Thursday 3 December 2015

Grungy Christmas at Stamps and Stencils

Hi everyone, can you believe that it's the last challenge of the year over at Stamps and Stencils? This time the very talented Julia, in keeping with the time of year has picked a Christmas theme...but with a twist. Here's what Julia has to say about 'Grungy Christmas'.


'I love Christmas but I'm a little shy when it comes to the bling, glitter and tinsel bit. We'd like to see you step away from the normal Christmas colours and create a mixed media piece which has a real touch of grunge. Think alternative colours, layers, antiquing and all things which are not pristine red and green!' 



I decided to alter a couple of mdf star ornaments. I thought the new Christmas fresco paints by PaperArtsy would be great alternative colours and originally was going to do them in 2 colours, the Plum and the Peacock. A base coat went on beautifully.



Lovely but I changed my mind to just the blue. I used small images from a favourite PA Xmas set. Stamped in black archival and quickly added WOW embossing powder in Black glint...still grungy but a touch of sparkle!



Next I mixed some  3D gloss gel with primary elements pigment in green pearl (which is irridescent) and using a snowflake mask by Clarity spread the gel across. I kept lifting the spatula up and down to roughen the texture. Before it dried I sprinkled a little WOW sparkling snow embossing powder on and heat set it.



On the Joy ornament I added text stamping and used a Damask TCW stencil instead. The green which antiqued them both is a glaze I made with the green pearl. A touch of treasure gold to the raised areas and we're nearly there.



Lastly I coloured and aged some silky seam binding to hang them up by. I love how they turned out and thought they would also work well if you wanted to celebrate Christmas in a rustic style....


.....or maybe a Victorian Christmas. Red has crept in but I hope Julia will like this red.


Please hop across and see what my very talented team mates have produced and hopefully inspire you to join in with our Grungy Christmas challenge.

As always thanks for stopping by... x

16 comments:

  1. I just love the way you went from the bright blue background to grungy perfection Ruth! Beautiful work, as always... xx

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  2. Gorgeous Ruth! Love the wonky shape of those stars and the stencilling is just wonderful! Beautiful ornaments for any tree. hugs :)

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  3. I just adore these star shapes, Ruth! And your stenciling really pops! Just gorgeous!

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  4. Wonderful stars, love the shape and how you decorated them.
    Yvonne xx

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  5. Beautiful ornaments, Ruth! Love how you've created the texture through the stencil - fabulous idea! And as I am a fan of bling, I also love how you've put a little sparkle and gold on these sweet stars.... while keeping them within the vintage grunge look! xxx Lynn

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  6. They are so special! The stencilling creates the most gorgeous texture on each ornament and frames that little girl and word stamps so beautifully.
    Wishes
    Lynne

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  7. Beautiful ornaments, Ruth, with such an amazing stenciling work! Loving that star shape! Awesome!
    Hugs! Branka x

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  8. Lovely sparkly mixed media - the texture is glorious!
    Alison xx

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  9. Ruth! Your ornies are just gorgeous!! Not too much grunge not too much bling- just right!! xo

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  10. How fun are these ornaments. Love the stenciling with texture that frames the stamping and the colour palette is gorgeous.
    Hugs!
    Cec

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  11. These are just so fabulous Ruth and so textural. Fabulous project for the challenge. Sorry for not having been around much lately and hope your ok. Hoping we can catch up at AFTH again sometime
    x catherine

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  12. They are both so gorgeous - I love the touch of grunge and the little image of the girl is just perfect.

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  13. These stars are really awesome! My co-worker at www.paperwriting.xyz said that these two would perfect suit for her Christmas tree. I liked them even without sparkling decorations, just painted with that beautiful blue and purple colors.

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  14. Hello Ruth,
    Happy New Year to you, I wish you a wonderful new year .
    Your star ornaments are wonderful, with the stenciling and beautiful blue,little bling and and special shape. Dorthe, xo

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  15. Hello Ruth,
    Happy New Year to you, I wish you a wonderful new year .
    Your star ornaments are wonderful, with the stenciling and beautiful blue,little bling and and special shape. Dorthe, xo

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It would be lovely to read any comments left, I really appreciate them all. Thank you so much for taking the time to drop by.