2015 Christmas Project Series Day 8: Watercolored Poinsettia

Welcome! Today's project is this gorgeous card done in traditional Christmas colors, using a non- Christmas stamp set.  I used a variety of techniques including stamping, watercolor and heat embossing as well as fun embellishments with the liquid pearls and vellum.  It turned out to be very elegant and classic while still fresh and modern.  Or maybe I'm just flattering myself!  Ha! I made two versions of this card, but you'll have to wait for the other one.  It will be shown in a blog hop for Laura's Loft coming up, so look forward to that!  On to how I made this red and gold beauty!

My supply list:

• Neenah Solar White 110 lb cardstock
• Distress Watercolor Cardstock
• DCWV Vellum cardstock
• Altenew Lacy Scrolls
• Tim Holtz Christmas Blueprints 4 (Poinsettia)
• Tim Holtz Mini Christmas Blueprints 7 (Holly)
• Casual Fridays Snowy Sayings (Stamp of Approval box)
• Koi Watercolors
• Mica Artist Colors, Set 6 by Fine Tec
• Archival Ink in black
• VersaMark ink
• WOW embossing powder in Vintage Candy Cane
• Liquid Pearls in Gold and Rouge
• Tape Runner
• Foam Squares

 I started with my Poinsettia and Holly.  I stamped both images on the smooth side of a piece of Distress Watercolor Cardstock in black Archival Ink.  I like archival when I do any water-based technique because it's waterproof, so it won't run when it gets wet.  I love the Koi watercolor travel set because it's small, easy to use and great quality.

After my images were painted and dry, I fussy cut them out.  Yes, it took awhile, but I think the finished look was worth it.  I added the Rouge Liquid Pearls to the holly berries and the Gold to the center of the Poinsettia.  Tapping several times on the back of the card will settle out the peak on the pearl medium.  While that dried, I stamped the background.

 Starting with the flower images from Altenew's Lacy Scrolls stamp set, I stamped them in Delicata Golden Glitz ink.  I turned the stamp in different directions to make it look random.  Using the smaller images, I filled in the gaps with the leaves, filigree and swirls.

Delicata is a pigment ink, so it takes a bit to dry, but does dry fairly quickly.  The shimmer of this ink is simply incredible.

While the background dried, I cut a strip of vellum 1.5 inches wide and 6 inches long.  Using the "Joy to the World" sentiment from the Snowy Sayings set by Casual Fridays, I stamped it in VersaMark and used Vintage Candy Cane embossing powder by WOW to heat emboss it.  To avoid warping the vellum as much as possible, let your heat gun warm up for 60-90 seconds before applying it to your embossing.  It should start to melt almost immediately and will change from powdery to shiny when it's melted.  Now that each element is complete, we are ready for assembly.  Start with the vellum.  I added tape runner behind the sentiment and folded the overhang on each end over to the backside.  I added a bit of tape runner along the edge of the vellum and smoothed it down to attach it and pressed around the sentiment to stick it down.  Next, I used tape runner over the edges of the front of the card base and attached the background piece.  To finish up, I added foam squares to the holly and poinsettia to attach them.  All done!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed your visit and learned something new.  Feel free to ask any questions and let me know what you think! 

Much love!