Ethereal Hand-Painted Navy Flower Card

A project from our live show Create Together Club - 5 Days of Creativity - Broadcast Thursday 13TH Feb 2025 · 02/13/2025 · watch it from 14:15

A striking navy card stock base featuring a heat-embossed gold flower design that is then hand-painted with white ink and layered with watercolour washes to create a dreamy, misty ethereal effect. The technique allows you to add vibrant colour to dark card stock in a way that traditional methods don't permit.

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Step by step

1. Score and fold your navy card stock to create a card blank approximately 6 by 4.5 inches. ▶ watch 15:15
2. Cut a slightly smaller piece of the same navy card stock to use as your working layer. ▶ watch 15:30
3. Use an antistatic bag and sticky ink pad to stamp the Forever Lilies flower image onto the navy card stock. ▶ watch 17:00
4. Apply gold embossing powder to the stamped image, ensuring it covers all the details and splats created by the stamp. ▶ watch 17:15
5. Heat set the embossed image with a heat gun until the gold powder is fully melted and shiny. ▶ watch 20:30
6. Mix white ink or confetti ink with water to create a paintable consistency. ▶ watch 27:30
7. Paint the entire flower with the white ink mixture, staying within the embossed lines as much as possible. ▶ watch 28:00
8. Allow the white paint to dry completely, noting that areas with more water will create a smoky, ethereal effect. ▶ watch 29:30
9. Prepare a watercolour paint (such as blue) by adding water to create a workable consistency. ▶ watch 35:00
10. Paint the outer edges of each petal with the coloured watercolour, working petal by petal. ▶ watch 35:45
11. Clean your brush and dampen it with water, then blend the coloured edges inward toward the white centre to create a gradient effect. ▶ watch 36:30
12. Once dry, add additional definition by painting darker details in the creases and around the gold embossing with a less-watered brush. ▶ watch 42:00
13. Add gold paint splats around the flower using a wet brush for decorative accents. ▶ watch 47:00
14. Cut and layer the foliage skeleton leaves (die-cut from gold card stock) onto the painted flower design. ▶ watch 50:30
15. Stamp a sentiment (such as 'Birthday Wishes') in gold embossing powder onto a small piece of navy card stock. ▶ watch 53:00
16. Heat set the sentiment, then trim it down and create a small foam pad by stacking pieces of card stock. ▶ watch 54:00

Tips from the show

• Use an antistatic bag when embossing to prevent powder from sticking everywhere except where you want it.
• If you get white paint on the gold embossing, it will brush off easily once dry.
• A damp brush can soften harsh lines and blend colours more smoothly if you're unhappy with the result.

Written up from the show itself. See every guide from our shows · free how-to guides · watch live on My Telly