Memories made...

Hello there,

It's a beautiful day here in San Antonio. It's the day before Thanksgiving and I am still getting used to 70 degrees and sunny!!! My hubby and I reminisce how many years we saw the first big snowstorm on Thanksgiving in Michigan. He always talks about the fact that the year we were married (1958) we went to my parents' farm outside Grand Rapids, to celebrate Thanksgiving. Our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple. So EXCITING!!!! That was the year we had one of the biggest blizzards in years!!! We were snowed in. The drifts were almost up to the men's chests and there was no way any car was going to get down that small street my parents lived on. That street didn't get plowed until all the big streets were taken care of.

Luckily, Mom had invited quite a large gathering, and at about 5:00 o'clock they all went out and started shoveling. Being on a farm, there were quite a few shovels around and they could all get to work. It took several hours, but they shoveled all the way to the main street and we could all start for home. With fear and trepidation, we all left and hoped that the main streets were in pretty good shape. There were no cell phones then, so we were really on our own until we got to town. Town was about 15 miles from the farm. We were so glad it wasn't any further. We all made it home safely!!

A MEMORY MADE to be talked about for many years to come!!!

I think that's one of the reasons we make cards... Memories made!!!  
We, the creators, search around until we find the right idea to bless the person the card is for. And the receiver enjoys what has been a labor of love, made just for them!  (Or, at least we hope that's how it works out... it might not every time, but hopefully, most of the time our labor of love is enjoyed and appreciated by those we send them to).

On to my card:
 I took a class a couple of years ago on ON LINE CLASSES by Jennifer McGuire and friends.
It was "watercoloring for cards". I enjoyed it a lot.
Now, I think it is time to re-visit some of the techniques we learned and use them again. These next few cards will be using the ombre backgrounds and watercolor wash. I don't feel like I got that real well. So I will be doing some cards with those techniques.

Since it is time to be making some Christmas cards, I had decided to use the snowman and the penguins. I bought these last year and didn't get to use them very much. The first lesson was to make an ombre background and Jennifer McGuire made a sample using shades of blue with these large snowflakes. I just loved them, so I went with that idea too.  The ombre is kind of hard to see, I should have gone down to a lighter blue... sorry!

 I wanted a slim, long card so I cut my watercolor paper just 2 1/2 in. wide.
I then dipped the back end of a small paint brush and applied FRISKET to the white watercolor paper to mask off those dots. Then when the background is dry, the Frisket just rolls off the paper and you see the white dots.

I then stamped the snowman (a Penny Black stamp) on to a separate piece of watercolor paper and colored him in. I also went over the black outline with a Sharpie pen to make it stand out better.
Cut him out when he's done.

I glued the snowman into position and used a paste knife to give him snow to stand on. The snow is Dreamweaver Embossing Paste. It's a great paste to work with. This one is "pearl".
Of course, a little glitter always adds the right touch!

The second card is the same techniques but using the penguins (so cute).
Both of these stamps are just so adorable.
I love Penny Black stuff.

Here are the challenges I am entering:
http://caswatercolour.blogspot.ca/  Christmas greetings
http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.com/  Anything Christmas


Thanks for coming over to take a look,
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!!!

Elena