Woodware stamp on a tile

This is a tile we made at the Christmas Club at the Craft Barn.  We made 4 tiles, but I am really pleased with this one - Chris Dark, the tutor, brought some stamps in for us, but then she said use anything you want ......  had one look in the Christmas stamps drawer and found this.  Not sure I'd have bought this for a Christmas Card, but it's lovely for a tile.

We made this in really the same way you do a stampboard tile, but instead of using inks we used paint.  Paint the tile - 2 layers  - and then use a pale shade of distress ink to put the stamp on.  Then use paints to colour the bits you need coloured.  On this one, I used white paint for the beards, green paint for their headgear, gold paint for the jars and the star, then a tiny bit of red and some pale blue.  It's quite difficult to paint everything, so no need to fill in every bit of clothing.  When the paint is dry (doesn't take long) use black archival or staz-on to stamp the stamp on over the top.  This tends to be a lot easier with see through stamps, as you have slightly more of a clue where to put the stamp.... but I did 2 at home with non see through stamps and they were fine.

Then cut a square of felt to go on the bottom so that they don't catch (and if you drop them and break them, you at least have a chance of keeping them together!)