Christmas Card Challenges #13: Photo Inspiration

Good afternoon!  In case you missed it earlier I have several giveaways going on to celebrate reaching 2000 followers on instagram!  You can find more details on how to enter or link up your card by clicking here!  I hope you’ll join in the fun! 😉  You can also find my week 4 review of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge by scrolling down or clicking here!

We’ve got a pretty inspiration photo for you this week at Christmas Card Challenges!

I decided to focus on the ombre wash of colors from the inspiration photo and added a little sparkle to my Christmas tree!

I also experimented with Bee Paper for the first time and was pleasantly surprised with the results.  I saw a recent post by Ruby comparing and contrasting different watercolor papers and decided to pull out the Bee Paper that I’ve owned for almost a year and never touched (#crafthoarder…I know).  I was pleased with how much water it held for a background wash but I’d highly recommend using A LOT of strong adhesive because this paper curls like crazy as it dries!  I smooshed Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, and Wilted Violet distress ink onto an acrylic block and spritzed it once with water.  Then I used a wet paintbrush to paint it onto my background.  I applied a first layer, let it air-dry until it was still slightly damp but not dripping wet, and then added a second layer of color.  I let that air-dry for several hours and then stamped the tree from Winnie and Walter onto the watercolored panel with versamark.  I heat-embossed it with white embossing powder and then inked it again with versamark.  I used my MISTI to make sure that the tree was perfectly aligned each time.  The second time I heat-embossed it with snowflake tinsel embossing glitter so that it would really sparkle.  I also flicked on a little watered down picket fence distress ink to create a snowy sky.

I like that the snowflake tinsel embossing glitter has tiny pieces of silver glitter as well as large holographic pieces of glitter for extra shimmer and shine!  Finally I adhered the watercolor panel to a plum-colored card base, stamped and heat-embossed a sentiment from Newton’s Nook onto white cardstock and die-cut it with a fishtail banner die.  I used foam mounting tape to adhere the sentiment to my card for a little dimension.

And now it’s your turn to get crafty!  We provide an inspiration palette or photo each week but really, the only rule is that you create a holiday card!  For even more inspiration, check out what the rest of the Christmas Card Challenges design team has created!

• Alanna
• Donna
• Heather
• JoAnn
• Laurie
• Mandy
• Margo
• Marsha
• Monica
• Rema
• Shirley Anne
• Susan

Thanks so much for visiting and have a fabulous day!

Interested in the products I used?  To make them easy for you to find, I have listed them below. (Affiliate disclosure can be found here). Your purchases help keep my blog running and I thank you for the support!)