Snow blooms
Posted: February 8, 2018 Filed under: a little secret, Effulgent | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 12 Comments
I sense a bit of a theme in this week’s cards; do you think maybe I’m thinking about spring? I am surrounded by gorgeous floral stamps in my workroom but by six foot snow banks outside. So today’s card started out as just a pretty pink magnolia but ended up caught in some flurries.
My plan was to build up colour step by step, keep it controlled and neat (not loose and watery). I stamped the whole stamp in worn lipstick ink then coloured the darker areas of the petals with a festive berries marker, the sepals in forest moss marker and the twigs in gathered twigs marker. I then blended the colour with water on a small brush so it was still fairly neat.
I wanted some extra foliage in the background and that’s when things started to go a little freestyle. I masked the flowers with a post it and stamped the ‘a little secret’ stamp a couple of times in stormy sky ink. The two stamps did not really look like they belonged together so I left behind my ‘neat’ plan and started spritzing the water around. The background softened but not quite enough so I painted some stormy sky into the background also. As I painted stormy sky right up to the edge of the branch the brown bled into the blue, things got loose and watery and, in my opinion, more appealing. I added some aged mahogany ink to the the centres of the flowers and some gold gel pen highlights. Then I wanted some snow as well so I splattered white gesso over the petals. I found a co-ordinating blue to frame the panel and kept it without a sentiment for now.
Supplies
Stamps: effulgent, a little secret
Distress inks and markers: worn lipstick, festive berries, forest moss, gathered twigs, stormy sky, aged mahogany
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper,
Paint: white gesso
Also: gold gel pen
Heather Telford 
AWESOME blossoms card!
Gorgeous, lovely flower and such a cool background for it!
So pretty, heads us right into that winter?/summer? season.
Absolutely beautiful and inspiring…. Thanks for sharing.
This is beautiful Heather and nearly every card I make ends up being somewhat different to what I had planned in my head, but this is definitely a fabulous conclusion. I love the soft blue branches behind the pretty flowers and the added gold gel pen and white gesso snow both finish it perfectly. A very atmospheric piece. x
This is so beautiful! I adore ypur watercolour skills, you have yransformed this stamp into a work pf art!
Oh dear, dodgy digits! I mean ‘your’ ‘transformed’ and ‘of’ ……. I wish WP had an edit feature for peole like me who forget to check before hitting send!!!
I love it when the image takes on it’s own design with the loose and relaxed look! Your flowers have stayed vibrant though! So pretty! Spring will be here soon.
Another beauty – a taste of Spring yet still chilly!
WOW WOW WOW absolutely stunning, I love your flowers …
simply stunning, Heather.
Looks like you have fun creating and it doesn’t have to be what you originally intended.