Color Challenge: Grape, Fig & Beige

 I've joined the Cupcake Inspirations Design Team! Our first challenge for 2026 is to use the colors grape, fig and beige. I used these shades to watercolor the Majestic Roses stencil from the Altenew January release. Using the fig shade for the foliage kept the card more subdued and made a nice sympathy card. You can play along with this challenge 

Starting with watercolor paper, I inked with a beige color (Sand Dunes). The paper itself is already a cream color instead of a stark white. That worked perfectly for this project. 

Next, I used the stencil as a guide for watercoloring. First apply a light layer of ink, then remove the stencil and watercolor over the image. This stencil set has 4 layers for the rose petals. The last stencil has some very small sections so leaving the stencil on the paper and painting through it works better for this layer. Be sure to let the paint dry between each layer. Finish off the panel with a grape color watercolro splatter. 

To add more interest, I cut a rectangle from the panel and layered a lavender layer underneath it for a thin border. The lavender layer is inked with an ombre effect. The sentiment is stamped in brown on beige paper and backed with a vellum strip. The vellum softens the look of the card. 

Supplies:

Altenew Majestic Roses layering stencil set, Elegant Sayings sentiment, 110 lb cold pressed watercolor paper, 36 pan watercolor set, Fresh Dye inks: Sand Dunes, Rocky Shore, Melted Butterscotch

Gina K Designs: Master Layouts 2 rectangle die, Wild Wisteria and Dark Chocolate inks

Simple to Extra Special

 If you're in the mood for a simple yet stunning card, Gina K stencils are the way to go! This Magnificent Magnolias stencil has two layers for the petals and two layers for the stems. 

Magnificent Magnolias Stencil

Steps to create this card:

Ink blend layer one in Light Cranberry ink. Next blend layer two with Medium Cranberry and add some darker shading at the center of each bloom with Dark Cranberry if you'd like. These new ink colors are really pretty! Every layer could have been done in the same shade, with each layer getting darker as more ink is applied. 

Next shade the leaves in Applemint, then Lucky Clover ink. I wanted to keep the greens as vibrant as the cranberry colors. A spruce color would have been great too, but I don't have those shades. I should have taken a photo a this point because it really made a pretty card. Just add a sentiment and it's done! 

OR make it extra special... 

Chalet Background

                       

                            

Use an an oval mask to stamp the Chalet background in Light Cranberry on plain paper.  Then I stamp on the actual stenciled card panel. This second generation stamping makes the ink lighter. Look at your card panel and decide where to add a little extra ink so the oval isn't such an exact shape. Use a piece of paper to blot the stamp to make the ink lighter. Using a Misti or stamp positioner is a must! 

Finishing Touches

            

Cut out the panel using Master Layouts 2, the largest rectangle. Then shade the edges of the panel with Light Cranberry. Cut another pink panel slightly larger for a mat. If you don't have a matching shade of cardstock, just ink it in the Medium Cranberry like I did. 

Finally, create your sentiment strip with Tiny Tags dies and Tiny Tags Sentiments. Wrap gold thread around the card, threading it through the tag hole and tie a bow. If you want to get really fancy, add a mini wax seal in gold! 

Supplies 

Gina K products: Magnificent Magnolias stencil set, Chalet background stamp, Cranberry ink set,  Applemint ink, Lucky Clover ink, Tiny Tags dies, Tiny Tags sentiments. These stencils and tags were part of the Advent Box. They may be on the Gina K website at some point. 

Altenew Mini Double Hearts wax seal stamp & enchanted gold wax beads

Challenges Entered:

SSS Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge- Something new (stencil, tags, background stamp new in the Advent Box) with optional Gina K products. (Jan 7-13)

Little Red Wagon Challenge #840 Theme of new- my Gina K products in the Advent Box. (Jan7-13)

Lenten Rose Inspiration

                                    

These gorgeous hellebores, or Lenten Roses,  were the inspiration for this month's Altenew Inspiration Challenge host Agnieszka Malyszek. I personally planted these flowers last year and was it was so fun to see these super early bloomers open up when it was still so cold outside! I planted more for this spring, or late February. I love these colors and found perfectly matching ink colors with Altenew's Fresh Dye Ink in Grapevine, Olive, and Sea Forest. I threw in a little of the super dark Redwood shade too. 

Layering Stencils

To create this card, I used the super easy Majestic Roses layering stencils from Altenew. This stencil is part of the Stencil Art subscription program, released every other month. I used Grapevine ink for all 4 layers of the rose petals. When they were dry I decided to deepen the contrast on the last layer and added some Redwood ink. The leaves are mainly inked in Olive with the stems, highlights and background leaves in the more brownish green tone of Sea Forest. 

Third Generation Stamping

For the background I used a "thanks" stamp I received from Altenew as a customer appreciation gift. I wanted the words to match the roses but didn't want it as dark. To get a lighter version of the same Grapevine ink, I just loaded the stamp and stamped off twice on a piece of sticky note paper I had lying on my desk. When I stamped close to the roses, I used pieces of paper to cover the image. Yes, I need to buy masking paper, but it did work! 

Finishing It Off

When I was ready to add my sentiment, I wanted to match the Grapevine ink color but didn't have the exact shade of cardstock. I just inked some cardstock that was close in color to make it a little darker, then cut out the sentiment. I love this fine script die cut! I used vellum to back it so the color of the rose could shine through. A strip of cardstock on the left and enamel dots completed the card. 

                                           

Supplies:

Altenew Majestic Roses layering stencils, Blooming Thanks stamp set, Warm & Cozy Sentiments die set, Red Cosmos Enamel Dots, Fresh Dye Inks in Redwood, Grapevine, Olive, Sea Forest.

Challenges I'm Entering: 

Altenew January Inspiration Challenge  photo inspiration for colors of hellebore flower

Ellibelle's Garden Party #11 Anything from a garden 

Little Red Wagon Anything Goes with something new- My new product is the layering stencil from the January release. 

Watercolor Wonder

Watercolors can be my best friend or worst enemy, depending on the day! They are hard to control yet so forgiving. The Artist's Watercolor 101 for Papercrafters class by Emily Midgett at Altnew Academy is a great place to start! She gives so many tips and tricks, introduces all of the techniques and products. This card incoporates several of these techniques: usign embossing to guide your watercoloring, no line watercoloring, and ombre background painting. 

Ombre Background

            

Start by heat embossing the flowers in gold on watercolor paper. Now you're ready for the ombre effect from blue, to green, to yellow. Beginning with the blue, use a wet brush to pull the color down as you swipe the brush back and forth.  Then add some green and pull the color towards the blue so it will mix smoothly.  Finally, add the yellow and pull it towards the green as well as fading out towards the bottom corner.  I did add more blue to intensify the corner, and threw in a more aqua shade of blue as it faded out into the green. Yes, I painted right over my flowers to have a base of color. 

Color Layering

After drying the panel throughly, the flowers are painted with a wet-on-dry technique. Wet watercolor is applied to the dry paper. The paints are transparent, allowing the yellow base to show through the pink shades.  Some of the blooms have yellow on the tips to add a highlight. Notice how I painted one petal and then rotated to the opposite petal. This allows the first petal to dry so wet color does not leak into another wet area.  Finally the leaves were painted with the areas closer to the stem being darkest. This does take patience, allowing each layer to dry before adding another layer of the same color or another color. After painting the large focal point roses in the next step, I added another layer of a more orange shade to the flowers on this panel to distinguish the color from the pink roses. TIP: If your watercolor panel is warped after drying, run it through your diecut machine to flatten it out! 

No Line Watercolor

To give the appearance of no lines, stamp the image with a light gray ink. It is important to use a pigment ink so the ink does not bleed when watercolor is applied. This ink, Altnew Permanent Mist Gray, is very light. Above you see the first two stamped images. I stamped 4 times to get the shade I wanted, but I really could have stopped with 3 for less of a visible line. Using a stamp positioner allows stamping multiple times in the exact same spot. 

 

                                                   Layer 1                                   Layer 2 

Lay down color, rinse your brush, blot some water off, then use the wet brush to draw the color out towards the tip of the petal. Build color by drying between layers. TIP: Keeping the tip of the brush pointed away from you allows you to see your application better.

Mistakes Happen!

Sometimes light lines can make small areas hard to discern. I did accidentally paint an area I should have left lighter. To correct a mistake, use a very wet brush to saturate the color and wipe the color away with the brush. TIP: good quality watercolors can be removed, or at least lightened considerably, rather easily. 

Assembling the Card

When assembling your card, it might help to lay out the pieces and take a photo of several designs. Looking at the photo comparison often helps me decide placement of items, such as this sentiment. The larger rose is elevated with foam tape, but the smaller rose is not. Vellum behind the sentiment makes the words stand out without covering too much visual area of the painted flowers. I also used a gold frame and sequins to tie into the gold sentiment. 

Supplies: 

Altenew China Rose outline stamp, Blooming Thanks stamp, Regal Frame die, Warm & Cozy Sentiments die set, Misty Gray permanent ink, 36 pan watercolor set, round watercolor brushes, 140lb cold pressed watercolor paper

vellum, metallic gold paper (mfg unknown)

Challenge Submissions: 

 

https://neglectedstuff.blogspot.com/

Use at least 1 old product: I've had this China Rose stamp set forever and had not used it! 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge- Something New

My new item is the Altnew Blooming Thanks Stamp

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/

A Happy Rainbow Background

 

I've joined the Design Team for A Place To Start Challenge and Resource Blog! You can find the current challenge of Anything Goes with a twist of rainbows here. 

For this card, my rainbow twist is made with strips of cardstock in rainbow colors. It's easy to adhere the colored cardstock strip, then flip the panel over to cut off the excess. I used random colors from my bin of leftovers. 

The shadow layer for the sentiment was used to cut the rainbow layer, then popped up on a white panel with foam tape. 

The sentiment words were cut from black glitter cardstock and adhered to the white panel. 

I decided the to add some stamped floral images on the rainbow panel. This was tricky because I had already adhered the panel with foam tape to the white cardstock. Yikes! Do this step before popping the panel up! 

Iridescent sequins finish off the card. I hope it makes someone smile with the array of colors, glitter and shine! 

Supplies: 

Altenew Timeless Sentiements 2, Adore You Stamp Set

Gina K Designs Disco Ball sequins

Versafine Claire Nocturne ink

Variety of cardstocks (unknown)

Misti stamping tool 

Challenge submissions:

AUD Sentiments Challenge Blog - Anything goes plus a sentiment. 

https://audsentimentschallengeblog.blogspot.com.  

Path of Positivity Challenge- Anything with a positive message 

https://pathofpositivitychallenge.blogspot.com/ 

  The Neglected Stuff Challenge- Adore You Stamp set I've had for at                                                                least a year!

https://neglectedstuff.blogspot.com/