Christmas Card Challenge - Watercolor - Christmas Chickadees

 

Here are my cards for the February Christmas Card Challenge.  I chose to make Christmas Chickadees.  Using the bird line drawing I have used a few times, I changed it up a bit and added a evergreen bough instead.  I studied the coloring of these birds then started.  I laid the outline of the bird onto the 140lb cold press watercolor paper which measures 3.5 inches by 4.5 inches.  I applied clear water around the outline and dropped blue at the top and green on the bottom for a light background.  I let this dry completely.  I painted the black head, throat and beak of the bird leaving a bit of white in the eye and let dry.  Next, I applied a puddle of clear water on the breast area and dropped a bit of yellow into it and let it dry. I added the brown branch and the green foliage next.  I then added a bit of light grey to the wing and tail.  Once dry, I traced the outline with a black permanent marker.  Love these!

I steamed them and pressed them between books to flatten them.  I chose a warm green card base, added an aqua grosgrain ribbon with the join under the accent.  The chickadee watercolor is mounted with 3D foam tape.  I printed some greeting with the Teeny Tiny Wishes digital stamp set by Stampin Up. I punched them out with the Small Oval punch.  I lightly brushed a blue wash over the black letters. These where mounted with slightly thicker tape to have it higher than the chickadee layer.  Super happy with these cards. 

Card Exchange - January - Watercolor Birds

 

I have been busy so my Card Exchange cards are almost late.  I decided to use the small bird image I used for the thank you project I did in December.  This time I wanted to actually paint the birds.   I prepared my pieces of watercolor paper with different background colors.  The paper is 3.5 inches wide and I just applied a wash down the sheet changing the colors as I went. It was taped down and allowed to dry completely.

I trimmed the pieces of watercolor paper to squares roughly having a different color in each square.  I traced the bird onto the center of the square by placing the line drawing below my watercolor onto my light table. I used a permanent black fine Sharpie marker to trace the image.  I then used the colors I had mixed for the backgrounds to color the bird accordingly.

Then I matched the card base to the bird color.  The one on the left is Close to Cocoa and the right is Bashful Blue.  I added a length of Soft Suede grosgrain ribbon across the card and taped the ends under the focal element.  The birds are attached with 3D foam tape.  I spattered the cards with a bit of brown watercolor.

These are off to my partners.