Hi there. I’ve been playing with my Avery Elle ‘Brring On the Joy’ stamp and die set. I saw this on a YouTube channel, and thought how cute they looked. If you know me at all, I struggle with cute. I never know how to colour the little animals, how to arrange them – but I thought with penguins it would be simple…..a little bit of black, a little bit of white, some colour for the scarves and shoes….and there we have it.

Now, my main struggle was the background. I wanted to play with my Distress Oxides, and took the ‘Faded Jeans’ – the only oxide I have that is blue – and set to playing.

I first used normal card – too much blending, and the card started to break down. Without water, too. So – water-colour card. Actually, this is a little thinner than card, but thicker than paper.

I did one background by smooshing the ink pad onto my craft mat, added water, and then lay the water-colour card down. This was too random for me, and not enough coverage, so I took my blending tool and made it more even. That was pretty decent.

The I just took the ink pad, ran it over the water-colour card, wet it down, evened it out…a more solid background. Kinda liked that too.

The next one, I ink blended the traditional way, and even used a cloud stencil I had handy for some detail in the background…..You can tell which one that is. I just kept playing, and trying different techniques, and the only one I didn’t really like, and couldn’t do anything with – was when I didn’t use water-colour card or paper……. quite obvious, really! Oh – and I finished off with some water splattering……..got to really – rude not to!

I think I’ll be making some similar cards, as I like the sentiments, they are cute……and I liked playing with the oxide.

I shall be entering one of these cards into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge – Christmas

The Merry Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Christmas with the Cuties – Christmas animals