Faux Watercolor Poppy Flowers

 

This card was made using Nuvo Shimmer Powders to create a watercolor look. I first white heat embossed Simon Says Stamp's Poppies Background stamp onto hot press watercolor paper. I know many crafters prefer cold press, but I find I have better luck heat embossing onto hot press watercolor paper due to the smoothness of the paper. I then taped the paper down onto cardboard to decrease the amount of warping. 

I then used Maroon Spark and Sunray Crosette Nuvo Shimmer Powder for the petals of the flowers. I put each color in the general area of where I wanted it while the paper was still dry. To get the powder onto the paper, I held the bottle over the paper and tapped the bottom of the bottle. Squeezing the bottle causes too much pigment to squeeze out. Only a small amount of pigment is necessary. 

I then sprayed the entire sheet heavily with water, allowing the pigment to spread out. Once the paper had dried a little but was still damp, I could move any clumps of pigment around that did not spread out when sprayed with water. For any areas that did not have enough pigment, I created a watercolor mixture by squeezing the pigment into a palette with some water and used a paintbrush to fill in the missing areas. If there was any pigment where I did not want it, I used clean water and a paper towel to remove some of the pigment. 

Because the area for the stamps and leaves was so small, I did not apply the shimmer powder before hand and only painted them at the end using Falling Leaves Nuvo Shimmer Powder. I wanted to minimize the amount of green pigment entering the flower petals. 

I let the paper dry and then added a fixative to prevent any smearing. I cut the panel down using A2 Precision Layering Dies from Spellbinders. I cut a larger piece from gold cardstock to place behind the panel. From this gold panel, I cut out the CZ Design Wish I Could Hug You sentiment which is also from Simon Says Stamp. I cut 2 additional pieces from heavyweight white cardstock to create dimension. I cut out the shadow image from vellum for the image and placed the shadow image and the sentiment onto the cardstock. 

To finish the card, I placed the panel onto a A2 card base made from Papertrey Ink's Scarlet Jewel cardstock. I then added gold embellishments from Little Things from Lucy. I made a second card using the same technique but with a different sentiment called CZ Design Feel Better Soon shown below which is also from Simon Says Stamp.

SUPPLY LIST
Simon Says Stamp's Poppies Background [SSS]
WOW Embossing Powder Opaque Bright White Superfine [SSS]
Maroon Spark Nuvo Shimmer Powder [SSS]
Sunray Crosette Nuvo Shimmer Powder [SSS]
Falling Leaves Nuvo Shimmer Powder [SSS]
Spellbinders A2 Precision Layering Dies [SSS] [Spellbinders]
Papertrey Ink: Scarlet Jewel Cardstock [Papertrey Ink]
Simon Says Stamp's CZ Design Feel Better Soon [SSS]
Simon Says Stamp's CZ Design Wish I Could Hug You [SSS]
Little Things from Lucy's Cards Pearls Gold Mix [SSS]

Krylon UV Resistant Clear [SSS]