Thursday, November 30, 2017

Be Merry in DieCember

Today is the first day of DieCember at Simon Says Stamp! It's a month dedicated to celebrating our love of die cutting. And by that I mean a month which gives me an excuse to SHOP. You know, for Christmas presents for myself! I love all things die cutting, and especially holiday dies, because you can really make your Christmas cards stand out with them. Also, usually by the time I get to making my Christmas cards, I need the simplicity of dies to help me actually get them done.

I send hundreds of Christmas cards, which means coloring a stamp image is not going to happen, nor is any detailed masking, scene making, etc.

My go-to Christmas card design is a dramatic background (because I can make full sheets and get multiple cards out of them) and a punch die or sentiment stamp.

For today's card, I used the Retro Flake Border die and cut the design into a piece of Saunders Waterford Watercolor Paper I had trimmed down to match a 4 bar card. Several of those will be among the cards I send out this year - I love that size.

I watercolored this piece with three colors - Pthalo Blue Green Shade, Phthalo Turquoise and Quinacridone Pink as an underpainting - leaving each color in its own space, after misting the paper with water to ensure the colors ran.

After that was dry, I painted over the entire thing with Phthalo Blue Green shade, which turned the pink into purple, and the turquoise into a bluer mix. It greatly intensified the color and gave me the overall cool tones I wanted.

Then I die cut Merry with the Merry die from Concord & 9th out of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper, as well as some extra snowflakes (I love that they look retro - like Jetsons' graphics, or jacks) and glued those all down. I wish you could see the sparkle.
Diecember card by Understand Blue
Simon Says Stamp RETRO FLAKE BORDER...
[ SSS ]
Merry Die - Concord & 9th
[ C&9 ]
Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors
[ BLIC ]
Phthalo Blue Green Shade - Daniel...
[ BLIC | SSS | ELH | AMZUS | SBC ]
01767-5420 - Daniel Smith Extra Fine...
[ BLIC | ELH | AMZUS ]
01767-2190 - Daniel Smith Extra Fine...
[ BLIC | ELH | AMZUS | SSS ]
Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper by...
[ SUP ]
Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes...
[ SUP ]
Saunders Waterford Watercolor Blocks
[ BLIC | ELH | AMZUS ]
Silver Brush - Black Velvet, Round #2
[ BLIC | AMZUS ]
Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth
[ AMZUS ]
MISTI Stamping Tool
[ MSW | SBC | SSS ]
Sizzix BIG SHOT EXPRESS Gray and...
[ SSS | BMS | SBC ]
Sizzix Cutting Pad, Standard - Mint
[ ELH | SBC | SZZ ]
Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -...
[ BLIC | AMZUS ]
Multipurpose Liquid Glue by Stampin' Up!
[ SUP | SSS | ELH | MFT | BLIC | AMZUS ]

I glued that panel onto the 4 bar notecard, and boom! A quick and easy Christmas card that is still super eye-catching and fun.

Now that I have permission to shop DieCember, I'll extend the same permission to you. :)




Loveyameanitbye.

8 comments:

  1. so beautiful....done in my fav colour too, wink, wink.
    xx Karen

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a "wow" card - high impact as soon as one sees it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Crazy beautiful! Love these blues and the string of snowflakes. <3

    ReplyDelete
  4. Such a bold and beautiful card Lydia!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is so beautiful Lydia, I always love a rich blue with snowflakes, they just seem to go together. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the amazing colorful galaxy and will definitely try your recommendation

    ReplyDelete

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