JUL CARDS

My family thinks I am crazy because I typically get my holiday cards out really early each year. In this case I got a head start so that I could share a few ideas with my readers! Here are the 2017 Nordic holiday cards I created with instructions.

TOOLS

Watercolor Pencils

Watercolor Water Brush

Printer

Paper

Nisse Stamp or Digital Download

1. If you don't have a nisse stamp, look on Etsy.com for a digital download that you can easily manipulate in word. I purchased mine from Pixel Paperie for a mere $6. I was able to instantly download them to my computer after purchase and use immediately.

2. Use Microsoft Word to place the words and stamps where you like. If you bought a stamp just place the words and stamp after printing. Use the columns feature to get two cards per sheet with minimal margins.

3. After printing, choose the words you prefer to include on your card. I have included translations for each card in the slideshow below. My choices were "Love, Joy, Light, and Merry Christmas."

4. Use the colored pencils (must be watercolor pencils) to color in your stamps. I did just one color at a time to reduce the amount of bleeding between colors. I also just lightly colored some red on the cheeks and nose of the nisses to add the appearance of chilly skin.

5. Once some of the coloring is done, use the watercolor water brush (with water inside) to lightly brush water over where you had colored. This blends the pencil marks together so that giving the appearance of water color without having to own all the paints.

6. Once you have completed a color, move onto the next until complete! You may want to lightly brush the water brush on scrap paper before moving onto the next color so that you don't mix colors.

7. Allow each card to fully dry before stacking or placing them in an envelope.