Stampendous: Adding a Bit of Holiday Dazzle!

This week we're playing with the wonderful Add a Little Dazzle Craft Metal Sheets and all of our terrific Stampendous products. We hope you're enjoying the inspiration so far! If you missed yesterday's post, here's a link for you. MONDAY The team over at Add a Little Dazzle has created a special featuring the metals from this blog hop for those of you who have already realized you're going to need these products. You can find it here - Add A Little Dazzle Stampendous Hop Special. Of course you might win some, too! We're giving away three prize packages this week for comments on the blogs. A nice package of Metal Sheets, Stamps and Cutting Dies!

Here's my creation for today:

My little holiday gift box is a base of unfinished wood box from the local big box store for one dollar, which I've swiped Tsukineko Toffee VersaFine ink over, and sealed with a brushed coat of Beacon Fast Finish Decoupage medium. During the very few minutes this took to dry, I quickly stamped out the Stampendous Cardinal Elements onto thin white tissue paper. I tore around the edges before decoupaging it onto my box. Do this by brushing one coat of the Fast Finish onto the box, and while wet, place the tissue as desired. Then brush more of the medium over the top and let dry.

Meanwhile, I stamped the image again onto a piece of the gold-color of aluminum from Add a Little Dazzle with Tsukineko Jet Black StazOn ink. The only portion I wished to work with now was the bird. I used some of my metalwork tools...a paper stump to begin manipulating the metal over a piece of suede, then a teflon-tipped tool to define the stamped design more, and a ball-tipped stylus to push the metal some more, creating more indented areas. I turned it over, and from the back on the hard surface of my desk, I traced the outside again with the Teflon tool to refine a bit more. I used a cotton swab with isopropyl alcohol to remove color from the areas that I intended to add color to. I used a sponged with some Black StazOn refill ink to push black color into the surface, and quickly used a damp paper towel to wipe away the excess, going for an antiqued look. Then I placed drops of Dreamweaver Stencils' Color Solutions Alcohol Inks in Winter Red and Mojito Green to fill in the indented design work and set it aside to dry. Once I cut it out, I smoothed the edges with a sanding block before adhering it to the box that I'd decorated. Embellished with a lush May Arts ribbon bow, a stained wood button, a twig with a sprinkling of Stampendous Shaved Ice, my gift box was ready to fill with whatever treat I chose...in this case, leftover candy canes from last year! Lol. Hey, I had to add something for the photograph!

We love to hop and here are today’s featured blogs with Stampendous and Add A Little Dazzle

Stampendous

Lea Kimmel

Add a Little Dazzle

Pam Hornschu

Cathy Parlitsis

Vicki Dutcher

Kate Capper

Amy Hurley-Purdie

PS. If you get to a blog and it says something like "that post isn't here", just click on the blog header or look for a link that says Home near the top. That will take you to the blog home, and the blog hop post should be somewhere near the top. Thanks for your patience!