Flowers on Vellum - A How To

Hi all ! Last week, I shared a card that I made on vellum with colored pencils. Click HERE to see that post. Well, I promised to show you all how I did it with a different floral image! So, here goes! This image is from the newly released Peony set from Flourishes. It's a perfect image to try out this technique because there aren't a ton of colors like the card from my previous post.

Here's what you'll need: Prismacolor pencils (you have to use a pencil with a wax base in order for the colors to blend!), translucent vellum, neutral color ink preferably dye based (so that it dries well on the vellum)

First, stamp the image on your vellum. I used Ranger Distress Ink in Brushed Corduroy. I did have to heat set the ink a bit to get it to dry. Keep in mind, you don't want to hit the heat tool on the vellum too long. It will burn!
You'll want to start your coloring on the back side of your image. Be sure to start with the darkest colors first. This is where it gets super easy with stamps like this - the stamp actually shows the "shaded" areas! Color the shaded areas with your darkest color. I used Process Red on the petals and Olive Green on the leaves.
After you finish with the darkest colors, some of you might look at it and say "YUCK!" This looks terrible! Trust me - stick with it. The trick to this technique is blending the colors together with the lighter shade. I used Deco Pink and Chartreuse. A good back up to Chartreuse is Lime Peel.

This is what it looks like from the back side after you've blended the color. How do you blend the color? Using a heavy hand, you just color over all the places you already colored with the dark color and all the places that don't yet have color.

See how much softer this looks just by coloring over the top with a light pink and a light green?

Next, I matted the Peony onto some Two Scoops paper by Basic Grey. I wanted it to look like the image was "floating" on the decorative paper. I love how you can still kind of see the pattern through my floral image. From here, add some matting, some ribbon and secure the vellum pieces with some brads and you're done! The word "Peony" was stamped using Tea Rose Vivid ink.
Coloring with Prismacolors are a blast. They are so blendable and are very forgiving! If you give this technique a try, be sure to let me know! I would love to see what you come up with.

Tomorrow it will be time to Stamp Simply for another Friday challenge -- this one is BOLD!