GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Amy Rysavy

Hello everyone! Amy Rysavy here and I am very excited to be guest designing for WPlus9 today! I have to share with y'all that these are the first Holiday/Christmas cards I've made this season. I've been so focused on fall and Halloween cards that I've put off making anything winter/Christmas themed but I couldn't put it off any longer!

Watch above or watch in HD at YouTube

I fell in LOVE with the WPlus9 Holiday 2016 Collection – so many fabulous holiday stamps and dies! I had a really hard time narrowing down what I was going to create for my post today. However the Holiday Houses stamp set was just begging to be used so I went with that and it's companion die set along with the new Be Merry Sentiments and 4-Bar Stitched Rectangles Dies.

I stamped all the images from the Holiday Houses stamp set onto hot press watercolor paper using Versamark ink and heat embossed them with Ranger's Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. Since I had lined up all the images onto my Mini Misti I was able to quickly stamp and emboss a second set of images and make 2 cards instead of just one.

I watercolored in all the images with my Mission Gold watercolors using a Silver Size 4 watercolor brush. Once they were dry I die cut them all using the coordinating die set and my Big Shot machine.

For the backgrounds of these cards I sponged several different Tim Holtz Distress Inks to create a sky that looks like it's glowing with lights from the houses while night is starting to fall. I spritzed the sponged backgrounds with my Distress Spray bottle to get the ink to react with the water, then when it was dry I flicked on a copious amount of Copic Opaque White paint (my FAVORITE) that I had thinned down just a bit with water. This created the "snowfall" on the background.

As a final touch after I'd assembled these cards I lightly dabbed on some Frosted Lace Stickles to the tops of all the houses and trees and along the snowdrifts. It just added some extra dimension without adding a ton of "sparkle" that I think would take away from the overall scene.

For those that aren't familiar with my cardmaking style – I ALWAYS have to finish the inside of my cards! They aren't done until the inside has something. For these cards I added the remaining watercolored houses and trees to the lower left of the inside, then stamped the sentiments from the Be Merry Sentiments stamp set and that was it!

Thank you all so much for joining me today here on the WPlus9 blog! I had so much fun creating these cards and I hope you all enjoyed seeing the process! - Amy Rysavy

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the supplies (or equivalents) used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase. Please note: this list does contain some affiliate links.

Holiday Houses 4x4" stamp set Holiday Houses Companion Die Be Merry Sentiments 4x4" stamp set 4 Bar Stitched Rectangles Die RESERVE MINI MISTI PRECISION STAMPER Stamping Tool Kit mistimini Arches HOT PRESS WATERCOLOR PAD 9x12 inches 012890 *Neenah Classic Crest **110 LB** SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE Paper Pack 25 Sheets EK Success POWDER TOOL Applicator 54-04002 Tsukineko Versamark EMBOSS INK PAD Watermark VM-001 *Ranger Embossing Powder SUPER FINE WHITE EPJ36678 3M Scotch SAFE RELEASE MASKING PAINTER'S TAPE Blue 03680 Simon Says Stamp Embossing 50 Pack COFFEE FILTERS SSSCOFFEE Precision Heat Embossing Tool Gun Hero Arts PW200 Wagner Mijello MISSION GOLD WATER COLOR PALETTE SET 36 Colors MWCP1536 Silver BLACK VELVET Brush Size 4 Round 300541 Faber-Castell COLLAPSIBLE WATER CUP Watercoloring 770310 Jack Richeson 9 X 12 INCH HARDBOARD PANEL 696501 Copic OPAQUE WHITE WITH BRUSH APPLICATOR 053720 *Tim Holtz Tonic CRAFT KNIFE Tool Blade Retractable w Spares Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad TUMBLED GLASS Ranger TDP40248 Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad SCATTERED STRAW Ranger TDP40149 RESERVE Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad BLUEPRINT SKETCH Ranger TDP47346 Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad CHIPPED SAPPHIRE Ranger TDP39907 Tim Holtz DISTRESS SPRAYER Ranger 4 Ounces TDA47414 *Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two Applicators 62191 3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent Ranger Stickles FROSTED LACE Glitter Glue SGG20592

InLinkz.com