Winter Wonderland

Hi my friends, I'm sharing a Christmas Decoration I made for the cubbyhole inspired by the amazing Holiday 2020 Part 1 Facebook Live from my adorable Professor and Mario, his super sweet sound man. Because it has to sit on top of my ink storage unit which isn't very wide, I embraced the trend of all things Slimline and if I thought constructing a skinny shelf structure wasn't going to be hard enough, testing my paper engineering skills, getting a decent photo had me doing cartwheels, shots from above, shots from eye level, shots from kneeling on the floor, so forgive me for the best of a bad bunch.

I began by creating the shelf for my winter scene from 400gsm cardstock, scored and folded to create a 2" ledge and trimmed the upright section to create an undulating backdrop.  I reinforced the back with folded pieces of 400gsm cardstock, added layers of cardstock underneath and behind, trimmed to size, fixed together with Distress Collage Medium Matte and set aside to dry while I worked on the Paper Village Houses and Idea-ology Trees. I looked out my trusty SplatBox, donned a rubber glove and spritzed the houses and trees with Speckled Egg Distress Spray Stain. But I couldn't let the overspray go to waste so I grabbed some pieces of Distress White HeavyStock left over from another project and mopped up all that Speckled Egg goodness.I trimmed the overspray card to fit the back panel, applied Distress Grit Paste through Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Flurries Mini Layering Stencil from Set 50, dusted with my favourite glitter ever, Distress Vintage Platinum using the Glitter Duster but leaving some of the snowflakes white and fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium once the Grit Paste had dried. I tapped Grit Paste on to the trees with my finger and dusted with the glitter. I added Frosted Film inside the front panels of the houses to diffuse the lights, you could also use vellum, die-cut the roofs and doors again from Distress Kraft Heavystock and fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte. I applied Distress Grit Paste on the roofs using a palette knife, dusted with glitter and added splatters of Picket Fence Distress Paint using a Splatter Brush. I arranged the houses and trees temporarily on the ledge to work out the placement for the Idea-ology Tiny Lights, drilled a hole in the panel and fixed the lights in place wound around the larger trees and along the back of the ledge and into each house and this time, I made sure I secured them carefully at strategic points, well away from the actual lights, with just small dots of hot glue, once bitten, twice shy. I fixed the houses and trees down with Distress Collage Medium Matte and once they were secure, I used a small stiff brush to add Distress Grit Paste on the ledge around the trees and houses to hide any visible wire and while the paste was still wet, I sprinkled liberally with Distress Mica Flakes, pressed them lightly into the paste and set aside to dry. I coloured the Idea-ology Decorative Deer and Baubles Findings with Gilded Alloy and Mushroom Alcohol inks and added to my winter scene.Then it was time for the cubbyhole's very own Christmas Lights Switch On Ceremony, no crowds, no celebrity to flick the switch, just little old me, covered in glitter, celebrating with a coffee which, no doubt, also had a fair sprinkling of glitter and suddenly I felt the magic of Christmas, it doesn't matter how old you are, there's a sense of wonder that makes you feel 5 years old all over again. It may not compare with the lights of Regent Street, but I'm totally in love with my little make and it will be shining bright from now and all through the Christmas Season in my happy place.

And on that note, I'll be heading over to my other happy place to join Tim and Mario for tonight's Facebook Live, 6pm if you're in the UK and I wonder what surprises are in store. Hope to see you there.

Hugs Kath xxx

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