I am a sucker for beautifully illustrated floral images that I can quickly and easily watercolor. This gorgeous flowering branch is from one of the four new (giant!) Spectrum Noir Colorista Aqua stamp sets making their debut on HSN on August 16th (although you can order it now on their website!). Each set contains tons of sentiments, solid images, and pretty line art that were designed with watercolor in mind, but can certainly be used with your alcohol markers as well.
I stamped the image onto some Crafter’s Companion Watercolor Cardstock using their new glue pad, added white embossing powder, and melted it with my fancy new Crafter’s Companion heat tool (all available on HSN on the 16th!).
When I color with Spectrum Aqua markers, I often apply color directly to the cardstock where I think the shadows would be darkest in the image and then pull it out with a waterbrush to areas where I think there would be a highlight. This method helps me paint quickly, because I don’t normally enjoy spending hours coloring one small image (some people love it, and I think that’s great!).
To blend two different colors on the flowers, I added Scarlet to the outer edge of the petals and Amber to the center of the flower and then blended them towards each other with my brush. This creates a fairly smooth gradient of color.
Since I felt this image could pretty much stand on its own, I only added a little twine and some clear sequins to the piece before popping it up off-kilter over a navy blue mat and adhering it all to my card base. I can’t wait to use some of the other gorgeous images from these stamp sets…stayed tuned for more to come and be sure to check them out on Wednesday when they make their world debut!
Spectrum Aqua markers used: Scarlet, Amber, Moss, Olive, Boulder, Desert, Kingfisher, Aquamarine