Happy Holidays Watercolor Cards 2018
Hi friends! TGIF! Welcome to a VERY special edition of Suzy Plantamura’s “One Stamp Five Ways” feature– we’re introducing a brand NEW and EXCLUSIVE holiday-themed collection of Watercolor cards, perfect to get your holiday mojo in full gear for Christmas! Read on for some fun tips and tricks and enjoy!
Hello, Simon Says Stamp friends! I usually guest post with a “One Stamp, Five Ways” post, but today, I’m doing something a little different! I have a new watercolor card set that was released TODAY called Happy Holidays, so in the spirit of the holidays, I wanted to show them all to you colored and dressed up ready to give away!
I’ll show you an image of each of the 12 colored and then after the photos, I’ll share some tips I use to color Suzy’s Watercolor Cards. They are all printed on Ranger Watercolor Paper so you can use ANY coloring medium to color them. Here we go!
Here are my tips to color and dress up my watercolor cards:
- Sometimes the designs are meant to go right to the edge of the card, but with printing margins, it won’t extend to the edge; in these cases, I die-cut them to be smaller as you can see in the first photo (Merry Christmas). I also like a card base to show around each to matte them.
- Use any coloring medium on these or a mix of all as I do! Some of my cards use watercolors, Copic Markers, AND colored pencils.
- Use watercolors for the larger areas and backgrounds as it gives you the easiest coverage for the least cost! It also goes on transparent which is perfect for backgrounds.
- Use Copic markers for areas such as the penguin heads as they work best for shading (getting different tones of black watercolor is harder than blending different gray Copic Markers).
- DON’T use colored pencils next to areas that you want pure white; this means I usually do my shading on white areas with a gray Copic Marker; colored pencils leave a residue that smears into the white areas. At first, I colored the penguin heads with black and gray colored pencils, but the “dust” from them got all over the white part of the penguins ruining them!
- Colored pencils are perfect for getting the extra shading and fine details you can’t get with watercolors; do you have a favorite brand? I love both the Polychromos and the Prismacolors for different reasons. The main difference is Prismacolors are oil based and they build up a waxy residue which makes them blend really well. The Polychromos are more like #2 pencil lead and they go on softer and the lines show more as they are wax based. I use both for different things and you end up with a total of 270 colors that way! An example is I used them to add texture and dimension to the Christmas Trees as little strokes for branches.
- I use Glitter Pens by Kaisercraft to add details also as they give a glittery finish that is perfect for the holidays!
- Add shadows to all of your letters/greetings as it really makes them pop – I use a Copic Marker either C2 or N2.
- Tonic Nuvo Drops are my jam. Seriously – as in you can’t use peanut butter without jam! I love them for all the details after the cards are all colored. The glitter ones are my favorites, but as you can see in the supply list, I use them all! Add polka dots, stripes, texture, shine, dimension and glitter to all the items on these cards! They definitely give them the finishing touch! You can’t tell in the photos, but some examples of where I used them are: Rose Water on Santa’s bottom lip, Orange Marmalade on all of the penguin beaks, White Blizzard all over the white areas of Santa’s hat, and Moondust (silver) on the buckle on the boot and Santa’s belt.
Thank you all for visiting today and making it to the end of this long blog post! I hope you enjoyed this holiday filled inspiration using my newest watercolor card set Happy Holidays. Just think what a perfect gift they would with some markers or watercolors for a crafty friend for Christmas! Or you could use them to make all of your holiday cards this year! Have a wonderful holiday season and very Merry Christmas friends! Suzy
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I love love love these cards – sooo cute .
These watercolour cards are so cute! It will be great fun colouring them and converting them into cards!
Such pretty designs!
Amazing set of Xmas cards! They’re so cheerful and too funny to colouring!!!
Congrats to Alannah!!!
I love Suzy’s designs!! They are always so much fun to color. These are so festive!! Wish I had more time to do them!!
I love Suzy’s Watercolor Prints! How fun and festive this SSS Happy Holidays Collection is. Thanks Suzy for creating another awesome collection and for the inspiration coloring them, I can’t wait to play!! ([email protected])
I always find your blog helpful. Have a great day! Debbie
How pretty and a good way to practice watercoloring. I already follow by email.
Oh what fun your cards are! So pretty
What a delightful set of watercolor cards! The colored samples shown here reveal just how perfect they are for this holiday season. Thanks!
Looks like my granddaughter is going to get one more Christmas gift! ?
Suzy’s Christmas drawings are adorable and fun to color! Your tips about watercoloring are spot on! Great tips and thanks for the inspiration! Loved your penguins especially!!
Love these! I need to get a collection of Suzy’s cards going so I can have them on hand for my grandbabies. They LOVE crafting with me and have discovered the joy of watercoloring!
Christmas spirit soaring in seeing these new images! These would be perfect for my niece and nephew, who love to colour and make cards with me!
~carol
The pre-printed images are beautiful, and the coloring is just wonderful.
I wish I could watercolour like that! Thanks so much for the tips, I will keep practicing!
these are so fun
These are so beautiful! Lovely set of cards :)
Beautiful, fun and perfectly festive! Fabulous coloring cards.
Beautiful colored cards, thank you for all the tips and techniques like using more than one medium to color these fun images!
Gorgeous cards
These look like so much fun!
Cute cards! Perfect for the holidays.
These are so cute and will be fun to color!
This set of cards is cute–thanks Suzy for creating them and also your great coloring tips!
Love these cards!!
WOW I love Suzys watercolor cards as always!!!!
These are so fun! Thank you for sharing your tips, Suzy! I love how you colored everything, and those penguins are adorable. :)
I love Suzy’s cards! They all look fantastic. Thanks for the tips in coloring them! TFS
I especially like the tree and penguin. The tree is very simple, and i LOVE it.
these designs are so perfect !!!
Beautiful colouring! Such fabulous watercolour cards!
Wonderful cards and beautiful coloring. Thanks for all the tips!
Wow! So much fun. These cards are so bright and festive.
Beautiful cards, Suzy. Always love your sweet designs as well as your lovely coloring of them.
Fabulous coloring! Thanks for the great tips!
Super fun watercolor cards!!
These are awesome. Perfect for sending some Christmas Cheer. Thanks Suzy and Merry Christmas….
What a great set of watercolor cards. Love them and great job on these. They look amazing
Wow these are all so wonderful, the one with the loads of penguins stole my heart – cuteness overload!
coloring is amazing -TFS
Wow!!! These are Fabulous!!! I love the penguins and Santas!!!
You color so beautifully- all of your cards are gorgeous! Thank you for the awesome tips, especially about the colored pencil differences. I’ve been toying with the idea of buying some.
Fabulous designs – I love the horde of penguins – they are so cute!
I aspire so color this beautifully.
Those cards are so adorable. Love them. Great watercoloring!
Cute cards! Love the coloring and also thanks for adding tips for them.
These are so cute! That penguin looks so cuddly!
Fun to see new designs
Love these cards. Your coloring is beautiful!