This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!
Hi friends! I’m back with this month’s installment of Songs of the Season- holiday cheer throughout the year, inspired by the songs of Christmas! Music was such a huge part of my life for so long that it seems appropriate for me to combine my past with my present. I am not ashamed to say that I have my Christmas decorations still up; we will be taking them down this weekend, but I couldn’t resist leaving the glow and festiveness of the lights up for just a couple more weeks after Christmas. This month’s song is a classic: There’s No Place like Home for the Holidays by Perry Como. Listen to it below:
The song reminds me of Christmas at my Grammy and Papa’s house as a child; my uncles and their families all lived in different parts of the country, but each Christmas, they would pack up and descend on our hometown to spend the Christmas holidays with us. It never truly felt like Christmas until they arrived, and as an adult, I still yearn for that kind of gathering, though we are all scattered all over the globe.
“Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays,
’cause no matter how far away you roam,
if you want to be happy in a million ways
For the holidays, you can’t beat home sweet home.”
I suppose it is now my husband’s and my job to create that sense of family for our little ones, and I strive to create those kinds of precious memories for our kiddos!
“Tiny houses” are more than just a building trend; they are everywhere in the stamping world, too! Simon Says Stamp has a few different sets that feature some adorable houses, and today I created snowy little villages using different techniques to create t both a simple A2 card and a more involved A7 card. Today’s projects feature two different holiday house sets from Simon Says Stamp: Home For Christmas and Cozy Christmas. The Home For Christmas set features simple layered stamps that would be great for mass production, while the Cozy Christmas Set features outline images that are perfect for coloring both as simple images with black lines as well as the no-line watercoloring that I’ve chosen to do today. I kept both projects to a simple, festive, modern color scheme with cherry red, mint, and coral, with plenty of sparkle and shine added in for festive measure.
For my first, somewhat simpler card, I used the Home For Christmas set with bunches of Pawsitively Saturated Inks: Fawn, Cozy, Spring, Dublin, Watermelon, and Blush, stamping each layer in just the right spot by using my MISTI. I also stamped a couple of greetings from the set using the dark gray ink to keep things a bit lighter than if I’d chosen to use stark black ink. I die cut each image using the coordinating dies, fussy cutting the curved sentiment with my sharp scissors.
For the background, I wanted to create a bit of a snowglobe illusion, so I stamped the circular snowflake image from Don’t Flurry Be Happy onto my white card front using embossing ink and white satin pearl embossing powder. The shine from the pearlescent embossing powder helps the embossed image stand out just enough from the white background so as to add some subtle texture and pattern behind my little neighborhood. I arranged my cluster of houses and holiday decor on my card front, popping them up with foam adhesive. For some snowy sparkle, I used white glitter with the Hero Arts Sparkle Lacquer pen. I love the shimmering texture this adds to the card without adding tons of bulk!
For my second card, I wanted to create a vintage feel with some no-line watercolored images, so I stamped several of the images from the beautiful Cozy Christmas Set onto watercolor paper using Contour Ink. I then pulled lots of different Distress Ink cubes to finalize my color palette: Festive Berries, Worn Lipstick, Saltwater Taffy, Scattered Straw, Pine Needles, Salvaged Patina, Pumice Stone, Hickory Smoke. Watercoloring with Distress Inks is such fun; the incredible vibrance and super easy blending make them really easy to use for both beginning watercolorists and experienced watercolorists alike. I simply tap my ink pads on a ceramic palette or plastic plate (your glass craft mat would work, as well!) and pick up the color with my damp paintbrush as I would from pan paints! The color moves beautifully on the paper and reacts so well with water, making it ideal for no-line coloring.
(Also, just FYI-Simon Says Stamp is celebrating 20 Years of Distress with a contest over on Instagram. You can check out all of the details HERE. There is a $500 gift card giveaway *every month*!!! Don’t miss out!)
After I had finished watercoloring my images, I turned my attention to the card base. I wanted to keep things super simple so that my vibrant neighborhood was the star of the show, so I selected a gold foil frame cut using the A7 Thin Frames, making the canvas for my scene a bit smaller and less intimidating. Before I adhered the frame, I masked off the edges on three of the sides of my A7 card front and blended some Concord and 9th Aqua Sky ink using a blending brush. I removed the masking tape around the edges, adhered my gold frame, and popped up the houses in a row using foam squares.
I popped up a greeting from the Inside Christmas Greetings which I embossed using Iridescent Gold embossing powder from Hero Arts, tucking it neatly behind the little car with it’s Christmas tree. To add a little extra sparkle, I added some white glitter to the watercolored snow using a Hero Arts Sparkle Lacquer pen and embellished the ornaments and gifts with some Star Sparks Decogel pen.
I absolutely adore how this card turned out!! The A7 canvas helps to keep the houses from feeling too crowded, and the intricate watercoloring makes such an impact.
Well, that’s all for my projects for this month’s installment of Songs of the Season. If you want some more holiday inspiration, check out my friend Jenn’s Get Cracking on Christmas challenge! I love having any excuse to keep my Christmas craft supplies out all year long! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!
Leave a Reply