Watercolor Tulip Stencil Blessings

I was excited to see the Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog.  This week's Wednesday challenge is to use stencils on your projects.  You can check out the challenge and cards HERE .   I am entering this card.  I love stretching my card-making supplies by using stencils, as well as stamps, to create my art.  

I had ordered this tulip stencil online, and didn't realize it was 12 x 9 inches!  I tucked it away, figuring it was much too large for a card, but could use it some time for a scrapbook page, or a bookmaking or journaling project.  As I was flipping through my stencil stock, there it was.  I thought, why not try it to see what I could do.  This is the result....

I used just a small portion of the stencil, focusing in on only three of the tulips.  I sponged Tim Holtz distress inks through the stencil on 140# cold pressed watercolor paper. Colors used:  started with spun sugar, then added some worn lipstick, and finally festive berries for the tulips.  The stems are bundled sage and peeled paint.  After sponging the color on, I then rubbed some ink on my craft mat, and with a watercolor brush, just brushed some extra color on for more defined shading.  I dried the petals with my heat tool before moving on to the background.  I did the background with the bundled sage and peeled paint, wetting the paper first with just water, then adding the greens, drying between applications.  Finally, I spattered plain water on the completed panel, which caused the water spots. 

The Blessings die is from Simon Says Stamp.  The whole die says Christmas Blessings, but I just used the blessings portion.  Again, stretching our tools!  I layered three die cuts on top of each other.  The top layer is a glossy black card stock.  The three black pearls at the upper left corner balances the black, helping frame the flowers.

The panel is layered onto black glossy card stock, then I cut down a foam craft sheet for raising the panel up and giving it dimension.  The card background under the panel was done with the same colors as the card, using the technique described above.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

     lynda