Watercolor Weekend: 12/10

Hello Ai fans! 

This Christmas card is one that I absolutely enjoyed creating.  I love all things vintage and Christmas is no exception.  I love the colors of Christmas in the 1950’s.  The pink, teal, red and green with some glitter added is my favorite.  For this card I started with stamping the Snowman Scenic Foundations #5818 with the 565 blue and 969 brown Tombow markers.  I stamped off twice.  I used the following markers to paint the image.  Blue 565, Brown 969, Red 856, Bluish Green 312, Pink 761, Pink 817, Green 158, Green 296, Gray N65, Gray N45, and Gray 25.  After I had done all of my painting I added some rainbow sparkle glitter to Nuvo Crystal Drops in clear to paint glitter onto the top of the door, the window shutters, the windows on the top floor and the lamp posts.  This was an easy way to add the glitter without it falling off and to give a light shimmer.  When I added Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White for the snow to the card while it was still wet I sprinkled some more glitter onto the snow.

For my second watercolor project, this time I made an ornament using the Joyful Snowman Set #5802.  I love these cute little snowmen! When I stamped the snowman, I started with the usual markers and stamped him off only once this time so that the lines would be more prominent since I wanted the details to show from afar. I used the same colored markers to paint the snowman as I did with the card above He was pretty easy to make. Using the AI Circle Dies, I cut out a circle that would fit the ornament and used the negative as a template for my watercolor paper. To give the earmuffs a fluffy look, I used the grass from WC Mini Foliage. After painting, I then did the shadowing and details.  Here’s a tip.  If you need to darken your red for shading, try adding a tiny bit of green or gray.  For me, it makes it so much easier than trying to keep adding red. The blue 969 turns the shadows purple for me so I thought I would try something new.  Lastly, I added some Uni-ball Signo Silver pen to the top of the ornaments and added Wink of Stella clear glitter to the ornament bulb. Dr. Ph. Martin’s was used to add some details and some snow. Next, I die-cut the circle with the snowman. At this point, you will need to mark your hole for the ribbon to go through. I held the ornament and painting up to a light, marked where the hole would be, and then punched it out using a 1/8th-inch hole punch. Using Art Glitter glue, I glued the painting to the ornament, lining up the hole for the ribbon. Now to make this artwork waterproof, I covered the painting with Dorland’s Wax Medium. I love this stuff and use it on all of my watercolor projects. Finally, I stamped the sentiment using a red ink pad on watercolor paper using the Mini Christmas Sentiment Set #5847. I die-cut it out with a small circle and glued that to the back. The ribbon was 1/4 inch Offray red. I added the jingle bells to both ornaments because they were adorable and I loved hearing the ornaments jingle!

And just because the stamped snowman ornament was too cute I had to make one more!  This was done using the same techniques as above.  I used stamp set FB Santa #5775.  These front and back Santa’s have so many options!