Hi friends! TGIF! Please join me in welcoming back the always awesome Debby Hughes as a special guest on our blog this month in her latest installment of “Doodling with Debby”. Be sure to watch the video for more information, and enjoy!

Hi, it’s Debby here for my monthly Doodling With Debby video feature on the Simon Says Stamp blog and today’s card features a clean and simple, watercolored butterfly on a delicate white heat embossed background.

For this card, I used the Beautiful Day set from Simon Says Stamp which has a lovely array of butterflies to choose from. I decided on the large butterfly from the set as I liked the detail of the lower wings. I placed the butterfly in the Mini Misti with a piece of Arches Cold Pressed watercolor card and stamped the image a couple of times with Antique Linen Distress Ink – my go-to ink for no line watercoloring. I stamped the image sufficiently so I had a guideline to paint but the ink is light in color, and it’s water reactive properties mean that as I start to paint the lines blended out and disappeared.

My aim with the first layer of paint was to create a light but colorful base to add darker edge details later on. I used Daniel Smith Phthalo Blue Green Shade which is a lovely bright blue and then added in just the faintest hint of Daniel Smith Quinacridone Rose for some pink highlights. For the darker edges to the butterfly wings, I used Daniel Smith Indigo and mixed a strong enough concentration of paint so that it covered the underlayer but so that some of the original tones still shone through. That’s one of the features of watercolor I love, that when adding more layers, the transparency of the paint allows the lower layers to still play an active part.

I used the lines left from stamping to determine the pattern that I painted with the darker Indigo color although I did use some artistic license here and there. The original butterfly image had a more graphic feel to it, and I wanted to soften it somewhat for a more elegant look. That’s the great thing about no line watercoloring, the original artwork is a guideline and base for painting, but you don’t have to stick to it rigidly.

For the body of the butterfly, I used Payne’s Gray and dropped in a little Phthalo Blue Green Shade while it was still wet for color variation. I then mixed up a thick concentration of White Gouache and added details to the body. Gouache is an opaque watercolor paint, and so even though I’m using white, this will still show up on the darker color of the body. I die cut the piece with a Nested Circle die and then set aside while I worked on the background.

I used the stunning Bohemian Lace cling background stamp on a piece Fog card as I thought the subtle, elegant pattern would complement the butterfly. I stamped it in Clear Embossing Ink and then sprinkled with White Embossing Powder before heat setting and trimming slightly to fit a 5-inch square card base. I adhered the butterfly circle on top with foam adhesive.

For the sentiment, I painted a strip of card with Quinacridone Rose and then stamped a coordinating sentiment from the Beautiful Day set in Clear Embossing Ink and White Heat Embossed before trimming to a skinny banner and adhering over the butterfly with more foam adhesive. Finally, I added a trio of Sweet 16 and Crystal Reflections sequins to accent.

Thanks for joining me today, and I’ll see you next time for Doodling With Debby.

WATCH THE VIDEO:

Watch below or in HD on YouTube.

SUPPLIES:

Simon Says Clear Stamps BEAUTIFUL DAY… [ SSS ] Simon Says Cling Rubber Stamp… [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp NESTED CIRCLES Wafer… [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100# FOG… [ SSS ] Arches COLD PRESSED WATERCOLOR PAD… [ SSS ] Neenah Classic Crest 110 LB SMOOTH… [ SSS ] Daniel Smith PHTHALO BLUE GREEN SHADE… [ SSS ] Daniel Smith QUINACRIDONE ROSE 5ML… [ SSS ] Daniel Smith INDIGO 5ML Extra Fine… [ SSS ] Daniel Smith SODALITE GENUINE 5ML… [ SSS ] Winsor Newton PERMANENT WHITE 37ml… [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp Embossing Ink Pad… [ SSS ] Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad… [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp EMBOSSING POWDER… [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp SWEET 16 Sequins… [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp Sequins CRYSTAL… [ SSS ] 3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE… [ SSS ] Tonic DELUXE ADHESIVE Nuvo Glue 200N [ SSS ]

Thanks so much for stopping by, and thanks to Debby for being our guest!

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