I've resisted this whole season: cutting out those adorable little Santas and deer from the Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper and using them as images on cards. I guess I felt like it was kinda cheating to do that. But I was driven to it by this week's As You See It Challenge:
Great theme challenge, but guess what? I didn't have any Santa images except the sleigh from Cozy Christmas, and the line drawing of Santa from from Santa's Gifts Stamp Set from the Annual Catalogue. I didn't really want to colour in Santa, but I was eager to try a watercolouring technique that I saw on Splitcoaststampers. So I decided to try the technique for the background and I bit the bullet and cut out the Santa image from the Home for Christmas DSP.
- My first try at the watercolouring didn't go too badly, but after re-reading the tutorial there were some steps that I missed. Basically, its called Wet to Wet painting where you get your Watercolour paper wet first and then add liquid colours to the area and let the water move them around. I didn't have proper watercolour brushes, but I found that the Aqua Painter worked very well for this technique. I used 3 shades for this: Island Indigo, Mossy Meadow and Cucumber Crush. Around the edges, I used a little bit dryer Aqua Painter to pull colour from the center in little flicks to make the impression of evergreen branches. Next time, I would let it dry in between layers for more dimension.
- I used the colours from Home for Christmas as my palette here with Mossy Meadow, Real Red, Pool Party and Very Vanilla.
- The sentiment is from Among the Branches Stamp set and I punched it out using the 2" Circle Punch and turned it into an ornament by drawing the little top and cutting it out and inserting just behind the top of the ornament. I also added a little extra Real Red ink around the edges to give it dimension as well.
- The DSP flag in the background is from the same Home for Christmas series and the ribbon is one that I had hoped to use more this season, but kind of forgot about. It's the Very Vanilla Subtle Stripes Ribbon.
What are you doing this weekend? It's typically one of the busiest of the season. I'm looking forward to a dinner party with some really good friends tomorrow and then going to the Nutcracker Ballet on Sunday evening. In between, I'm going to work extra hard on my Christmas cards and getting orders out in time for Christmas, and preparing a little something for our Team Christmas Party gift swap. I'll let you see it next week.
I am done classes now for December and will be working on my class schedule for the New Year! I am looking for some input from customers and hope you can leave a comment with suggestions! Would you like some Quick and Cute Classes again? How about a Design 101 class, or a Beginner's Class. Is there anyone who would like to form a Big Shot Club to earn a Big Shot with 6 easy payments? Please leave a comment to let me know.
Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today!
