Christmas Cards 2016

I'm actually making some Xmas cards this year. It's been a few years since I made them. Not sure how many, I'll have to check. Anyhoo, this a sampling of my work thus far. Lots of collaging, stenciling, painting, inking, stamping...you name it. This sort of thing does not come natural to me, I'm discovering. I watched numerous videos on Youtube of artists whipping together these amazingly creative gems of art full of energy and fun and almost childlike exuberance. However when I faced the proverbial blank piece of paper I agonized over placement, color, intent...I took the fun right out of it. Not to mention that I'm short on technique when it comes to some of these materials. Sadly, lack of confidence always shows. Still I persevered and things haven't turned out so bad after all.  Merry Christmas!

Just starting out

The aftermath. Yikes

A Faux Batik Xmas



Occasionally I will paint individual cards for Xmas. I find them labor intensive so I have to be in the mood and this year I'm in the mood. I decided to stick with my alcohol ink batik technique for a welcome change. These are not folding cards so I've used Yupo as my backing substrate. I'll be writing my message on the back of each card with Micron pen so they will need a coat of Krylon spray varnish to eliminate any smearing. I could not find my white fluid acrylic paint to create the snowy candy canes so I used White-out. It worked great but I had a devil of a time washing it out of my spatter brush. Here are a couple of my faves.

Making Christmas Cards

This year I decided not to do cards for printing. My printer is acting up again and I don't want to pay a print shop right now. Instead I'm painting individual cards for immediate family and I've worked all afternoon on just these two. What have I gotten myself into?! Of course this is a labor of love and I want them to be special for each person. These are the two 'guy' cards I've created for the men in my family. I used black, some muted colors, plaid, metallics...guy stuff. I'm not the least bit concerned about minor imperfections. They are homemade after all and come from the heart. I have to add that crafters impress me more and more. I'm not terribly crafty anymore. If I ever decide to make handmade cards full time I would definitely have to develop a better system.