Custom Watercolour Background Tutorial

 Hi guys! As I promised in yesterday's post I've done a quick little photo tutorial about how I created that watercolour looking background on the Congrats Soldier card. There's not much involved, just a large acrylic block, stampin' spritzer and some ink pads. I've also done this before using the Stampin' Write Markers and they work just as well.

I've used Bermuda Bay and Elegant Eggplant in this example, I usually use three or more but thought two would be easier to follow and these are two of my favourite colours. Once you've chosen your colour pallet, the next step is to swipe the pads across the Clear Block, making sure to leave a gap between colours to avoid transferring ink from one pad onto another.

Then using a Stampin' Spritzer filled with water, spritz the inked block until it is well moistened and beads begin to form.

Next, place your piece of Whisper White Card Stock directly on top of the wet ink. You can slide the paper around a bit depending on how much you want the colours to blend together.

Lift the paper off and set it aside to dry. If you're in a hurry you can use a Heat Tool to speed up the drying process. On the one below I only moved the paper very slightly just to close the gap between the inks.

On this next one I moved it around a lot to blend the two colours together and completely cover the piece of paper. You could use Watercolour Paper if you prefer for a slightly different finished product, but I quite like the effect of using regular card stock.

I found after doing the first one where I didn't move the paper around much that I still had a fair bit of wet ink on the block so instead of wasting it I thought I'd quickly show you something else.

I grabbed a small piece of Whisper White 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon around 8" long and used it to soak up the remaining ink.

So now I have a custom background for a card as well as a custom matching ribbon to finish off the card. How great is that?

I hope I have inspired you to give this technique a go. It really is quite easy even though it can be a little messy, but I find that half the fun. The best thing about this is if you're not happy with how it looks, you can simply wipe your block clean with a paper towel or tissue and start over. And each and every time you try this it will look different. Each one will be a unique little piece of hand made awesomeness you created. Go on now, give it a go!

I'm off to create something with these inked pieces to share with you later, happy crafting everyone!

Cheers

Ange