Mixed-Media Holiday Cards by Guest Artist Lynne Moncrieff

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, and I, for one, couldn’t be happier! I love this magical time of the year — I love the smells, the sights, and the sounds. But by far one of my favourite things about this holiday is all the beautiful and creative Christmas cards that I get. I collect these cards and proudly displayed on my Christmas tree every year. While there are only a few weeks left until Christmas, there is still plenty of times to create your own unique, mixed-media holiday cards for all your friends and family — especially when you have a fun tutorial by a gifted guest artist.

Today we have a special treat. We are very fortunate to be joined by the wonderful Lynne Moncrieff. This talented mixed-media artist has been featured in a number of our magazines including the spring and autumn issue of The Stampers’ Sampler. Please join me in welcoming Lynne to our little creative corner of the internet!

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Whether it be creating cards, tags, altered art, working with fabric, jewellery supplies, or mixed-media, stamping will always make an appearance in my artwork as it is my passion. One of the busiest times of the year for any stamper is the time leading up to these festive celebrations, when we are in the middle of creating cards, tags/gifts, and other goodies to mail to family and friends.

The labels “shabby chic” and “vintage” are commonly used in reference to my work and that’s alright with me, being that those styles are what I am naturally drawn to.  However, I believe every now and then we should step out of our comfort zones.  For me that has entailed playing with stamps I might normally have overlooked and also taking the bold step of working with colour.

When it comes to card making, especially for the holidays, I normally play it safe with my colour choices. But this year I am trying to be a wee bit bolder in my approach. So this project features holiday cards with a brighter colour palette, although — I did manage to sneak in a little bit of lace!

 

Mixed-Media Holiday Cards by Lynne Moncrieff Project Materials:

–Dina Wakley Scribbly Birds (bird)
–Handwritten Quotes (magic)
-Darkroom Door Reindeer (reindeer and stars)
-Stitched Christmas (Christmas and stitches)
–Dots Background Stamp
–Dots Texture Stamp
–Distress Paint: Black Soot, Broken China, Picket Fence, Fired Brick
-Martha Stewart Satin Acrylic Craft Paint: Sea Lavender
-Cosmic Shimmer Iridescent Watercolour Paint: Christmas Red
–Staz-on Jet Black
–Golden White Gesso
–Golden Soft Gel Matt Medium
-Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: Bubble
–Sakura Stardust Pen
–Sharpie Extra Fine Point Poster Paint Marker: White
–Watercolour Paper (Hot Press/Smooth)
–White cardstock/Pre-scored Card Bases
–Scraps of Lace, Muslin, and Fabric
–Washi Tape
-Lace Rose Trim
-Flat Back Pearl Stickers

Tools:

-Heat Gun
–Craft Knife
-Water Mister Bottle
–Acrylic Stamp Block
-Tim Holtz Non-Stick Micro Serrated Scissors 9.5”
-Artist’s Watercolour Brush
-Foam Tulip Craft Brush
-Old Gift/Credit Card
–Artist’s Plastic Palette Knife
-Baby Wipes

 

Mixed-Media Holiday Card Project by Lynne Moncrieff

I would like to share with you a step-by-step tutorial for the Christmas Magic card; then at the end of the tutorial, I will outline some brief instructions for the Reindeer and Christmas Trees cards.

Step 1 – Adhere strips of fabric, muslin, lace and washi tape to watercolour paper panel with Gel Medium, and leaving to dry for a few moments.

Step 2 – Apply paints with an old gift/credit card. Start with Distress Paint Broken China and Martha Stewart Sea Lavender, followed by Distress Paint Fired Brick.  Add a touch of white gesso if required.

*Remember not to obliterate the patterns of the fabric and washi tape.  If this happens simply wipe off excess paint with a baby wipe. 

Step 3 – Highlight the areas of Fired Brick with Christmas Red Iridescent Watercolour. Allow your paint to fully dry before moving on to Step 4.

Step 4 – Apply Distress Paint Picket Fence directly onto Dots Texture Stamp and stamp onto the red areas.  Re-apply paint to the stamp if required, and remember to immediately wash stamp thoroughly after stamping with paint.

Continue stamping with Picket Fence by applying a light coverage to a section of the Dots Background stamp.  Stamp the top right corner of panel and again remember to immediately was stamp after use

Highlight some of the smaller dots with white marker pen.

Step 5 – Apply Broken China to watercolour paper and when it is dry stamp a Scribbly Bird with Staz-on.

Step 6 – Transform the Scribbly Bird into a festive Red Robin by stencilling Bubbles with Fired Brick onto bird’s tummy. Highlight the tail, wing, and eye with the white marker pen before fussy cutting with detail scissors and craft knife.

Step 7 – Create a festive sentiment by mix and matching stamps.  Stamp Christmas (Stitched Trees) then ink up Magic (Handwritten Quotes). Finish by stamping some stars.

Adhere bird to panel then highlight bird and sentiment with Stardust pen. Now adhere the completed panel to pre-scored card base.

Your card is now complete!

The other two cards I would like to share feature traditional holiday images with a reindeer and Christmas trees.

Reindeer Card – Create a variation of the previous background.  Stamp Dots Background stamp with Picket Fence and again use paint to stamp the reindeer, Black Soot. Remember to immediately wash stamp after use with paint.

Christmas Trees Card – Apply Broken China to white card stock before stamping trees. Apply Picket Fence to Dots Texture Stamp, stamping onto each of the trees.  On the two smaller trees highlight the dots with white marker pen. Stamp sentiment on the large tree. Create shimmer highlights on all three trees with Stardust pen

By utilising scraps of fabric and washi tape with a couple of background stamps and paint colours, you can see how easy it is to create these mixed-media backgrounds for any holiday card, and of course — even beyond the holidays!

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While we’re all running a little short on time to send out our Christmas cards, we can still create unique holiday greetings to give to our next door neighbours, or friends and family who live in the same town. What’s better than getting a Christmas card? Getting one hand-delivered by a special loved one.

Thank you so much Lynne for the creative tutorial! To learn more about Lynne Moncrieff and to see more of her beautiful work, please visit her blog: Adorn

 

Want to See More of Lynne Moncrieff’s Stunning Cards?

The autumn issue of The Stampers’ Sampler offers the most variety and original stamping techniques yet to wrap up 2014. Our Tempting Template Angel Challenge results will be showcased — ranging from Art Deco-esque designs to celestial to contemporary and more! One of our most prolific artists, Lynne Moncrieff, adds a touch of rustic glamour with her Christmas cards and wall hangers, and Guest Artist Sandee Lindmeier takes the stamping art form to the next level with her intricately detailed, hand-painted cards and gift bags.

Click here to order this magazine!