Club Scrap Watercolor Christmas Blog Hop

I have resurrected my blog to take part in a Club Scrap blog hop featuring their 2015 Holiday kit called Watercolor Christmas. This gorgeous kit was created with artwork by Swarup Murthy whom I have been following for several years. Please take some time to visit her blog The Storyteller. Her watercolor artwork is exquisite. I can only hope to try to do it justice with my cards and layouts using this kit. For more information about the artist and Club Scrap, please read the blog post written by Tricia Morris.

You may be hopping in from the blog of Debby Hernandez. If not, be sure to step backwards and see what she has prepared for us.

After I agreed to join in, I thought I must be crazy. I don't make elaborate projects with my kits. All I do is make cards and layouts. And this month, with the December Daily project going on, all I could eke out was three cards using the digi components. I want to save every scrap of my kit for layouts. The source for all images was the digi kit. Cardstock is from past Club Scrap kits such as Evergreen, Raku, etc. All old POPs I am desperately trying to use.

The first card uses the tree-shaped greeting which I adore. I used a few filters in Photoshop to change it up a bit from a simple stamped image. Decorated with Stickles which are my go to embellishment. And die cut a star from sparkly paper to top the tree.

My second card features the fabulous cardinal image created by Swarup. I printed the digital stamp on watercolor paper using a very pale image and then did my own coloring with Zig Clean Color pens and Inktense watercolor pencils. I was overjoyed with the result. Having no artistic talent of my own, I was thrilled to create something which actually looked like a created it. Sorry, Swarup. Although I have been a California girl for forty years, I started out my life as a Kentucky girl, I simply had to own this cardinal. I realize it is a standard holiday motif, but for me, the representation of a cardinal goes much deeper. I used a Sizzix die to create the corners from gold paper (an excellent suggestion from my hubby when I showed the in-progress card to him for approval). This is one of those rare occasions when I am tickled with a card I created.

My final card uses that oh-too-cute snowman. Again, I started with a faint inkjet image and then (a la Tricia) I used Intense watercolor pencils to color him up. Since I had finished all the Christmas cards I needed (or wanted) to make, I decided to send this card in the new year. There are snowmen in January, right? Again, Frosty's panel was decorated with Stickles to give the impression of falling snow. The panel behind him is the plaid from the kit. Again, digi.

Thanks so much for hopping along with us. Please travel on to see another California girl Lisa Dolezal. She always makes beautiful things. If you have gotten lost along the way, you can always go back to the beginning at the Club Scrap blog and follow the yellow brick road. Happy Holidays and have a grand 2016.