Sunday, July 30, 2017

More Christmas Cards - Snowman!

I have a NEW technique on today's cards.  I made each of the backgrounds from watercolor paper!
 Notice each one is different on the melting snowman.  My niece sent this card many years ago as a Christmas card with the melted snowman, and I LOVED it!!  I've made many since then. (Thanks, Alex!)
 I ordered something called Color Burst.  It's a product from Ken Oliver.  I saw a super, SUPER cool idea using it and had to try it.  Each design comes up different every time. 
 I also ran the watercolor paper through my die cutter with no dies after it dried to flatten it out and thin it so it wasn't so bulky on the card. I LOVE how these designs turned out!  It's the coolest technique!
HERE is a link to the first YouTube video I watched showing these amazing Color Burst paint pigments. 

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Christmas Card - Away in a Manger

I made one very simple card in this design.  I found some wonderful Christmas greetings over at Papertrey Ink.  So many of them have fond memories of childhood for me. 

I embossed the figures in gold embossing powder, and stamped the greeting in Soft Suede.  I also used another bible verse for the inside of this card.

A very simple presentation today, but very meaningful to me personally. 

Friday, July 28, 2017

A Christmas Carol

This is one of my very old Stampin' Up! sets.  It just is one of my favorite Christmas movies - Scrooge from 1971 with Albert Finney. 
 I watercolored both images - the card front, and candle on the inside.  I love the look watercoloring gives.  It doesn't take a long time to do and gives wonderful gradients of color on the image.

The card base and mat are both Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler cardstock.
I also added Wink of Stella to give the light some sparkle.


Thursday, July 27, 2017

Christmas in July - Holly Swag Merry Christmas


 I made six cards using this image.  I haven't used it before, but I thought it would be good with the Merry Christmas banners I needed to finish using up... and I knew it would look amazing with some watercolor pencils.
 I took this picture below because the pic above looks muted.  I thought this card needed some sparkle so I got out my pearl Shimmer Mists and sprayed each of the 6 images.  It's not shiny like Wink of Stella or sparkly like rhinestones or Stickles... it gives the paper a glow. 
On another post I talked about options for using this embossing folder.  Here I wanted the bulk of the snow towards the bottom, and little falling flakes towards the top.  How?  Turn the paper in the embossing folder.

I really like the watercoloring effect on this image.   I think next time...a purple ribbon!
Now all 12 banners are finished.  I have a set of circles to use - stay tuned!

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Christmas in July - Merry Christmas, Santa!



 I really enjoy this Santa image.  I got out some country/woodsy DSP and cut different length banners to give Santa a background.
The new Stampin' Up! Pretty Label punch is perfect for my very favorite Merry Christmas stamp!  It also looks great backed by the Layering Ovals. 

Of course, Santa is watercolored.  I tried using the blender pen with  ink pads and I'm just not happy with the look so I stick with the watercolor pencils. 

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Christmas in July - French Horn in Watercolor



I made 12 of these Merry Christmas banners.  If you've been following my posts all month, you'll see that I used them earlier - BUT they just didn't quite work.  I've been keeping them in a safe place until I found the perfect spot for them!
 Here we go.  I stamped and watercolored the ivy and ribbon then used gold Wink of Stella to color in the french horn.  SO sparkly!
In addition to using the Merry Christmas banner, the card just needed something.  I used my Softly Falling embossing folder and added some snow.

Please enjoy!  I have a few more cards that will pop up here. 

Stop by my Stampin' Up! blog to see a card each day. 
search for: Susan Vilar Stamps!

Follow me to see my daily creations in July, and my other creations during the year.



Thursday, July 13, 2017

Christmas in July - Bouncing Here Today!


I really LOVE this Noel stamp.  It has a wood cut look that for some reason really speaks to me. 

I used a Cherry Cobbler base for this card, and some of the new Stampin' Up! DSP called Be Merry.

Click HERE to return to my Stampin' Up! Blog.  Check back tomorrow for the new Christmas Card.