Color Throwdown #393

This week over at the Color Throwdown Challenge #393 there is a very soft, subtle and muted color palette.  The photo on the left was our inspiration image for the colors we were to use; blush, rose and grey and white.  I chose to watercolor some of the images from the Altenew Magnolias for Her Stamp Set and use the coordinating dies.

I've been working with these magnolia images in an attempt to imitate an artist whose work I greatly admire, Marika Rahtu. For this card, she used Copic Markers with Faber Castell Polychromo Pencils to get the phenomenal results you see here.  I still need more practice, but my 2 attempts so far have resulted in great learning for my third attempt which will hopefully happen soon.  My results were not terrible but not good enough for me to share yet.


I do love Magnolias and the smell from the blooms is incredible! The image on the left is from my Magnolia tree in our yard. We purchased and planted it 2 1/2 years ago and it was such a beautiful tree. That first winter, it got hit by an ice storm causing it to lose several branches and some height.  It was so heavy with ice, it just broke the top completely off.  I feel lucky that it survived at all.  Last year, we had so much rain that the blooms would get knocked off by the rain the same day they bloomed so we didn't get to enjoy them at all.  I took this picture last weekend of the year's first bloom on this tree.  It is loaded with buds this year.  We are still getting quite a lot of rain at this point, but I'm hopeful.  A second bloom came out yesterday.  If this flower seems large to you, it's because it is.  I haven't actually measured, but it is approximately 10 inches in diameter. I'll have more Magnolia beauty coming to the blog in the coming days and I can't wait to share!

I've mentioned before that I detest "fussy cutting" and that one of the things that had happened over the 5 years between scrapbooking and making cards is that now most stamp sets have coordinating dies. That is what I used to wish for, but I kind of got away from even traditional scrapbooking and had been doing digital scrapbooking for the last several years. Once I started making a few cards last year and found out this wish had been granted. . . well to me, it's paper crafting heaven! I've gone from scrapbooker to card maker in nearly one fell swoop.

I stamped the magnolias with Versamark and heat embossed them using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder on a piece of Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper. I have other gold embossing powders, but this is my current favorite Gold Embossing Powder.  It's a warm rich color, melts fast and is a reasonable price. Using my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens, I painted the blooms using Sugared Almond Pink and Pale Rose so that I could keep with the designated throwdown colors. Originally, I tried to do a grey branch, but it just didn't look right so I opted for the grey card base.  The branch is cut with the Altenew Vintage Flower Dies.

I laid in my first layer of watercolor using the Sugared Almond Pink and went over the entire image on all three blooms.  I let that dry and went in with subsequent layers of Pale Rose with more color at the base of the petals where the shadows would be deepest.  I use a #2 and #4 Round Silver Black Brush that I got at Simon Says Stamp. You can buy each separately or the three in a bundle. Once I had the blooms painted and they were dry, I went over them with a coat of Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer and let that dry before die cutting them with the coordinating dies.  Then it was only a matter of arranging the elements on my card background and adhering them with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  The biggest bloom is attached with foam squares under the petals except for the very center of the flower is glued down to give it that extra bit of dimension. I added a few Moonshine Sequins in 6mm and 10mm to finish it off.  Simon's has a few sizes and also a multi-pack with 3mm, 5mm, and 10mm in it.

The greeting is from Papertrey Ink's Friendly Flowers and heat embossed with the same Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  This is my favorite font and  also my current favorite sentiment set.

The Color Throwdown Challenge #393 will end Monday at noon so I'd better skeedaddle and get this post up!  Thanks so much for stopping by today and if you'd like to leave a comment, I really enjoy reading them.