One Peony Panel, Two Cards!

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!

Hi friends! I love a good patterned background stamp; don’t you? I especially love a background stamp like the Pretty Peonies Background Stamp, which gives you enough detail as to be able to use it on its own (like I did HERE) or to put your coloring skills to use like I did for today’s card. After taking the time to paint the image, I wanted to maximize the amount of projects that I could create with it and ended up with a pair of cards! Let’s get started with the details.

I began by stamping the Pretty Peonies Background Stamp onto some Fabriano Artistico Cold Press watercolor paper using black pigment ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. The black pigment ink picks up the smaller details beautifully, while the clear embossing powder makes the watercoloring super easy, creating little wells for each individual image so that the colors don’t spill into each other! I taped my embossed image down to my watercolor board, then used Karin Brushmarker Pro markers to watercolor the images. I like to scribble my watercolor markers onto a glass mat or ceramic palette, then pick up the color with a damp paintbrush. I find that this method (rather than putting the marker directly to the paper) helps me control the vibrancy of the color that is added to the images, allowing me to maximize the contrast and create shadows and depth on the images.

After I had finished painting the image, I trimmed it down to A2 size, then die cut the very center of the image using the Nested Domed Arches dies, creating a window within my floral panel. I backed this window with some clear acetate and added a frame of Black Foam Adhesive around the open window. I filled the shaker with an abundance of shimmering black and charcoal gems and sequins from my stash and backed the entire panel with a piece of plain black cardstock, highlighting the crisp black embossed lines.

Once I had filled my shaker window, I white embossed a greeting from Elegantly Modern Greetings onto some more black cardstock and die cut it with the coordinating die. (Side note-I love how detailed these dies are! So intricate and beautiful!) I popped it up over the window of the card front using more Black Foam Adhesive, then added a couple of sparkling black leaf sprigs, cut using Black Glitter Paper and the Windswept Leaves dies. So many fun details going on with this card, and those dramatic pops of black against the vivid pink peonies are just so beautiful!

My second project features the “leftover” watercolored peony die cut. I die cut another Nested Domed Arches die from some more Black Glitter Paper, creating a sparkling black frame around my pink peony die cut. I also die cut the Laurel Leaves Background Plate from some more black cardstock and adhered it to an A2 panel of black cardstock. This black-on-black adds just a hint of patterned texture to the background to keep things interesting behind the peonies! Because we have two different patterns going on this card front, that solid black glitter frame around the peonies acts as a bit of a visual buffer between the two patterns!

After popping up my arches die cuts on the textured black background using foam adhesive, I heat embossed another greeting from the Elegantly Modern Greetings set and popped both pieces up on the peony panel using foam adhesive. I added a few shimmering pink gems to finish things off.

This minimal color palette card features so many different textural elements and lots of height to keep things interesting!! I love when I can get two different cards from one watercoloring session. It makes it so easy to build up a stash of cards this way. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!