wood slice ornaments

Hello friends and happy Monday!

Today I am on the Art Impressions blog with a Christmas project using two different Ai stamp sets… 4943 Singing Snowmen PopCard and 4809- Nativity MTF. The PopCards and Mini TryFolds images are SO fun to use as they were intended (creating interactive cards) but can also be used many other ways! Today I made some Birch Tag (wood slice) ornaments!

To begin, purchase some wood slices (or cut them yourself if you can!).  I purchased these Birch Tags at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. I’ve also ordered some from Amazon which are a different type of wood and I haven’t used them yet. But I’m assuming I will have similar results.  The wood slices from Amazon are approx. 3/16″ in thickness compared to the M’s and H.L. ones which are 1/2″ thick.  My husband drilled holes in these for me but some come pre-drilled too.

Next you need to choose the Ai images you want to use. Remember that you can use just a portion of your image if it is too large.  The snowmen I used are from the new Singing Snowmen PopCard. For one, I stamped and masked the songbook before stamping the snowman.  Stazon ink works well but I used my Archival Black because that pad of mine seemed juicier at the moment and it also gave me the permanent ink that I needed for coloring.

I wanted to try the Inktense pencils on them and add water with a brush so the color would smooth out and wouldn’t just sit on top of the wood.  It might be easier to do some shading if you just use regular colored pencils such as Prismacolor.  It’s difficult to blend or shade this way but I do like the look. The wood soaks up the water so quick…you don’t need to worry too much about bleeding out of the lines as long as your pencil color stays within! I used a tiny #10 brush.

Here are my finished ornaments. A sentiment was stamped on the back of the snowmen ones. Don’t forget to also sign and date!  I also added some “snowflake” dots with a white paint pen. To finish them, I added a small wood bead to the top of the twine (use a 9″ piece).

I wanted the nativities to be more rustic, so I only spotlighted the star and manger by coloring with shades of brown.

Inktense colors- Beech Green, Cherry, Chilli Red, Carmine Pink (cheeks), Neutral Gray, Sienna Gold, Saddle Brown, Amber, Tan.

Have a great Monday and… happy stamping!

stamps- Art Impressions 4943 Singing Snowmen PopCard and 4809- Nativity ; ink- Stazon or Archival Black; accessories- wood slices (Artminds Birch Tags), Inktense pencils, #10 brush, Sharpie white paint pen (water based), Artminds wood beads, twine.