Christmas Poinsettia

• Categories: Coloring tutorials, Ideas and inspiration, Monthly Challenge, Sheena Douglass
• Comments: 5
• Posted by: Taylor Usry on 17th Sep 2012 at 9:00am

Recently on our Facebook page we asked what sort of tutorials our fans would like to see.  One of the responses was more flowers, so this tutorial will share how I colored a poinsettia.

Have you had a look at the lovely Paint Fusion stamps from Sheena Douglass?  They are available at both Crafter’s Companion USA and Crafter’s Companion UK.

I used the Poinsettia for this project.

The stamps are designed to be used with paint, but I decided to have a go at them with my Spectrum Noir markers.  They create a beautiful, bold holiday card!  I began by stamping all of the leaves on to Crafter’s Companion white card stock, with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

On the green leaves, I started with the broad nib end of my DG1 marker, and quickly colored it.  I did not worry about even coverage, as this was just a base coat.  I then used GB5 to add a bit of yellow-gold to the leaf center.

Next I added DG2 directly over the GB5, to soften it a bit.  I blended outwards, towards the edges of the leaf.

I then used DG4 around the edges of each leaf, and again over the center of the leaf where I had previously used GB5 and DG2.

Finally, I began at the edges (right over top of the DG4) and colored again with my DG2, in small circular motions.  I wanted to achieve the variegated look often seen on plant leaves.

On the petals themselves, I laid down a base coat of CR5 and then colored from the center outwards with CR6.

I went over the center again with CR7 and Cr8, coloring outwards towards the edge with both markers.

I added DR1 in the very center of the petal, and then used CR& and CR6 to smooth out the blend until I was satisfied with the result.  My favorite poinsettias are the ones with the pinkish-red petals, so that is the effect I wanted to achieve.  You could absolutely color more red, for less of a contrast.  Those poinsettias are gorgeous, too!

I repeated this process for all of the leaves (in green) and petals (in red) I intended to use on my poinsettia.

I fussy cut all of the leaves and petals out.  To place them on my card, I first stamped the flower center directly on to the card base, to give me a starting point for adhering the leaves and petals.

I placed a bit of adhesive at the base of each leaf, and arranged them around the stamped center.  I repeasted the process with the petals, taking care to only use adhesive at the parts that touched the center.

Once all of my petals were in place, I went back in and popped the edges up with double sided foam adhesive.  This raised them up off of the card base at an angle.

You can see in the picture above that I used a bit of DR7 on the very center of the flower, on the smallest petals.  I colored it using the same process I described above;  the DR7 was added prior to coloring over one last time with the CR6.

I also added Yellow Gold Stickles to my flower center.  The center itself was first colored with GB5 and GB8.

I hope this tutorial has inspired you to create something floral!  As this is a holiday card, it also works for our new Spectrum Noir monthly challenge (to create a holiday card).  Be sure you have taken a look at the challenge details!

Happy coloring! — Taylor