Christmas has totally crept up on me!  How is it Christmas Eve already??  The good news is that I finally got around to decorating the tree, the gingerbread men have been made and I have actually finished my Christmas Shopping!  There might be time to put my feet up this evening and watch the Carols on the telly.

To celebrate this wonderful time of year, today we are going to have two Christmas design team items.  This morning it is a fabulous tutorial by Robyn Wood showing us how to make a variety of Christmas Cards and this evening I’ll be putting up a sweet Christmas art journal piece by Anne Cahill.

So let’s hear from Robyn first …

 

I always want to create something really special for family and friends each year and wanted to share with you the cards I have created this year. I hope this set of cards gives you some inspiration for the future!

Some of the backgrounds were made using the embossing resist which is a great technique if you like to emboss without the worry of creating a perfect image. You stamp an image using a Versamark embossing pad, sprinkle with embossing powder, shake off the excess and heat. You are looking for the image to go glossy and slightly raised. Once cool, you can go to town adding lots of colour and the embossed image is easily revealed again with a wipe of tissue or baby wipe.

Another interesting technique is to use molding paste through a stencil. It can create a huge range of effects, depending on what you add underneath or on top of the paste.

For most of these cards I used watercolour card for the background image – it stands up better to mixed media techniques. The Lulu Art Strathmore Mixed Media pad is perfect!

I have created a set of seven cards and the basic techniques are described below.  Leave me a comment if you need more info!

Card 1

Merry Christmas

Supplies:  Darkroom Door Music & Stitched Christmas, Gelato – red

Scribble red Gelato over the image and either rub with a finger or spread with a wet paint brush. For this one I added a touch of gold Perfect Pearls to my paint water to create a lovely shimmery effect.

Card 2

Joy to the World

Supplies:  Darkroom Door – Music & Stitched Christmas, Book Sheets – Collage Pack, Silks – Love Struck, Tim Holtz tree diecut, Tim Holtz Distress Glitter

Stamp the Flourish image onto text paper from the Lulu Art Book Sheets – Collage Pack and paint with Silks Love Struck.  The trees were diecut using a Tim Holtz die and some Distress Glitter added for extra sparkle.

Card 3

Merry Merry Merry

Supplies:  Darkroom Door French Script, greeting – Hero Arts

Try out some non-traditional combinations this year with green & orange.  Smoosh some Distress Paint in Barn Door & Spiced Marmalade over the script image, spritz with water to spread the paint a little & allow to dry.  Draw a rough tree shape using Distress Paint in Peeled Paint, trim closely and adhere buttons all over.  A strip of dark orange ribbon finishes if off.

Card 4

Christmas Greetings

Stamps used – Darkroom Door – Music, greeting – Hero Arts

Spritz stamped image with Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise & Calypso Teal. Prepare a shimmery, sponging solution by adding a small amount of water to Daler Rowney FW Acrylic Ink (Birdwing Copper). Sponge this mixture very lightly all over the image and allow to dry well. This technique will give the effect of a vintage copper patina, perfectly set of by the dark turquoise card base and ribbon.

Card 5

Believe

Supplies:  Tim Holtz stencil – Stars, Golden Light Molding Paste, Silks – Sky Blue, Majestic Blue & Mediterranean Blue

Stencil the image using Golden Light Molding Paste and allow to dry well.  Paint with Silks acrylic glaze in Sky Blue, Majestic Blue & Mediterranean Blue so that the effect is a little patchy looking.  Stamp a greeting in Brilliance Pearlescent Blue ink, layer with red cardstock, add some gold toned ribbon and the card is complete.

Card 6

Magic of Christmas

Supplies:  Tim Holtz stencil – Stars, Golden Light Molding Paste, Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise & Calypso Teal, Hero Arts greeting.

Stencil the image using Golden Light Molding Paste in a haphazard fashion. You want a scattering of stencilled stars for this stage. Allow to dry well.  Spritz with Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise & Calypso Teal and rollover with some paper towel to remove excess colour.  Allow to dry and then replace Stars template and spritz lightly with water.  Again, you are after a haphazard effect – the water will remove some of the Dylusions colour and you will get a gorgeous variegated effect.  To add a little pizzazz to this very easy card, I embossed the greeting with gold embossing powder.

Card 7

Silent Night

Supplies:  Pan Pastels Metallic Set, Spectra Fix Degas Pastel Fixative, Tim Holtz stencil – Stars, Golden Light Molding Paste, Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise & Calypso Teal, Turquoise Deep acrylic ink (Liquitex), Silks acrylic glaze in Sky Blue, Majestic Blue & Mediterranean Blue.

Stencil the image using Golden Light Molding Paste and allow to dry well.  Paint with Silks acrylic glaze in Sky Blue, Majestic Blue & Mediterranean Blue so that the effect is a little patchy looking.  Apply metallic Pan Pastels all over the Silks, you can use one, two or more of the metallic colours. I used a little of each.  Spritz the Pan Pastels with Spectra Fix Degas Pastel Fixative and allow to dry.  Drizzle some turquoise ink along the top edge of the image and spritz with water, the ink will run & mix with the Pan Pastel colour and Dylusions layer to create a lovely shimmery effect.  Allow to dry.

Hope you enjoyed these gorgeous cards by Robyn.

I’ll be back later today with another special Christmas piece by Anne Cahill.