Good morning! I am delighted to be a stop on Day 2 of the Simon Says Stamp Happy and Joyful blog hop celebrating the gorgeous new release that went live earlier this week! You should have arrived here from Barbara Tarayao, and your next stop is Miriam Prantner. You can also start back at the beginning at the Simon Says Stamp Blog.
I am extra excited for this Happy and Joyful release, as I have illustrated four different stamp sets that were released this week! (You can see my blog post introducing each set here.) It’s seriously such a thrill to be able to stamp my designs using so many different techniques, but I am not being hyperbolic when I say what an utter thrill it is to see the talented designers who work with Simon Says Stamp share their creations made using my illustrations. It’s mind blowing to think of where I started over a decade ago to where I am right now, and I’m so grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had, not the least of which is working with Simon Says Stamp! I have three projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!
One of the sets for which I am most excited is the Celebrate Rose Corner. I get inspiration for my illustrations from lots of different places, including florists and gardeners that I’ve found on Instagram. Grace Rose Farm shared the most stunning rose photo last summer, and I couldn’t resist making it a centerpiece on a floral bouquet. Thus, Celebrate Rose Corner was born! I have a video sharing some watercoloring tips and process on how I made this super vibrant card. Watch the video below or on YouTube by clicking HERE.
If you can’t watch the video, I’ll share a brief synopsis here.
I started by heat embossing the Celebrate Rose Corner image on some Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper using silver embossing powder. I trimmed the watercolor paper down to A2 size, then oriented the image so that it was creeping across the front and would be perfectly sized after die cutting to fit across an A2 card base. I used Tombow markers to add lots of vibrant color to the image.
When working with watercolors, I find it very helpful to have a ceramic palette available for color mixing and for diluting the intense watercolors down to help stretch the shades that I can achieve, as well as allowing me better control over where the color goes and how intense it is. For this card, I began by scribbling some of the deep magenta pink from the Tombow markers onto my ceramic watercolor palette, then adding quite a bit of water to dilute the color down to a soft pastel, then using that for my first layer of color on the roses. The second layer was a mixture of deep teal and the same pink, creating a lovely shade of amethyst. Finally, I put the marker directly to the watercolor paper to add some incredible intensity in just those super shadowed areas. The combination of diluted color mixed with the marker-direct-to-paper makes for some intense dimension on these large blooms! I also added an icy blue halo around the outside edges of the image, just far enough out so that the die cut edge would be blue.
Once I’d finished my watercoloring, I die cut the image using the coordinating die (I love that there is a die for this set!), then mounted it on an icy blue card base using foam tape. I added a greeting from the Celebrate Rose Corner, which I silver embossed onto some more icy blue cardstock and mounted with foam tape for lots of height, finally adding a few aqua blue gems for some sparkle. This card is so vibrant. I just love those vivid colors!
My second card is a bit softer and features some of the beautiful hot foil products that were released this month. I began by hot foiling the Intricate Rose and Blooms Bouquet onto some hot press watercolor paper using gold foil. I then used my Gansai Tambi watercolors (for the first time-I’ve had them for years and just have never used them!) to add some soft peachy pink and pale blue to the image.
I also hot foiled the new Sketched Leaf Branches onto some heavyweight vellum using some more shiny gold foil. I love the effect of foiling on vellum; it creates such an elegant and ethereal look. I also love that these new hot foiling sets come with the coordinating dies, so that you don’t have to buy the die and the foil plate separately.
The bouquet itself is pretty large, and the addition of the vellum foliage made it even longer, so I decided to create a slimline card. I added a bit of ink blending in the center of the white slimline card base using Twirling Tutu and Rose Apple inks, then added some tone-on-tone texture using the Fanfare stencil. Some shining gold pearls finished it off!
My last card is bright and clean, with that vivid pop of intense fuchsia, again painted with Tombow markers using another of my new sets for this release: Just A Note Pansy. When I began illustrating this set, I originally intended for it to have an arch outline, similar to my Framed Florals coloring panel series. I decided against that, and so decided to create a card using something close to my original design by adding an arch die cut using the Domed Arch dies!
I silver heat embossed the pansies from Just A Note Pansy onto some Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper using silver embossing powder. I again used the Tombow markers to add lots of intense color to these flowers, but instead of concentrating the color in the center of the flower, I kept the center light and added color around the edges of the flowers, pulling the color towards the center with my clean, damp paintbrush. The intense pink and touches of deep purple make these flowers almost pop off of the card front!
Once I had finished watercoloring and die cutting the completed image, I used the beautiful Detail Mandala cover plate die to add some subtle texture to a white A2 card base. I die cut a Domed Arch from some more vellum to create an ethereal background upon which to ground my pansies, and popped them up with some foam adhesive. I heat embossed a greeting from Just A Note Pansy onto some more white cardstock using silver embossing powder, then die cut and trimmed them, adding them with some more foam adhesive for tons of height. The final touch was a few iridescent white pearls.
Well, that’s all for my projects today! To celebrate this release, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 shopping spree at each stop on the hop. Simply leave a comment at each stop on the hop to receive maximum entries into the giveaway!
Simon Says Stamp is also doing a Gift With Purchase promotion to celebrate the new Happy and Joyful release. Simply add code GRDPTY at checkout to receive a free sheet of Garden Party stickers!
Your next stop on the hop is Miriam Prantner. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!
