Friday, November 12, 2010

Deck the Halls Blog Hop

Welcome back to another fantastical TAC blog hop! This time it's all about Christmas!
Here's my card! You like? It didn't start out looking this way but I'll get back to that later. For now, I'll show you what I did. I used the TAC Vintage Santa set (LOVE that set!).
Even though I LOVE the set, I was none too thrilled about "coloring" the Santa, so, of course, I colored him the lazy mazy way!
On a craft mat, I swiped two pads--a red and a green. With me so far? Not too hard right?
Then I took a spray bottle filled with H2O and sprayed both swipes of color, getting them really wet!
So now as you can see, I've stamped the Santa on a piece of white cardstock, using TAC Noir pad.
Now. . . close your eyes and imagine me mooshing the stamped Santa piece of cardstock around and around into the sprayed colors of red and green. Lots of mooshing!
(What you just did--closing your eyes and visualizing me mooshing the cardstock is called a Faux Video technique! hee hee, I just made that up!)
If you want more color, you can spray the craft mat some more and moosh around some more. Keep doing this until you are happy with the colors in your Vintage Santa!
Remember in the beginning when I said this card didn't start out looking this way? Well, after I "colored" him--do you see the problem here? How many green Santas have you seen? NONE!
Well, come to think of it--maybe a Santa who turned green with envy because HE wanted the super duper kewl bicycle that he now has to give to little Bobby or a Santa who turned green because he ate some bad reindeer souffle but under normal circumstances you probably won't see a green Santa, right?
So I had to figure out a way to NOT have a green (or red) Santa!
So I decided to use the "spotlight" technique. I basically punched out Santa's face--yea, no green Santa!
I used Copic markers to color my Santa--the Ciao marker is RV21. Now he's a very jolly "normal looking" Santa!
I used our red gel pen for the berries but in the photo it looks like kinda goldish but it isn't--really, no lie!
And, what's a Christmas card without glitter? I used a two-way glue pen with Prisma glitter around the edge of the card.
So here's my finished card again.
This is my first prototype! I am always amazed by what happens in the creating process. I THINK I know what I want to do and how it will look in the end BUT. . . gosh dang it all, it doesn't work out that way sometimes.
I once did a presentation to a rather large group of stampers (some years ago) about just that--the Evolution of a Card. Most of the time, I find, that a card "evolves"! It starts out as one thing but ends up as something else.
So. . . back to my first prototype--it's okay but I wasn't too thrilled about all the glitter--gasp!!!!
Did I actually say that? Quick. . . take my temperature!
But, I think the glitter takes away from the Vintage Santa, so then I decided that maybe just a little glitter around the edge of card might be better!
I also wasn't too happy about the way the red cardstock looked with the torn edges, so I decided to NOT tear them; only tear around the Vintage Santa.
I also tweeked the colors of Santa's face, the green in the holly, and the pink in his cheeks.
So this is my second prototype. I am liking it much better BUT I think there's too much red going on. Notice the words? It's stamped in red with sponging around the piece in red. Too much red, don't you think? Yes, it's a matter of opinion and matter of personal taste but for me, too much red! And yes, I DO like red. . . but read on. . .
So I stamped the words in green and no sponging! I really like the look of the card now.
So this is my third prototype and my final card. I'm happy with it. I like it.
So here's my final card again! Hope you like it!! I also hope you enjoyed seeing how this card evolved!
Oh--let me know if you enjoyed my faux video. If most of you enjoyed it, I might make some more!
Yuki

22 comments:

AmethystCat said...

how neat to see the evolution of the card and thanks for the ideas for color smooshing! love it!

Chelsea said...

great technique ... thanks for sharing!

Karen said...

Hey my fabulous upline! I love your card, and thanks for sharing the techniques.

Unknown said...

You really did work on your cards! They're great! Wonderful process from start to finish!

Paula-Kay Bourland said...

I love the Santa set too. You did a neat technique with it, Yuki!

Debra Miller said...

Thanks for sharing another technique this month Yuki!

Christine Pennington said...

You are a hoot girl! I loved your faux video--good job in recording. Thanks for sharing your beautiful card.

Chris said...

Thanks for sharing - love the technique and your reverse spotlighting!

Teresa Jenkins said...

Thanks for sharing your steps, mine never seem to be exactly what I planned at the beginning!

Eva said...

This is so YUKI!!! Thanks for the tutorial what a great technique!

Anna said...

Love the faux video comment! And the green with envy Santa. Way funny! Love the cards!

Tricia T said...

What a lovely card!! The background just makes it!

Mischelle Smith said...

Amazing! Love the tutorial also! And the 'faux video'! I'm thinking this is a Sophie and I project!

Sharon said...

What a great fast and easy card! Love it.

Glittered Paws said...

OMG loved your faux videa on the technique - but for some reason when I hit save - oops!!! What a great card and technique.

Lisa Phillippi llelsik@aol.com said...

Awesome card! Great tutorial...and Love reading about the evolution of the card.

Lisa Phillippi llelsik@aol.com said...

Awesome card! Great tutorial...and Love reading about the evolution of the card.

Michelle said...

Thank you Yuki for taking me on your creative journey...so cool to see how the card came about. And guess what...I like it too :)

Angela K said...

Great card, fun tutorial, love following the whole process too. And the Faux Video technique, awesome!TFS

Barb said...

Love to see the creative process! Fab card... all the way to the glittery edges :)

BarbL said...

The faux video was the best! You are just TOO funny! Great card and instructions, now I have to go try it.

Julie Robinson said...

this is just beautiful!