Creating a Christmas Card using Lindy’s with Heidi

Hi everyone, today I’m on the Lindy’s blog with a fun watercolor Christmas card project. Lindy’s products are perfect to watercolor with and today I’m showing you step by step how you can create this fun project!

Step 1:

I started my project by stamping this image by Whimsy Stamps (Christmas Sprite) onto Strathmore Bristol Smooth surface paper using Versafine Onyx Black ink and than I heat embossed using Lindy’s Stamp Gang Crystal Clear Embossing Powder. This way my stamped lines stamp black and crisp, no matter how much water I add!

Now I’m ready to add color to the paper. I started with Lindy’s Stamp Gang Magical in Foxglove Fuchsia. I added some of the powder to my palette using a fan brush and mixed the pigment with water from my spray bottle. I also created a much more diluted version with only a hint of color (for the wings). With a small brush I can now start coloring the pink parts, in combination with water to fade out the color where I want it to be lighter. I add several layers until the color is as dark as I want it to be.

Step 2:

Next I created a paint using a Lindy’s Stamp Gang Magical in the color Time Travel Teal. I painted the colors that I wanted teal with this paint, but I also added some of the lighter paint to the pink parts to create more depth and dimension. Later on I will also add some of the pink paint to the teal parts for the same reason.

Step 3:

For the gold parts I picked Lindy’s Stamp Gang Magical Martina’s Marigold and proceded in the same way. For the skin I used a Squirt in Canadian Bacon Blush, mixed with a little of the I’m Late Slate, I’m Late Slate Spray (to tone it down a bit), and this colour I will also use on the snow and fur parts.

Step 4:

For the holly I picked a Squirt in Loonie Toonie Teal, adding some of the Time Travel Teal later on to create more definition. For the holly berries I used a combination of Foxglove Fuchsia and Time Travel Teal to create a beautiful dark purple hue. Lastly, for the hair I than used a Squirt in Beaver Tail Brown.

With the coloring of the image itself done I colored around the image using a Magical in Frenchy’s Pink Pouf (which will also be my background color).

And with all the coloring of the focal image done I added in some highlights using a white gel pen and than fussy cut the image leaving a small border. On the fairy’s wings I than added some Stickles in the color Star Dust for an extra sparkly effect (I used a brush for this, wash it well afterwards) and let that dry.

Step 5:

With my focal image done I can now work on my background panel. For this I die cut a square panel from watercolor paper, two sizes smaller than my card base. On this panel I stamp my sentiment, using Archival Jet Black ink in combination with one of the sentiments from the Stampin’Up stamp set Flurry of Wishes.

Next I applied some The Crafter’s Workshop Light & Fluffy modeling paste over a The Crafter’s Workshop stencil (TCW720s) using a palette knife and set that aside to dry.

With the same Frenchy’s Pink Pouf color that I used before I’m now going to add color to my background panel. For this I add some of the powder to my panel using a fan brush and spraying the panel with my water bottle. This will make the color run. When I’m happy with how it looks I dry the panel with my heat tool. This I repeat until I’m happy with the entire panel. In this particular case I didn’t want too much color on the bottom part of the panel to help create the illussion of snow.

Step 6:

Time to put my card project together: I die cut a slightly larger square panel from matching dark teal card stock and adhered both square panel together using liquid glue. This combination I adhered to a creme colored linen textured card base using one millimetre thick foam tape. And to finish my project I now only have to adhere the focal image on top also using one millimetre thick foam tape.