Hello Watercolor Friends,
Don't you love Christmas trees? I hope you like my Christmas tree card for the Art Impressions bi-monthly Watercolor Weekend. The first thing I stamped was the bunny in brown 969 from the 4874 - WC Bunny Set and then I stamped it on post-it tape to make a mask. I stamped the barrel from the 4871 - WC Rustic Container Set after inking it in blue 565 and then brown 969. I watercolored the bands with N25 on the palette and the wood parts in 947. I watercolored the inside of the ears of the bunny in 772 and then I took the fine tip of the brown Tombow TwinTone to the eyes, nose and other areas that needed to be darker. I stamped the tree trunk from the 4960 - WC Fir Trees Set in 969 and the branches in two greens, 177 and 249. I dabbed all over the tree with a wet brush and then stamped more branches and repeated my process to really fill in the tree. No Charlie Brown trees for me, I like them fat and full. I stamped a branch from the 4964 - WC Branches Set with the 969 and then added leaves in 177 from the 4867 - WC Foliage Set 2. I dabbed at the leaves with a wet brush and then I took the fine tip of the red 847 to make the berries. I watercolored with 565 for the snow on the ground and the sky. I dabbed circles of glossy accents all over the tree and then I sprinkled red glitter on them. After I used a hot gun to dry the glossy accents, I cut out the scene with the largest die from the 5065 - Oval Double Stitched Die Set. I cut out the background piece of white glitter paper with the largest die from the 5062 Rounded Rectangle Die and then put it all together on an A2 card base.
There was a lot of pre-planning on scrap paper for this one! I wanted to use all four elves from the 5125-WC Elves Set, so I played around with positioning based on their poses and the angle of how their heads were tilted, until I got something that I could work with. I also wanted them to be in and around the presents, so had to figure out the shape of the parcels, while still leaving room for the branch to hang down. I positioned all four elves on the same block to ensure they were placed correctly, and coloured them first in Tombow #565 Deep Blue, and then #969 Chocolate - stamped them off on scrap paper and then onto my Ranger Watercolor Paper. With a pencil and ruler, I drew in the presents, and lightly drew a line where I wanted the branch to be.
The elves are painted with #837 Wine Red, #177 Dark Jade and #969 for their shoes. A touch of #850 Flesh for their skin tone, and #026 Yellow Gold and #969 Chocolate for their hair. The presents are painted with #026, #565, #969 and #N65 Cool Grey. I layered the colour to get the darker shades on some sides of the boxes, and went in with the fine points of the markers to draw the crisp edges of the boxes in. I dove into my Christmas wrap to dig out a bow, and loosely sketched it in on the large present, painting it in with #565 Deep Blue. With the pine bough from 4867 - WC Foliage Set 2 New, and my #249 Hunter Green marker, I repeatedly stamped it to create the tree branch. After dabbing it lightly with my damp #1 paintbrush, I went back in with the fine point to draw in a few needles, and darken a few areas. I picked up #565 from my palette, and painted a faint blue wash in the background, and also used it to add shadows in and around the elves & presents.
Since this paper has a fair bit of texture, some of the definition of the elves had been lost in the stamping, so I used my TT41 Chocolate TwinTone Marker to redraw the outline of the elves. The image is die cut with one of the 5063 - Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies. I wanted a softer edge to my scene, so I used blending brushes with two shades of Distress Oxide Inks (Evergreen Bough & Blueprint Sketch) to shade the outside of my rectangle giving it a bit of a soft focused look. I matted it with some dark blue cardstock and adhere it with pop dots onto my plaid card base, then wrapped it with an organdy bow. A few sparkles liven it up a little!
Hey watercolor fans! Welcome to another Watercolor Weekend. With Thanksgiving coming up soon I thought I would do a simple Blessed & Grateful Harp. I love the elegance of the harp. I just love the shine that the Wink of Stella adds. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and feel as blessed as I do.
Project details
I started out by inking the harp with Yellow. Then, using a light hand, I i
nked it with the Brown sporadically around the stamp. I wanted to create a mixture of color without losing the Yellow. The stamp is pretty delicate, so I decided to use my #1 brush to pull the color out of the lines. I also used it to pull the color slightly out of the strings, making sure to hold my brush vertical to keep the lines thin. I added some additional color from my palette.
nked it with the Brown sporadically around the stamp. I wanted to create a mixture of color without losing the Yellow. The stamp is pretty delicate, so I decided to use my #1 brush to pull the color out of the lines. I also used it to pull the color slightly out of the strings, making sure to hold my brush vertical to keep the lines thin. I added some additional color from my palette.
Next, I inked the small vine from the Foliage Set 4 with the Green. I wanted it to be more of a Hunter Green so I used 249 but any green will work. I added water to the leaves. I knew that I was going to use red and I didn't want them to mix and make brown. I inked the small dots from the Mini Flower Set with Red. I added water to soften the blooms.
I added some Brown mixed with Blue to the bottom of the harp to ground it. To create some additional depth and interest, I added some blue to the background. To make the harp look like gold, I added some Wink of Stella to it. Lastly, I signed and dated my painting.
That's it! Amazing right. You can create some quick and easy paintings that come out amazing.
To create the card I cut it out with a rectangle stitched die. I added it to a mat created from Gina K Designs Wild Dandelion cardstock and one created with Dark Chocolate cardstock. I added both of these to a Neenah Solar White card base.
I am so happy you stopped by and I hope you have been inspired by all the awesome projects. Tag us on Instagram so we can check out your fantastic projects.
Have a blessed & crafty day!
Thanks, team! What amazing holiday projects! We love the touches of sparkle added to your projects to make them pop and display more holiday cheer! Did you enjoy these projects? Let us know in the comments below! Thanks for stopping by this Saturday, and have an awesome Watercolor Weekend!
Happy Stamping!
Happy Stamping!
