Celebration of Color: Stamping and Watercolor

When I heard we were having a "Celebration of Color" on the Pursuit of Craftyness blog for the month of May, I immediately knew I would be using watercolor. In my pre-scrapbooking/cardmaking days, I was a watercolorist. I just LOVE watercolor - the transclucency, the layering ability, and softness - I love it all. So I'm going to share a few of my watercolor and stamping techniques and I hope you try them when you are stamping.

In this tutorial, the watercolors I will be using are artist's quality watercolors - but only because that is what I have on hand. You can use any transclucent watercolor paints you have.

You will need:
- watercolor paper (140 lb.)
- watercolor paint
- watercolor paint brush
- stamp
- embossing ink and powder
- heat gun


For my first card, "Love Letter", I stamped my image with embossing ink onto watercolor paper, and heat embosssed with black embossing powder. Next, I washed over the image with various colors of watercolor paint. Note that you can put the colors next to each other without making the color muddy, but you have to leave the colors alone or they will turn dark if mixed on the paper. To speed up the drying process, I used my heat gun to dry the paper. After the paper was dry, I went back and added some more color in various places to make some of the objects "pop".

I trimmed my image, matted it and used on this card.


Supplies:
-Cardstock: Bazzill
-Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers
-Watercolor paint (Grumbacher)
-Watercolor paper (Canson 140 lb. cold pressed)
-Stamp: Hampton Art (Correspondence/Quill Collage & Love Struck)
-Ink: Ranger / Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Clear Embossing & Black Soot)
-Embossing Powder: Ranger (Black)
-Other: Jute

On my next card, I used the watercolors as you would colored pencils or markers - that is, adding color to specific places of the image and even outlining. On my "Forever & Always" card, I stamped the image with black pigment ink, then added paint to the background behind the doves. Again, I used the heat gun to dry the first wash of color. Next, I applied the same color but only closer to the birds, to darken the area closest to the birds.

Next, I used the fine tip of my watercolor brush and outlined the wings with blue, and outlined the banner with green. I added yellow to their beeks. For a bit of sparkle, I used white stickles on their wing caps and let dry. I trimmed the image and used on this card.


Supplies:
-Cardstock: Bazzill
-Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants, Dream Street Paper, Flair Designs
-Stamps: Hampton Art (Love Struck;Intention
-Watercolor Paint (Grumbacher)
-Watercolor Paper (Canson 140 cold pressed)
-Flowers, Felt and Button: American Crafts
-Ink: Brilliance Pigment Ink (Archival Black)
-Stickles: Ranger (Star Dust)
-Border Punch: Fiskars
-Other: Thread, Corner Rounder

I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the wonderful world of using watercolor paint and stamps together. I'd LOVE to see what you create, so please share. Have a wonderful day and check back in a few days for more colorful inspiration!