Saturday, October 4, 2014

Easy Watercolor Technique

"Watercolor" may make you think that you need to be able to paint, but in card making with stamps it's easy!  Here's how:


Start with an A2 card base, in this example it's Papertrey Ink (PTI) Kraft Paper card stock.


Then choose a patterned paper to coordinate with your stamp pad colors.
Cut it just smaller than the card front cover so the edges show just a little.


Add a panel of coordinating paper, leaving a wider patterned border all around.
In this example, both of these papers were in my stash--and of unknown origin or color name.



Choose a stamp with a simple design and some flat areas.  
I found "Wildflower" by Technique Tuesday available at JoAnn.com
A strip of paper for testing is a great help (see right hand side).
Use some watercolor paper cut a little smaller than the focus panel.
This is inexpensive watercolor paper found in drug stores or discount stores.
Also have an atomizer filler with water handy.  
The one shown is a Stampin' Up Stampin' Spritzer (upper left).



I stamped the leaves first in PTI Ripe Avocado and then the bloom in Pure Poppy.
Hold the atomizer about 12 inches away from the inked stamper and mist lightly.
I held it over the wastebasket to save the floor!
On the sentiment, do not use the atomizer for crisper edges and brighter print.


I used a little dragonfly stamp from the same set to fill in the negative area.
That's a Color Box Gold pigment stamp pad.



To make the whole design a little less crisp, I blended PTI Fine Linen 
over the edges with an Inksentials blender tool.


and distressed the edges with a Tim Holtz frayer.


The finished card with all supplies shown.



My inspiration card (upper center) was made by Sue at a card making session this summer.
I had some distressed writing paper in my stash, but decided to make 
another version with a stamped writing background.


Using PTI Fine Linen and Background Basics Text Style Stamp,
I added some more distressing to the paper background
and then "watercolor" stamped the leaves and bloom and sentiment on top.


The finished product.