Gnome For The Holidays – Not Just for Christmas. If you caught my #Simplestamping Saturday post you will know that, in the days leading up to the release of the new August to December Mini Catalogue, I am taking a look at some of the new products to see if they are only for Christmas. Today I am looking at Gnome for the Holidays. I bought this set for a couple reasons. Firstly it is not a set the I would instantly buy (I am not a Gnome fan), and second I could see the potential for making ‘Not just for Christmas’ projects with it. So here we go…….
Gnome for Christmas
Let’s start with the Christmas version of my project. I chose bright traditional Christmas colours. Poppy Parade and Granny Apple Green are both really bright, but they play well together.
I had such fun pulling the sets of Stampin’ Blends I wanted. Adult colouring is so relaxing. I fussy cut all the images and then ran light Gray Granite around all the edges. This has 2 benefits. Firstly, if you didn’t ‘colour inside the lines’ it does a fantastic job of covering that up. Secondly, and for me this is more important, it somehow makes the images ‘pop’ and disguises that they are cut out. I don’t understand why, but I do know it works.
Having fussy cut and coloured all the pieces, when I started to put the card together it just didn’t seem to be falling into place as I had expected. Then I realised it was because nothing was ‘grounded’. The solution for the figures was simple. Add some Light Crumb Cake under the image, to act as a shadow. This was not going to work for the tree, so I simply extended the coloured area onto the mat. Just what I needed to do!
The finishing touches were some new gems and, what is becoming a real favourite, Shimmery Crystal Effects on the lights both on the tree and the lady Gnome’s hat.
You’re a Friend Like Gnome Other
Taking Christmas out of the stamps was actually quite simple. First I inked up the stamp with the brush tip end of a Basic Black Stampin’ Write marker. This has water based ink, so is perfect to use with Stampin’ Blends, and is available on its own. Using the marker means you can avoid inking any ‘Christmas’ elements, such as the snowflakes on one of the Gnome’s hats, the bauble and mistletoe in their hands and, a real feature, the lights on the tree house. Any gaps in the image can can be filled in with the narrow end of the marker.
It was using the narrow end of the marker that allowed me to extend the tree a little. Taking out the lights meant the leaves suddenly became a feature, but an unfinished one. I simply drew in the full leaves and extended the tree truck.
Taking away the snowflakes from the Gnome’s hat left it very plain. Rather than draw anything in, I decided to use the space for an ombre effect. I would never have guessed that Balmy Blue and Misty Moonlight are a match made in heaven for this. This is one reason why Adult Colouring is such fun.
Video Tutorial Time
In today’s video you will find quite a few hints and tips for colouring and fussy cutting, as well as my thoughts on ‘grounding’ individual elements. I hope you find these useful.

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Dimensions
For International A4 Card
Standard A6 Cardbase
First Mat – 5-5/8 x 3-7/8” (14.4 x 10cm)
Second Mat – 5-1/2 x 3-3/4” (14.2 x 9.8cm)
For Letter Sized Card (8-1/2 x 11″)
Standard Card Base (half sheet folded in half to 4-1/4 x 5-1/2″)
First Mat – 4 x 5-1/4″
Second Mat – 5-1/8 x 3-7/8″
Nail Varnish Colours
Today’s Nail Colours are by Nails Inc. PLEASE NOTE, I get no commission from Nails Inc if you choose to shop from them using this link.
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