winter wonderland…

share the joy of the holidays with this dimensional decor project from media team emma williams. i love the idea of taking a flat die cut shape and turning into a 3-D element. check out this clever tutorial to learn the tips and tricks to try it yourself…

Hi everyone, Emma here and today I’m sharing my Winter Wonderland tutorial. When I started to think about this tutorial, I was also thinking about my own Christmas decor and there was this particular spot that I wanted to fill in my home but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t find that perfect piece. So, I decided to create some of my own Christmas magic by making this ornamental plaque using die cutting to create the main focal points.

Supplies:

Surfaces: chipboard
Dies: Prancing Deer, Sleigh Ride
Embellishments: Mirrored Stars, Tree Lot Bulk, Ice Skate Adornments, Letterpress, Mini Trees, Woodland Wreaths
Distress Spray Stains: Peeled Paint, Tarnished Brass
Distress Paint: Antiqued Bronze, Antique Linen, Picket Fence, Walnut Stain, Tumbled Glass
Distress Glitter: Rock Candy, Antique Linen
Alcohol Ink: Latte
Adhesive: Hot Glue Gun, PVA Glue
Mediums: Ranger Texture Paste, Glossy Accents, Gesso
Tools: Vagabond, Paint Brushes, Craft Sheet, Sanding Grip, Palette Knife
Other: MDF plaque, cotton spools, cheesecloth, bells, adhesive pearl

To begin with I primed a MDF plaque with one coat of Gesso and allowed it to dry throughly.

Paint the surface of the plaque with Picket Fence Distress Paint and either leave to dry naturally, or you can gently heat dry it with a heat gun.

Once dry, apply a layer of Texture Paste over the painted surface. At this stage you want the appearance of snow, so use a palette knife to create texture.

Whilst the paste is still wet, add a light sprinkling of Rock Candy Distress Glitter over the top and leave to dry.

Die cut four of the Prancing Deer images from chipboard.

To give you one complete deer that will be strong enough to be freestanding when added to your plaque, layer each of the images over the top of the previous die cut image and attach each layer with glue.

Die cut two of the Sleigh Ride images from chipboard. Cut two pieces of chipboard measuring 1” square and a second piece to measure, 2” x 1”.

Prime each of the die cut pieces with Gesso and set aside to dry.

To create the freestanding sleigh, take one of the sides and the larger piece of cut chipboard. Add a small amount of Glossy Accents along the longest edge of the rectangular piece of chipboard and attach it to the sleigh. This forms the base of the inside of the sleigh.

Take the square piece of chipboard and attach this piece at a slight angle to form the back section of the sleigh. Attach with Glossy Accents applied along the edge of the chipboard.

Attach the final die cut section to form the sleigh. Leave the Glossy Accents to dry completely.

On your craft sheet or in a paint palette, mix a small amount of Antique Linen Distress Paint with a small amount of Picket Fence Distress Paint. I found by mixing these two colours together it gives a really soft weathered white colour and looks wonderful for this winter’s scene. Give the sleigh two coats of the mixed paints, allowing each coat to dry throughly. Mix together some Walnut Stain Distress Paint and Antiqued Bronze and using a dry brush or your fingertip, apply small amounts of the paint along the edges to give a vintage, distressed look to the finished sleigh.

Whilst the sleigh was drying, I began painting the Prancing Deer with a layer of Walnut Stain Distress Paint. Dry the paint before adding a second coat of Walnut Stain mixed with a small amount of Antiqued Bronze.

Once the paint is dry, add some Glossy Accents to the antlers and cover them in Antique Linen Distress Glitter.

Pop the excess glitter back into the pot and let the glittered antlers dry completely and at this stage, don’t be tempted to touch!

Spritz one of the wreaths with Tarnished Brass Distress Spray Stain. Add a small amount of Glossy Accents onto your craft sheet and dip the stained wreath into the adhesive. Sprinkle Rock Candy Distress Glitter over the top of the wreath and tap away the excess.

To prepare all the embellishments for the plaque, begin by spraying two large and one small tree with Peeled Paint Distress Spray Stain. At this point, so that you don’t get any stain on the wooden block that the tree is attached to, wrap a small piece of low tack tape/masking tape around it.

When the stained trees are dry and using the same technique as you did for the wreath, apply Glossy Accents to the tips of the trees and sprinkle each tree with glitter before painting the wooden bases with Walnut Stain Distress Paint.

For the JOY wording, I used some of the gorgeous Letterpress blocks. I added Tumbled Glass Distress Paint to each of the letters and when the paint is dry, use a sanding tool to gently sand away some of the paint to reveal a distressed look to the lettering. Add small amounts of Picket Fence Distress Paint to the edges of the blocks.

Fix the chipboard sleigh, one of the large trees and the Letterpress blocks onto the left hand side of the base plaque, using a hot glue gun to attach.

I lined the sleigh with a piece of cheesecloth material and filled it with the smallest of the glittered trees and some metal bells that I had in my stash. These bells were originally gold but I wanted to give them a more vintage rusty feel and changed the colour of them by applying Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint onto the metal.

I attached my Prancing Deer and the remaining tree to the plaque and placed the glittered wreath around his neck and added a small pearl for his eye.

As a finishing touch, I applied a small amount of Latte Alcohol ink to alter the colour of two Mirrored Stars before attaching them to the front of the sleigh…

…and I also added a star to the back of the sleigh. Remember, this is an ornamental piece and you want it to look as good at the back, as it does from the front.

To complete my plaque, I nestled the small skates into the snow.

I wanted to create some more height to the completed plaque, and for this I used some cotton spools from my craft stash and painted them with Picket Fence Distress Paint before attaching the four spools underneath the base section.

Now, all that’s left for me to do is put my Winter Wonderland into pride of place ready for the holidays and surround it with twinkling lights. I hope you’ve all enjoyed my tutorial showing you how you can use dies to create 3D ornamental pieces for use in home decor projects and what is so wonderful about making your own decor is that you get to choose the colourway that suits your home and you can fill the sleigh with whatever you choose ~ there are so many options and they are all entirely yours but whatever you decide, I hope I’ve put you into the festive spirit and inspired you with this piece.