Watercolor Glads

I started today's card by stamping the Gladiolus image from the Clearly Besotted Friends Forever Stamp Set on Canson XL 140# Water Color Paper, heat embossed it with Judikins Fine Detail Silver Embossing Powder and set about to watercolor it for my card front.

I love to watercolor.  It is so soothing to me and I know my friends & family enjoy the mini works of art I send to them.

Whenever I see Gladiolus, I think of my Grandpa Shaver who named them as his very favorites.   He was killed by a drunk driver when I was 13, but I still remember seeing these flowers bloom in their special section of his vegetable garden.  "Glads" he called them and they were prolific at his funeral.   I have a really incredible number of memories with him for having lost him at such a young age.  For much of my childhood, they lived in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, while we lived in a Kansas City suburb.  I started 4th grade when we moved to a different suburb because my dad became a police officer in that city.  My grandparents moved from Florida to be closer to us grandkids.  The six of us were the only grandchildren for them.  After they moved to the same town, I would go to stay at their house on the weekend and they would always take me to this truck stop/diner they liked for Fried Chicken (still one of my favorites) with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy.  When quizzed about what dessert I wanted, I would always ask for more mashed potatoes and gravy rather than a dessert.  So many of my memories are connected to that place in my mind and heart.  At that age I also didn't realize that my mom made the best fried chicken on the planet!

As you can imagine, while I was coloring this image I was visiting that place and time in my memory.  And as always happens when I think of flowers, I got a little curious about the specifics of that flower.  I was surprised to learn that Gladiolus are a member of the Iris family while Amaryllis is not.  You know, because Glads look like Amaryllis and vice versa.  I figured they would be of the same family but they aren't.  And Iris are perennials while Glads are annuals. Once I get a question in my head, it will not leave until I look it up, so that is your science lesson for the day.

I used Tim Holtz Distress Markers in Mermaid Lagoon to color the flowers while the leaves were done with Peeled Paint.  I used a Yellow Stardust Gel Pen for the Stamen because they are so small.  I love sparkly pens!  I bought this set a number of years ago and they still work.  I handed a card to a friend the other day and she opened it and said, "You even have sparkly pens!"  It wasn't a question as she is my nail tech and I usually get a sparkly finish on my nails called (quite appropriately) "Fairy Dust".  *Wink*

Next I took one of my many water color "experiments" where I was doing the splattering technique in blues and purples to make a night sky.  My base color wasn't really dark enough for a night sky, but I still liked the effect and it was a perfect match to the flowers I water colored here.  I cut each side of a 2 inch wide piece with a scallop border die, then cut it down the center as if it was printed paper for a decorative strip on each side of the watercolor panel.  Then I mounted that to a top folding A2 card base in Simon Says Stamp Island Blue Card Stock misted with some Tsukineko Sparkle Shimmer Spray.

I cut the Mama Elephant "hello" greeting in DCWV Silver Foil Card Stock to match the silver embossing and attached it near the bottom of my card.  I cut another "hello" for the inside of the card.  I used a white panel to go inside the card since I used a colored card base this time.

I enjoyed perusing Pinterest to see all the many colors and varieties of Gladiolus out there and pinned a few favorites to my Flora & Fauna Board.  I actually didn't see any in blue, but they certainly exist in my imagination.  Thanks for stopping by today!  Feel free to leave a comment for me when you do.  I enjoy them very much.