3 Stamped Watercolor Greeting Cards - Tutorials

Hello again! Today we have a tutorial for three beautiful, stamped, watercolor cards from Norine. She used the Hello Hollyhock stamps and dies. The watercoloring techniques she uses are simple but so gorgeous!

Hello Technique Tuesday friends, Norine here, back with you today to share some cards that I made using the Hello Hollyhocks stamps and dies.

I love Hollyhocks. Along with several other garden flowers, hollyhocks are my favorites! I tried a couple of similar but different watercolor techniques with these two cards above.

My first card is a pink hollyhock, because….pink! Who doesn’t love pink? I stamped the hollyhock image onto watercolor paper with Versafine Onyx black ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I like the embossed ridges of stamped designs when I’m watercoloring because of the help they provide to contain the fluid when it’s blending and drying.

I painted with watercolors on both the flower blooms and leaves, and the background of another panel of watercolor paper. I also splattered the background of the card panel, with more pink and green paint, then set it aside to dry.

Once dry, I partially stamped a large background stamp with text on it. I used black pigment ink and let that dry too. I stamped the Thank You sentiment from the Hello Hollyhocks stamp set with clear embossing ink on a black cardstock and heat embossed with white embossing powder and trimmed it into a little flag banner. I die cut the watercolored bloom, as well as two more layers of heavy cardstock to stack up and glue together for extra visual dimension. I die cut the card panel with a wonky stitched rectangle die and adhered everything to a green cardstock mat and then to a cardstock card base.

The blue card is more evocative of a Morning Glory, (another of my garden favorites) with its darker color around the outer edges of the bloom, fading to lighter blue and white at the center.

It, too, is stamped onto watercolor paper and heat embossed, but this time the images were stamped with clear embossing ink and heat set with white embossing powder. I used the same partially stamped text stamp to add interest to the background card panel on which are more matching watercolor paints splashes.

This time, I die cut the hollyhock once, then die cut the card panel with a stitched rectangle outline, and this time I also added a strip of bold diagonally striped cardstock. The “hello friend” sentiment is also from the Hello Hollyhocks stamp set.

Finally I have one more card, and it might actually be my favorite because it reminds me of a house we lived in where I planted hollyhock seeds and many different colored plants came up to reward me for my hopes and expectations! I love the implied layers on this card, of near and far and of a crowded flower patch!

This card too is stamped onto watercolor paper and watercolor painted, but this time I also stamped onto masking paper a few times, to make masks of the hollyhock stems so I could achieve that crowded garden effect.

I used a mix of Daniel Smith and Winsor & Newton paints to paint this scene. I also dragged some of the colors out over the lines, to fade away into a muted background.

I used the Say It - Thanks Word Die to die cut the word “thanks” from black cardstock and paired it with a shadow image die cut from vellum. Finally, I stamped “for everything” from the another stamp set in my stash, onto a strip of watercolor cardstock and heat embossed with black embossing powder.

I trimmed the stamped and painted card panel by 1/8th inch on all sides and matted the piece with some coordinating green cardstock before adhering everything to the card base.

A few randomly placed flat, hole-less clear sequins complete this card.

Thank you for visiting the blog today and have a wonderful day!

Wow, Norine's watercolor, hollyhock cards are so beautiful and that last card is especially awesome. Her masking and simple watercolor painting really make a lovely background for a thank you card. I hope these stamped, watercolor tutorials inspire you to make some cards of your own!

P.S. Are you a member of the Greenhouse Society? Well, the Hello Hollyhocks stamps and dies were in your July shipment. 

Not a member? You can order your own set of hollyhock stamps and dies now. Or you can join the Greenhouse Society auto-ship program which includes a number of great benefits!

 

Comments

[Betty]

gorgeous inspirations for these wonderful new stamps!!

[SD Pooja]

Beautiful cards ! I loved the watercolored hollyhocks and the card designs !!

[Renee VanEpps]

Oh my these are gorgeous, and that last one is my FAVE!!!!! So amazing to get that crowded garden look with just one stamp! Thanks for the inspiration :)

[Lagene]

GORGEOUS creations! Beautiful coloring and I love the backgrounds!

[Lisa M]

Absolutely, positively, gorgeous!!!