The Garden Roses from Pinkfresh Studios is a gorgeous set. I have the stamps, dies, and layering stencils for coloring. I love the look of layered stenciling - you can see that here on my first playtime with the set.
But today, I used those layering stencils a bit differently... I'm not sure if this is something new - I've not seen it done before! You'll let me know if you have, won't you?
Here's a closeup of my card -
Here's how:
- Start by heat-embossing the outlines onto watercolor card - I used Ranger Princess gold.
- I chose three Distress inks to 'paint' with
- Grab two blending sponges, and a small dish of water
- Smoosh the ink onto an acrylic block, or a palette
- Dip the sponge into the water and blot off onto paper towels - you'll quickly know how much water is needed - practice is a good thing - then into one of the inks
- Sponge/dab color through the stencils in the proper order - I did NOT use the base stencil 1 today - love that bit of white for a proper watercolor look
I only used one green for both layers of the leaves -
just used less water for the detail layer.
I used spiced marmalade for the first layer of the roses, and picked raspberry on the second - because I didn't dry between, they married into a lovely peachy color for the shadow layers.

I allowed them to air-dry, then used the coordinating dies to cut them out. Here is the finished card:
I love my newest frame - Altenew Leaf Frame Cover die! the sentiment
if part of the Garden Rose set, and Altenew also makes the Label dies.
I have had the gloomiest week weather-wise. This little stencil-water-coloring did the trick to raise my spirits! I'm looking forward to the next time already!
=] Michele