WWC176 - Kath's "All About Christmas" Challenge

It's Kath's turn to host a challenge this week and this time it's "All About Christmas".  I love this challenge and have a nice little stash of Christmas cards building up, waiting to be filled out and sent at the end of the year.  Such a "painless" way to do it!

I had the worst time with this card!  Oh, making it was fun and no trouble at all, but getting a decent photograph was such a pain that I almost decided to make a different card.  Why, you ask.  Well, I'll bet you think this is a blue and white card, right?  You would be wrong.  This card is definitely blue.  In fact I've used one of my favourites, the Pacific Point cardstock.  Everything else is silver.  The background to the die-cut oval piece, the scalloped edge around the embossed piece, and the heat-embossed sentiment:  all are silver.  Try as I might, they all photographed white. 

In person this card looks elegant and absolutely gorgeous.

I've used the Sparkle embossing folder.  I've also used the Hometown Greetings Edgelits.  And that sentiment?  That's from the Nature Sings stamp set.  Don't they all work well together?

I hope you'll check out the awesome samples by the other Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

I'm also entering this card into the CHNC Challenge #391 - Christmas Anything Goes

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #151 - Charlotte's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

Welcome to the brand new year and to another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  I'm so happy we're starting the year with Charlotte's Feminine "Anything Goes" challenge.  I began playing with my Brushos over the holidays and am anxious to show off the results.

But before I get around to showing off my card and telling you how I created it, I want to give a heartfelt welcome to our new Watercooler Artist, Helen Finlay.  You can read a short bio about Helen and see her photo over at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge post.

* * * * * * * * * * 

I had never heard about Brushos.  Well, that's not quite true.  I had read the name in passing when viewing the posts of quite a number of our participants but didn't look into it any further.  That is, until Stampin' Up! announced that five colours would be released in the new Occasions Catalogue.  Did I want them or not?  Well, I had seen some remarkable results featured by some awesome crafters, time to check them out more fully.

Brusho watercolour crystals are produced in Sheffield, England and are simply remarkable.  The tiny crystals "explode" with colour when sprayed with water or immersed in water.  Using them isn't just a matter of having a colour, dipping in your brush, and painting your image.  It can be that simple but it can be so much more.  For my card I first stamped my rose image from the Rose Wonder set, using Versamark and then heat embossed it with silver embossing powder.  Then, once that was set and hard, I sprayed the rose and leaves with water and tapped out a few crystals, green for the leaves and red for the rose.  I used a damp paint brush to spread the colour, leaving areas darker in places and lighter in others.  Once that had dried completely, I fussy-cut the rose and leaves and attached them to a piece of Heavy Whisper White which I had previously prepared by tapping out just a very few green crystals and then spraying them.  I like the resulting splatter effect.

The border of the Heavy Whisper White is also heat embossed using silver embossing powder as is the sentiment.  Once finished, the piece was mounted on a base of Heavy Whisper White.

I found the Brusho colours to be incredibly brilliant and am anxious to try them out with some other projects.  I hope you'll decide to try them out as well.

Please check out the wonderful creations by the other Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge this week.

I'm also playing along with the CAS Watercolour Card Challenge for January since it's all about birthdays.