My Sweet Petunia

We’re delighted to welcome Design Team member Kassi Hulet back to the My Sweet Petunia blog with a project that is as beautiful as the memories behind it. Inspired by summertime visits to her grandmother’s rose garden, Kassi transforms a softly painted background into an elegant no-line watercolor card using the Petunia Platform, Original MISTI, MISTI Lite, and Power Mag. From building a delicate stamped image gradually to adding a perfectly placed sentiment, this project is a lovely example of how My Sweet Petunia tools can support every stage of the creative process while leaving plenty of room for artistry and personal expression.

Hello friends!

Summertime reminds me of walking through my grandmother’s rose garden. I loved stopping to smell the beautiful roses! I still remember the year she took me to a garden shop and let me pick her next rose bush. I have no idea what kind of rose I picked, but I remember it was a peach color. 

When I’m not sure what exactly I want to create, I like to just tape down some watercolor paper to the Platform and create some backgrounds.  When I need to make a card, I can flip through my pile of backgrounds to find something that inspires me and then go from there. 

After creating a background and securing it in my MISTI, I chose a large rose stamp from the Happily Ever After Wishes stamp set by Gina K. Designs. I love the large floral designs, and if worked perfectly with the background I had chosen. 

I stamped the rose using Fadeout Ink from Inkon3. I like to keep my pad a little on the dry side so the light ink is even lighter. This allows me to slowly build the ink up so the lines end up being just dark enough that I can see them without being any darker than necessary. The MISTI is absolutely perfect for this!

I used 4 beautiful granulating watercolors to paint this- Rustic Turquoise, Smoky Pink, and Moody Blue from Dusty Bee Watercolors, and Peony Bud from Masha’s Watercolors. I love the muted tones and unique color separation that these granulating paints give!

I wanted to keep this card fairly simple, so I chose an elegant sentiment from Beautiful Things (Gina K. Designs) and stamped it on using the MISTI Lite. 

To finish the card, I doodled a border and matted the painted panel on a shimmery green cardstock. 

I wish I could grow beautiful roses like my grandmother did.. unfortunately, the deer like to munch on roses. I guess I’ll just have to keep painting them instead!

Happy painting!
Kassi 

My Sweet Petunia products: 
Petunia Platform
MISTI
MISTI Lite
Power Mag

Paper: Arches Cold Press, green paper from Your Paper Insider box 13
Stamp: Happily Ever After Wishes, Beautiful Things (Gin K. Designs)
Ink: Fadeout, Blackout (Inkon3)
Color: Rustic Turquoise, Smoky Pink, Moody Blue (Dusty Bee), Peony Bud (Masha’s)
Other: black pen

Kassi’s rose card is a wonderful reminder that inspiration often begins long before we know exactly what we want to create. Try taping several pieces of watercolor paper to your Petunia Platform and spending an afternoon simply experimenting with color—then keep the finished backgrounds nearby for future cards. You could even turn it into a relaxing craft night with friends, with everyone creating a few backgrounds to trade before finishing them with the Original MISTI or MISTI Lite. 

With a little time to play and the right tools to keep everything secure and precisely placed, you may discover that your next favorite project is already waiting in your background pile.