Happy Little Stampers: Animals

We're kicking off November at Happy Little Stampers the way we usually do, with the Watercolour Challenge! Our optional theme to inspire you this month is Animals. Being November and all, my thoughts turned to my various Christmas-themed animal sets. I pulled out a perennial favourite, and as a bonus, ended up with two cards. Here's my first:  

I do love these sweater-clad reindeer from Hero Arts, and they tend to show up at some point on my holiday cards each year. It also helps that the current challenge at Jingle Belles is Rudolph and Friends! I started with the background: I heat-embossed two trees from the set in white, then added a light wash of blue watercolour for a winter sky. I thought I'd make him a daytime reindeer, not a night shift pull-the-sleigh one. ;) While the background dried, I stamped, embossed, and watercoloured my critter. Once the main panel was dry, I die-cut it to size and added the sparkle-embossed sentiment. 

My second card came about partly because I coloured my first reindeer in my usual festive reds and greens, only to realize he didn't quite go with that first serene background I'd made. 

This time I did create more of a nighttime galaxy sky - my first attempt at a watercolour one. (Usually I blend distress inks until I get a result I can live with.) Since the sky necessitated a lot of water, I clear embossed a full moon as opposed to hoping a paper mask would work. Once all that wet watercolour was dry, I splattered some white Perfect Pearls solution to add some star/snow interest. To tie in his festive sweater, I die cut the "merry" sentiment from red cardstock as well as from red fun foam to add dimension. I inked the smaller part of the sentiment with green to also complement that fine sweater. ;) 
I'm also adding my leaping reindeer to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, Anything Goes. 

I may have decided on Christmas cards, but on the HLS blog, you'll find all kinds of animals for all kinds of occasions! And don't forget, even the animals are optional - we'd love to see any new watercolour projects. 

Supplies: (peace) American Crafts textured blue cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Hero Arts Christmas Reindeer stamps, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & Brilliance pearlescent sky blue ink, Wow clear, sparkle & white embossing powder, Gansai Tambi watercolours, MFT wonky stitched rectangle die, Gelly Roll white glaze pen, foam tape; (merry & bright) Neenah white & Stampin' Up basic black & real red cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Hero Arts Christmas Reindeer stamps, Winnie & Walter In a Word: Merry stamps & dies, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & Ranger lily pad ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Gansai Tambi watercolours, Confetti Perfect Pearls, red fun foam, foam tape