Sneak Peek: Day 5

It’s Day 5, of Sneak Peek and Erica is here with a fabulous Christmas Card using  New Clear Stamps that are coming out on September 27.

Who doesn’t love stretching their stamps? I sure do and I know I’m repeating myself but it’s so much fun! Today’s card does just that so I’m going to get to it rather than doing my parrot impression, lol!

I really like the look of loose water colouring but I’m not overly confident with that technique, I have had a whale of a time playing around with the Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36 pack water colours I borrowed from my friend though, admittedly with various results (I now definitely need these) As I’m trying to widen my crafty horizons, I decided I was going to do it for this card. An idea had been swimming around in my head and it was time to test it out.

The first stamp set I used was Happy Snowflakes from the new release. I selected one of the snowflakes and got to work. My trusted Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die cut a nice piece of water colour paper and I dusted it generously with my anti-static powder tool. Using the snowflake, I stamped it first once, then directly under it, two more times and finally, a third row with three snowflakes to create a tree-shape. As I was using white embossing powder on white card stock, I wasn’t sure exactly how well I had managed to line them up but it actually turned out pretty great!

Green was the obvious choice of colour and I swished it around the stamped images, cleaning off the heat embossed edges of the snowflakes with a bit of water. The colouring was over in a flash and then it was a case of waiting to see what it would look like dry. I was really pleased with how it turned out and resisted the temptation to add more colour. I did splatter some more green all over the panel though, it was just too white without it.

To create a “foot” for the Christmas tree I used the stocking from the Origami-Winter set and some clever masking. Unfortunately I hadn’t thought of this while I was splattering the green around so there was a big blob of green right in the middle of where the foot had to go. I tried covering it up by using a very deep red but it still shows. Lesson learned for next time!

For decorations I used the star, also from Origami-Winter, I heat embossed that too and coloured it in with gold. For baubles, I used some Honey Gold Sequins and placed them really quite neatly to counter-balance the messiness of the colouring.

Apart from the drying of the water colouring, this was a quick card. I didn’t add a sentiment on this one but if I make more of this design, I think I will add the ‘Merry Christmas’ from Origami-Winter. I love that swirly font!

That’s it from me, thanks for stopping by!
Erica

4MM Cupped Honey Gold Sequins

6MM Cupped Honey Gold Sequins

Origami Christmas Clear Stamp Set

Happy Snowflakes Clear Stamp Set

Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36 Color Set