Susan's Level 3 - Advanced Coloring

I was really excited to take the Advanced Coloring class by Erum, and she did not disappoint! There's a lot to take in, and it will be awhile for me to hone my own coloring skills to hold a candle to her work, but here's my submission for this class:

I recently purchased a set of Derwent Inktense Pencils (which are a bit like watercolor pencils but the are more vivid because they are actually ink) and have been looking forward to using them, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity.

I stamped this panel on 110 pound Neenah Solar White Class Crest cardstock (which held up to the water pretty well!) using the Paint a Flower: Lotus with VersaFine Tuxedo Black ink because it is compatible with watercolors and colored the various elements of this image using 2 or 3 shades of each color using the Inktense Pencils. I will readily admit that I'm no expert with these new pencils, but they are fun to use and the colors are goregeous! Once the panel was colored and dry, I added clear Glossy Accents to the bubbles in the water and stamped a sentiment from the Weekend Doodles stamp set. I also added a few gems from Trinity Stamps Rainbow gems that in real life, nicely pick up the pink shade of the lotus flowers. I mounted the image panel onto blue fun foam and then adhered that onto a 5 1/4 by 5 1/4 piece of blue cardstock that I had run through the Ribbon Waves 3D embossing folder. I lightly ran my embossing ink pad over the top and then sprinkled on some rainbow iridescent embossing powder. I love this embossing folder because it so nicely goes with "water themes" but is versatile enough to be used in a number of ways. The whole thing then was mounted onto a square 5 3/4 by 5 3/4 top folding note card., leaving a nice white border.

Here is a closer view of the edge of the card to show the sparkle of the "waves" in the background as well as the glossy accent "bubbles" and the gem stones:

And this image shows a closer view of the coloring on the panel:

I've got a lot to learn from Erum's class on coloring and look forward to watching the class again and again!