Happy Little Stampers: Christmas

I'm welcoming December with the Happy Little Stampers watercolour challenge! Our optional theme for this last month of the year is, not too surprisingly, Christmas. After making so many tags through November, it was almost a challenge to go back to the larger canvas of a card! I chose a large image to help me: 

My poinsettia is heat embossed on watercolour paper. The line style of the artwork meant there would be lots of nooks and crannies for watercolour powder to show off its different shades and colours. While it was drying, I added a wash of bundled sage distress ink to the back panel, speeding up its drying time with my heat tool. Then, by flicking water, I was able to add some of the same embossing powder to the mat and heat emboss the spatters. I also added some spatters of the same distress ink. Once the flower was dry, I cut it close to the edge, and added it and the sentiment to the green panel. A green card base was my last step. I thought about adding some dimension to the centre of the poinsettia, but nothing I had would have matched the embossing, so I left it alone. 

There are beautiful inspiration cards on the HLS blog today, in a variety of styles! If you aren't in need of Christmas cards, we'd love to see any new watercolour project added to the monthly gallery. I have thoroughly enjoyed this first year of bringing watercolour inspiration to you with Happy Little Stampers!  

Supplies: Canson watercolour paper, Craft Smith textured green card base, Altenew Modern Poinsettia stamps, Versamark & bundled sage distress ink, moonstone embossing powder, Magenta Nuance red watercolour powder