Friday, May 22, 2015

Quick Note

I was definitely inspired by Jennifer McGuire's cards from this post, for the design of my card.  I really liked the concentric circles and the multi levels around the main image.

I have had this WPlus9 Pretty Peonies set for quite a while, and  I am always second guessing my results.  This time, I had some fun with the set.  I used water color paper, and distress inks for the color.  I first stamped the third image of the three step flower, you can see in the picture the darkest areas.  Next I used a very small brush with water to move some of that color around. 

The biggest help though was to take the stamp that covered the most area, and dip it in water and then stamp over the details with the wet stamp.  Then I moved the water colors around a bit more.  After letting it dry, I again stamped the details with full strength distress ink and barely touched those new inked bits with a damp brush.  I am so glad I was finally able to make some peonies that look lush!

I completely skipped the second layer stamp--only because this was a water color.  When stamping with dye or pigment inks, I would use all three layers. You'll probably see a lot more of these water color peonies from me, now that I have a handle on using them.

After coloring the peonies, I cut two circles at the same time from the water color piece.  The small frame circle, I water colored with the same distress ink as the flowers, and mounted it flush to the card base. The center and outer water color paper were mounted with foam tape. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Friendship sayings.  A few enamel dots and the vellum sentiment strip finished this card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

9 comments:

Betty said...

those peonies are gorgeous, Cat!

Greta said...

You nailed the coloring, Cat--gorgeous! Love all the layers!

Leslie Hanna said...

This is so pretty! You have waaaay more patience than I do!

Kristi said...

So pretty, Cat!

Barb Ghig said...

I really love your technique for stamping your flowers, Cat! They turned out beautifully, too! I also love the soft pink background behind them...it brings out the contrast in the colors perfectly!
Thanks so much for the step by step on your technique...I may have to try it (I've had no luck with water coloring)!

Darnell said...

Jennifer would love this, Cat! I certainly do! I miss peonies and so I'm swooning over this gorgeous card!! I'm pinning this one to give it a go, so thank you for the inspiration!! I hope you are enjoying your day! Hugs, Darnell

Martha said...

Cat, this is simply beautiful!

Jean said...

Gorgeous!

Jean said...

Gorgeous!