Mojo Monday #454 & Simon Says Anything Goes | SSS July 2016 Handwritten Floral Greetings Card Ki

My SSS July 2016 card kit finally came today! I know I always say it... but it's seriously like Christmas when it arrives; when ANY craft package arrives really :) Of course I had to open it right away and dig in to make a card!

As much as I love my YouTube channel and sharing my card processes, it really take a lot of work to create a video from start to finish. Sometimes, I really do just like to create a card and not have to worry about whether I'm in frame while recording or whether my desk is too cluttered or not for a video. Today was one of those days, and I just wanted to create a card for my own satisfaction :)

Along with the SSS July 2016 Handwritten Floral Greetings card kit, I decided to use the Mojo Monday #454 sketch. I first started off by selecting a sheet of pattern paper from the kit. I chose the one that had a blue splattered paint look. I pulled some Stampin' Up! papers that I felt went well with the patterned paper, which were Night of Navy and Wisteria Wonder. I only changed a few things with the sketch, which was adding a matte border and placing the banner on top of the small rectangle instead of underneath. This was so I could put my sentiment on the banner and use the rectangle to do some image stamping and watercoloring.

For my watercoloring, I used the watercolor paper included in the kit, as well as the water brush. I took out some Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers that matched well with my color scheme, which were English Lavender, Lilac, and Violet. I used Versamark ink to stamp the large flower and leaf images from the Handwritten Floral Greetings stamp set onto the watercolor paper, which I had cut down to 2.25"x3.25". I heat emboss the images with clear embossing powder. Then I used an emboss resist watercoloring technique to color the images.

For the flower, I scribbled some Violet onto my craft mat and used my water brush to pick up the color and color the center of the flower. Then, I did the same for Lilac and used it to blend out the Violet color. Lastly, I used the English Lavender to blend out the Lilac color. I continued to add color until I got the darkness and look that I wanted. Lastly, I did the same technique with the leaves by starting with Light Green at the center and blending out with Pale Green.

I put all the pieces of my card together according to the MM sketch, then I used Versamark ink to stamp the sentiment "a note to say hello" onto the banner, then I heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder. Lastly, I finished off the card with some PPP Bermuda Blue 4mm and 6mm sequins. THIS time, I tried to keep in mind that "less is more" as I always go overboard with the pretty sequins! I'm sure I'm not the only one ;)