Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Bright and Cheerful
Good day, fellow crafters. Today I am presenting to you my entry into this week’s Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. The theme is all about being bright and cheerful, and personally, flowers never fail to achieve that effect. Their vibrant colors and natural beauty never fail to uplift the mood and bring a sense of joy to any occasion. So in that spirit, I hope you enjoy my submission.
To create the background for this card I began with some cold-press watercolor paper, my Misti stamping tool, clear embossing ink, the Concord & 9th Heartful Blossoms stamp set, featured left, and some extra fine black embossing powder. Placing the paper into my Misit I was then able to align the stamp set to ensure a perfect fit. I then inked the stamp with clear embossing ink and stamped the image onto the paper. I generally will reink the stamp and re-stamp the image at least once to ensure proper coverage. I then removed the paper from the Misti and then covered the inked area in the black embossing powder and heat-set it until fully melted. I prefer this method on designs I watercolor because the embossing powder reacts as a resist and prevents bleed of colors.
Once the heat embossing had time to cool off, I secured my paper to my worksurface and got out my Altenew watercolor paint pans and my water brush pen. I carefully colored in all of my main elements, allowed them to dry, and then came back in with my highlight colors and filled in where needed. I then gave the whole image a spritzing of black watercolor pigment for visual interest by flicking the edges of my brush. To complete the image I used some liquid glue and some black glitter in the center of the flowers.
The final stage was assembly. I trimmed the background and a very pretty pink mat to their final dimension, adhered them together, and then adhered that composite to a pre-cut and folded A2 white card base creating a seamless and polished final presentation.
