Bloom Away Waratah

Those of you who know me know that I love to watercolour, so I couldn't resist getting these stamps of Australian Wildflowers. Stampin' Up! are a US company, but they really make an effort to give us stamps for the Aussie market. And I think they really got it right with this set. The catalogue has only been out for 10 days and already they have proven to be very popular. I coloured all 3 images at Stamp Camp (I was demoing watercolouring), and then came home and assembled them into cards. I'll show you all 3 over the next few days.

The first is the Waratah. You should be able to click on the image to see it in more detail.
Isn't it lucky that one of our new In Colors is the perfect waratah colour? Riding Hood Red, and I've added a touch of Real Red and Bravo Burgundy. For those overseas readers, the Waratah is the state flower of NSW, and is in the protea family. If you'd like to increase your knowledge of waratahs, you can read about them here.
I wanted a deep green for the leaves, so I used Always Artichoke. I paired the reds and greens with some browns: Close to Cocoa for the card base and Chocolate Chip for some layering. I stamped 'sanded' on the background (in Riding Hood Red ink) to add some subtle texture, and the edges have been sponged.
I did my colouring on Watercolour paper, stamped the image in Black Stazon and coloured with the Aquapainters and ink.
The greeting 'for you' is from Fresh Cuts, and has been punched out with the 1" circle, and then layered on the 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" and then the Designer Label.

Materials (all Stampin' Up!)
stamps: Bloom Away, Fresh Cuts
ink: Riding hood Red, Always Artichoke, Going Gray, Close to Cocoa, Real Red, Bravo Burgundy
card: Close to Cocoa, Riding hood Red, Always Artichoke, Chocolate chip, Watercolour Paper
other: Wide Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon, 1" circle, 1 1/4" circle, 1 3/8" circle, Designer Label, sponge daubers, Dimensionals