Vintage Peonies!

Hi there! Emily Midgett here with you today, and I have some inspiration for you using the Vintage Garden stamps and dies. I keep seeing absolutely gorgeous photos of peonies that are popping up in people's yards (of which I am totally jealous) in gorgeous, vibrant shades of pink and coral. I wanted to create a vibrant watercolored card, so I pulled out the Vintage Garden stamps and dies, the Spring Garden Watercolor Brush Markers, and some embossing powder to do just that!

I began by stamping the peony from Vintage Garden Stamp Set onto some Watercolor Paper using Clear Embossing Ink, and then covered that with Translucent Pearl Crisp Embossing Powder and heated it up. I watercolored the image using the Spring Garden Watercolor Brush Markers, scribbling the color onto a ceramic palette, and then picking it up with the Round Watercolor Brushes, so that I could keep the color as concentrated or diluted as I wanted. I ended up doing a few layers of color, starting with a bright corally-pink, and then adding some deep purple for shadows. I die cut the finished flower and foliage with the coordinating dies.

For the card base, I heat embossed the peony and foliage cluster in the top left corner of a panel of hunter green cardstock using the Translucent Pearl Crisp Embossing Powder, and then blended some Galactic Stream Crisp Dye Ink over the top of the embossing with a Small Ink Blending Tool to create a bit of contrast and interest to the background.

I adhered the watercolored die-cuts to the deep green card front using both Instant Dimension Foam Tape and liquid adhesive, and then added a glittery white Fancy Celebrate die-cut. The final touch was to add some iridescent white pearls.

Well, that's all for my project today! This bright watercolored peony makes me want to plant a dozen peony bushes in my back yard… if only I didn't have a black thumb, ha! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!