oh Christmas Tree ...

... our little black tree (only 3ft tall) is the first to be brought out of storage this year - purely for prop purposes - Decorations that I made with my stamps have been hanging on random door knobs around the house for a while - they need to be photographed and blogged... easier said than done!

I saw this deer head in the Poplar Garden Centre where Birds in the Barn is based - they have a really lovely christmas decoration selection - really nice & unusual ornaments.. - I was quite taken by the angel wings (big enough to wear - & no I didn't try them on!)

 and I was especially with the pairs of polystyrene ice skates - I thought I should have these just to remind me of the day Matt & I went ice skating at the Natural History Museum... I use the term 'skate' loosely - Matt skated - I just clung on to the side for dear life..:o)  & then fell over!  Always graceful! lol

aaaanyhooo - where was I .. deer head - I really liked it - the shape and because its cut from wood .... I bought it even though the strong red is not our festive colour scheme (we seem to have many other colours but not red! - I would love a tree where all the decorations are red, white and wood...hhhmmmm)... so I bought it home and..... ta daaaaa:

I Crackled Glazed it! Simple and effective... Much more in keeping with our other decorations...

I decorated one of the wooden hearts (available from the PaperArtsy website soon) with crackle (I do love a bit of crackle!), I stamped JM32 (Angel) onto the crackled wooded heart and onto book text, I cut out & matched up the two images (as shown below), I used Nougat Fresco Finish and Pearl Glaze for the wings

 for the reverse of the heart I covered it with book text which I colour washed..

... below is an ornament I've waited 11 months to make (I've had the baubles that long - since last xmas!) and this was the tricky customer when it came to photography...  Its a bauble that you can put images and 'stuff' inside and close up again! love!  Comes in two halves.. I die cut 2 scallop edged circles of white watercolour card (for the texture) and gave them separate treatments:

I stamped my Angel mini image (JM32) onto book text and mounted it onto the diecut circle,  I coloured her body with watercolour pencils and her wings with pearl glaze - and some stickle spots for a touch of sparkle.  I also added some 'fluff' (cobwebs at halloween, clouds at christmas!) with a few sequin stars scattered in to fill the available space..(hubby's suggestion).

Inside the other half I have stamped the scallop circle with distress ink and JM07 - snowflake background - love this stamp - its one of my favourites.. On top of that I glued a diecut word (sizzix 'word play') and stickled again - like I've said before: its christmas and christmas expects sparkle!

Bauble was so hard to photograph!  a reflective little devil! lol

I hope your christmas plans are coming along well... I'm popping to Southend tomorrow - rumour has that Father Christmas is visiting and he's bringing reindeer!!
(no seriously - Southend does have real reindeer .. not two-people-in-a-panto-suit reindeer!... can't vouch for the Father Christmas though...)

xx