Create texture on your cards with embossing/Crea textura en tus tarjetas con embossing

English below • Español más abajo

This card is quiet in it's design. The subtlety appealed to me. I like the visual surprise of a shadowbox frame that continues the lines seamlessly. And the monochromatic color palette creates an understated feeling.

Card maker Svetlana Marchenko passed on a great embossing tip in her Altenew course Impressive Heat Embossing.  If you use clear embossing powder on colored cardstock, the result is a natural deepening of the paper's color. No hunting for the right embossing powder. Keeping the same color but deepening its intensity is what created the subtle color palette. 

Supplies

• Altenew's Nostalgic Florals stamp set
• Altenew's embossing ink
• Altenew's clear embossing powder
• Altenew's Antique gold pigment ink
• Altenew's foam tape
• Altenew's needle tip glue
• Green cardstock
• Heat tool
• Rectangle frame die cut
• Clear sequins 
  

1. Cut green cardstock into an A2 (4.25"X5.5") foldover card and also a separate 4.25"X5.5" piece of green cardstock.
2. Use your embossing ink to stamp floral elements around the border of the card front and the solo piece of green cardstock. I recommend using the Stampwheel 2.0 to keep your stamped design in the exact place on the two different cardstock pieces. This is key to getting the seamless look of continued lines once you layer the pieces of cardstock over one another with dimensional tape. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Sprinkle clear embossing powder over the embossed ink and heat it with your heat tool until shiny. I advise you use some type of antistatic powder over the cards before inking. This helps the embossing powder adhere just to the inked designs. I use plain ole cornstarch.
4. Use your frame die to cut out a border on your solo piece of green cardstock.
5. With dimensional foam tape adhere the cut out frame to your card front. Make sure the lines connect for a seamless overall design. 
6. Optional: add a few clear sequins to your card front for a little bling. I recommend keeping your sequin clear to go along with the subtle look. 
   
   
   
   
   
7. Stamp your sentiment with antique gold pigment ink for a rich look to your lettering.

Here is a similar card with different color cardstock. Which do you prefer? 

Esta tarjeta es discreta en su diseño. Esa sutileza fue precisamente lo que me atrajo. Me gusta la sorpresa visual que crea un marco tipo shadowbox cuyas líneas continúan de manera fluida. Además, la paleta monocromática aporta una sensación elegante y contenida.

La creadora de tarjetas, Svetlana Marchenko compartió un excelente consejo sobre embossing en su curso de Altenew Impressive Heat Embossing. Si utilizas polvo de embossing transparente sobre cartulina de color, el resultado es un oscurecimiento natural del tono del papel. No hace falta buscar el color perfecto de polvo para embossing. Mantener el mismo color mientras se intensifica su profundidad fue lo que permitió crear esta paleta de color tan sutil. 

Materiales

• Set de sellos Nostalgic Florals de Altenew
• Tinta para embossing de Altenew
• Polvo de embossing transparente de Altenew
• Tinta pigmentada Antique Gold de Altenew
• Cinta adhesiva de espuma (foam tape) de Altenew
• Pegamento de punta fina (needle tip glue) de Altenew
• Cartulina verde
• Pistola o herramienta de calor
• Troquel de marco rectangular
• Lentejuelas transparentes

Instrucciones

1. Corta una cartulina verde para crear una tarjeta plegable tamaño A2 (4.25" x 5.5"). Corta también una segunda pieza de cartulina verde de 4.25" x 5.5".
2. Utiliza la tinta para embossing para estampar los elementos florales alrededor del borde del frente de la tarjeta y también sobre la pieza adicional de cartulina verde. Recomiendo utilizar la Stampwheel 2.0 para mantener el diseño estampado exactamente en la misma posición en ambas piezas. Este paso es fundamental para lograr el efecto de líneas continuas cuando las dos capas se superponen utilizando cinta dimensional. 
   
   
   
   
   
3. Espolvorea el polvo de embossing transparente sobre la tinta para embossing y aplica calor hasta que el acabado se vuelva brillante. Te recomiendo aplicar algún tipo de polvo antiestático antes de estampar. Esto ayuda a que el polvo de embossing se adhiera únicamente a las áreas entintadas. Yo utilizo maicena común y corriente.
4. Utiliza el troquel de marco para recortar el centro de la pieza adicional de cartulina verde.
5. Con cinta adhesiva dimensional, pega el marco recortado sobre el frente de la tarjeta. Asegúrate de que las líneas coincidan para crear un diseño continuo y uniforme.
6. Opcional: añade algunas lentejuelas transparentes para un toque de brillo. Recomiendo que sean transparentes para mantener la apariencia sutil del diseño. 
   
   
   
7. Estampa tu mensaje con tinta pigmentada Antique Gold para darle un acabado elegante y sofisticado al texto. 
   
   
   

Aquí tienen una tarjeta similar realizada con un color diferente de cartulina. ¿Cuál les gusta más?

Creating Victorian Inspired Floral Cards with "The Drawing Room"

These two Victorian-inspired cards were created with Altenew's The Drawing Room bundled kit.

I really love this set. So many period tidbits to mix and create different tableaus. I am dying to make a card with the drawing room furniture. The card fronts were so complete in my mind,  I chose to keep one card blank and include an embossed sentiment on the inside of the other card. 

The colorful, layered florals appear vibrant against the neutral backgrounds. I chose four different colors to stencil the flowers and four for the leaves. While this had potential to look like a paint store exploded, it all works because I kept the colors in the same color family and increased the saturation in fairly even levels. Big tip: you can let others do the work for you by purchasing color sets already assembled with these considerations in mind. If you do not have a pre-packaged color set, then you can will likely need to whip out your (two level) color wheel. Here's my supplies and the steps I used to create them. 

Supplies

• Altenew's The Drawing Room Craft Your Life kit
• Altenew's solar white cardstock
• Altenew's black cardstock
• Altenew's pigment ink Permanent Black 
  
• Altenew's crisp ink in Parrot
• Altenew's fresh dye ink in Bamboo, Olive, Just Green, Evergreen
• Altenew's mini cube ink sets in Chasing Shadows and Enchanted Garden
• Altenew's Instant Dimension Foam Tape 
  
  
  
• Altenew's blending brushes
• Double sided tape
• Die cutting machine
• Embossing powder
• Heat tool 

Optional: 

• Anti-static powder (I use corn starch)
• Washi tape

1. Cut and fold an A2 card (4.25"X5.5"), cut a piece of 4"x5.25" black cardstock and a piece of 3.75"X5" white cardstock. Set side.
2. On a separate piece of white cardstock, use the kit's layering guide to stencil the flowers and leaves. I find it helpful to use a blending brush for each color. If you plan on continuing making cards, it is a good idea to invest in several. It's not a good idea to use a damp brush (recently cleaned) to stamp a new color. It will majorly slow you down if you need to wash and dry brushes between colors. 
   
3. Using your die cutting machine, cut out the flowers with their leaves. I use low tack tape (washi tape) to keep my die in place while cutting.
4. Using the desired stencil on your 3.75"X5" piece of white cardstock, create your neutral background with your gray tones. I originally made the stenciled background gradient in color by using an ombre effect with my inking. This is seen in my supplies photo above. It looked unfinished, so I later changed it to the solid color background seen in final card. This kit provides many options to use for backgrounds; ranging from stamps, stencils and an embossing folder.
5. Assemble the pieces of the card. I used flat double sided tape to center glue the black cardstock over the card front. And I tried two different layering approaches with my two smaller pieces of white cardstock. On one, I centered the white panel over the black. And on the other I nestled the smaller white cardstock to the lower left, leaving more black edge around the top and right sides. This is evident in the supplies photo. However, again, I changed my mind and centered it. I like asymmetry and planned on adhering my flower at an edge with her leaves partially extending beyond the card. I felt that was enough asymmetry. 
   
   
   
6. Using the foam tape, adhere the flower onto the card. I placed it lower right, with a tiny bit of overhang.
7. I chose to include an embossed sentiment inside one of the cards. True to form, Altenew kept the fonts and the wording in keeping with the Victorian feel. I love their attention to details.

I hope you can see that even though one might have a step by step process in mind when creating, you are always tweaking and changing course. Even re-doing entire cards to get the desired one. Some of your best creations will be the result of happy accidents. Have fun with your artistry!

Drawing on vellum

I took a class with Marika Rahtu, in Altenew's Academy,  called Beautiful Details. Oh, how I loved her drawings on vellum and her pencil and marker shading. From the six lessons in her class, I made over 12 flowers until I felt I had one to two to use for these two cards. Part of the problem was that I was substituting some of her supplies and that made a difference. But part of the issue was my inexperience with working with vellum. That comes with time. And as I like to say, I have more time than money, so no worries. 

I was most happy with this wild western rose against a green frame. I ended up with several other roses drawn on vellum awaiting other projects. TIP: When I am setting out to make a card, I am now making several of the main design motifs so that after I finish one card, I have several design elements to use in other creative projects. It saves time to make several at the same time than only one design and card at a time. I save the extra design elements with the corresponding card making set which I keep in a flat storage bag. I guess this is only an aha! tip if you are really into card making, lol.

I have been missing in action for almost 2 months because I underwent a serious spinal crisis and had two cervical surgeries in March. I am recuperating with two neck braces and a walker but alas, I am only able to do my art or typing, etc., for half hour at a time. This is so frustrating as creating is healing for my soul and brings me so much happiness. But I am nothing if not tenacious.

So I aim to do one to two 1/2 hour sessions at my art table or computer a day however, since I have to do computer work just to manage my life, that leaves me working in tiny bits of time at my art table. It will get easier as I heal more. So, after two months, I am proudly, displaying my card, lol.

Supplies

• Altenew's Nostalgic Floral stamp and die set
• Altenew's stamps of sentiments from their Fruits and Flowers set (This is a wonderful bundled set to have but any sentiment you already have will suffice. Later, I will show a card with this complete set ;)
• Altenew's white cardstock
• Altenew's fresh dye ink in Evergreen
• Altenew's foam tape
• Altenew's glue (with needle nozzle)
• Green cardstock
• Vellum (you can substitute tracing paper in a pinch.)
• Cornstarch
• Embossing ink and clear embossing powder
• Heat tool
• Prismacolor pencils in chartreuse, lime green and olive green
• Alcohol markers in three shades of warm grey, light to dark. 
• Foam dots
• Clear drop embellishments 
  
  
  

1. Measure, cut and fold your cardstock for your A2 card (4.25"x5.5"). Cut the green panel to measure 4"x5", cut another white cardstock to 3.75"x5"and finally a white piece of cardstock to 2.5"x2.75". 
   
2. Center and adhere the green and larger white panel to your card front. Line your smaller piece of cardstock flush against the top left side of the white panel. I find that working asymmetry into a card creates visual interest.
3. Use cornstarch to brush a fine layer over vellum. Stamp your western rose onto your vellum with embossing ink.
   
   Sprinkle clear embossing power over the embossed ink. Then use your heat tool until the powder turns shiny. It may be difficult to see the clear embossed outline; good lighting helps tremendously.
4. Use lightest of your warm grey markers and begin shading in your rose. Do not outline shadows but rather lay swaths of color where you see shadows. Progressively shade in darker ares. You can use darker shades to delineate edges of the flower.

Use the rose die to cut out the flower

6. Adhere the flower to your card with small foam dots. I chose to cut off the leaves and use foam dots for the rose but flat glue dots to adhere the leaves. I felt showing the flower in two layers made the rose appear to flutter a little. 

7. My finishing touch was to add a tiny bit of embellishment. I chose iridescent drops that are flat on one side and convex on the other. They bring to mind raindrops.

This class was rich in lessons that taught me novel ways of drawing. I found it challenging and know that I will return to watch and work this class again in the future. I am far from Marika's skill with pen and marker drawing on vellum.  Also, I did not have some of the crucial supplies for several of her techniques, so that will also be remedied in the future. I have a feeling, this will be one of my toughest but one of my most favorite classes in the AECP (Altenew Educator Certification Program). 

Here is another card I made inspired by Marika's lessons. It features drawing over a stamped image with colored pencils. As an artist who has a strong hand in all my work, this suited my style more than the delicacy of drawing on vellum. 

Creating with an intentional use of colors

 

One of the most delightful aspects of card making is the choices you have in colors - both in inks as well as papers and embellishments. Indeed, my art is characterized by a bold use of colors.  I wanted to create a card being more intentional about my choices of how I use  color. 

I started out wanting to create a veritable kaleidoscope. I chose a stylized flower bud from Altenew's Simple Flower set and thought of filling my card's front with all different colors. 

I set out to use almost all my Altenew inks I own. I stamped with select individual Altenew mini inks from all my mini-sets (golden sunset, pocketful of sunshine, summer afternoon, red cosmos, lapis lazuli, sweet dreams, shades of purple and coffee break). I also used a few of Ranger distress inks and select full size Altenew inks in fresh dye crimson, sweet leaf, and crisp ink parrot. Whew! I went crazy with color and loved it. 

But a funny thing happened. After I had filled the cover of my card with a rainbow of swirls, I noticed some blank spaces that seemed to interrupt the flow. I saw a tiny circular-ish stamp in the Simple Flowers set and used embossing ink to stamp the small shape in the large blank spots. My plan was to heat emboss it so that I had a faint clear, shiny design in the empty spots. It did not turn out as I hoped. I do not know why but they embossed in varying shades of brown and basically looked messy.

So, what is a girl to do but improvise. I cut the paper in strips, avoiding the ugly embossed stamps.  I layered a black cut out over a white card front and added the strips of color with a Hugs sentiment from Altenew's Garden Gala set in the upper left corner. Since the card was already becoming quirky, I chose different lengths and widths of colorful strips and placed the hello at a slant. In the end, I really like the bold variety of colors. This design was not a favorite of mine, but I did create an interesting look after all was said and done. This is how it goes - occasionally "oops" will happen. Sometimes your art muse lets you succeed in salvaging the design.

Because of the hitch in this card's design, I chose to make another. This time I chose a monochromatic use of color. I absolutely like this card. Not love or even prefer. For me, the hand drawn petal outlines make it look less polished than I wanted. And the choice of silver for the sentiment was not wise, as the silver is too close in tone to white and light lavender to really stand out.

But c'est la vie. I learn from my mis-steps. The two cards are nice. Just not ones I like to look at over and over, lol. Do you agree with my assessments? What do you think?

Supplies

• Altenew's Blooming Thanks stamp set
• Altenew's fresh dye ink in limestone
• Altenew's Fancy Hello die
• Altenew's Solar White card stock
• Altenew's Lavender Fields card stock
• Altenew's metallic watercolor 14 pan set
• Altenew's double sided tape and glue
• Alcohol marker in deep purple
• Acrylic lavender marker
• Metallic silver card stock
• Die cutting machine
• Sequins: clear and lavender 
  
  
  

1. Cut and fold an A2 (4.25"X5.5") card. Cut an A2 size single piece of lavender card stock. 
2. Using the limestone ink, stamp the Blooming Thanks flower all over the lavender card stock. Create a haphazard arrangement with some stamps cut off by the paper's edges.
3. Outline the flower with a deep purple alcohol marker. Leave the leaves in the pale grey color so that they do not detract from the purple theme of the card.
4. Use your metallic purple watercolor to paint the center of the flowers.
5. Paint in the petals with the acrylic lavender marker
6. Place your Hello die center on a 5.5" side of lavender card stock and let half be off the paper. Die cut the Hello die. Glue the lavender card stock onto the white card front.
7. Die cut a full size Hello from silver card stock. Cut two more Hello's from white cardstock (Not the A2 card).
8. Stack and glue the three Hello's with the silver Hello on top. 
9. Glue the thickened Hello cut-out onto the card front where it fits into the half cut-out. The effect is to have the silver Hello lying on top covering the card front - half on white and half on the lavender card stock.
10. Glue a few sequins in upper corner for embellishment.

As an aside, since I am one of many artists who offer written and video tutorials online, I try to offer something unique with my contributions to this field. I enjoy checking out other card makers and craft companies. It helps me grow as an artist and crafter. But I have noticed one thing with the majority of online creators. And that is an almost pristine presentation in so far as the actual vibe of their visual and written content. I admit, this is a weak spot for me as a content creator. I am naturally a messy girl and enjoy a kitchen table feel to my writing. This translates as my being OK with less than perfect tidiness in  crafting workspace and in a writing style that is transparent about my errors and bloopers. 

I hope you find this refreshing- my writing about two cards that did not measure up to my preferred standards. I value transparency and realness for my readers and viewers. I know that is what is attractive to me as a lifetime student of the arts. I hope it makes me more relatable and encourages any shy crafter out there thinking of purchasing their first supplies. I say "clear that kitchen table and roll up your sleeves". Don't worry about making mistakes. Everyone has a creativity muscle, you just have to exercise it. And I see all my missteps as valuable lessons and  every now and then I let you, dear reader, in on some of my bloopers.

Playing with alcohol markers

I like to keep my eyes and hands busy playing with beautiful  colors and shapes, even when relaxing. So it is no surprise that I enjoy coloring. I found a love of coloring when I was in hospital. And I continued with it when I got home.  I bought an inexpensive medium set of alcohol markers and now you can often find me coloring pages in front of the tv. And that satisfied me. That was the extent to which I used my alcohol markers. 

I had been hearing about alcohol inks and of course, I wanted to get my hands on few bottles of spray alcohol ink. But I told myself that I had many art supplies and was not sure I would get a lot of use with these sprays as they only work on non-porous surfaces; and I love working with papers or canvases. So I only explored my alcohol ink markers coloring adult coloring books.

Then I took a class with Sara Naumann called Magic Marker Techniques (offered through Altenew's Academy). And I learned I was sitting on those alcohol markers with a myopic eye. I learned I could use my alcohol markers to create beautiful effects on my cards. 

I created this simple flower card using those alcohol makers on metallic paper. While not totally non-porous, metallic card stock was a suitable enough non-porous surface. At first I was not keen with the effect I saw. But when it dried and I looked at it with fresh eyes, I saw a graceful speckled effect. I like it! 

Here is how I achieved that look.

Supplies

• 
  Altenew's Nostalgic Florals outline stamp and die set
• Altenew's permanent black pigment ink
• Altenew's solar white card stock
• Altenew's black card stock
• Altenew's ornate nesting die set
• Altenew's double sided tape, foam tape
• Altenew's permanent black pigment ink
• Altenew's scissors
• Metallic card stock
• Small spray bottle filled with rubbing alcohol
• Embossing ink and powder
• Embossing powder tool
• Heat tool
• Die cutting machine

Optional: Altenew's Stampwheel 2.0, Altenew's fine line brush

1. Cut and fold an A2 (4.25"X5.5") card and set aside.
2. 
   
   Using the largest of ornate nesting dies, cut out a large piece with your black card stock
3. Using the next smallest die (from the largest), cut out a piece with your white card stock.
4. Affix the large black nesting cut-out to the center of the front of your card. Then affix the white nesting cut-out centered onto that black background.
5. Prep your white card stock with an anti static medium. I use corn starch with an embossing powder tool. Stamp your selected sentiment with embossing ink. Then pour embossing powder over the ink. and shake off excess. You may need to repeat pouring powder to get complete coverage. If you find stray powder on your powder close to your design, use a fine line brush to brush stray powder away.
   
6. Use your heat tool to emboss the sentiment. Cut out the sentiment.
7. 
   Select alcohol markers in the desired colors for your flowers and leaves. Cover large areas (at least 4"X8") with your alcohol markers onto the metallic card stock. Since the alcohol makes the markers dry quickly, you will need to work fast. After you cover a large area with your colors, immediately spritz the area with your alcohol spray. I kept my spray around 6-8" from the metallic paper. The spritzed alcohol will react to your alcohol marker and create beading and movement of the pigment on the surface of your metallic paper. This effect is more dramatic if you use an even more non-porous surface, like a craft aluminum sheet of about 0.15 millimeter thick. You can find that in craft stores. Let dry thoroughly. I did around three passes of this process to get the effect I desired.
8. Now stamp your flowers and sentiment onto the metallic cardstock with the dried alcohol ink. Use the black permanent ink. Using the Stampwheel 2.0 helps me ensure I will have dark uniform outlines. 
9. Use your die cutting machine and dies to cut out the flowers from the inked metallic card stock. Use scissors to cut a framing piece to go under your sentiment.
10. Design the card layout and glue on your cut-outs. For visual interest I chose to incorporate heigh differences with foam tape for the larger flower and leaves. I also purposefully let my flower overlap the edge of the frames. I used flat double sided tape for the smaller flower and leaf. 
    
    
    
11. I made the sentiment really pop by foam taping both the white sentiment cut-out onto the metallic base cut-out and in turn, foam taping the entire sentiment onto the card.

The end result was highly dimensional card with unique inking. There are many points of interest on this card. What started as a simple design in my mind turned out to be intricate in it's

subtlety. I am so happy to have dipped my toe into working with alcohol inks in more artistic ways.

If you would like to purchase this card, head on over to my EBay store VanGoghChicaStudio The link is in my link list on this blog side panel.

Creating with a twist: using incongruous elements together

Have you ever liked fashion or art that was made up of elements you would not think "go together"? Have you ever heard someone describe something as "beautifully ugly"? I can not tell you why or how but sometimes you can go afoul of basic design principles and come out with something appealing. Well, I set out to create a visually pleasing card with elements that normally clash.

I think I succeeded in designing a fun card that illustrates this point.

I used non-analogous and non-complimentary dominant colors of purple and green and mixed vintage style florals with a modern graphic of thick stripes.  The sentiment set I used was perfect as it paired a lilting cursive "You" with a modern computer-ish block type. And the end result... I like it! it's quirky and fanciful.

Supplies

Altenew's Scalloped Ornaments layering stamp set. This set is not  available anymore but there are several other Altenew layering stamp sets to choose from.

Altenew's You Matter die set

Altenew solar white card stock

Altenew's fresh dye ink in Wisteria,  Ultraviolet and Sweet leaf

• Altenew's crisp ink in Parrot
• Altenew's Permanent Black pigment ink
• Altenew's scissors
• Altenew's double sided tape
• Altenew's glue and foam tape
• Altenew's large blending brush
• Tweezer
• Acrylic paint in light coral
• Flat paint brush
• Washi tape
• Die cutting machine

Optional: 

• Altenew's Stampwheel 2.0
• Glitter pens and markers

1. Cut and fold an A2 (4.25"X5.5") card and set aside. Cut two 4"X5.25" pieces of white card stock.
2. Lay washi tape stripes across one of your 4"X5.25" card stock pieces. Peel off every other stripe of washi tape.
   
   
   
3. Paint the exposed card stock stripes with your acrylic paint and set aside to dry.
4. Stamp your floral designs.
5. Use the stencils to layer colors with ink. You can leave it here or you can add highlights with glitter pens and/or markers. 
6. Fussy-cut (hand cut) your stamped images and set aside.
7. On a separate piece of card stock use your blending brushes to create swaths of color big enough for your chosen sentiment. I created an ombre effect on the bigger segment (the "You"). 
   
   
   
8. With washi tape, secure your dies to the colored swathes of color. Die cut the sentiments out.
9. Assemble your card.
   
   
   Use double sided tape to center the now dry striped piece of card stock onto the front of your folded blank card. Use foam tape for the floral design and main word: "You". Use double sided tape for the smaller text.

Relax, and enjoy your creation. Who will you send this card to?

Watercolor Flowers Made Easy: Painting with Ink Pads

I love working color onto surfaces in interesting ways. So playing with watercolor in unconventional ways was fun. I made a couple cards using watercolors in loose and surprising ways. These techniques require you leave your perfectionism at the door. I will go over one of those methods here.

Supplies

• Altenew's Nostalgic Florals stamp and die  set
• Altenew's Garden Gala stamps. At the time of this writing, the Garden Gala set is only sold to subscribers of Craft Your Life membership plan. Subscribers got early access to this March 2026 set. It will not be available to non-subscribers until next month.
• Altenew's metallic watercolor set
• Altenew's solar white card stock
• Altenew's fresh dye inks in azurite, ultraviolet, volcano lake and fresh lemon
• Altenew's crisp ink in parrot
• Altenew's permanent black pigment ink
• Watercolor paper, preferably hot press
• Watercolor brushes - I used a number 9 round tip for depositing color and a larger round tip brush for brushing water onto surface before painting.

• Embossing ink and powder
• Cornstarch 
• Heat tool
• Water spritzer
• Sequins
• Optional: Stampwheel 2.0

1. Cut and score an A2 card out of your white card stock and set aside.
2. Brush a fine layer of cornstarch over a piece of watercolor paper. This will help your embossing powder stick to only the inked image.
3. Apply your stamp onto this prepared watercolor paper, using permanent black pigment ink.  Then stamp over the same image with embossing ink. I like to use a base coat of black ink to create a crisp outline in case my black embossing powder does not adhere perfectly. 
4. 
   Sprinkle your embossing powder over your inked image and tap off excess. If you have stray embossing powder, use a clean, dry paintbrush to brush the powder away. 
5. Use your heat tool to emboss the image.
6. The embossed lines serve as a waterproof ridge that keeps the water inside the enclosed area. Use your brush to lay a film of clean water over the image you are going to paint. Change your water often so as not to contaminate your color.
7. Select the colors you want to use from your available water-based ink pads. Uncap your ink pads and lay them face down onto a water resistant surface. You can use a craft mat, a palette or a glass mat as shown here. And rub the ink onto the surface. Deposit about three good smooshes of ink. (Smooshes is my very technical art term.)
8. 
   
   Spritz the ink with water until it beads up and you have a puddle of color. Be careful to leave the paint highly pigmented. Do not lighten the color with more water until you want a soft glaze of color. 
9. Moisten the tip of your brush and then use it to pick up color.
10. Dab color onto the already wet surface in an area you want to see paint flow. (I.E. the inner petals, close to the center.) The paint will flow outward from the initial deposit of color. 
11. Allow each layer of color to dry before applying more watercolor. You can use your heating tool, but be careful to not burn the paper by holding it too long over one area.
12. After you are satisfied with the initial painting, use metallic watercolor to accent select areas. It gives a lovely sheen and catches light beautifully.
    
    
    
13. Once dry, use the coordinating die to cut your flower out. Also, with the colored card stock, cut out the 4"X5.25" piece you will glue to front of the A2 card.   
    
    
    
14.  Glue the colored card stock onto the surface of your card. Leave a small, uniform white border showing. 
15. Stamp a piece of white card stock with the sentiment and use the coordinating die to cut it out. 
16. Assemble the front of your card. Your vibrant blossom is the star, but your sentiment can balance the composition. 
17. Give your card an extra touch by glueing a few sequins to your 
    
    
    
    
    
    Here is another card in which I used same watercolor technique.

What I love about this type of watercolor painting is that the brush work is loose and surprises are welcome. As card makers, we measure with care, cut exact, imprint precisely... we are meticulous. So these dabs of color that disperse in wonderful patterns are so fun. Happy accidents.