If you have been visiting here for a while, you know my love of watercolouring. However, it can be quite time-consuming, which is not ideal when you are planning on making Christmas cards. But, by paring back the design and keeping things clean, simple and modern, you can make watercolour Holiday cards without too much time investment.

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simon holiday sparkle release

Before I jump into more about this card, please check out the new Holiday Sparkle Release Simon Says Stamp. The Tree Lot Stencil and Holiday Horizon stamp set I used on this card are from the latest release.

modern, clean and simple christmas watercolour

I recently spoke about the new Tim Holtz Distress Watercolour Pencils, and I had fun using them again for this card. I used the Tree Lot stencil to draw three trees in pencil. To create a clean, modern look, I made sure to space them equally and keep them straight. Of course, it becomes less critical later when all the splattering blurs the lines a bit, but a good base is essential when working with a simple design.

I chose a palette of Speckled Egg, Iced Spruce, Kitsch Flamingo, Crackling Campfire and Walnut Stain. For each block, I scribbled the pencil and blended it with a wet brush. I used the brush directly to the pencil and added that to one side of the block to create a gradient. My aim was for a brown tree trunk, then pale blue and pink sections with deeper coral and blue-green areas for contrast. The deep coral of Crackling Campfire and blue-green of Iced Spruce made a modern take on a traditional red and green Holiday colour scheme.

To create a snowy scene, I splattered liberally with white gouache and a mixture of Perfect Pearls and water. All of the Distress line from Tim Holtz are water-reactive, including the watercolour pencils, and so the splatter made the edges of the trees less distinct, and some sections of the tree blended together. This extra layer of paint on a one-dimensional design creates more interest.

For the sentiment, I chose a greeting from the Holiday Horizon set, stamped it in Versamark ink, and heat embossed it with Antique Gold Embossing Powder. Next, I trimmed the panel and foam-mounted it to a Neenah Desert Storm card base before accenting it with sequins and pearls.

Well, that’s me for today. I will be back on Saturday with more from the new release. In the meantime, have you checked out The Creative Bundle yet? If you fancy some watercolour Christmas cards, I see an e-book from Madeline Kerrii as part of the bundle.

supplies

You can find links to the supplies I’ve used below; click on the picture or shop icon to get taken directly to the product. Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you! Items marked with an asterisk (*) provided by a store or the manufacturer. You can read my affiliate and product disclosure here. I genuinely appreciate your support.