Workshop Doorhanger

Good morning Bloggers, hope your weather is better than mine - dark, dull and raining.... yeuk !  although it isn't too cold so I guess we have to be thankful for that !

Yesterday I was a very Busy Bee, craft workshop, Christmas haircut, finishing with Hubbs and I having a lovely meal in a restaurant in Plymouth. 

The morning saw me attending a workshop, run by Bernie Simmons as one of the Clarity South West Group regular events.  This workshop was based around making a door hanger and/or tags using Clarity stamps and other materials supplied by Bernie.  It was a fun workshop and Bernie had a couple of samples in case we wished to duplicate her designs. 

Well, you know me, I never follow a pattern/recipe/guidelines ha ha.... so opted for a sheet of vintage Christmas paper from the materials provided and this is what I created:

Front of Door Hanger

Back of Hanger

 

 



Using the MDF hanger as a template I cut out sections of the paper to fit, one for the front and one for the back. (during this procedure, I learned a very valuable lesson - NEVER use a craft knife to cut around a template whilst the template is on top of your Splodge Mat rather than your self healing craft mat Doh  ! - an expensive and not to be repeated error !)  I then used a number of Distress Inks to stamp a selection of Clarity images randomly over the top of the designer paper for each side. 

After this I used DIs to distress around the edges, then flicked splashes of water over, blotted with tissue then used a heatgun to dry all the inks.  The water splashes give a very subtle faded effect where the water drops fall as they lift the DI colour.  It's less noticeable on my design as the base paper was coloured - using this technique on plain card gives a more noticeable effect.

Finally I used Versmark to stamp the 'Peace on Earth' sentiment and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder.  I then used a Clear Wink of Stella brush to add a subtle twinkly sheen to the Santa image and the leaves and sprays I'd stamped with DI.   I'm just loving the WoS pens right now, have you tried them yet ?  If not, you should !

After drying out the papers I then glued them to both sides of the hanger.   I wanted to add a gilded edge to the MDF to give it a nice finished appearance, so once I was home I used my Treasure Gold paste and Brush Bath to add the gilding.  I also applied TG to the petals and stamens of the two paper poinsettias to give them a vintage 'make-over' before attaching them to the front of the hanger. 

The back is much less obviously Christmas I think, so I'll probably keep the hanger on my craftroom door all year round, having the less decorated side on show once the festive season is finished.

Here's a final shot of the hanger doing what it was created to do !

The workshop was enjoyable and, as I have only a handful of Clarity Stamps, it was a great opportunity to try some I don't have.  There will be more workshops in the new year and I may well sign up for another one.

Thanks for dropping by to check on today's project.  I'm off now to wrap yet more gifts and put up the tree and decorations.  Have a great day.