Hello dear friends! Long time no see. How have you been? I'm sorry I've been gone for so long, I didn't plan to. But this new job is squeezing every last drop out of me. Add all the usual Christmas stuff, and setting up everything for my snake-baby which has been much more work than expected (some due to circumstances beyond my control which have caused endless vexation) I haven't stepped into my craft room in ages and ages. Today I finally had a few moments, so I decided to make some last minute super quick and easy Christmas cards. I think I already have more than enough Christmas cards, but it seems wrong to make anything else at this time of year.
I have to say I really love this design as you can use any stash you happen to own. Often you see so many wonderful cards, but they require having a specific die or stamp or whatever. There's nothing wrong with getting ideas for new stuff to buy, but also I think it's sometimes nice to just use the stash you already have sitting in your crafty den. So for this card you can use any inks or watercolours you happen to have. I love watercolouring with my Tim Holtz distress inks, they are so fun and highly reactive with water. Pick your favourite colour combo. I picked turquoise and purple. I also did another one in warm colours, although I'm not a huge fan of reds and oranges. But it's a more Christmas-y I guess. I then mixed a tiny amount of water with some Perfect Pears and used my watercolour brush to flick droplets of this glittery water all over the backgrounds, which i then left to dry. I used the Tim Holtz dies to cut the sentiments from silver and gold mirri card, and adhered them to the cards when the backgrounds were dry. To finish, I added a few adhesive gems from my stash and adhered the panels to white card. Very quick and easy. If you don't have dies, you can use stamps for the sentiments and just heat emboss them in your favourite colour. Or even stamp and heat emboss in clear powder before adding the watercolour if you want to use the emboss resist technique, that should work also.
Now I'm off to make some Finnish gingerbread, as I'm planning to make giant gingerbread snowflakes for my colleagues. I can't wait for my Christmas break to start so I can have a bit more time in the craft room. See you soon again (I hope!).
I would like to link up with the following challenges:
Happy Little Stampers - Favourite Technique (watercolour)
The Friday Mashup - Use dies
Christmas Cards All Year Long - Keep It Simple
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes as long as it's Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes
Sparkles Christmas Challenges - Die Cuts for Christmas
Fussy and Fancy Challenge - Happy Holidays
ABC Challenge - W is for Wishes
Card: 300 gsm watercolour paper, 250 gsm white card, gold and silver mirri card
Inks: Tim Holtz distress inks Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves, Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral, Festive Berries
Dies: Tim Holtz Holiday Words, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies
Other: Adhesive gems, Perfect Pearls
