Ranunculus Flower Cards

Hi everyone! One of my favorite stamp sets from the new 2016 Catalog is the You're So Lovely clear stamp set which features two sizes of ranunculus flowers along with various leaves, stems and messages. I created two cards that appeared in the catalog using this set and today I'm going to give you a closer look at those cards.

For the first card, I started out by taping down a piece of watercolor paper to my work surface with painter's tape. Then I began stamping flower and leaf images along the left edge with VersaMark Ink, making sure to overlap the tape with my stamping on all three sides. Next, I heat embossed the images with white embossing powder -- this will act as a resist to the color I am going to apply over the top.

I painted on various colors of Distress Inks to color in the background and flowers. I wasn't worried about colors overlapping or mixing -- sometimes that's when you get the best results! Once this was dry, I splattered water droplets over the entire piece, let them sit for 10-15 seconds and then blotted them up with a clean paper towel. And finally, I stamped the birthday message from the new Make A Wish Birthday set with a waterproof black ink. For my second card, I started out the same way...by taping a piece of watercolor paper to my work surface with painter's tape. I first stamped the large flower in the corner and then worked my out from there.

I knew I wanted my message to be nestled within the flowers and leaves, so I placed the clear stamp on the watercolor paper and worked my way around it. I stamped the sentiment using Wet Cement ink, which I think is a great choice for messages when you want to keep a softer look.

Once all the stamping was done, I removed the painter's tape and was left with a perfect white border around the watercolor panel. To finish off the card I mounted it to a Pool card base and added some Sunshine Mixed Accents. All the new products shown here will be shipping to stores soon and available for purchase in the Hero Arts Online Store on February 8th! Have a great weekend!