A Little Bit of Water Coloring and a Little Bit of Die Cutting

A friend visited my etsy card shop

and saw a few "sold out" cards that she liked...

and asked if I could make them for her

and so....

I did.

One of the cards is a water colored card...

a beautiful image... 

a 6x6 background stamp called Peony Garden

 from The Ton Stamps 

A few weeks ago...

when I made a small stack of cards using this image 

I added them to The Bellissima Card Shop 

and they were gone...

bought...

sold out..

in a flash...

So I created another small stack for the shop...

one of which was for my friend, Gail.

Here's Gail's peony garden card...

This image is one of my favorite floral images...

(along with my beloved hydrangea image that you have seen here...water colored...many times)

Peony Garden is absolutely beautiful

and is ideal for water coloring, I think.

I used a combinations of Distress Ink and Altenew Crisp Ink for color

and, as I always o when water coloring....

 I heat embossed the image...prior to painting...

with fine detail gold EP

The stamp is a large background stamp...6x6...so part of the completed image is cropped off...when used on a std A2card

It seems a shame to waste part of such a beautiful image...

(so I always save that strip...because...ya' never know when I might get creative with it)

Gail also asked for another card that is popular at The Bellissima Card Shop...

This sweet little Cupcake Birthday card 

I used Blue Prints #23 (die set) to create this card

and the SU cupcake punch...
the cupcakes are embossed with little dots, to add some texture.

I mixed and matched prints from a Stampin Up 12 x 12 paper pad.

The Happy Birthday die is from The Stamps of Life...

and is one that I use...a lot!

(I love the shadow behind the lettering)

I sent Gail photos of her cards...

and she was really happy with them...

which makes me...

really happy too!

The day was coming to a close...

but...

before I turned the lights off in the studio...

and ended the day...

my paint brushes were calling out to me...

and so...

I took some time to water color a few more peonies...

I had to force myself to stop...because I could have

and would have 

 just kept water coloring these beautiful peonies for hours....

(which I usually do!)

I truly enjoy water coloring this image...

Aren't the colors gorgeous?

and...

here's a close-up

so that you can see the gold embossing...

and color detail...

I love the variation of color on each and every petal and leaf

and this is another one....

same color palette...

but because it's water colored....no two cards ever turn out exactly the same.

Thats the beauty and magic of water coloring!

a closer look...

look at the color shading and variations...

THIS is why I am so in love with water coloring

Look at those colors!

So...another day in the Studio...

another day of card making...

and another day where I managed to enjoy some water coloring...

Any day in my studio that includes water coloring...

is an extra great day, if you ask me!

Card loving friends: You can purchase these water colored peony beauties at The Bellissima Card Shop by going HERE...but hurry..because if history repeats itself...and it always does...they won't be in the shop for long!

Card making friends: You can find this beautiful Peony Garden 6x6 Background Stamp at The Ton Stamps....I'm not posting a supply list today...because the key supplies were noted in the blog spot above

Thanks for visiting...

and have a great weekend!

Michelle.