Hello crafty friends! I hope that you’re well. I think we’re all looking forward to some more agreeable weather! It’s been around 38ºC here (over 100ºF) for most of the week, and I’ve seen my US and UK friends consoling themselves with the thought that winter is nearly over. So to help us with thoughts of kinder climates, I have some spring flowers to share today.

These cards are perfect for the person who doesn’t think they’re good at colouring, or doesn’t want to bother with a lot of time spent blending and shading. For these cards, we let the paper do most of the heavy lifting! I’m using patterned papers from Paper Rose Studio today, from three different packs, but there are many different papers that have suitable designs, especially on the backs of the main designs. The paper packs used above are:(L-R) Winter Backgrounds, Butterfly Bliss, and Rainbow Garden Basics. I’ll link to these and the other supplies below. The one thing that these have in common is that the ink covers the whole of the paper, with no white paper remaining. This is important.

The first two cards use a single light coloured Copic Marker ( you can use Zig Clean Colour Brush markers or other not-too juicy watercolour markers too – I tested). All I have done is add a few brush strokes coming out from the centre of each flower, and then a few strokes from the base of each leaf using a green marker. Because of the pattern underneath, and the translucent nature of the Copic Markers, the colour of the marker changes based on what’s under it.

For the second card, I chose super subtle colours. You can hardly see the pink centres of the Cherry blossoms. But, that’s what they actually look like! I always thought they’d be more pink until I lived in Japan. Then for the card below, I chose two neutral markers, in this case Copic markers B60 and Y00 (greyish, and creamish, respectively) and coloured the whole image. (leaves in grey, flowers in cream)This had the effect of making the flowers stand out against the background, without choosing the colours myself. The stamped sentiments come from the Daisy Bouquet Stamp set, and the popped up sentiment is from Rainbow Poppies Sentiment strips.

What do you think? Is this for you? Or do you prefer the zen of blending and colouring with more shading? I like both, but I think this is a good way to make colouring accessible for everybody.

Whatever you’re making, I wish you joy!

Blessings

Donna

These are the supplies I used. You can click on the link to shop. Where available, I have used affiliate links, which means that I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. I’ve tried to link to companies in different countries, so you can save on postage costs. Thank you so much for your support.

Paper Rose Butterfly Bliss Paper Pack Shop at: PRS | SBC	Paper Rose Daisy Bouquet stamp Shop at: PRS | SBC	Paper Rose Rainbow Poppies Sentiment Sheets Shop at: PRS | SBC | SSS	Paper Rose Winter Backgrounds papers Shop at: PRS | SBC | SSS	Rainbow Garden Basics 6×6 paper pack Shop at: PRS | SBC | SSS
Paper Rose Blossom Branch Shop at: PRS	Paper Rose Blossom Bouquet Shop at: PRS