Blended Bloom and 2016-2018 In Colors

I love the new 2016-2018 In Colors from Stampin’ Up! and they have fantastic names – Dapper Denim, Emerald Envy, Flirty Flamingo, Peekaboo Peach and Sweet Sugarplum : ) As soon as the stamp pads arrived I knew I wanted to watercolour to see the variety of shades I could achieve so I grabbed my Aqua Painter.

In my parcel was also the Blended Bloom stamp, this is a beautiful image perfect to watercolour (the stamp is retiring on 31st May 2016 – link at the bottom of this post)

I stamped the image several times onto watercolour paper using Versamark and heat embossed it using white embossing powder.

Sweet Sugarplum was the first colour I tried and I really liked all the different shades I could get.

I tried Dapper Denim next and I really love the look of the finished flower. The Dapper Denim stamp pad looks really dark when you open it but when you watercolour you can get a beautiful baby blue. This is my new favourite ‘blue’ from Stampin’ Up!

I really disliked Flirty Flamingo when I first saw it at OnStage Live, Telford – it looked really garish. I wasn’t going to order it but it didn’t ‘feel right’ ordering the other In Colors and not this one.

Now I’m so glad I did because you get some really lovely shades, don’t let the harshness of the pink put you off. I would always use Pink Pirouette but Flirty Flamingo is my new go to ‘pink’. You can achieve so many beautiful shades of pink and I’m not a ‘pink person’.