Shading on Roses

Hello All, I had a question about how I shaded the darker yellow on the MOM Yellow Rose Card from last week. So I hope these notes / photos will help. I am still an Ink / Chalk person when it comes to shading. What is SO GREAT about Cottage Cutz Dies is that they cut the design lines completely through the paper. What purpose does cutting completly through? . . in this case it really does help? As you can see I use an Artist Palette Knite to insert in the cut area and block an area of the paper to sponge the color on the design line. This will give you a perfect color line to bring out the design. In this case you just remove the knife and work it around and follow the design to the center. When you have completed the inside lines, than place the flower on the top of the knife and work the color around the edge. Rotating the flower to the tip. Because the knife is flexible, when you are sponging the color on the knife the tip will bend and cushion the pressure you use to apply the color . .and give a soft hue. If you have ever tried to do this in your hand, you would dent your paper up and if you lay it on a hard flat surface, the pressure from applying the color would come out to dark and solid. What the photo does not show, it that I also highlight the design area's with a Sakura Gelly Roll "Clear Star" pen. The key to this pen is once you draw the line, quickly tap your finger (don't rub) a couple of times. This will break the solid line that the pen draws and you will have a mist of sparkle in the area. So many people will not use the pen because they do not want a solid line showing, but by tapping it you break that line up. (you also get a glimmering finger tip) LAST NOTE, buy the metal pallete knife, not the plastic ones, they are thick, not wafer thin like the metal ones.