Watercolor floral backgrounds

As promised in my last post, here is the second flowery card I created for the Floral Cards challenge on the Art Impressions blog and the "Build your birthday card stash" theme for the Hero Arts National Craft Month Challenge.

Supplies:
Stamps: 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set, 5008 - WC Flower Set 3, 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 (Art Impressions)
Paper: Watercolor paper (Strathmore), Concord Crush card stock (Stampin' Up!), gold foil sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Ink (markers): 86 African Violet, 13 Ochre, 5 Yellow (Marvy LePlume II); 158 (Tombow)
Accessories: Gold Wink of Stella glitter brush pen (Kuretake), Scribble Happy Birthday dies (Poppy Stamps), gold sequins (The Makery), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute Glitter)

The inspiration for this card came from an Art Impressions video about making patterned paper with watercolor stamps. Genius! Why hadn't I thought of that before? I've certainly done that with other stamps many times. So I had to give it a try.

I did modify the technique a little bit. Rather than making a pencil grid on the paper so all my images were evenly spaced, I just stamped them randomly. I love purple and yellow together, and I love the way the background turned out. I wanted a little sparkle, too, so I added flecks of gold with a Wink of Stella glitter brush pen.

I adhered the background to a Concord Crush card base with a strip of gold foil. For the sentiment I die cut "happy birthday" twice -- once from Concord Crush card stock and once from gold foil -- and layered them together. Three gold sequins finish off the card.

I had fun making this background, so I wanted to try one more card. This one isn't for the challenges; it's kind of a bonus card:

Supplies:
Stamps: 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set, 5008 - WC Flower Set 3, 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 (Art Impressions)
Paper: Watercolor paper (Strathmore), Concord Crush card stock (Stampin' Up!), gold foil sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Ink (markers): 86 African Violet, 13 Ochre, 5 Yellow (Marvy LePlume II), 46 Crimson Lake; 158 (Tombow)
Accessories: "Thanks" die (Taylored Expressions), gold sequins (The Makery), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute Glitter), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), foam tape (3M)

I actually made this background first, but I wasn't crazy about it at first. I set it aside, but after awhile I decided I liked it after all and made it into a card.

I kept this one pretty simple. I rounded the corners of the background and adhered it to a Concord Crush card base. I die cut "thanks" and placed it near the bottom of the card with a narrow gold strip on either side. And, of course, it wouldn't be complete without three sequins.

I had a lot of fun trying this technique, and it's definitely going to be one I use again. Thanks for stopping by!