2025 Holiday Card Series #11 | JOY

Hi crafty friends!  For today’s card, I decided to watercolor a background panel and literally add some joy for a focal point!  Let’s get busy…

The supplies used:

Penny Black – Immense Joy Die

     Spellbinders – Simon’s Snow Globe Die Set

     Spellbinders – Precision Layering A2 A Die Set

     Ampersand Hardbord Panel – 9” x 12”

     Paul Rubens Hot Pressed Watercolor Cardstock

     Cardstock Warehouse – Stardream Silver Cardstock

     Simon Says Stamp – Snow White Pawsitively Velvet Cardstock

Gina K. Designs - Onyx Black Cardstock

     Vellum Cardstock

     Matte Silver Cardstock

     Aquarello Artistico Extra White Watercolor Paper

     Altenew – Moonstone Glitter Cardstock

     Copic Alcohol Marker – Y11

     Duck Brand Clean Release Painter’s Tape

     Schmincke Watercolor Paints – Tundra Blue, Deep Sea Blue, Tundra Violet

     Iuile Watercolors – Silver

     Winsor & Newton White Designers Gouache

     Ranger / Tim Holtz – Distress Rock Candy Glitter

     Pink & Main – White Iridescent Sequins

     Scrapbook Adhesives Thin 3D Foam Squares

     Scor-Tape Double Sided Adhesive

     Altenew – Instant Dimension Foam Tape, ¼” x 1/16”

     Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     WOW! Dual Speed Heat Tool

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

To begin today’s card, I trimmed a piece of watercolor cardstock to measure 5-1/2” x 7-1/2”. Next, I used painter’s tape to adhere the watercolor cardstock to a hardboard.  Using a ¾” oval paint brush, I applied a heavy wash of water to the watercolor paper and while it was still wet began painting a layer of the Tundra Blue watercolor paint.  After rinsing my brush in clean water, I immediately began adding small “puddles” of the Deep Sea Blue and Tundra Violet watercolor paint in random dots across the watercolor cardstock.  Using a spray bottle, I misted a generous amount of water across the entire panel then picked it up and tilted it to one side to get the watercolors moving and began drying it with my WOW! Heat tool until completely dry.  Once dry, I used a #2 round brush and silver Iuile watercolor paint and began adding spatter to the watercolored panel.  I applied heat to the panel to dry the silver spatter and repeated the spattering process with Winsor & Newton white gouache.  After the panel was completely dry, I used the second to largest die from Spellbinders Precision Layering A2 A die set to die cut the watercolor panel and the largest die to die cut a piece of Gina K. Designs Onyx Black cardstock.

Creating the Focal Images

Using the Penny Black Immense Joy die, I die cut four JOY words from Cardstock Warehouse Stardream Silver cardstock.  I used Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue to adhere all four of the JOY words together and placed a large acrylic block on top and set them aside to allow the stacked words to dry. 

I wanted to place a small snow globe scene in the center of the “O” in JOY, so I selected the Spellbinders Simon’s Snow Globe die set and die cut the back row of houses and group of three trees dies from Simon Says Stamp Snow White Pawsitively Velvet cardstock, the little light posts die from a scrap of matte silver metallic cardstock, the front snow bank from Altenew’s Moonstone Glitter Cardstock, the back drop circle die from vellum cardstock, the large house’s roof die was die cut from the Cardstock Warehouse Stardream cardstock (same cardstock as the word JOY), and lastly the large house was die cut from Aquarello Artistico Extra White Watercolor Paper.  I used Copic alcohol marker Y11 to carefully add a yellow tint to the windows of the large house die and added glue to random places on the trees followed by a nice layer of Distress Rock Candy glitter to make them sparkle.

Once the die cutting was completed, I began using liquid glue to adhere all the layers together for the snow globe scene then placed the scene behind the “O” and used a pencil to trace around the “O” and fussy cut around the trace line and glued the scene to the back side of the “O”.  I did add a few small pieces of Scrapbook Adhesives thin foam squares behind the trees and the large house so they were more level in the scene. 

Finishing the Design

To complete the card, I added Scor-Tape to the back side of the watercolor panel and adhered it to the black cardstock panel.  Next, I glued the background panels to the front of an A2 size, top folding card base.  For the focal image, I added Altenew Instant Dimension Foam Tape to the back side of the “J” and “Y”, then added thin 3D foam squares behind the snow village and “O”.  Lastly, I glued a few Pink & Main White Iridescent sequins to the card front for that extra something special.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it. Until next time, happy crafting!