The week’s are really flying by at the moment, aren’t they? Next thing we know it’ll be Christmas! With that in mind, Festival of Japan are here to help us get prepared for the winter holidays. Impress your friends and family with this amazing seasons greetings card project, which when displayed in their homes, will bring a warm festive feel!
What You Will Need:
- Card
- Paint (red and green, plus a yellow for mixing yellow tones in the background in step 7)
- Christmassy Sentiments (Stamps or Stencils)
How to make!
Step 1
Take one page of card and tear this into four pieces, each will be approx. 5″x7″.
Step 2
I always put on the wording before painting the card. There’s nothing worse than doing great foliage then spoiling it if the writing goes wrong! In this card, I printed the words ‘Joyeux Noel’ slightly lower than mid-line.
Step 3
Tape your paper to your painting surface. Place a piece of paper over the sentiment and tape using masking tape. Cover across the sentiment strip with masking tape, this will protect your writing and give a guide line for painting.
Step 4
Start by drawing some lines from the masking tape out into your card. This can be done with permanent pen or sharp pencil.
Step 5
Now, draw on an odd number of holly shapes. Then, complete the pine stems by adding more lines.
Step 6
Prepare some similar colours to the ones shown here:
Step 7
Starting with the pine shapes, paint over the lines with a mid green. Don’t worry if you go out of the lines, it will just add to the fullness of the foliage! Next, paint in the holly leaves with two shades of green. Repeat above and below the masking tape. If you feel you need to you can add some more yellow tones into the background. You can then add pen lines over the top of the paint once dry.
Step 8
Using a dark brown, paint in some twig-like branches, this is where our berries will go in the next step!
Step 9
Time to add the lovely bright red holly berries to the branches. On this card, I use a bright red paint mixed with a red metallic paint. When painting the berries, try to leave a small area clear, these form the highlights. Of course, you can add them later with a metallic marker or white gouache paint etc. You can add as many berries as you want!
Step 10
Finally, simply peel off the masking tape very carefully. Should you pull a little of the surface of the paper, don’t worry! With our paper you can simply rub over it with clean fingers and it will disappear. Check the lines at the edges and if you need to you can fill in any spaces.
Don’t miss Festival of Japan’s next show at 7am and 11am on 20th October for some fantastic new products and crafty demonstrations! For a closer look into the magic of this card making project, take a look at the full video tutorial below!
Looking for more inspiration? Check out this amazing ‘Garden of Flowers’ card project from Crafty Individuals!