Christmas Cars

I have two cards to share today for the Watercolour Weekend post on the Art Impressions blog.  I've been having a great time painting with many of the new Ai Christmas stamp sets.  I may have squealed when I first saw 5823 - Christmas Cars Set... it's possibly my favourite set ever created by Bonnie - so I couldn't wait to ink it up.

I'm using Bristol Smooth Cardstock today, as it is a lovely bright white colour, and it works well for snowy scenes.  I first cut out the decorative oval die shape, so I'd have my painting area defined for me.  I inked up first the car, then the presents using Tombows #969/565 - purposely stamping the presents just a little askew, as though they were precariously stacked on the roof, with the help of my stamp positioner.  I picked the larger wreath from 5830 - WC Mini Wreath Set, coloured it with #249, and stamped it on the front of the car.

I picked my colour palette according to my background paper, so started painting the car with #526, using a watered down layer on the hood of the car, which would be lighter, and a more saturated shade for the front and undersides of the vehicle.  #N45 was used to paint in the tires, and all the chrome bits around the headlights and grill.  I used #126/703/847/249 to paint in the presents, adding some diagonal stripes on some of the wrapping paper.  I painted in a wash of #565 as the sky, trying to indicate some snowbanks at the side of the road, and used it to shade under the tires, and on the windshield.  I lightly touched the wreath with a damp paintbrush, and added dots of #847 as berries.  To create my snow, I used Bleedproof White Paint to add snow on the parcels, car and wreath, along with a few snowflakes in the sky.  My oval die is from Pinkfresh Studio, and the Poinsettia/holly are Spellbinders.

This was fairly quick and easy to paint - so I plan to make a bunch more to send this season.  To assemble my card, I cut out a slightly larger oval in the same warm pink shade as my present, and mounted it behind my scene.  I adhered it to my striped paper from the 5853 - Christmas Magic Paperpack