A Watercolor Background in the Christmas Card

I thought I'd lead off today with a description of one of the Christmas card sets I made for a ladies night.  The Bible study group I used to join every Thursday night still meets.  I found that my schedule simply doesn't permit me to participate any more, but I still love the ladies in the group.  I was asked to coordinate a card making night which we held last night.  I recently acquired Die'sire's We Three Kings silhouette die and was inspired by one of their inspiration cards.

II figured that the card was perfect to make up some for the ladies that they would then have to simply glue together and stamp a sentiment.  I used my Intense Pencils to do the coloring - rapidly laying down the color in layers.  I ended up getting the 72 piece set, but could have easily completed this card with the 12 piece I originally purchased.

After coloring lightly onto watercolor paper, I used a watercolor brush to start in the center with the lighter version and move outward toward the edges.  The sand color to the orange brown and finally dark brown for the bottom of the scene.  I did the yellow of the star all by itself, but then moved from light blue to dark blue after drying the yellow with a heat tool.  In the end, I prepped 20 of these in a night, including die cutting the white cardstock with the die.

Last night was fantastic.  Here's an example of the finished card.

In addition, I prepped the following cards for the ladies to make as well.  These designs you've seen from me in years past.  They worked really well in the large group.

I am hoping that your Christmas crafting is coming along nicely.  Wishing you a joyful Advent.  I'm entering the three kings card I to the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge Simon Says Die Crazy
Word Art Wednesday's Challenge #214 Anything Goes

Come join the fun.  It's Christmastime!

True Meaning of Christmas Joy

When my grandma was here for Thanksgiving I shared with her my new WPlus9 Little Drummer Boy stamp set.  I had purchased the stamp set and matching dies earlier in the month.  I didn't think I'd fall so in love with this stamp set, but I truly have.  Well, my mother's maiden name is Burrows and so my grandma likes anything with a donkey (or burrow) on it.  She especially requested these lovelies.

I stamped the images on watercolor paper using black Archival Ink and then colored them with my Inktense Watercolor Pencils.   I never really thought of myself as a talented colorer, but I am so pleased with how these turned out.  Those donkeys are adorable!  I've been talking about my little baby Jesus' for weeks and to see them on this finished card is thrilling.

The background was created using palette paper, a watercolor brush and my Prima Oil Pastels onto watercolor paper.  I edged the paper with Embossing Ink and some gold embossing powder.  This is a trick that Kristina Werner got me into and I think it very effective here.  Other than the black Archival Ink sentiment, the star is also embossed with the same gold embossing powder.

I made up a few of these and gave them to my grandma who will used them as her Christmas cards when she returned home.  I was thrilled.

I'm entering this card into the City Crafter Challenge Week 292 : The Heat is On because I heat embossed the gold edges and Word Art Wednesday's Challenge 213 Anything Goes.

Wishing you a wonderful Advent as we anticipate celebrating the birth of Jesus, the little baby Jesus!

Our Beautiful World - Connect

The prompt over at Our Beautiful World is Connect this week.  My first response would have been to put pictures of our family get togethers. Having lost my husband's father this year, connections with family are so very dear.  However, I tend to go those family picture routes with the prompt so I found these photos - taken by my son several years ago - of some horsing around with dominos.  They are all definitely connected.

I also just had to share this cell phone photo from our pipe organ concert at ASU yesterday.  Dear friends, Dale and Pat invited us to join them for the Christmas concert.  The concert was delightful, but the connections with dear friends where we share experience is priceless.  A heartfelt thanks for the invite.  We will cherish our memories.

I wish you all a delightful Christmas season and hope that all is well in your part of this Beautiful World.  Come share your connections with us.

Another Precious Mini-Album

I have the pleasure of showing you another of Brandy's mini-albums.  The paper selection this time simply made the card and there is no way these pictures can capture the colorful beauty of each page, but I hope you grab a cup of something warm and flip through these lovely pages of a mini-album she created to give away.















The tag toppers are always a treat, but how much do you love the knob on the front page?

The paperclip embellishment really fits the style of the album - a nice texture with all the visual texture of the patterned paper on this page.

Most of the embellishments are adhered in a way to allow the photos to be slipped behind them on the page - though you could aways just add a smaller picture too.

Black bling that looks like it was made for the page.  So adorable!

This album was made for a friend who will be giving it to his mom as a gift.  I think she'll love the sentiments throughout.

Loving the banner, but how this page flows is also very beautiful.

Of course there is a waterfall album at the back to house a plethora of photos and journaling.  Such a nice touch to a beautiful album.  I continue to be amazed at the talent in my bestie's fingertips.

I couldn't begin to describe all the embellishments and treatments on each page.  Feel free to leave a comment if you have questions.  I'd be glad to pass it on to Brandy.  We're committed to passing on that which is contagiously crafty!

Our Beautiful World - Decorations Part Two

A good friend of mine - Kyle - who hosts my Saturday morning Bible study each week is a bit crafty herself.  She doesn't blog (yet! I'm working on it!), but offered ot let me share her crafty idea of a Christmas decoration.  I am so enjoying the Decorations over at Our Beautiful World I decided to share a picture with you and them.  Kyle picked up a old wooden ladder that someone was going to throw away and had her husband cut plywood to set on the steps of the ladder.  They purchased some very thin, lightweight plywood.  Jim cut the lengths so that the overhang out from the ladder was proportional - keeping the triangular shape.  Kyle then cut white batting from the fabric store to cover the wood and placed her beautiful porcelain houses and decorations on the planks.  Some white Christmas lights around the ladder add to the charm.  It was difficult to get a shot with that window and the light behind and the lights lit up on the inside.  Forgive the photo quality and just enjoy the ambiance.

I've so enjoyed the posts over at Our Beautiful World, I'm asking you to snap some photos and join the fun.  Show all of us what decorating is going on in your part of this Beautiful World.