April Showers Bring May Flowers

 

Welcome back to my blog and Magenta Super Saturday. There’s an old saying that “April showers bring May flowers.” The inspiration for this card comes from a card Kristina Werner posted on her blog which you can see here.

You can also see my card on the Magenta Blog here. I started my version of the card by taping a piece of watercolor paper to a solid surface (in my case it’s an old cutting board) to prevent the paper from curling.  I used my Elizabeth Craft watercolor paints and applied them in a rainbow order. 

I started with Sap Green, moved to Deep Green, Viridian, Turquoise Blue, Prussian Blue and finished with Mauve.  I set it aside to dry thoroughly before adding a second layer of paint.  You can also dry the paper with a heat tool.  For the second layer I used my Iuile watercolors which are available on Etsy.  There are multiple sizes of watercolors available but the dot cards have a lot of paint on them! They are so sparkly but they look their best on dark cardstock.  However, applying the colors over a base color created a soft, shimmery background. 

I chose colors from the Rainbow Dot Card and the Christmas Series Dot card that were similar to the colors I used in the first layer.  Also, it’s important to use a very small amount of water so the base color isn’t reactivated. 

It’s hard to capture the shimmer effect but in real life there’s a beautiful glow on the cardstock.  After the second layer of color was dry, I removed the tape and cut the piece to 4” x 5 ¼”. 

I placed it in my stamp positioner and stamped the large floral image from the “English Garden” stamp set using light green ink.  I colored the image with colored pencils then returned the piece to my stamp positioner.  I stamped the image again using VersaMark and then embossed with white embossing powder.  I repositioned the stamp, stamped again with green ink, then colored and embossed.  I stamped and embossed the “Happy Birthday sentiment then stamped, colored and embossed the floral image one more time.  

I also stamped the small leaf the comes with the “English Garden” stamp set in the lower right corner.  The last step was to adhere the image to an A2 card made from Kraft cardstock. 

One last tip, when I’m planning to stamp an image multiple times, I make a sample.  I cut a piece of scrap paper the same size as my cardstock and then use it to test my layout or in the case of this card, repositioning the stamp several times to determine the best layout. 

Thanks for visiting my blog today. 

Magenta Products Used:

07.975.I - Happy Birthday - Large

CSET47 - English Garden

Other Products Used:

Elizabeth Craft Watercolors

Iuile Watercolors (Available on Etsy) Rainbow Dot, Christmas Series Dot

Magenta Super Saturday - Spring Wild Flowers

Welcome back to my blog and Magenta Super Saturday.  Today I used colored pencils on vellum.  You can also see my card on the Magenta blog here.

I started by using my MISTI to stamp the “Wild Flowers” on a piece of lightweight vellum.

I used VersaFine Black Onyx ink and allowed it to dry thoroughly before moving to the next step.I used my Caran d’Ache Luminance colored pencils to color on the back side of the stamped image. 

Coloring on the back of the stamped image creates a soft look but the color still shows through the lightweight vellum.  I returned the stamped image to my stamp positioner in the same position, stamped with VersaMark ink and embossed with gold embossing powder.  To prevent warping (or even melting) your vellum when embossing, be sure to let your heat gun warm up for about 30 seconds and then keep it moving back and forth across the image until all the embossing powder has melted.

I cut two pieces of lightweight (65#) card stock to measure 4 1/8’ x 5 ¼” then adhered them together.  I cut another piece of medium weight (80#) to the same measurement.  I stacked the three pieces together and cut a circle using a decorative circle die.  If the die doesn’t cut through all three layers, remove the top layer of cardstock and the next layer will have the imprint of the die cut.  Use this imprint to reposition the die and cut again. 

I stamped the “Happy birthday” on the piece of 80# cardstock. 

I adhered the vellum image to the back of the die cut image and cut away the excess vellum.  Next, I adhered the 65# pieces to the back – this will create some dimension for the final card and elevates the vellum a bit from the blue backing I added in the next step. 

For the final backing I used a piece of watercolor from my stash of background papers.  I had used various Nuance shades of blue and I thought this would help the stamped image stand out a bit more.  After I adhered the blue background to the back of the image, I adhered everything to the front of a white A2 card.  

Thanks for visiting my blog today.   

Products Used:

07.430.I Happy Birthday

14.610.N - Wild Flowers

Other Products Used:

Caran d'Ache Luminance Pencils

VersaFine Black Onyx Ink

VersaMark Ink

Judikins Detail Gold Embossing Powder