The Simon Says Stamp Holly Jolly Blog Hop!!!!!

Today starts the celebration of the Simon Says Stamp new release that came out yesterday called Holly Jolly. This blog hop has 16 stops with all kinds of inspiration using this release. I have a new set of watercolor cards in this release called Suzy's Winter Flowers that I have colored to show you. Here is an image of the set as it is sold:

Each design is printed on Ranger Watercolor paper which is pure white and is perfect for ALL coloring mediums. They print on the smooth side, so there is very little texture. I'll show you the six colored and then I'll give you some of the tips/techniques I use to color them. I'll also tell you what kind of flower each of them are in case it's not obvious. I spent quite a bit of time studying what flowers are prominent in the winter time.

1.    Camellia

2.     Hellebores

3.     Snowdrop

4. Freesia

5.    Poinsettia

6.    Amaryllis 

TIPS/TECHNIQUES:

• I like to die-cut my watercolor cards to be one size smaller than a card front so I have 1/8" borders on all sides; I like the look of a card being framed by colored cardstock most of the time; any dies this size work (5.25" x 4"), but I use the largest frame die from the SSS Thin Frame Dies.
• I mix my coloring mediums on each card between watercolors, colored pencils, and Copic markers; I also don't stick to one kind of watercolors; I used Karin Brush Markers, Daniel Smith watercolors, and Nuvo Shimmer Powders on these; I start with watercolors on each card, but then I add shading and details with colored pencils or sometimes I'll color one with just Copics.
• I looked up each flower on google to get ideas of what colors they come in; it helps me shade and make them more realistic looking when I refer to a photo of that flower.
• When I use Karin Brushmarkers for watercoloring, I paint with lots of water the first go around by either dipping a wet brush on the marker tip, coloring on a surface and picking the color up with a wet paintbrush, or adding some water to the area and then using the marker directly on it; then I go back in once it is dry and add more color directly to the area I want darker without adding any water; an example of where this is obvious is on the inside of the Hellebores petals you can see a much darker magenta that isn't smoothed out as I didn't use water to move it. One thing I don't like about these markers is they easily smear outside of the areas you want them after they are dry if you go near them! I like taking a wet paintbrush over painted areas to move the color around to the background like I did on the leaves on the last card. I was using the color smearing easily issue to my benefit!
• I love adding my own sentiments to these cards so I've been making more sets without sentiments already printed on them - that way you can use them for any occasion you want; I often use sentiment dies as I did on many of these, but lately I've been using the pre-printed sentiment strips from SSS and their Sentiment Strip dies to die-cut them; I love these as they are like perfectly stamped or embossed sentiments better than I can do on my own (notice how good the Thank You looks on the Snowdrop card which came from the Thank You Sentiment Strips); I also layer two of the Sentiment Strip dies on top of each other as I did on this Thank You sentiment.
• I cut out the flowers for the Poinsettia and the Freesia once they were painted. I liked being able to mount them on a decorative paper (or patterned paper works well). For these two I used the new Lumen embossing folder which I love! I ran it through my die-cut machine with no inks - just white cardstock; some hints I learned are slightly mist your white cardstock first and run it through 3 times to get a better impact, also I use 2 metal shims instead of my usual plates to get the right thickness for the sandwich. I'm so excited about these new embossing plates as they make the most beautiful backgrounds for my flowers!
• If I want to paint the actual background around the flower, I usually mix the colors I've used for the flowers and the leaves in the background with a lot of water so it is a really light wash of color as if there are other blurry flowers in the background (as I did on the Camellia); I also did this for the Hellebores, but I used Green Parade Nuvo Shimmer Powder (I love using shimmer powders for backgrounds) - I left it lighter and darker in areas.
• Another option for the backgrounds of your cards is to color them in with Copic Markers; I did this for the Snowdrop flower by coloring around it with a black Copic marker. I actually painted the background green with watercolors first and I didn't like it as the flowers got lost in the background so I let it dry and then used the black Copic to color over it; It covered well, but you can actually see some green under it which I actually like! I never throw anything out - I always figure out a way to save things!
• I applied Glossy Accents and the new SSS Unicorn Confetti Chunky Glitter to the tips of each petal on my Poinsettia to take it up a notch. 
• On the Freesia card, I couldn't decide if I liked the Peace Die to have the fuchsia on the outside or on the inside letters, so I photographed it both ways and still haven't attached it - which one do you prefer? Anyone reading this far?!?!?!
• I use a white Uniball marker to add lines on many of the petals - don't know why; I also used it on the insides of flowers such as the Hellebores; I also used it on the actual outside of each petal on the Hellebores as the photo I looked at had very white edges on the petals; If I think the white is TOO white, I touch my finger to it while it is still wet to take half of the color off and make it a softer white.

Whew - each month I come up with tips/techniques and try to share new ones, so I you want more, my past blog hop posts all have them on the posts! I've done about 40 sets of these watercolor cards over the past 4 years and you can see all of Suzy's Watercolor Cards here. Also, I use the hash-tag #suzysdoodles on Instagram where you can see a bunch of them colored by all different card makers.

BLOG HOP DETAILS:

• There is a special promotion for this hop listed on the graphic at the top of this post; it is a free gift with purchase; use code SPGKN7 to get a Speckled Egg Mini Distress Ink Pad with your order; it expires on 11/8 at 11:59 EST.
• There is a gallery for this release called the Holly Jolly Gallery that will have all the cards on this hop in it linked to the blog where the card was posted so you can find the directions easily; this is a great place to see inspiration for each new release; add your own creations to this gallery as well!
• SSS is giving away a $25 coupon to one person on every stop of the hop from our blog comment section; they will choose the winners over the weekend and post on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, the 11^th of November; you can email Simon to claim your prize.
• You can see the entire Holly Jolly release here and I listed all of the supplies I used on this post at the end
• Next on the hop and last on the hop is Sidnie Des Jardins or SLD Creations! Start at the SSS blog if you are just getting started!

I have a "one stamp, five ways" blog post up using the Rest Queen stamp set HERE if you want to see some inspiration using that set. Here are little images of my 5 cards:

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR VISITING! HAPPY HOPPING FRIENDS! SUZY

SUPPLIES USED:

Comments

[Meghan Kennihan]

Your floral coloring is PHENOMENAL!

[Tara S]

Beautiful coloring. Thank you for sharing.

[Judy Inukai]

As always your coloring is amazing. The black background with the snowdrops is stunning.

[Cat Craig]

Gorgeous illustrations as usual.

[Miesje F]

Darn - this time I didn't order your cards because of budgeting. If I win a gift card then these are going in my cart! Love your cards and I like that there are no sentiment on these, I like to add my own a well.

[Heidi Crowl]

Suzy P Can I just come and live in your craft room? These are extraordinary. To not only draw them, but to color them to life like this is the pinnacle of beauty. Thank you!!

[Ann Ito]

WOW! WOW! WOW! Stunning cards! Love your designs and how you color them! If I could only have an ounce of your talents! :) Thank you for the inspiration!

[Peg Frushour]

Oh my! These florals are absolutely gorgeous!!

[Pennie]

Beautiful!

[Joanne M Hoffmann]

Pure beauty!! Your coloring is spectacular!! I LOVE these!!

[Brooke]

Suzy, your coloring of the flowers is absolutely gorgeous!

[Steffi H.]

Amazing coloring, as always Suzy.

[berryblue]

There is so much inspiration here! I read all your comments about each card and kept scrolling back and forth to look again and again! These are stunning

[Lisa Byers]

I love your new cards!! They will be in my house soon!! Your cards were colored beautifully!! You are such a fine artist!!

[Jean M Morin]

I absolutely love the way you colored all these floral cards. Gorgeous gorgeous and gorgeous...

[Pat Bethke]

Loved the way you colored all these floral cards and the wonderful tips you included. Thank you.

[Viveca V.]

Love the coloring of these beautiful floral cards. The open spaces and clean lines of the designs allow for all sorts of coloring mediums.

[Maria]

Excellent coloring technique tips. Beautiful illustration. Love your attention to detail.

[gabi]

wow, looks like 3D. really beautiful.

[Laurie D]

Love all the awesome inspiration!

[Dee Earnshaw]

stunning cards - beautiful coloring - I am in love with the thank you card!!!!!

[Nancy K Rodeberg]

Your winter flower collection is gorgeous! I love you showcased them with your amazing watercoloring!

[Vicki H]

Winter flowers are so pretty - any flowers that bloom in the winter are miracles themselves! Your cards are beautiful! I especially like the Snowdrop. Your tips/techniques are always so helpful - thank you!

[Alma Dirpaul]

Wow, the flowers you colored are beautiful!!

[Shirley N]

Beautiful cards and coloring!