I have featured quite a few Christmas cards this week to get the festive juices flowing. This watercolour effect Christmas card was created for this month’s Blog Hop by the Crafty Blog Hop community, of which I am proud to be a part.

As always with Blog Hops, when you have had a look at my project (and hopefully left me a comment), do hop over to see what other inspiration you can find on the participating blogs.

The theme for this month’s blog was Christmas in July and we have all been playing with new products that we have received in our pre-orders from the August-December mini catalogue – so lots of sneaky peaks for everyone.

My Project

I have always had a bit of a soft spot for a Highland cow -or Hippy cows as they are known in our house, because of their laid back demeanour and long hair.

It comes as no surprise therefore that I fell in love with the Yuletide Pasture stamp set that features in the upcoming mini catalogue. As well as this adorable cow, you will also find a sheep and a cat. All of them are in this line drawing style that is just calling out to be coloured in. The set also features some great sentiments that are going to be useful on many Christmas projects this year.

The Pasture

So we have a cow, but where to put him to pasture. The waterfront stamp set had everything I needed to build the scene. Mountains, pasture, a bubbling brook.

I stamped the cow onto my “canvas” to position him. It meant I could ensure there were no gaps either side of him and it also took away the challenge of fussy cutting the strings and bows for the baubles (that really wasn’t happening!) Having stamped a 2nd cow on a separate piece of cardstock, I coloured him with watercolour pencils, building up layers of cajun craze, pumpkin pie and early espresso on the cow to give him depth of colour. The cow and the baubles were cut out and paper pieced over the stamped image on the background. I added some wink of stella to the baubles for a bit of glitz, ensuring I didn’t smudge the colour.

Let it Snow

I felt this festive scene needed some snow, so after sponging the sky, I used the little dotty stamp from the waterfront set to add white embossed snow. The snow caps on the mountains were then created with embossing paste.

This “picture” was mounted onto some gold foil (which I obviously gutted before sticking in place – you can’t waste foil!) I added the greeting and tied some of the gold thread around it, before attaching to a side opening Whisper White card base with dimensionals.

I shared my card with my daughters and we felt perhaps the sentiments should have read

” We wish Moo a Merry Christmas and a Hippy New Year”

Go Hop

I hope you enjoyed my watercolour effect Christmas card and have been inspired to have a go.

Do hop over and see what other new products people have been playing with.

Supplies

I have listed some of the products I have used below. The Yuletide Pasture is not available to customers until the catalogue goes live on August 4th. If you live in the UK and would like a catalogue, request one

Have fun creating your Christmas cards. I know you are going to find lots to love in the new mini catalogue.

Helen xx

If you live in the UK, I would love you to choose me as your demonstrator. If you would like to purchase any of the items I have used in these projects you can shop here or click on the images listed below. Don’t hesitate to email me if I can be of any assistance. Make sure you use the current host code so I can thank you for your order. Anyone purchasing from me will receive this month’s Creative Tutorial Bundle as a Thank You.

Product List

146386 £16.00	147105 £7.00
147118 £7.00	147103 £7.00
147111 £7.00	101406 £9.25
141709 £15.00	149014 £11.75
102283 £8.75	109132 £5.50
141979 £7.50	141897 £7.50
132622 £4.75	140490 £7.75
152475 £8.25