Victorian ornaments by Astrid

Hello all, and here we are on the last day of November....

Well perfect timing of course to share some more Christmas ideas.

Those who know me, know that I love vintage, and for Christmas, I adore imagery and styles of the Victorian era, so here are some projects inspired by that....

I made a whole series of Christmas Snowflake Wood-shape ornaments. I used shape 6, shape 7 and shape 8. I made 7 ornaments in all. While I was at it I also altered one of the adorable little 3D Mdf tree wood kits, style 3.

I started by painting all of my pieces with Decoart Americana Chalky finish paint in the colour Whisper. I could have used gesso, but the paint covered them just perfectly. Next I added some Decoart Weathered Wood crackle medium and when that was touch dry a layer of Decoart Media Crackle paint.

The crackle appeared just about immediately. When dry I went over it all with a thin coat of Decoart Media Fluid Acrylic in Titan Buff and then highlighted the cracks with Decoart Raw Umber Antiquing cream, and voila, crackle that almost looks like tree bark I think.

One thing that is really important, - if you want your crackle to stay put, you must seal your project!!! I used Decoart Ultra Matte Varnish for that on these pieces.

The tree got the same treatment, and landed up looking like this

As it is a little kit, it arrives in two parts. All you need to do is slide them together (do this before altering them). I just adore the tiny little ornaments in the tree, so, so cleverly done. I decided to give the little ornaments the glitter treatment for some Christmassy sparkle. 

Anyway, this is how the ornaments were finished:

I covered the back of them with scrap book papers, and then added a vintage image cut with a small circle die to the centre of each. Each image was edges with some Antique Silver embossing powder. (This and several of the other images are from a paper line designed by me, which will soon be available. You will be able to find details on my blog in the next few days).

The finishing touches were the addition of a little snowflake from the mini snowflake shapes, all of them are from style 3, plus a bit of beaded trim at the bottom and a little cord for hanging at the top. Below a few more close ups:

Another image from one of my papers.

This one is from last year's Victorian Christmas line by Papermania. On this particular design you can see the backing paper a bit better.

This one was finished with one of the gorgeous Ivy Leaf Woodshapes

And below the final 3 ornaments.

Well, hope you like my little sojourn into Victorian Christmas crafting. If you scroll back you can see some amazing further samples of how all the wonderful Christmas Craft parts can be used. They offer so many different possibilities for whatever style you fancy.

Thanks for your visit today and I hope you have lots of fun with your own yule tide crafting!!!