Doodling with Debby: Clean and Simple Watercolored Butterfly
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.
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Watch below or in HD on YouTube.
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Thanks so much for stopping by, and thanks to Debby for being our guest!
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Love the color on the butterfly.
Beautiful butterfly! :) I love the colors you used.
That butterfly looks great. Very nice card.
Have a great day,
Jessica from Polka Dot Orchard
beautiful and delicate. I love it.
sweet card – always love your work, Debbie:)
Gorgeous card! I really love the white embossed background.
what a beautiful card.
Simply stunning! Love how Debby created a soft look with the geometric butterfly.
Simply gorgeous.
I especially like the background. It is subtle but oh so pretty. The butterfly is wonderful, too. The subtle colors look great.
Gorgeous butterfly!!
Love the butterfly! Beautiful card
Love the no line watercoloring and the beautiful background.
Thanks for showing us your handiwork. And the message is very much needed sometimes.
For some reason, I tend to think I need a lot of colors to get variation, but I love how you did this with just the three colors. It’s a good reminder to me, and it’s just a beautiful card in general. Thanks for sharing with us!
WOW… just gorgeous.
Wow! This is such a gorgeous card! I love the how you watercolored the butterfly and the heat embossed background. :)
Beautiful card! Thank you for the tips on no line watercoloring!
What a lovely design and card, I love everything with butterflies! :-)
Stunning colored butterfly!!!
Beautiful card!!!
Gorgeous!
Very pretty!
Debby, I love watching you water colour. You do it with such ease and the levels of colour that you can achieve from each colour you use always blows me away.
A gorgeous card.
Such a beautiful card. Love the colors of the butterfly.
Thanks for sharing…
Love that gorgeous background. This card
is just lovely.
Love the butterfly and the background!! Love the card!! Your watercoloring is just beautiful!! Thanks so much for sharing!
Really Gorgeous card!!!!
Lovely butterfly card Debby!
Such a beautiful butterfly card! :)
I am expecting this beauty to fly off the card at any second….. stunning!
Very sweet butterfly card – love how the bright glittery sentiment pops
Such a BEAUTIFUL card!!!!
SOOOOOOOOO PRETTY
Super cute butterfly – TFS
WOW!! Stunning butterfly. Love your watercoloring and the pretty, Lacey background.
Beautiful card! I just received the Bohemian Lace stamp!
What a lovely card–love the colors and simple design. tfs
I like all things Butterfly including this creation. I saw first Monarch Butterfly of this yr the other day.
Melissa
“Sunshine HoneyBee”
Very pretty!
Sweet creation!
pretty and delicate looking
Nice painting job! Beautiful. :)
Beautiful card. No-line coloring has always intrigued me, but I’ve been a little leery of trying it. You’ve inspired me to give it a try. Thanks so much.
Gorgeous CAS card, I love that butterfly!
So pretty! Love the butterfly!
The water coloring is so beautiful!! The card is simple yet elegant. I always enjoy watching you and you have such a nice voice!!
Love the simplicity & awesome colors! Beautiful!
Stunning card Debby! Lovely design that draws the eye to the gorgeous butterfly.
Great card, fun technique and wonderful video.
Ooooh what a gorgeous butterfly!