Original Watercolor Christmas Cards 2022

Wishing all my friends, family and blog readers a very Merry Christmas!

One of my 2022 New Year's Resolutions was to grow my skill in watercolor.  I definitely accomplished that goal.  As evidenced here by a painting done early on (right side) and then the same painting later in the year (left side).

At some point, I decided I wanted to create a painting to become my Christmas cards - the perfect culmination of the year of work.  For all the rest of the year, I followed lessons in a book (The Joy of Watercolor) which really helped compose my drawings, as well as guided me on colors and techniques.  For my cards, I was starting from scratch.  I'm going to walk through my process, in case it's interesting to anyone!

1: The Idea

Probably from watching one of my favorite movies - The Holiday and one of my favorite TV shows - Ted Lasso - I came up with the idea of  "Christmas shops" or "storefronts".  Super charming and Christmasy!

2. Inspiration

I started gathering inspiration storefronts by following @shopfrontspoetry on Instagram and saving them to a collection.  Here is my general inspiration:

3. Drawing

Once I had my inspiration, I needed to lightly sketch it out.  Maybe the hardest step for me.  Drawing does NOT come naturally to me and I've found drawing architecture to be less forgiving than other subjects like flowers!  I ended up choosing these specific shops as inspiration - see if you can match them up to what I drew!

4. Color Mixing

I did a lot of mixing and testing before finally choosing a color and painting my drawing.

5. Watercolor Painting

Definitely a multi step, multi day project. 

6. Scan and Digital Design

I scanned it on a copier at work, using the highest resolution possible.  Then I cleaned up several things and added several things, using Canva.  Finally adding some meaningful "Easter eggs" for my family.  I named the far left store Kringle's Book Shop, as a nod to my Dad, who went home to heaven a few years ago, because he loved books, loved to read, played Santa in our small town and kept Christmas in his heart everyday.  Also to honor my Dad, a red cardinal perched on a windowsill of the building on the left.  The book shop door's kick plate says Schnelle, my family's last name.  The center shop is called The Shop Around the Corner, a favorite movie of my mom and I and the name we always talked about "if we ever got the chance to open a shop."  The image below is before any digital edits were made.

7. Have your cards printed!  I used VistaPrint - a horizontal folded card and chose "Upload Your Own."

Final Result:

To everyone seeing this - Merry Christmas and thank you!

XOXO 

Lyndi

Directed Drawing Activity - Watercolor Snowman

I hosted a Christmas dinner for one of my Bible Study groups this year and I wanted to plan a creative activity for us to do in between dinner and opening presents.  A few years ago a friend told me that her family did one of these and had a lot of fun with it and I've wanted to try one ever since.  In reality, I found it online as a project for elementary students but I think it's a fun grownup activity as well!

For this Project You'll Need:

watercolor paper

watercolor paints

paint brushes

foam brush (optional)

black sharpie

cup of water

something to protect your table surface

Here are the instructions:

I read the instructions and we each drew our snowmen.

Then we traced our drawings with a black Sharpie.

Then we got to work painting with watercolors!  The main thing the instructions emphasize is to paint the background a bright color, which will make the snowman pop.  We used foam brushes to paint the background, which made it really easy.

And then the fun part is to compare them - we all received the exact same instructions, but they each look extremely different and each is adorable in it's own way!

I love mine snowman art!

Shamrock Watercolor

Today I had the inspiration to make a shamrock watercolor to decorate for upcoming St. Patrick's Day - I think it's extra special this year because that's when my nephew is due to be born!  

First I cut a piece of watercolor paper to the size I wanted, that would fit on this clipboard on my mantle.

Then I found a pattern via clip art in Microsoft Word. 

Then I cut out the shamrock and used the rest of the page as a guide to paint inside of.

I taped down the pattern over the blank page.

Then I brushed water over the area I wanted to paint.

Then I began painting, using all the green colors in my palette.  

  

Then I let it dry for a few hours.

Then I took off the pattern and saw that the water had bled under the pattern some, but I still really liked the effect.

I hope it brings luck!