Watercolor Background Tutorial

Hi Everybody,

Yesterday I posted a card with directions on how I made it, here's a link to that post.  Today I'm showing the same type card but with step by step pictures.  I used an Avery Elle stamp set called I'm Late.  How cute is this snail?  No one can be upset with you if you send a cute belated card like this.

You can do paper piecing if you want the image to stand out a little more from the background like I am showing here.  I think I'll paper piece the hat too.

You can use watercolor paints to paint the image so it will stand out from the background and you can also color with Copics if you use Frisket first.  I made a tutorial on how to do this HERE. (It's kind of a long post)

You can use a large block or your craft mat like you see here in the brown. 

You just dab ink on your block or your mat.  You can always add more color later.  You can spritz the ink and lay down your watercolor paper on top of the spritzed ink colors.  Kristina Werner made a video where she took a piece of acetate and dabbed it in a specific color and 'smooched' it on her watercolor paper exactly where she wanted it to go so her entire piece of paper was not covered like mine is.

I did not spritz my ink on the block first.  You can do it first or after your colors are on the paper. So next I laid down my watercolor paper on top of the block and pressed.  You can move it around as well.  It doesn't matter, you just want the paper to be covered with ink.

This is what it looked like.  I put more ink down and dabbed my paper 

on the ink where it needed more.

So now it's covered enough that when I spritz it I'll have ink on the entire piece of paper.

Spritz it and just let it do it's thing.  I moved the paper around to let the ink flow down the paper different ways.  You cannot mess this up so don't be afraid to play and have fun with it.  You can also use a paint brush and move the paint around if you want some control over it.  

When your paper is covered, heat set it.

Then stamp your image/sentiments and cut it down to size.  

I hope that helps.  If you have any questions, you can ask me here in the comments, send me a note on FB or email me at cardsbyregina@gmail.com

Remember, there are various ways to get watercolor backgrounds so play and do what you want, it will be beautiful no matter which way you do it.

Oh, one more thing....  Happy Mother's Day to all of my Mommy friends out there.  I hope you enjoy your special day.  I'm a Mommy to a fur baby named Barney.  Isn't he cute?  He's half Pointer, half English Springer Spaniel, smartest dog I've ever had.  He looks at me like this when I'm working on cards.  How am I supposed to get anything done?  In a previous post I said how he can't get up and down the stairs well anymore, he's 11, so I moved a table downstairs and my card supplies so I'm sitting in a corner of the family room.  He is more important at this point than a craft room to me.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!



  Regina