Yippee for Yana: Watercolor Clematis Card for Mom
Hi friends! Happy Monday! If you’re anything like me you’re ECSTATIC to see that the amazing Yana Smakula is BACK as a guest on our blog after a short traveling hiatus. Read on and enjoy!!

Hi everyone, this is Yana Smakula and welcome back for another Yippee For Yana video!

Today I’m sharing a watercolor floral card I made for my Mom using some new and old products from Simon Says Stamp.
It has been ages since I last picked up my watercolor supplies and did some water coloring. I’m always fascinated by Debby Hughes and her watercolor masterpieces so I decided I would channel my inner Debby and try to watercolor this clematis. My watercolor skills are far from being the best, but it doesn’t stop me from trying and practicing and we all know that practice makes better.
I stamped images from the Mom’s Clematis stamp set on watercolor paper, I am using Arches Cold Pressed watercolor paper, and I stamped everything in Versa Fine Onyx Black ink using my mini MISTI stamping tool. It’s handy to stamp these using some sort of stamp positioner watercolor paper is usually textured and you do need to apply a fair amount of pressure to get good impressions on this paper. I also did some masking by stamping images on masking paper, cutting them out and applying them over the original to be able to stamp additional leaves and flower buds next to the main flower.

Once my stamping was done I moved onto coloring. I went with the easiest method for me – and that’s using my Daniel Smith watercolor and a water brush. I opted to use purples for this card and used mostly Imperial Purple color from my palette. I colored one petal at a time, this is not something I typically have the patience to do, but it is the right way to do it, and also I painted in layers, coming back to each of the petals as the previous layer of color had dried.
I also used green for the leaves and this is Undersea Green, also from Daniel Smith. To add some color variation to this image I added a lot of shading using a different color, Shadow Violet, and I think that’s what made all the difference and made this image more lifelike.
My biggest takeaway from this project is patience. A good watercolor piece requires a lot of patience and layers. This is not something I have so I often struggle with having great watercolor results.

I also decided I’d do a simple watercolor wash in the background and for this, I used same Undersea Green color and simply diluted it more to have a lighter, softer green around my Clematis cluster.
Next, I took this piece back to my MISTI and stamped a sentiment for this card, it reads “Mama, you are incredible in every way”.
At this point, I reached for my colored pencils, Polychromos by Faber Castel and used them to add finishing touches. Next, I splattered some Hero Arts White Irridescent Shimmer over the image to give it more of a messy look. I love using this product for an effect like this.

I decided to add some simple stamping to the background and this is where Simon’s new Sketchy Lines background stamp came in. I created additional masks to mask the entire image cluster, positioned the stamp over my image, inked it up with Simon’s Fossil ink and stamped adding some interest to my background. The masks protected my flowers and leave and allowed the sketchy lines to be stamped on the background only.
I also decided I wanted to add more purple to this card to tie together with the flowers, so I white heat embossed a part of the sentiment on purple cardstock. To put everything together I created an A2 kraft side folding card base, used a piece of fun foam to adhere my watercolor panel over it. Finally, I foam mounted the skinny sentiment strip and embellished this card using several sequins in purple from the Birthday Cake sequin mix.
Have fun stamping!

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

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This is so pretty! :)
I love the purple colors you used and the splatters!!!
What a STUNNING card! This Clematis is GORGEOUS! You did a fantastic job on this! Thank you for sharing your talents with us!
That card is amazing Yana! The watercolouring is perfect. As hard as I try I can not get results like that. But thank you for your video, the more I watch techniques the better I get. But I think knowing where to shade is my trouble. So thanks for your tips!
Fantastic coloring Yana!! I love the purple shades! Beautiful floral card! :)
This is so beautiful Yana, I have no doubt your Mom loved this card. Who wouldn’t. You definitely should water colour more, it is amazing! (A beautiful flower for water colouring too!)
What a beautiful card! The purple is stunning. It’s fun to stretch and grow our skills through card making. Your effort was worth it. Thank you for sharing. ?
Gorgeous clematis card – I especially love the purple sequin accents that really pick up that lovely purple of the flower too.
I love watching Yana create — she makes me think “I can do that”! My efforts often disappoint, but I did take a couple of things from this video — I need to practice and I need to be patient! That’s lovely stamp set and a gorgeous card.
WOW, the flower is so so pretty. I love how you colored it–different shades, and the speckles! Nice
SOOOO GORGEOUS!!!!
Beautiful coloring!
She is one of my favorite designers – Love the clematis stamp – have clematis blooming now in my garden…would love this stamp!!!
Beautiful card and love purples and greens together. One lucky Mama!
Beautiful card! Love the coloring!
This is gorgeous Yana. Your water coloring skills are fantastic!
The Clematis is really exotic looking. You did a great job of showing off it’s uniqueness with your colors. It looks really pretty.
wow this is stunning – gorgeous coloring:)
This is GORGEOUS! I JUST came from Yana’s YouTube Channel & her blog! SO BEAUTIFUL!!! Yana makes Water Coloring look SO EASY! ;) <3 LOOOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!
Wow, such beautiful colouring!
Wow Yana, this card turned out so beautifully. I really enjoyed seeing the video. Thank you for that also. It is always so much easier to watch and learn. I have pretty clematis right outside my craft room window. They are just so soft and pretty.
The tips that you give during your video are so very helpful for someone who is attempting to learn to watercolor. Patience, patience, patience. I think that is hard for everyone. But, you showed how wonderfully it can pay off in the final project. Thank you so much for sharing.
Wow such a pretty card!
Beautiful card and your watercolor skills look good to me. Patience and practice…..working on those in my watercoloring! Oh and I love the purple!
Stunning card! Love the colors and background texture.
Thanks, Yana, for such gorgeous inspiration.
Oh, the clematis is gorgeous! I can’t stop looking at it!
The shading is spectacular.
Mom will be so thrilled with her card.
thanks for sharing
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Beautiful card
Your card is beautiful. Love your work.
Beautiful card! You wouldn’t know it has been a while since you watercolored, so talented!
Such beautiful coloring! Gorgeous card!
Wow this is so pretty Yana, I must practice my watercolouring!!!
Patience she say as to watercoloring!! What a pretty result! May have to work on that!!
Very pretty!
Gorgeous!
Absolutely stunning!! I love your watercoloring!! The purple is so beautiful!! Another winner Yana!!
So gorgeous!! Wow!!
What a stunning card! Love the coloring.
Thanks for sharing.
Gorgeous card! Loved seeing it come together in the video. It made me want to pick up water coloring and try something new! I also loved seeing the difference adding the stamp to the background the next day added. Brilliant idea.
What a stunning card, that watercolored flower is gorgeous!
De fabula!
A real beauty! Love it!
welcome back, Yana! Love to see a new video from you and your watercolored clematis is just so beautiful!!
Boy I wish I could color like you do!
Love watercolor!
Beautiful card Yana, love the added background stamp–good for you showing how you handle what to do when you’re not sure you’re happy with your card. Gives us ideas and need to remember I can mask stuff.
Beautiful card, love the watercolouring, and the choice of colours =)
Lovely card!
This is an amazing card. It looks so like a real clematis flower. Thank you for sharing the video. It was helpful to see how you did the coloring. I would love to try it.
I almost passed on this one since I’m not a water colorer, but I’m glad I didn’t. I learned a lot and was once again inspired to TRY! Thank you!
So beautiful and perfect for Mother’s Day!