Tutorial - Christmas Chickens III

Welcome to part three of the Christmas Chickens tutorial.

(You can find part one by clicking this LINK and part two by clicking this LINK)

Adding a string of lights is one of my favourite techniques for altering images. I usually create my wire with a black pen, but today I wanted to show you how to do it with a piece of heavy thread, which will give you a fabulous 3D look.

You'll need a set of images, a piece of patterned paper for the background, a needle and some heavy thread, and mediums to create the lights. I used a combination of Nuvo drops (for dimension) and stickles (for colour and sparkle).

Use the needle to poke holes on either side of the chicken's beak. Don't make the hole directly on the beak as you want it to look as though it's being held in the chicken's mouth.

Draw the thread through the first hole leaving a tail about 2" - 3" long. Bring the needle and thread up through the second hole, making a stitch at the back of the image.

Use glue and/or double sided tape to secure the stitch and prevent the thread from being pulled further through the holes.

Now do the same with the second chicken, leaving another 2" - 3" of thread between the two characters. Secure the stitch on the back of the second chicken with glue and/or double sided tape.

Repeat the process for each remaining character, leaving enough thread between them to create loops.

Secure the central character to your patterned paper with glue or tape.

Secure the right-hand image slightly over the top using foam tape to add height and dimension.

Do the same for the left-hand image.

Now it's time to create the loops and knots in your string! I find it easiest to squeeze some glue onto my finger and then onto the thread. You want to secure the thread on either side of each chicken's beak to make sure it doesn't obscure the eyes or face, and then at the beginning, middle and end of each loop. Add glue in any place where the thread needs securing.

To create the lights, I applied some white Nuvo drops for dimension, and some red stickles for colour and sparkle. Alternatively, you could use rhinestones, pearls or enamel dots.

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Tutorial - Christmas Chickens II

Welcome to part two of the Christmas Chickens tutorial.

(You can find part one by clicking this LINK)

Today we're going to add fluffy Christmas wreaths to each of our little chickens. I'm using a very old product called Flower Soft, which I believe has been discontinued, but you could easily substitute with artificial moss, cotton wool, glitter, or wool felt.

Start by choosing images that have a fairly obvious neck line, or if you prefer, you could place the wreaths around the head or feet of your characters.

You'll need a piece of cardstock, a green marker, glue, and a medium to create your wreath.

To get the correct shape and placement for your wreath, lay the chicken on the cardstock and draw rounded shapes on either side of her neck. Remove the image, then fill in the remaining pencil lines. You should have something that resembles a sausage.

Repeat the process for all the characters you'll be using.

Colour them roughly with green marker or pencil. You don't have to be too neat, it's just to remove the starkness of the white cardstock. Alternatively, you could use green cardstock as your base.

Cut out the shapes and secure them to your images.

Add a generous amount of glue to each wreath shape, then either press the image into your medium, or sprinkle it over the top. You may wish to add several layers to build up the texture and shape of the wreath.

Allow the glue to fully dry before using the images on your cards. If you wish, you can add rhinestones or little pearls into the wreath as berries.

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Tutorial - Christmas Chickens I

I enjoy making little changes and additions to my images so they can be used for occasions other than for what they were originally intended. It's a great way to extend the use of your products while giving you wonderfully unique creations.

Over the next few posts, I'm going to show you three ways to alter the chickens from the Hey Chick set to give you a whole bunch of happy holiday hens! You can apply the same techniques to other images too... it's just a matter of being creative.

The first project involves adding Santa hats, so you'll need to choose images that have enough space on their heads to "wear" a hat. You'll also need some red cardstock or paper and something for the fur trim, such as puff paint, cotton wool or felt.

Place your cardstock face down on the desk and lay one of the chickens on top. Use a pencil to trace around the head giving you a guide for the size and shape of the hat you need. Repeat for the other images.

Draw hat shapes around the outlines with your pencil, making sure all of the image will be contained within the hat. Cut out the shapes with a small pair of scissors and place over the images to make sure they fit well.

Glue the hats in place then apply your "fur". I'm using puff paint, which increases in volume and texture when a heat tool is applied. I added some paint along the bottom edge of the hat to create the trim as well as a spot on the tip for a pompom.

It's an easy and cute way to transform your everyday characters into Christmas cuties!

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