This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!
Hi friends! I’m back again today with some more inspiration using my newest illustration for Simon Says Stamp: Dogwood Bleeding Heart. After I received this set, I set out to color it using a variety of mediums, and I’ve shared it colored with Copics HERE and colored pencils HERE. Today, I’ve got a project created using Karin Brushmarker Pro markers. I think that it looks so pretty colored with any medium! Let’s get started with the details!

In previous projects, I’ve oriented the Dogwood Bleeding Heart stamp so that the bleeding heart flowers towards the bottom of the stamp were gracefully dripping down the card front, but for today’s project, I wanted to show more of the dogwood flowers that are towards the top of the image. I heat embossed the image onto some Fabriano Artistico Hot Press paper, which is my favorite paper to use when working with Karin Brushmarker Pro markers. I find the smooth surface of this paper works beautifully with the transparent watercolor mediums like the Karin markers. I heat embossed the image using White Satin Pearl embossing powder to keep the image soft and light.

When working with watercolor markers, I mostly prefer to scribble out the color on a ceramic palette, then pick up the color with my damp paintbrush. This allows me to control the intensity of color that I add to the watercolor paper, as well as allowing me to easily add subtle washes of color to my image. These subtle washes of color add extra interest to the image and allow me to create custom colors with these markers. I painted the dogwoods in shades of pale peachy pink, adding bright magenta bleeding hearts and evergreen foliage. I was so happy with how this one came out!

After I’d finished watercoloring, I trimmed the A2 panel down slightly, then mounted it on an A2 panel of Juniper cardstock from Concord and 9th using foam adhesive, leaving a coordinating green frame around the edge of my watercolored panel. I heat embossed a greeting from the XL Spring Greetings stamp set onto some more Juniper cardstock using white embossing powder, then die cut it with the coordinating dies. I popped it up using more foam tape right in the center of the card, finally adding a few iridescent gems for some sparkle and textural interest!
Well, that’s all for my project today! Be sure to check out the Simon Says Stamp blog for Day 2 of the Out Of This World blog hop… there are tons of prizes up for grabs! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!
