Hello, crafty friends! Emily Midgett here with you today to share some inspiration using the new Build-A-Garden: Pristine Peonies Stamp Set.
To me, peonies are generally appropriate in the springtime, but they are just. so. fun. to color! Who wants to limit themselves to coloring them for just a few months a year, right? To adapt this springtime flower to the upcoming autumnal months, I warmed up my normal color palette by doing plenty of mixing on my watercolor palette.
I have always been somewhat of a purist when it comes to watercolors, preferring to use the shades included in the pans and not bothering with mixing to create custom color palettes. But that changed a few months ago, and I can't stop watercoloring with these saturated-but-muted color schemes.
Build-A-Garden: Pristine Peonies
This beautiful stamp set features two large peony clusters that will add a stunning focal point to your paper crafting projects. Each cluster showcases delicate peonies surrounded by leaves and buds. The large scale of these flowers will make them a delight to color. Stamp any of the twelve coordinating sentiments celebrating beauty and hope to complete your project.
Let's get started with the details of this project!

Card with Peonies feat. An Autumnal Color Palette
First, I began by stamping one of the large peony bouquet images from Build A Garden: Pristine Peonies onto some Watercolor Paper, then embossed it using Rose Gold Embossing Powder. This Rose Gold powder adds a lovely shine, as well as a slightly warmer metallic feel than just typical black or even gold embossing powder.
I then used the Artists' 24 Pan Watercolor Set to create a very muted color palette, adding brown, mustard yellow, and even a few touches of black to the brighter and more traditional coral, pink, and green pans. These neutral colors help to tone down the very vibrant shades in the pans of this watercolor set. It's great fun to experiment with the neutrals included in the watercolor pan set; if you haven't tried it, I encourage you to add the different neutral shades to your bright colors and see what a difference they make!

Next, in order to pick up on the dark raspberry and plum hues in the coral peony flower, I die cut a label from the Labels and Tags 1 set from some deep coral cardstock. Then, I used a Blending Brush to blend some Rhodolite ink around the edges of my coral label.
This tone-on-tone blending helps to create an almost “antiqued” effect on the label, which works perfectly with the vintage color palette of my floral bouquet!
I also die cut a Spicy Yogurt cardstock base using the Dotted Swirls Debossing cover plate.
Next, I used Sweet Sentiments to die cut a sentiment. I die cut the solid background with border from some more Spicy Yogurt cardstock, then die cut the sentiment itself twice from some deep raspberry cardstock.
The darker shade of maroon coordinates with the shading on the flowers and the ink blended edges while also having that extra intensity to make the sentiment pop!
I stamped a greeting from Build A Garden: Pristine Peonies on a strip of Spicy Yogurt using Rhodolite ink to coordinate with the other elements of the card front.

Finally, it was time to assemble all of the components!
I adhered the blended die-cut and watercolored floral bouquet to the slightly textured, debossed background using a single layer of foam tape. I allowed the large floral bouquet to hang over the edge of the card front to create extra drama. (You would probably need to mail this in an A7 envelope!)
I added the greeting using another layer of foam tape, giving it a double layer in some spots. To keep the balance, I allowed the sentiment strip to hang over the edge of the other side of the card, as well. A few coordinating metallic gems added one last element of shine!
Build-A-Garden: Pristine Peonies Project Inspiration
Before you go, here are a few more stunning project inspirations featuring this new set!
Well, that's all for my project today! I hope you will try mixing your neutrals with your bright watercolor shades. It opens up a whole new world of color for your watercoloring! Thanks so much for reading, and have a marvelous day.
~Supplies Used~

1 comment
stunning cards