Tuesday, November 30

Four Calling Birds

Free Printable #80
Designed: 27.11.20
copyright Beccy Muir

Fourth Day of Christmas

I love these guys, particularly the little blue bird who looks as though he's just been blow dried!

Monday, November 29

Three French Hens

Free Printable #79

Designed: 27.11.10
copyright Beccy Muir

Third Day of Christmas

My three French hens. I had quite a dilemna trying to decide which colours to choose for these little ladies, but decided on a scheme that wasn't quite traditional yet not quite modern either. My kids had a bit of a play and came up with some wonderful alternatives that will look fantastic on any number of occasional cards. Have a go at making one of these Continental Cluckers into a little ornament for your tree or as a surprise gift inside a card.

Sunday, November 28

Two Turtle Doves

Free Printable #78
Designed: 27.11.10
copyright Beccy Muir

Second Day of Christmas

I think you could easily use this image for other cards and projects by removing the holly berries and leaves at the bottom of the picture. Aside from Christmas cards, they would also be cute for Anniversaries or Engagements. Feel free to use this coloured image or the line drawing in the next post.

Saturday, November 27

Partridge in a Pear Tree

Free Printable #77

Designed: 27.11.10
copyright Beccy Muir

First Day of Christmas

I've been having fun creating these images, although some of them might be just a little more interpretive than I had first imagined! I didn't give much thought to fitting ten leaping lords in a single design, or how much room eight milk maids take up when joined by their cows, buckets and stools. Anyway, I hope you enjoy all the images and find some way to use them in your Christmas creations. Have fun!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

I am putting the final touches on a series of Christmas drawings based on the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Providing all goes to plan - which very rarely happens - I will post one each day for you to use on your Christmas cards and projects. I'm also hoping to provide you with the images in colour, but can't make any promises about that.
We are heading off to the U.S. again on the 8th of December for six fabulous weeks! We'll begin in L.A. and do a tour right across the country, Christmasing in beautiful Savannah, then ending up in Florida for a few days before turning around and coming all the way back again. I'm trying to organise a few posts to keep you busy while I'm away, and I'll be taking my sketch book for when inspiration hits!

Thursday, November 25

Simple Christmas Cards

I just recently purchased these lovely die cuts made by DoCrafts. They have really soft colours, in a variety of designs, with a hint of red foil here and there. I layered them on piece of card that I had cut with one of my Spellbinders dies, and then adhered that to a piece of card that I had embossed through the Cuttlebug. A nice piece of ribbon finished the card perfectly.

Sunday, November 21

Coloured Baubles

No matter what other colours I choose, I think blue, black and silver remains my favourite for these baubles. I think it looks very elegant.

Saturday, November 20

Christmas Bauble 2

Free Printable #76

Designed: 10.10.10
copyright Beccy Muir

More Bauble Cards

I used traditional Christmas colours for these two cards and added some ribbon, shiny gold cardboard and embossed backgrounds for a simple, eye catching design.

Bauble Cards

I finally got around to making some simple cards with the bauble images from my previous posts. These blue and black ones are my favourite and really came up beautifully with the addition of some glitter, ribbon and an embossed background.

Friday, November 19

Christmas Baubles

I haven't had the chance to make these baubles into cards yet, but they are definitely on my list. I coloured them with copic markers and then added either silver or gold metallic ink to a few of the smaller areas for a bit of shine and sparkle. Glitter would also look good or some strategically placed rhinestones.
Feel free to use these pre-coloured images, but I would suggest that you go over the silver or gold parts with your own metallic pen to regain the shine that gets lost with the scanning and printing. Look to my previous post for the blank line drawing if you wish to colour your own.





Holly Bauble


Originally designed October 2010.
Digitally remastered November 2019.
Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved. Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.

Monday, November 8

Mrs. Claus

Free Printable #74

Designed: 16.10.10
copyright Beccy Muir

Christmas Time

To get myself into the spirit of the season I decided to add some colour to a design I drew of Mrs. Claus on her way out to Santa's workshop with a little fellow who was sadly left behind... or perhaps he's a naughty little bear who keeps jumping out of the sack and making his way back to Mrs. Claus's kitchen!

Feel free to use this coloured version in your projects or download the line drawing from the next post.

Sunday, November 7

Pumpkins & Sunflowers



Originally Designed: July 2010
Remastered: September 2020
Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved. Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.

Pumpkin Card

I used the 3D image from yesterday's tutorial to make a simple card that would be great for Thanksgiving, as a Thank You or simply to keep in touch with loved ones and friends.

Saturday, November 6

Technique Class - 3D Effect

Most of you would be familiar with the technique of paper tole, where a two-dimensional image is layered multiple times to give a 3D effect. The technique I want to share with you today is similar to paper tole, but without the paper shaping and varnishing you find in good examples of the craft.

1. You'll need at least four of the same image. If you are new to this technique, choose a relatively simple design that is easy to cut out with several elements that are layered from background to foreground. I used this pumpkin design, coloured with copic markers, scanned and printed out four times.

2. My finished project will have four layers. The first, or bottom, layer is the image in it's entirety including some of the plain cardstock bordering it. I'll use this first layer to build on. For the second layer I have removed the bordering card and the large orange pumpkin. In the third layer I have also cut away the leaves and the yellow squash. My fourth and final layer consists of the pear in the foreground and the little orange pumpkin (squash).

3. Each of the layers will fit directly over the one before but with some of the background objects missing, as you can see from the picture below.

4. A lot of paper tole artists use silicone to adhere the layers together. I personally prefer thin, double-sided foam tape as it doesn't require dry time, is cleaner and odourless. If using foam tape, keep it away from the edges of your design so that it can't be easily seen when you view the project from the front.

5. Now adhere your layers together to build up the picture. Finish with the single pear and the small pumpkin (squash).

All that's left to do is figure out a card design for the layered image.
Have fun!

Thursday, November 4

Cottage Chair



Originally Designed: April 2010
Remastered: September 2020
Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved. Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.

Best Wishes Card

I made this card using my newest Nestability, a border punch, a cuttlebug folder and one of my recent digital designs. The image was coloured with a variety of copic markers.

Christmas Tree Cards

These are some very simple cards I made using a Sizzix embossing folder, some ribbon, patterned paper and sparkly stickers.





Puff Paint

I've had quite a few people ask me about the puff paint I've used in some of my projects, so I thought I'd do a quick post to show you the brand that I personally use. It's call Puff and it's made by Jones Tones. For crafters here in Australia, I purchased mine at Spotlight, but I'm sure that you could probably find it, or something similar, at Lincraft or maybe even one of the large variety store chains like Big W.
The product is squeezed directly from the tube on to your project and then it's heated with a heat gun to make it "puff". Don't get confused with dimensional paint with dries to a lovely glossy finish but doesn't puff at all.

Happy Creating!