You are amazing! by Sylvie @Kaliscards

Hello Crafty friends!

Today I have this this watercolored Penelope's Garden. I've said it before, I'm in love with this XXL stamp. The flowers are just so beautiful and easy to color. I had already done a watercolored version with Karin markers. This time I wanted to try with chalky and muted colors, using Distress oxides. I really love this vintage look!

 

The idea of the watercoloring in this card is to have a loose style, very imperfect, leaving some unpainted areas on the edges of each petal and leaf, and creating visible layers of colors. 

So, good news! If you are a beginner in watercoloring like I am, this is probably the easiest way to watercolor. My tip is to use very little water. Your brush needs to be wet, not soaked. And don't try to blend or soften colors with a clean brush. Instead, try to use less color and start from the base of the petals towards the edge. By the time you get to the edge, your brush should have very little color left and you shouldn't need to blend it with a clean brush.

To give some intensity to the colors, I have opted for 3 tones, starting with a light color. With the light tone, you can color almost the entire petal (except the edge!), then with the middle tone, you can color half the petal and with the darker tone, just had a little color at the base.

Enough of the basics, let's get started!!!

First, I stamped my image with a hybrid ink, in my case the Extreme black ink from My Favority Things, on watercolor cardstock. Either let it dry before starting watercoloring, or use a heat gun to speed up the process.

 

To bring color to my background, I started by coloring in a very random way the edges and partially the flowers, with Distress oxide Speckled egg. I came back on the same spots multiple times to create layers and add more intensity. Again, it's not a problem to color over the flowers as well, unless you choose a dark color for your background.

I then colored the flowers, using first Distress oxide Saltwater taffy, then Abandoned coral and finally Barn door.

For the leaves, I used Bundled sage, Rustic wilderness and Uncharted mariner.
For the buds, I used Antique linen, Mustard seed and Crackling campfire.
I applied Black soot on the anthers and Ground espresso on the stems and leaf veins.

To finish the coloring, I added a few splatters, starting with some Rustic wilderness and Uncharted mariner on the edges of the card mainly. I then added Distress ink Picket fence splatters all over the image. And to finish, I added Altenew Metallic gold watercolor splatters.

To protect the card and intensify the colors a little, I applied Distress glaze all over the image.

For the sentiment, I used the Pinkfresh Fancy script words hot foil plates which I ran through my hot foil machine and die cutting machine with the Spellbinders matte gold glimmer foil. I then used the coordinating dies to die cut the sentiment and adhered it to my front panel with liquid glue.

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful crafty day!