Wildflowers + Faux Calligraphy with Watercolors!

Hi there! I’m over on the Honey Bee Stamps blog today, and I have some pretty-in-pink inspiration featuring some of the newest products from the Summer Stems release! I have been itching to get some watercoloring done with the stunning new Wildflowers stamp set. I created some wildflower silhouettes on this card using black gouache, but I wanted to do some no-line watercoloring to showcase all of the gorgeous little details on these fabulous stamps. I paired it with a little faux-calligraphy for this card with many layers and lots of textures. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping a bunch of different images from the Wildflowers onto some Arches Cold Press watercolor paper using the Honey Bee No Line Coloring Ink. I then used a variety of Prima Watercolors (i have several sets and have put them all in one large palette, so I’m not sure which colors I used exactly, sorry!) to watercolor the images. Watercoloring these small-ish, super detailed images seems a little intimidating, but a small paintbrush and lots of patience works wonders!

After I’d finished with the flowers, I turned my attention to the greeting. I have always adored hand-drawn calligraphy, but I absolutely stink at it (believe me, I’ve tried. I’m too controlling haha!), so I stamped the Best Wishes greeting from the Miss You Big Time set using No Line Coloring Ink, then used my small paintbrush and deep maroon watercolor to paint over the stamped greeting to achieve a hand-painted look. This would be super fun to do with rainbow or ombre, too! I was just playing, so one color is all I’ve got to show you today. I can’t wait to play with this stamp set and technique combo some more.

Once I’d die cut all of the stamped and watercolored images, I trimmed down an A2 panel of gingham paper from the Summer Stems Paper Pad, (side note-how adorable are the matching envelopes!?) then lightly blended some Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink on each corner. I added some strips of plain cardstock (one pale peachy pink, another white woodgrain) across the front at a diagonal as a way to help ground the flowers, then arranged my wildflower bouquet on the front, adhering it and the sentiment die cuts with foam adhesive. Finally, I added a few gems for some sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! Some days, you just need to sit and relax with some meticulous watercoloring… or at least I do… and this project was perfect for that! Thanks so much for reading, and have a marvelous day!