A Hand-Colored Floral Valentine

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Do you like to color? Me too! I felt like making a hand-colored floral valentine today, which gave me the perfect excuse to break out my new set of Polychromos colored pencils from Faber Castell. I picked them up because I wanted to be able to color on dark paper – something my Copic markers aren’t so great at. I’ve had other pencils before, but these seem to be a little softer, less waxy, and they work spectacularly on Astrobrights cardstock.

This card is made with the same background stamp I used for my last post, except I’m using a different technique to add color today.

It starts pretty much the same, though. I picked out a piece of Astrobrights Cardstock Planetary Purple to work with, and heat embossed my background with Ranger clear embossing powder. It’s always easiest to lay the stamp face up and press your paper down. You’re more likely to get a great impression that way.

Now the fun part – coloring! Polychromos pencils blend very well, so I chose three muted pinks and two shades of green to color the image. I learned that they work very similar to Copic markers in the blending department: lay down the lightest color first, then darkest, then blend out with the mid and light shades to finish.

There’s no hard and fast rule to where you should put the darker color, it’s all about the look you’re going for. I wanted my flowers to be pale, but with a hint of blush (something to contrast against the vibrancy of the purple cardstock) to keep them from looking flat. The nooks and crannies are a great place to start.

Once all the colors are laid down, give the area a once-over with the lightest shade to finish up the blend before moving onto the next section.

The blend was even prettier on this flower!

After the coloring was finished, I trimmed my edges by running the panel through my die-cutting machine with a stitched rectangle die (Large Stitched Rectangles, Lawn Fawn).

I didn’t want to use a large sentiment and cover up all that lovely handiwork. So, I chose a piece of Basis Cardstock in Coral and used it for the sentiment along with a word die that says “Happy Valentine’s Day” (Happy Valentine’s Day, Mama Elephant).

A few dabs of well placed Tombow Mono Multi Glue made the words easy to adhere.