Happy Holidays from the Creative Squad and Maura Hibbitts! Today Maura brings us a wonderfully charming seasonal project just in case you need a last minute ornament or gift tag idea. She uses my Park Blvd 4×4, Toledo 9×12, and Toledo 4×4 stencils and my Diamond Hex, Antique Tile, and my Van Vorst foam stamps to bring us a project that will surely warm you up this season :) The theme this month is: Warm Wishes – For many cultures around the world, December is a holiday season filled with celebrations and good cheer. The Creative Squad is taking this month to send Warm Wishes to all our readers!

Tis the season, right? Winter has arrived on the calendar, we’ve celebrated the Winter Solstice, and tomorrow is Christmas for all who celebrate. Happy Solstice! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! My winter started early this year in November with snow and cold, so staying warm is a priority. I headed for warm colors in my project and sketched out a mitten pattern to use as I rarely head outdoors these days without my mittens or gloves.

I have a small workspace, so my 6 x 6 gel plate works well with many projects. I started with a mix of Cadmium Red Hue and Cadmium Orange Hue and blended them on the plate with the brayer. I laid the large Toledo stencil on the gel plate and pressed my watercolor paper onto it for one print, lifted the stencil to print another, then printed again on the gel plate without the stencil.

Next, I blended Diarylide Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Hue, and Primary Yellow on the gel plate with the brayer, and used the Toledo Small stencil on the plate. I printed the next layer of color and design onto my sheets.

Time to add another bright, warm layer to my papers with a blend of Translucent White and Quinacridone Magenta. Once again, I used the gel plate and brayer to blend, and then stamped the Diamond Hex stamp into the paint, then on to my papers.

As you can guess, I like to build up layers, so went in for another one using the Translucent White and Quinacridone Magenta on the gel plate, then laid the large Toledo stencil down on it again. This time, I randomly pressed some areas of the paper into the paint.

I repeated the previous step with Translucent White and Cadmium Orange Hue.

I decided to add some shimmer to my papers with the Park Boulevard stencil and Shimmering Silver paint. I used a sponge and dabbed the center of the stencil (it reminded me of a flower or snowflake) randomly over my papers.

Now that my papers are created, it is time to cut out my mittens. I sketched my mitten onto scrap paper and used this to cut my mittens. Then I used a slightly larger mitten shape to cut out my background with the Peacock Teal card stock. I cut a cuff for each mitten and stamped another design onto the cuffs with the Antique Tile and VanVorst stamps and blue ink.

I adhered the patterned mitten to the teal card stock, added the cuff and decorated with ribbons. Then I punched a hole and tied on some bakers twine to hang these. They can be used as tags on a gift or ornaments for the tree.

Stay warm this winter with warm colors and mittens! Peace and Joy! – Maura

Seasons greetings to you Maura and thank you for this definitely super cute holiday idea! Maura used the following supplies:

Feel inspired? Working on something yourself that you’d like to share?  I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next  “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

Nat