Watercolored Hollyhock Birthday Cards

Hello Friends! I'm buzzin' in real quick to share a few of the cards I've been working on for a customer. Birthday cards are on my work area this week. Here's a little look into The Hive...

You're also getting a peek at a few more cards I created. I may post those in a day or so. Anyway, for today's card share I did a little watercoloring with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens. I've gone back to making two of each card, this way I can have extras to put in my Card Boutique. I used the Sunshine and Smiles stamp set from Clearly Besotted. I just love the hollyhock and sunflower images in that set. Today, I used the hollyhock and I colored it two ways.

I kept the cards fairly simple because I really want the focus on the watercoloring.

For my first card, I stamped the image onto the smooth side of a piece of Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Card stock, using Versamark ink and then I heat embossed with white embossing powder. I love the look of the white outline with the watercolored image. It's so soft and delicate. Next, I die cut the panel with a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle die and matted it with green.I mounted the focal onto a piece of craft foam and then adhered it all down onto a purple top folding card base.  I don't use a lot of purple in my designs and I really don't know why. It's a lovely color. For the sentiment, I white embossed the Happy Birthday and then used an oblong punch on it. I adhered that with a bit of foam tape. A sprinkling of Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh was added as the finishing touch.

For my second card, I followed the same steps as the card above. However, with this one, I stamped on the textured side of the watercolor card stock. I really like the textured side best. I wanted to see if there was any difference with the blending of the Zig brushes on textured vs. smooth. The smooth side did blend a little bit better, but not enough to make me want to use it exclusively. And, for this image, instead of using a watercolor brush and clear water, I used an "empty" Clear Wink of Stella brush filled with water. It really is loaded with lots of glitter and why waste it? I add a bit of water to the barrel and use it like a water brush. I will keep adding water as long as there is glitter!

click to enlarge

 I turned off one of my lights to try and capture the sparkle for you. It is sooooo pretty! And you can also see the different textures on the watercolor card stock here, too. Which side do you prefer? Textured or smooth? 

That is all I have for today. Thank you so much for dropping in! I appreciate the visit.


Blessings~

supplies~ 
stamp set: Sunshine and Smiles(Clearly Besotted)   "happy birthday"- Express Yourself(Stampin' Up!)
card stock: Perfect Plum, Certainly Celery(Stampin' Up!)  Raspberry Fizz(Papertrey Ink)
specialty paper: Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Card stock(Ranger)
ink: Versamark(Tsukineko)
punches: Word Window(Stampin' Up!)
dies: Stitched Rectangle, Postage Stamp Edge(Simon Says Stamp)
bling: 4mm, 6mm Sparkling Clear sequins(Pretty Pink Posh)
coloring medium: Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens - 080 purple, 041 light green, 025 pink, 050 yellow
other: Super Fine Detail White embossing powder(Simon Says Stamp)