Watercoloring on Colored Cardstock

Last week, I talked about making cards from my scrap bin. These card fronts were languishing in my bin waiting to be turned into cards. I had tried this technique a while back and for some reason I never finished off the cards. 

For this technique, I began by embossing the outline stamp from the To a Wild Rose stamp set in either white or gold. (For more directions about embossing, check out this blog post.) 

Then, I used my Whisper White craft ink pad to put some ink on a clear acrylic block. I used the clear block as a palette to do the watercoloring. Using an aqua painter, I picked up some of the white ink and colored in the flowers and leaves.

​If you've never used an aqua painter before, it is like a watercolor brush with a built-in water reservoir. You fill the end with water and then, give it a little squeeze to get the water flowing to the brush tip. You swish your brush in the ink just like you would a watercolor brush. When the ink is gone, you pick up some more. When you're done with a color, wipe the aqua painter on some scrap paper to get the white ink out of the tip. All the fun of watercolor, with a lot less mess. I used to give these to my kids when they were in upper elementary/middle school so I didn't have to worry about them knocking over glasses of water while painting.

Next, I put Gorgeous Grape and Granny Apple Green ink on clear blocks as well. I then scooped up some ink with my aquapainter and colored in the flowers and leaves. I put down more color in the areas that I wanted to be darker, like the centers of the flowers and along the stems of the leaves. 

I let everything dry and then finished off my cards. (Well, I finished off the cards months later.) 

Supplies used:

• To a Wild Rose stamp set
• Rooted in Nature stamp set (Thinking of You)
• Here's a Card stamp set (Birthday)
• Retired greeting set (Thank You)
• Purple Posy cardstock
• Retired Lovely Lilac ink (for sentiments) and cardstock
• Gorgeous Grape ink
• Granny Apple Green ink
• Clear block
• Aqua painter
• White Embossing Powder
• Gold Embossing Powder
• Versamark stamp pad
• Whisper White crinkled seam binding
• Stitched Shapes dies
• Retired gold grosgrain ribbon
• Stitched Nested Labels dies

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