Happy Holidays

I am so very happy to be the guest designer at the Christmas Card Throwdown challenge blog today!!! The theme of this challenge is "Snow Globes." I created a card for Send a Smile 4 Kids, using digital images from 2 different companies.

As with all my cards that involve digital images, I began in Photoshop. I opened the snow globe elements (globe, topper, & base) from Doodle Pantry's "Snow Globe Gala" (discontinued) and the "Santa Brings Home the Tree" image from Dearie Dolls Digi Stamps. I decided on the size of my final panel, and created a blank "canvas" in Photoshop that size. I arranged my images on the canvas & sized them to fit. I typed the greeting above the snow globe, using the "warp" tool in Photoshop to curve the text. It took a bit of fiddling, but I finally got it looking right. After I had everything set like I wanted it, I printed my composite image onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper that I'd cut to size.

I used my Inktense pencils to color everything. After applying clean water to the area I wanted to paint, I would pick up the color from the pencil with a damp paintbrush & apply it to my paper. I prefer this method, as it gives me the most control over intensity of color & shading. After the paper had dried, I dotted over the snowflakes within the snow globe with a white gel pen. I finished the painting process by adding faint streaks of white acrylic paint to indicate shine marks on the glass of the snow globe.

To finish the card, I double-matted the panel with pink & green cardstocks, leaving a 1/8" border on all sides of each mat. I mounted everything to a white A2 card base, and this card was done! I'd say the hardest & most time-consuming part actually was doing the greeting in Photoshop. Of course, the painting came in a close second! :)