WOYWW 129 & the Invasion of the Gnomes.

Forget those strawberries! I'm loving my stainless steel surface on my desk. I have been asked if it is cold to work on?.... No!

Does it get to hot when using a heat gun,? No, but I'm sure it would if I used the heat gun in one spot for a prolonged period. Is it really "stainless"? So far Yes! It cleans very easily, as do the stainless steel surfaces in professional kitchens!

The giant roll of heavy paper on there is proving very useful for the invasion of the gnomes..... I sit cutting them out whilst watching TV and the roll is so long that I can make longer strings of the little fellas.

If you don't already think I'm barmy, pop over to Stamping-Ground where our lovely Julia is the "Hostess with the Mostest" every Wednesday leading WOYWW, undoubtedly the biggest extravaganza of craft desks in the blogging world. 

They're coming to take me away, ha, ha, hee, hee! The march of the gnomes is on! Snip, snip, snip! They'll stand in line or round in circles or hang on your tree quite alone. They can be coloured red or green with angel hair added for their beards. 

In reality these below are all white... it was the evening sun glowing when I took my pic that makes them look alternately orange. Yes! That's correct I said SUN!! You needn't go to Specsavers!

I added a border of blue and some snowflakes to this gang and last week I added a red background with some spiky green leaves, but they do look fine standing alone.

A Little Christmas Gift

If you'd like to have a go making some, here's a scan of my template along with an ice skate and an angel. Just enlarge it and copy it to your files then print it off onto card before you cut out the shapes as templates.

Remember to alternate the template so the joining points meet on the folds.

The gnome is inspired by something I spied on pinterest.com but it is now quite modified. The ice skate is inspired by a tin decoration that I bought in Germany last year and I also modified that design considerably as I don't like to copy anything exactly, especially if I cannot give credit to the original designer. The angel is completely my own idea.

Cheap, Cheap!

Here are the birds I bought very cheaply last week from a very well known Swedish shop.

I opened out the wings and punched snowflakes into each double fold/ They were then spritzed with purple Glimmer Mist.

The body of the bird was stamped and clear embossed before colouring with Distress Inks. A few dangly bits and bobs of beady bling plus micro sequins made the finishing touches.

Hope you are all getting along with your preparations for Christmas without getting stressed. I am only playing around and having fun making things for my family. No pressure, no stress, it's great!

Last but not least...

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American visitors. 

I hope as many of you as possible share it with those you love wherever you are in the world.