It's not over 'til it's over! Continuing on....

I have to admit that this Christmas I was more laid back than usual...maybe it's my age, perhaps the empty nest syndrome, of course it could be that I have gotten smarter and learned to deal with stress better...(not likely)...but anyhooo...I did enjoy the day. I didn't get all my Christmas cards written, but I feel like if I get them out before January 1st, then I am doing well. 

Our challenge this month has been "the HOLIDAYS in a Hurry" and...no one said which holiday, so if you are joining us before the 1st just pick one and tell us how you create to make it happen more efficiently for you. Click HERE to see how to link up with the linky tool below and you will be in business. 

Original artwork with more of a bluish cast...warmer.

This card is the one that has been the easiest for me to achieve. Why? Because Wayne did the artwork. This is ZIA, Zentangle Inspired Art, and once he finished the piece we actually scanned it and color copied it...(mega-copies). However, I wanted it to be hand created too, so I insisted on paste-embossing the Merry Christmas stencil (LS92) onto a tag using the Glossy Blue Embossing Paste (DGBP) and sprinkling it with purple glitter. I then embellished it with a May Arts Ribbon and tied the card closed. One issue with color copies is the difficulty of getting the color to look like the original. This one was more blue when he began, but he went with the flow and tweaked it to be more purple. Otherwise the colors were going a warm gray direction. Because we wanted it to look cold we saturated the colors and found that it needed to be more purple to get that warm coloration removed.

The background was done first on 140 pound hot press watercolor paper. Wet the paper, then put washes of blue and purple watercolors down with a giant brush. Then sprinkle with kosher salt (this salt has more chunky type of crystals). After this was dry, he brushed off the salt. He enlarged the lady ice skater image (LL577) and traced her on top of the spectacular background.  Then he filled in this outline with gouache. Once everything was dry he tangled inside the image, gave her face just a hint of flesh-tone watercolor using a brush and there she is. By the way this could be a New Year's card or a thank you or a happy birthday or...any type of winter missive.

Now I know some of the team are vacationing, but if you get the chance be sure to see what they have in store for you as New Year's is just around the corner. And leave a comment or two to encourage their creative endeavors.

Lea Kimmel
Louise Healy
Stacey Rumsby
Terrece Siddoway

Pam Hornschu