Encaustic Wax Christmas Cards

I do enjoy making my own Christmas cards now and again. This year I used a photo that my husband took while we were snow shoeing and cross country skiing to Tumalo Falls on New Years Day 2017. You can read the whole story here. I was looking for a peaceful, snowy photo. This scene fit the bill perfectly.

Of course I wanted to add a little something something to it, so I got out my encaustic wax and went to work....or play I should say.

I don't have room and proper ventilation for a full blown encaustic wax setup just yet, but I have this really cool set by Encaustic Art. It's a stylus, iron, and waxes. I've added things here and there, but there is so much you can do with these two tiny tools. If you get the starter kit, it's all included with a DVD which explains things brilliantly. To purchase U.S. compatible tools, go to Ischer Wax Art.

I emailed my photo to our local FedEx store. The really nice lady made a 4-up of my photo and printed them out in black and white. I like the look of torn edges, so I painstakingly (this probably took almost as long as painting the card) tore all the edges.

I mounted the photo onto special paper that I received in my starter kit. To do this, first I heated up the special paper and painted it with a thin coat of clear encaustic medium.

I placed the copy of the picture on top of the coated paper and used the iron to "melt" it into the wax, thus adhering the two papers together, and allowing any painted wax embellishments to properly bond to the picture.

I wanted to make the frozen waterfall and stream pop, so I mixed up a pale, milky blue color and added this to all the water. I put red ornaments on one tree and scattered a few white snowflakes.

The last touch was using metallic silver wax to edge the card and top the tree with a star.

If you gently set the tip of the stylus at the top of the corner and pull the stylus down in a slow, smooth motion, you'll get a nice bead of hot wax. The tip will automatically run along the ragged edges.

I tried to use a different photo the first around in a number of different ways.

I don't like the way it turned out. It's too busy. I was happy to find my alternate photo.

My message inside the cards this year, "May the magic of the season elicit deep awe, inspire hope, and fill you with Love." This is also my hope for all of you dear readers as well.

Happy Holidays and Happy 2019!

                                                                          2017 cards