Winter Singers

Hello all... it's pretty noisy round here at the moment.  In the last post we were ringing, and now we're singing!

I'm here with the second of my inspiration pieces for this month's Nostalgic Christmas theme at Country View Challenges.  You haven't got long left to play, but maybe you've got a little more time to play with now the big day is over.

My Christmas keeps going until 6th December (which is just as well, having had to put lots of it on hold after being struck with the Norovirus - less said, the better!) - but this is the lovely gentle part, with all the planning and preparations over, and the chance to hibernate with a good book, some music and plenty of candlelight - and some time at the craft table too I hope.

Music is so central to my Christmas that it would be hard to manage without it (that's true of life generally, as far as I'm concerned) - and nothing can transport me back in time or to another place more quickly than a particular tune or carol arrangement.  So for a Nostalgic Christmas, these lovely Victorian Carollers were an obvious choice.

I created a soft and snowy forest background (if you want the how-to, it's pretty much the same as the inside of the wallet on my Vintage Journey Secret Santa gift).













The Carollers themselves are cut from some of the Bazzill Antique papers, edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.












I stuck the music paper onto black card initially, so you get a really clear, sharp outline.  It could be done with inking, of course, but this cut out one task, leaving me just with the Vintage Photo ageing to do.

I needed to make sure they were standing on something, so I used some snowflake tissue tape and created some shadows with my Stampers Big Brush Pens.













And I kept the embellishing pretty simple to keep the look delicately rustic.  There are some of my favourite tiny wooden stars up in the sky...












... and some twine around the foot of the tag, tied in the bow and topped with one of the larger stars.











The Chitchat stickers pretty much say it all...










... hidden amidst the shadows of the snowy trees as they are.


















Of course there's a topping to match - seam binding and twine and pale hessian ribbon.











I hope you're all enjoying your 12 Days of Christmas as much as he is clearly enjoying the music.  For a hilarious version of that particular carol - shared with me by the ever-musically-curious Andrea of eclectic meandering - just click here and enjoy the fun!






And of course they can sing facing one another as they were at the start of the post, or join forces to sing out to the world...

I hope that's given you some last minute inspiration to play along with us.  There are lots of fabulous entries already, but we'd still love to see your version of Nostalgic Christmas over at Country View Challenges - you have until New Year's Eve to join in!! 

I'd like to enter this over at the Inspiration Journal blog where the theme for December is Sing, Sing It Loud

I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing.
William James