Easy Watercolour Background

EASY WATERCOLOUR BACKGROUND

Sometimes you don’t have time to create multi-layer, fancy cards. But you don’t want your card to look plain, either. Well, here’s a solution – create a quick & easy watercolour background! All you need is watercolour paper, some ink pads and either an Aqua Painter or paint brush. Add a stamped image, and you’re done!

DANDELION WISHES

I used one of my favourite Stampin’ Up! stamps, called Dandelion Wishes. This card could be used as a birthday or sympathy card.

I did use a retired stamp set, called Butterfly Basics, for the sentiment. I find that this sentiment is a bit more versatile than the ones included in the Dandelion Wishes stamp set.

CREATE YOUR BACKGROUND

To create your easy watercolour background, first cut your panel of Watercolour paper. Next, with the ink pads closed, press the lid towards the ink pad, in order to transfer ink onto the inside of the lid. You may need two hands to do this; the new style lids are a bit tougher to squeeze than the old ones!

Open up the ink pads – I used Balmy Blue and Highland Heather. Use your paint brush or Aqua Painter to pick up one colour at a time, and brush it onto the paper. I kept my Aqua Painter fairly wet, as I wanted a lighter background. Remember that it’s easy to add more colour, but you can’t remove it!

Once you’re happy with the colours, set the panel aside for a few minutes to dry. If you’re short on time, you can speed up the process by drying it with your Heat Tool.

Set up the panel in your Stamparatus or other stamp positioner. Because the watercolour paper has texture, you may need to stamp the image & sentiment more than once, to get a nice clear impression. Your stamp positioner is the best tool for this!  Set the image stamp where you want it, and then pick it up with the stamping plate. Ink it up with Basic Gray ink, and stamp onto your panel. Once you’re happy with your image, clean it off, remove it, and repeat the steps with your sentiment. I wanted my sentiment a bit darker, so I used the Tuxedo Black Memento ink.

After stamping, I used a white gel pen to add some white ‘fluff’ dots to the ends of the dandelion puffs.

LAYER IT TOGETHER

If you’re wanting a simpler card, you can simply attach your stamped panel directly onto your Highland Heather cardstock base. If you want a bit more ‘oomph’ to your card, add these layers!

Attach the image panel to the upper part of a panel of Balmy Blue cardstock, with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  Wrap 2 lengths of retired Silver Cording around the bottom of the Balmy Blue panel, twisting it before attaching it at the back with Tear & Tape. Add another shorter length, twisting it through the front portion, and leaving the ends free, as in the picture above.

ORDER SUPPLIES ONLINE

The Dandelion Wishes stamp set is in the Annual catalogue, so it’s guaranteed available until at least May 31st! You can order all the supplies I used to create this easy watercolour background from my online store – just click the product images below.  I appreciate all orders placed with me!

Balmy Blue Classic Stampin’ Pad

Highland Heather Classic Stampin’ Pad

Balmy Blue 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock

Highland Heather 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock

Basic Gray Classic Stampin’ Pad

Aqua Painters

Dandelion Wishes Wood-Mount Stamp Set

Watercolor Paper

Dandelion Wishes Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Stampin’ Trimmer

Simply Scored

Stampin’ Dimensionals

Tear & Tape Adhesive

Stamparatus®

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad