A Gift of Love Christmas Sleigh by Lynne

Hello crafty friends! Many of us are up to our ears in Christmas creating, decorating, baking and what-have-you, and that's a happy place to be! The sleigh is one of my favourite GSL pieces, and I love the one I made for myself last year. My best friend loved it to, so I pulled out my (huge) stash of Christmas papers and told her to pick out what she liked best, and I would use it to make a sleigh for her!

There's a template of the side pieces included in the sleigh kit to trace around on your patterned paper, which is wonderful! I used some lovely old-fashioned Inkido Christmas papers, positioning them so the poinsettia pattern ran along the bottom of the sleigh. I hate measuring, so I also traced around the inside and back/front pieces and glued papers on them before putting the sleigh together.

I dry-embossed the fancy overlay and painted it gold before heat embossing it in antique gold.
(I painted the skis and edges of the main side pieces gold as well.)

I rubbed the edges with bronze ink for a richer look.

When attaching the overlay, I used these adorable itty-bitty clamps my hubby put in my Christmas stocking last year....they are soooo handy for gluing things together, holding them tight until the glue sets.

The bells were cut from another sheet of Inkido paper and were heat embossed with UTEE before being attached with thick Glue Dots. I used a larger one for the front of the sleigh.

When everything was put together, I placed a piece of styrofoam in the bottom of the sleigh before I added my greenery (which was cut from one of those artificial garlands) I cut the piece smaller than the sleigh because the garland greenery would be tucked around the edge before I added the stand-up embellishments.

The reindeer was already on a wire, but I attached the fussy-cut Santa and sentiment, diecut poinsettias and min wrapped gifts to kitchen skewers, then arranged them in the styrofoam piece. I then bent the wired garland around to cover the remaining styrofoam and showcase the embellishments and sleigh. I'm on a twisted paper kick these days and added a couple strips with Christmas sentiments to the arrangement.

I love Christmas and had a wonderful time putting this together! I love the way you can take any of the Gypsy Soul chipboard items and finish it so many different ways depending on your taste, decor, supplies, etc.

Wishing each of you a wonderful Christmas season, and I do
hope you take time to enjoy a little crafting in the midst of the hustly-bustly preparations!


GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

Santa's Sleigh

OTHER ITEMS USED

Inkido papers
Cuttlebug embossing folder
gold acrylic paint
Stampendous gold embossing powder
UTEE
Spellbinders poinsettia die
artificial pine garland