Mother's Day Tulips and Hi Honey! Bear Frame by Diane Mason

Hello, and welcome back for Watercolor Weekend! 

Hello, my Ai watercolor friends and fans — I’m so happy to be back! My lovely daughter was married last weekend, and it was such a beautiful celebration for our whole family. With the help of guest designers Kristen Brown and Julie Worthing, I was able to take some time off in April to finish up all the wedding preparations. I’m so grateful to these very talented ladies for stepping in and sharing their creativity while I was away.

Now that the festivities have wrapped up and life is settling back into its rhythm, I’m excited to jump back into the studio and share two new projects with you today. First is a Mother’s Day card featuring the newly released 6186 – FG Tulip Border. The second is an adorable honey bear frame using the 6170 – Exclusive Honey Bear 2026 Freebie.

Mother's Day Tulips Card:

Happy Mother’s Day weekend to all the amazing moms celebrating this Mother’s Day!

The new Countryside Series includes two structure sets and three floral foreground border sets. These fabulous new sets make it easy to create endless mix‑and‑match watercolor scenes. You can use the Euro Cottage Set or Swiss Villa Set as your background focal points (or any other small structure that fits), then layer tulips, poppies, or daisies in the front to create depth.

 

For my card, I used 6186 – FG Tulip Border. Each floral border set includes a sentiment, but since this was a Mother’s Day card, I chose the sentiment from 6039 – Just For Her Set.

Using a stamp platform, I inked the tulip border stamp in 177 for the stems and leaves, and 603 and 743 for the tulips and stamped onto Canson XL watercolor paper.

Colors and supplies used:

Tombow Dual Brush Pens: 

• 177, 177+565 – leaves and stems
• 603, 606 – purple tulips
• 743 – pink tulips
• 555 – sky

Tombow TwinTone Pens used for details:

• Fuchsia (80)

Dies: 

• 5065 – Oval Double Stitched Dies

Patterned Paper: 

• 5939 – Fairy Garden Paper Pack (purple gingham)

Other:

•  foam squares
•  purple cardstock
•  white organza ribbon

Hi Honey! Bear Frame:

How darling is this sweet little Honey Bear? To create this honey-themed framed scene, I used the frame die from 5901 – Mini Rectangle Frame Dies and the oval dies from 5902 – Mini Scalloped Frame Dies. I love how elements from each set work beautifully together.

The honey bear is one of six brand-new 2026 exclusive Art Impressions Freebies:

Using my stamp platform, I inked the 6170 – Exclusive Honey Bear in Versafine Onyx Black Ink and stamped onto Canson XL watercolor paper. On another piece of watercolor paper, I stamped the honeycomb from 5925 – Honey Bee Set in Versafine Vintage Sepia twice — once in the top left and once in the bottom right.

Colors and supplies used:

Honey Bear: 

• 947 – bear
• 856+947 – cheeks
• 025, 985 – honey pot
• 526 – honey pot lid
• 025 – bee body
• 526 – bee wings
• 177 – grass (4051 – WC Foliage Set 1, Teeny Tiny Grass)
• 555 – sky 
• Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White - highlights on nose and eyes

Honeycomb: 

•  985, 026 – honeycomb framework 
• 025, 985 – honeycomb cells

Dies:

• 5901 – Mini Rectangle Frame Dies
• 5902 – Mini Scalloped Frame Dies

Paper for frame:

• Coordinating Yellow cardstock

  

The die set includes a stand piece to keep the frame upright. The sentiments are from 5925, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black. This sweet little frame is perfect for gifting or slipping into a card to brighten someone’s day!

Thank you for joining me today for Watercolor Weekend. I can’t wait to see what you create with the new Countryside Series! When sharing your work, be sure to tag Art Impressions on social media. Until next time, Happy Painting!