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. 

 

A no-frills, non -floral card design: Clean & Simple Cardmaking Tutorial | Easy Handmade Card Idea

 

In this Clean and Simple (CAS) cardmaking tutorial, I share a fun geometric card design suitable for anyone who is a no-frills type of person. Yes, cardmaking does include many floral designs, but that is not all we can make.

If you want to make your card along with me, watch my You Tube video, complete with a blooper right at the end! 👉 The blooper shows up around the 27-minute mark, so you can either craft along with me as I stamp and assemble my card or skip ahead for a laugh. If you enjoy DIY cardmaking, stamping, or beginner-friendly handmade card tutorials, this video is for you! Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to help my channel grow—I’d love to connect with fellow crafters.

Supplies

• 
• Altenew's Doodled Triangles Stamp set
• Altenew's pigment ink in Permanent Black
• Fresh dye in in Aqualicious, Warm Sunshine, Frayed Leaf, Sweet Leaf, Limestone
• Altenew white card stock

1. First you are going to cut and fold your white card stock into a fold-open A2 (4.25"X5.5') card.
2. Observe the design in the picture and begin stamping. Some elements should be stamped first and you will need to make a mask (as easy as a scrap piece of card stock) so that some elements look further back. It may be helpful to watch my video if you have any question as how to do this.
3. Lastly, stamp the sentiment.

And there you have it.  A CAS (clean and simple) design that relys on geometric shapes for pattern instead of florals and embellishments. Who says card making is just for frilly women!

Clean & Simple Cardmaking Tutorial + Funny Blooper | Easy Handmade Card ...

#Ever messed up your handmade card at the very last step? 🙈 You’re not alone! In this Clean and Simple (CAS) cardmaking tutorial, I share a fun geometric card design—and yes, you’ll see my real-life crafting blooper happen right on camera. 👉 The blooper shows up around the 27-minute mark, so you can either craft along with me as I stamp and assemble my card or skip ahead for a laugh. If you enjoy DIY cardmaking, stamping, or beginner-friendly handmade card tutorials, this video is for you! Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to help my channel grow—I’d love to connect with fellow crafters. 💬 Are you a cardmaker too? Share what you’re working on in the comments—I’d love to see your creations!

Beginner card making mistakes

I achingly remember the crisp autumn colors of Fall in Louisville (my home town). Living in San Francisco for 13 years and now South Florida since 2000; I have long missed that foilage. As well as bonfires, frosty breath and well worn boots. That was my favorite season.

So, I was eager to use my leaves cover die. I have several leaf themed dies. It's only natural as I am such a tree lover.

I conjured up the feeling of dry, jewel toned leaves by preparing card stock ahead of time. The night before, I sprayed them with vibrant Fall pigments by Lindy's Gang. This paper would be for the central two leaves on my cover. For a video on this whole process, check out my video here.

I also painted swathes of Autumn colored Dylusian paints onto another card stock sheet. My thinking was that the Dylusian colors would shine through the die cut windows around the perimeter of my card front.

 Then, I individually tiled the leave's tiny components into the two central leaf windows. I  thought the central hand tiled leaves would stand out more vibrant and be the clear focal point. That was not the case. Got to hand it to Dyan Reaveley. Her Dyslusian paints are so pigmented that their painted background colors rival the three dimensional glued on leaf tiles! If I were to make another one of these cards, I would make the differences more apparent. Perhaps with more differing colors or amping up the three dimensionality of the central leaves.

Another surprise I did not foresee was the fact that the "Shine" sentiment, although embossed and die cut, does not stand out enough. I would have done better to cut it from a dark, solid colored cardstock, without shimmer. It competes too much with the intricacy of the leaf cuts and marbleized colors.

I spent some time preparing the under papers and individually gluing on leaf tiles with tweezers. So, I will remember this constructive critique. I am sharing these mistakes with you I because that is how we learn.

Supplies

• Altenew's Striped Leaf Cover Die
• Altenew's Shine Die Set
• Altenew's white and Sunkissed card stock
• Altenew glue tape
• Altenew's tweezer
• Embossing ink
• Embossing powder
• Heat. tool
• Dylusian paints
• Lindy's autumn pigment sprays
• Yellow ochre acrylic paint

1. Spray Lindy's Gang shimmer paints over a white piece of cardstock. Let dry couple hours.
2. Paint a white piece of card stock in random swirls and patches of Dylusian paints. Let dry half hour. Dylusian paints dry very quickly. (One reason they are great for art journals.).
   
3. Cut and fold your A2 blank white card.
4. Cut a 4.25"X5.5" piece of sunkissed card stock.
5. Run the sunkissed piece of card stock through die cutting machine with the striped leaf cover die.
6. Cut the Dylusian painted paper into a 4.25"X5.5" rectangle.
7. Glue the Dylusian painted paper onto the front of your blank card.
8. Then glue the die cut sunkissed paper onto the dylusian painted cover. This creates a lovely Autumn leaf background.
9. Measure the two central leaf designs of the cover art and cut that out of the Lindy's sprayed card stock.
10. Tape that over the central two leaf cut-outs of the cover die and run through die cutting machine.
11. Very methodically, remove die cut pieces and reassemble with glue and tweezers onto the central two leaf cut outs on the card front. 
12.  Stamp white cardstock with embossing ink.
13. Sprinkle metallic bronze embossing powder and melt it by heating it with your heat tool. Be careful not to linger in any one spot for more than a few seconds. Keep your heat tool approximately four inches from the card stock and keep it moving slowly over the surface until it is all melted (shiny).
14. Cut out the Shine sentiment with your die and die cutting machine onto your embossed paper.
15. Glue the Shine sentiment to the cover of your card.

There you have it. I may remake the card. Or I will just learn from the experience. I hope these tips are also helpful to you. Have you made any cards that surprised you by teaching you a lesson?

Clean and simple stamped cards 1

Clean and Simple (CAS) refers to a style of card making which utilizes minimal tools such as inks, stamps and your own hand. Often images are stamped and then colored in with watercolor, alcohol marker or some other sort of color.                                     

Of all the card making styles, CAS gives the card maker much more latitude to express themselves freehand. Because CAS is so popular and easy to do, I will offer various examples in the next several posts.

I made two cards for the creatives in my life. Card number one featured stamping of brushes and a few stain-like rings. I then used watercolor to do the rest. On the inside, is the sentiment.

My second card featured the sentiment on the front and I stamped, painted and splattered color all over. The inside is blank. I definitely played more while making the second card. It is actually more my creative style, a little messy, jajaja.

I purposely did not stamp the sentiment in either card solely with black ink. I wanted it to appear almost faded, like the rings left behind on my art blotter. I used Distress Ink in Pumice for the sentiment on first round of stamping. I then stamped over it VERY lightly and in sporadic places with black.

Supplies:

• White cardstock
• Rubber stamps with the sentiment and also stain rings.
• Altenew Permanent black pigment ink, Golden Sunset mini ink pack, Tim Holtz Distress ink in Pumice
• Staedtler watercolor pencils

1. Cut and fold your cardstock. I recommend a paper cutter and scoring board if you plan to get serious with card making. They make your work easier and much more polished. But those are "nice-to-have" products, not necessary.

2. Stamp the front of your card(s).

3. Paint colorful accents in your composition with watercolor pencils.

4. Stamp the inside of your card.

That's it. You can see why paper crafters call this Clean and Simple. But don't let the name fool you. As you will see in the next several posts, there are many other ways to make impactful cards with the CAS method.