"In the densest forest, lit only by the stars, shining in the night, Father Christmas' sleigh slides silently over the snow..."Here's how to make a Christmas picture easily, using a white frame, a stencil with an easy-to-make pattern, a little black and silver paint and a few rhinestones that will bring a magical sparkle to this visually striking composition.

a white cotton canvas on a frame (23.6 x 11.8 inches),
a dozen Crystal ab-colored crystal rhinestones (that give off a great sparkle in the light)
black and silver acrylic paint
a Rolloid-type rigid, transparent plastic sheet (or else a sheet of cardstock)
paintbrushes: a fine-tipped brush, a wide paintbrush, a stencil brush.

With a pencil, roughly sketch out the tops of the fir trees on the canvas. Then paint the center part of the canvas and the tree tops black: the fine-tip paintbrush will allow you to depict the very ends of the branches.

Print out Father Christmas' horse-drawn sleigh using our Christmas stencils. Transfer this design to the sheet of plastic or cardstock. As Rolloid is transparent, if you're using this type of sheet you just place it on the drawing and go over the outlines that you see through the transparent sheet. If using cardstock, it's easiest to cut out the printed sheet, to place the design on the cardstock and to go round the outline in pencil. Then cut out the design, using a pair of small fine-tip scissors.

Set the stencil in place (if you're scared of knocking it out of place, use a temporary spray adhesive to fix it into position). Paint using the stencil paintbrush: use a very small amount of non-liquid gray metallic paint, hold the brush vertically and dab the paint onto the canvas (ensuring that the paint does not spread underneath and away from the stencil pattern).

Now you just have to glue the rhinestones to the sky, using rhinestone glue or an electric applicator tool for hotfix rhinestones.