hope you feel inspired to try some Mixed Media with your dies.

Crafty Hugs,

Julie x