MFT October DT Creative Challenge–Christmas Countdown

Hello, there, thanks for joining me for the October MFT Design Team Creative Challenge! This month we’re counting down to Christmas…

Advent calendars aren’t just for kids - we all enjoy the anticipation that comes with counting down to an exciting event. Adding fun bits and baubles to your Christmas countdown is such a great way of incorporating those themed stamp sets and Die-namics you’ve been collecting into your holiday crafting. Our team can’t wait to share their ideas for MFT-ing your holiday season!

I’m having fun using Santa Suit Die-namics for more than a card front. First a gift bag and now it’s a very important part of my Christmas Countdown project. While this looks like a chalkboard, I have all the look but none of the mess :) Let me walk you through how I created this fun project.

First off, I painted a 5” x 7” Artist Canvas Board with three coats of red craft paint. While that was getting good and dry, I cut and assembled the belt from Santa Suit Die-namics. The piece with the holes was not quite long enough to fit this canvas board without taking the buckle off center, so I simply cut two of the other parts from black mirror paper and then partially ran one back through with the die with holes so it would be long enough (I hope that made sense, LOL!). After the buckle was cut from gold foil card stock I finished putting the belt together.

Next, I trimmed a piece of Magnet Pack – Small to the size I wanted and stamped Snowflake Flurry, one image at a time, with Versamark and heat embossed with white detail embossing powder. I wanted to use the naked magnet because I already knew that adding a piece of card stock to the magnet would reduce the strength so much that the numbers wouldn’t cling. I learned quickly when I started heating the powder that it can’t take a lot of heat at one time—it started to curl but flattened back out—so I hit it with short bursts until the powder melted. That took longer but there was no more curling of the magnet. When that was done, I swiped Sweet Tooth pigment ink all over and burnished it with a paper towel until I was happy.

The “sentiment” is part of two images from Gift Tag Greetings. I masked off what I didn’t want with some clear tape, inked up with Versamark, removed the tape, and stamped. It was also heat embossed with white detail embossing powder.

The numbers were cut from Sweet Tooth card stock with High-Rise Numbers Die-namics, and are removable through the magic of more magnets ;-) I cut narrow strips from leftovers and attached them to the numbers with 1/8” Scortape. I found the best way to do this was to apply the tape to the magnet and then trim closely on either side of the tape—ended up being the perfect width and I just cut short lengths to fit on the numbers.

You’ll need 2 each of 1 and 2 and one of each of the others—the 6 can be used for the 9. This was a REALLY fun project to design and create—I hope I’ve inspired you to try a Christmas Countdown project of your own! Thanks so much for stopping by! See you soon!

Gift Tag Greetings	Snowflake Flurry	Sweet Tooth Pigment Ink Pad	Versamark Ink Pad
Sweet Tooth Card Stock	Gold Foil Card Stock	Die-namics High-Rise Numbers	Die-namics Santa Suit
White Detail Embossing Powder	Magnet Pack - Small	Embossing Magic	5" x 7" Artist Canvas Board
Scor-Tape 1/8%u201D	Foam Mounting Tape 1/2%u201D

InLinkz.com

~Supplies~
Stamps: Gift Card Greetings, Snowflake Flurry (MFT)
Ink: Sweet Tooth pigment ink, Versamark (MFT)
Paper: Sweet Tooth card stock, gold foil card stock (MFT); black mirror card stock
Accessories/tools: Vagabond; High-Rise Numbers Die-namics, Santa Suit Die-namics, foam mounting tape, Magnet Pack – Small, white detail embossing powder, Embossing Magic, 5” x 7” Artist Canvas Board, 1/8” Scortape (MFT); red craft paint, heat tool