Monday, November 21, 2016

Quick and Easy Holiday Cards with Natasha Valkovskaya

Hello everyone! This is Natalia Valkovskaya and I’m happy to be back to share with you two ideas featuring the adorable Holiday Houses stamp set. I love this set! It is so much fun to play with, and the opportunities are truly endless! No matter how much (or little) time you have on hands, you can make beautiful projects! So let’s jump right in!

Let’s say you have an idle evening and you are in for some coloring (maybe you are taking part in Kathy Racoosin’s 30 Day Coloring Challenge), then my first card is for you.

I stamped a bunch of watercolor sheets with the Holiday Houses stamp set in watercolor friendly ink. Using the MISTI made it really quick and easy. I then went to town coloring them! Any coloring medium of your choice would work, I went for watercolor this time. Then I die-cut all of the colored images with the companion dies.

For the background, I masked a piece of Ranger watercolor paper with some post-it tape and colored the inner rectangle with Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean and Blueprint Sketch, using a Blender Tool. Then I spritzed the blended area with some water and removed the droplets with a paper towel to create this lovely snowy effect. I also jazzed up the panel with a stitched border using the Gift Card Layers Die.

I made sure to stamp the sentiment before I started adhering the houses. Again, the MISTI came in handy to ensure dark and crisp stamping. I had so much fun playing with these cute little houses arranging them in different ways! Then I adhered the first row of houses and trees, and foam mounted some elements of the front row for extra dimension. I also adhered some trees a bit off the frame on the sides – I think this made the scene look more lively. Finally, I added some snowflakes with a white gel pen.

I also decorated the inside stamping the images in white ink.

What if you are pressed for time and you need to mass produce some holiday cards (we’ve all been there, right?), then hopefully you’ll get inspired by my second card.

For this one, I again stamped several watercolor sheets in Versamark ink and heat embossed them in white. Then I did the messiest and sloppiest watercolor ever – it literally took me a minute to color three panels! Talk about efficient! Then I die-cut them with coordinating dies.

To ground my trees and houses I stamped the base panel with Background Builders: Knit. Perfect for winter projects! I used Fairy Dust ink for a subtle look. I stamped the sentiment and snowflakes in the same ink.

And voila! Three holiday cards in no time at all!

That’s all from me for today. Thank you for staying with me till the end. Be safe, and happy crafting!

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.

20 comments:

  1. Beautiful cards!!! Love the idea of embossing and one color of watercolours:)

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  2. Amazing projects- fast and beautiful cards!!! Bravo!!!

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  3. Both designs are amazing! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. I just love little village scenes and yours are absolutely fabulous. The colouring and dimension of the first scene it's like looking at a story book that I want to step into. To top it off you wowed me with the single colouring houses, so stunning. I love all your cards, can't pick a fave. Thanks so very much for sharing. Have a most wonderful day. Cheers Donna Z :)

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  6. Oh, Donna, your sweet comment made my day! Thank you so much! :)

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  7. I'm in the "pressed for time" category, so thanks for showing the second set of pretty cards as a quicker project. :) Your first card is absolutely gorgeous--so beautifully made and colored. I'd frame it for sure!

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    1. Thank you, Renee! Hope, you'll give it a try :)

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  8. Natasha!!!! OH so happy to see you back again! LOve, LOVE, love these darling village scenes ... you must know that I always choose one house to live in - this time, I'd love the lovely little pink one, please ... hope you live right next door!!! Fabulous designs ... I must give this a try!! xx
    =] Michele

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    1. Michele, thank you so so much for your kind words! Oh, it would be lovely to be neighbours and craft and chat together sitting in one of these cute houses :)) Glad you liked the designs and happy you'll give it a try! 😘

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  9. These are so charming, Natalia! I really love your little watercolor villages! ♡

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    1. Thank you very much, Dawn! I really appreciate this :)

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  10. I adore this design...it's brilliant, edgy and CAS...all my favorites for making multiples.

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    1. Thank you, Debra! This really means a lot to me :)

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  11. I just love these sets, such gorgeous colors! Plus the little envelope.

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