watercolor shapes...

Hi there!  Happy Friday and welcome to my Tips & Tricks for Papertrey Ink.  I have been curious lately in regards to watercoloring and creating the beautiful watercolor effect that is so popular right now.  I'm focusing on that trend and have created a few cards to share with you, showing how to create your own watercolor shapes to use as backgrounds and focal points on your cards. 

My first card uses a large butterfly as my watercolor shape and is embellished with a die cut, stamped, and embossed What the Doodle Butterfly, cut from vellum.  I used a sentiment from the Choose Joy stamp set and used tiny flowers from the Color Pop Florals stamp set to add a few sweet and dainty frills.

Across the watercolor shape on this card and the others, I've used the Background Basics: Text Style stamp set....I love the collage look, and this is a great way to add just one more fun detail to this particular type of technique.  I'll show you how I created my card next.

I started with a block of watercolor cardstock.  I have just flipped over one of Papertrey Ink's watercolor sheets and used it as my base.  I then created a stencil using white cardstock and the Life is Beautiful die.

Next I used washi tape around my edges and layered the stencil over the watercolor cardstock base.  This helps keep your stencil in place as you add color.

 I started with Lovely Lady ink and my sponge tool, and started applying the ink in light circles, blending as I went.

I wanted a lot of pinks in different hues, so I added Hibiscus Burst as well as Raspberry Fizz, each bringing it's own wonderful shade of pink.  I didn't apply the colors evenly, I applied them randomly to create a variety of shades in different places.

I also added in some Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise, and even just a bit of Mint Julep.

This is what my base looked like after all of the colors had been blended and the stencil removed.  Pretty fun, huh?

You really could stop right there and build your card from this point on, but I wanted to add color :).  I suggest using washi around the edges of your base each time you add water...this is supposed to help with the warping that occurs.  All I used for applying clear water droplets to my butterfly, is a toothbrush.  After dipping it in a bit of water, I held it above my surface and just tapped the head over the area I wanted covered and let the droplets fall where they wanted.

This is what it looked like after the water had dried.  I used my heat gun to speed up this process.

Next I used my water brush to smudge the edges a bit and create more of a mix with my chosen colors.

This is what it looked like after the water brush had been used.

Time to layer on my stencil again, securing it around the edges with washi.  I then used my Background Basics:  Text Style stamp and added text to my butterfly using Lovely Lady ink.

See what fun adding the text is?  I love this look.

For a few random droplets, I used about 1/4 cup water mixed with Hibiscus Burst re-inker.  My toothbrush tool came in handy once again, as I dipped the toothbrush into the mixture and lightly tapped it over my surface to create randomly splatters.

Here she is all finished once again.  Such a fun card to create!

I've created a couple of other cards for you using this same technique.  This first card uses a Stitched Primitive Heart as my stencil.

I used Hibiscus Burst, Summer Sunrise, and Melon Berry ink to form my watercolor shape.  I then die cut, stamped, and heat embossed a Baker's Dozen cupcake, adding color using my watercolor pencils and PTI ink.  I added tiny flowers once again from the Color Pop Florals kit.

Lastly, I added a Limeade Ice sentiment from the Tulip Time stamp set and Harvest Gold stars from the Balloon Bash stamp set.

Lastly, this card uses a basic circle stencil to create my watercolor shape.  

I added Hawaiian Shores, Limeade Ice, Hibiscus Burst, Lovely Lady, and Mint Julep ink to my background, stamping my sentiment in Stormy Sea.

I used the sweet tulips from Tulip Time and had them follow the curve of the circle just on one side, framing in my watercolor shape and sentiment.  A bit of Mint Julep + White Basics paper at the bottom, and my card was finished.

I hope you've enjoyed my tips today and that you'll sit down when you have a free minute and give this technique a try!

Thanks for visiting.

Melissa

Comments

[sarita]

gorgeous cards!! i've never used paperttrey ink inks for watercoloring..i,will today! thank you!

[Conniecrafter]

Wow this is just gorgeous, love this idea, and thanks for all the tips to achieve it!

[RedGem]

I love all your cards...must try this technique! You made it look so easy.

[Cynthia Xavier]

Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for the tips.

[Janet Wilson]

Hello Melissa,

Thank you for a wonderful tutorial - LOVE this technique and hope to give it go! Your cards are spectacular :-)

[Anita]

Lovely!

[pat]

Beautiful cards Melissa! And your photos and explanations of how you did this are fantastic!!! This is the best tutorial I've seen on this process!! Thank you so much!!!

[Sharon H.]

Lovely lovely cards! Great to have such great explanation of your process. Thanks!

[Kathy Mc]

Beautifully done, Melissa! You make it look so easy. Will be eager to try for myself. TFS!

[MOI]

Beautiful card. Thanks for sharing.

[Margo]

Love love love the technique and the cards, especially the butterfly.

[María Alba Negrón]

Hi Melissa,

Big Humongous Hug to my favorite Designer and Artist!
Holy Alcapurria-yummy Puerto Rican fritter-these are simply SCRUMPTILICIOUS!!!!! I could watch you deliver magic from nothing and can do it for hours on end!
Although I appreciate the tutorial and plan to spend the week end practicing, I would ALSO appreciate a video, both put together would be priceless and I don't have to use my Mastercard!
Could you tell me about the splatters? What is the BEST way, I have tried the toothbrush and the brushes and although most of them come out all right -never as yours-somehow the blotches appear alongside the splatters and to me that is a no-no
....HELP!!! Love you to pieces...you make my heart smile!

Cariños,
María Alba

[Diana K]

I will definitely be trying this, Melissa. Your cards are gorgeous and so inspiring.

[Sue]

The cards you created are stunning. The colors you chose are my favorites. What a beautiful card to create for someone special for springtime. Thank you for inspiring us and giving us this tutorial.

[Troy Louise]

Very pretty! Thanks for showing us how you used the stencil. Happy Weekend to you!

[Maria Helena]

Beautiful cards!!! Thank you so much for the tutorial!

[Cindy Gratton]

You are so very talented! I love each and every card, and the process is easier than it looks to be! Thank you for sharing this technique along with your wonderful instructions and fantastic ideas! Keep us all inspired!

[Patty O'Malley]

Very beautiful cards, Melis! Love the text stamp on the images.

[Barb]

Very pretty and a nice simple way to get the watercolour effect.

[Diane]

Awesome tutorial, Melissa, I will definitely be trying this technique! Your cards are gorgeous!

[Lisaerica]

Melis, you're rockin water coloring. They're all gorgegous, butterfly is my fav. You're so making me want to go play with my water colors, though in the end my card won't look as good as yours, lol.

[F Bond]

You are AMAZING!!! I always love your work- this one is no exception. All the cards are simply gorgeous!

[Vicki Finger]

These are positively stunning, Melissa! You inspire me to use my stencils and my dies to make stencils. So lovely.....

[Cynthia Johnson]

Wow! I love all these cards! The soft colors scream, I mean whisper, Spring! Love the layering of text, just so interesting!

[J. Ferreira]

Each of these gorgeous cards are amazing, your such a talent!