Coloring with stencils; two ways

I picked up a few new stencils for myself for my birthday and I had some time to play around with them last week. I intended to only make one card, which is the first one I will be showcasing, but I wanted to do some comparisons with the result by using Distress Oxide ink as well.

This is the first example that I watercolored. I knew going in that it would be a loose, organic watercolor rather than crisp and tight like the stencil. I know that I would need to use some spray adhesive on the stencil to keep it clean looking, but that isn't the feel I wanted to create. I used THESE watercolors. They have beautiful colors and are very creamy. I used to only use the liquid watercolors, but I really like using these ones as well.

To begin, I taped the Bold Floral Stencil over a piece of 140 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper and begin filling in the negative space with green paint. I was mostly focusing on the areas with leaves. I came back in with a beautiful blue color for an earthy feel. I really like the color combination. I did add some gold here and there for contrast.

I removed the stencil and went back in with a wet brush and smoothed and defined some of the lines a little better. This was very fun for me because it felt more natural, rather than following a "Pattern" so to speak. The I really didn't have a plan for the watercolor panel once I was done, so I added a quick and simple die cut and heat embossed sentiment to a strip of Kraft cardstock. I used the Scripted stamp set and coordinating dies.  I used the same technique as I did for THIS card if you're interested in reading more about it.

Once I was done with that card, I wanted to compare and contrast by using the same stencil but using Distress Oxide inks instead. As you can see, the results are much softer and have a completely different feel, even though I used the same stencil and colors.

I tried to very carefully only sponge the flower areas blue and the leaf areas green, but you can see where there was some overlap.

This die cut sentiment is from a set I bought a few years ago and I don't remember the manufacturer to link it. I stacked it in the same way I did on the previous card, but decided to add some Glossy Accents as well for some shine. The "dearest friend" sentiment is from the "Scripted" set as well. I've linked it in the previous card. Thanks for fluttering by!