Christmas Tip-ins and postcards

Every year I make tip-ins for my family at ABC. This year was no different, except I ran out of tip-ins before I ran out of names. I ended up making a few postcards to send to friends and family, and a few cards to people I wasn't sure want a tip-in. Here's what I did. First, I spritzed some white baby yarn with Ranger brand cranberry Color Wash. I smooshed the yarn to get good mottled coverage. Then I printed the image which I got from Art-UK. You can click on this link, or the one on the right under Eye Candy and Freebies to get some of the most awesome pics. Don't forget to donate, too. You'll get even more images.

Next, I mixed two reds together and a touch of black to get close to the color of the cranberry Color Wash. I glued a book page to the white CS and freehanded the oval using the paint. Using Tim Holtz's Linen distress ink, I DTP'd the middle of the oval. I also did this to some of the images, then realized they blended in too much with the background, so stopped after doing only a few.

While shopping for Christmas gifts, I found this really cool swirly stamp. I was influenced by two great artists, Halle and Ingrid who both use swirls in their work. Since I can't freehand them, I was shocked to find this stamp in the clearance bin at Hobby Lobby for only $1.00!! I used black Staz-on and stamped around to simulate a frame.

The hardest task, or most tedious for me, was wrapping the yarn around the images. I secured the yarn with double sided tape and attached using a glue stick. If these images fall off, it just reinforces how much I HATE glue sticks. The next thing I did was cut up, antique, and affix the computer generated text.

I thought the gal looked a little plain, so I cut what was originally supposed to be Santa hats, but turned into party hats due to my inability to get the shape right. I used the paper towel I sprayed the yarn on. So, at least the yarn and the hat match :>)

The postcards were much easier, since the post office has now placed stringent thickness restrictions. The background for the front was made using watered down acrylic paints (green and gold) mixed with mica powders. The same technique was used with gold on the back. And YES, I stamped!!! The text is computer generated. "Postcard" was stamped using an inkpad that has both red and green on it. I got it at Big Lots a few years ago after Christmas and never used it until now.