Botan Peony W/Liquid Watercolors

Hello welcome to my blog!!

Before we start, I want to let you know that Scrapbookcom has all of their branded adhesives on sale. They are offering for free, their 1/4" double sided adhesive tape roll for free with any order. This is one of the adhesives I use, and I highly recommend it if you've never tried it. Just add it to your cart and the price will be $0.00. You can also click on the coupon button on the banner located at the top of their site to find it. I have a Scrapbookcom banner located at the bottom right side of my blog that will take you directly to their store if you are interested.

Okay, let's get to today's project!! I have another beautiful floral image stamp, and this one is huge!! The stamp is from Picket Fence Studios and this is the first time I've used it and loved the results. This image stamps beautifully with lots of large open areas to color. I will be using Pinkfresh Studio Liquid Water Colors to paint my image. I've owned these water colors for years, but this is the first time I've used them to watercolor an image. I loved the way these liquid watercolors blended on watercolor cardstock. I only have four colors and think I may be adding to my collection! I love using huge floral images that do not require creating a background, just add a greeting or sentiment and it's done. I touched my water brush to my panel by accident and left a bright pink mark when my coloring was almost finished. Instead of starting over, I will show you how I fixed (hid) the mark. Let's get started!!

I will be doing all of my work today using my Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat.

To start, I cut a 5" x 5" panel out of Distress Watercolor Cardstock using my Tim Holtz Guillotine Paper Trimmer. Next, I add a small amount of Dot Runner Adhesive to the back of the panel to help hold it into place while I stamp my image. I then place the panel into my MISTI Stamp Positioner and prep using my Anti Static Powder Bag. I position the Botany Peony Stamp over my panel and stamp it using Versamark Embossing Ink. I then add Detail Silver Embossing Powder and heat set with my Heat Tool.
I will be using two Water Brushes, one for adding color the other for wetting areas and blending. I use a plastic palette and add a couple drops of watercolor to one of the wells and dilute it with clean water as I want to add a light base color for the first layer. I start by wetting the first petal then take my second water brush and dip the tip of the brush into my diluted color then add Bubble Gum Liquid Watercolor to the base of the petal. Using the clean water brush, I pull and blend the color out and fade towards the end of the petal. *I keep a paper towel near for cleaning off my brush after blending, or removing water when the brush becomes too wet.

I continue the process until all petals are colored. This first layer of color is very light, I want my finished painting to be soft so I start with a light wash before adding the darker shadow color.

To add a little more depth, I go back and add more diluted watercolor to each petal. Even though this is the same diluted color, it shows up a bit darker going over the dried petals. I continue adding color to the base of each petal blending out to create light shadows. I also add more color where petals overlap, this is where shadows should be.

To add an even darker shadow color, I add a drop of the same color to my palette and will be using it full strength without diluting it. Again, I add a very small amount to the base of each petal and where petals overlap until I am happy with the results.

This photo shows my completed coloring as well as the accidental mark of ink on the top right corner of the white panel... ack!!! I tried wetting the area with clean water then blot with a paper towel, I kept on doing this until the paper started to pill and realized this method was not going to work. I had just finished my painting and did not want to start over. I thought about fussy cutting the image out, but didn't know if I would like the result of it being mounted, I really wanted to keep my image intact. The only other thing I could think to do was to take my White Gel Pen and see if I could cover it up with the white ink. I gently added soft strokes of ink over the watercolor mark and let it dry. I ended up adding three layers total, letting each layer dry before adding the next. If you look real close at the finished card, you can see the cover up a little bit. I am very happy with the way the white gel pen covered up the ink, I'm so glad I didn't start over!

For the stem of the flower, I do not own a green liquid watercolor so I add a drop of Sunshine Liquid Water Color and a drop of Sky Blue Liquid Water Color to separate wells of my palette. Taking my water brush, I wet the stem with water then add blue to color the stems, then add a small amount of yellow to create my green color.

Using Double Sided Tape, I adhere my painted panel onto a 5 1/8" x 5 1/8" Storm Cloud Cardstock panel. For my card base, I take an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of Cilantro Cardstock and cut it at 5 1/2" then score it at 5 1/2", creating a 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" card base. I then mount my panel onto it. (sorry I forgot to take a pic!)

For my greeting, I cut out of Storm Cloud Cardstock three times using my Fancy Thanks Die, running them through my Big Shot Die Cut Machine. Using Liquid Glue, I stack and glue the die cuts together.

For a sentiment, I place a thin strip of white cardstock into my MISTI and stamp a sentiment from the Wild Flora Stamp Set using Versafine Clair Nocturn Ink. I then trim the strip at an angle on each end and add a Foam Strip to the back. I adhere the die cut greeting to the front of my card and mount the sentiment just under it. Using my Jewel Picker, I add Water Droplets using Liquid Glue and this completes my card.

I'm very happy with the results of using liquid water color on today's card project and will definitely be using them again!! I learned for myself how to cover up an ink error with a white gel pen, which was a lifesaver! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, I will be out of town on Monday but I will be back on Tuesday with another card project.


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Happy Stamping and God bless!!
Jeannie