How to Use Watercolor for a Bold Winter Background

Hello my crafty friends! I have a stunning and simple winter card to share with you today. One stamp set, one watercolor marker, a little water and one ink pad. It's all you really need to create this beautiful card. Let's take a look and I'll show you just how to create this! 

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This card is all about the background. The beautiful watercolor background makes the perfect landing spot for these sweet polar bears.  Want to create this background? Here's how to do it:

• Begin with a piece of watercolor paper. Spritz or mist lightly with water. (I find it helps everything blend and get happy a little easier if I've given it a little spritz to begin.) 
• Make a little puddle of water on the sheet (wherever you want to begin) and add some watercolor to it. I brushed in a little Jane Davenport Mermaid Markers. They're highly concentrated dye watercolor ink, with a brush tip. You could add a drop, squirt, or swish of any kind of watercolor paint or even watercolor pencil that you have. Allow the color to move around and play with it a little and then let it dry. (Use a heat tool if you're impatient like me!) 
• Once it's dry (or mostly dry) repeat the process. Add another puddle of water and add more color. Keep doing it until you're happy with what you've got. I added in some Sparkle Silk along the way, sometimes to the wet areas and sometimes after it was dry. 
• In this case, I used the same color of ink the whole time, but I used more ink for a more concentrated color towards the bottom. Feel free mix in some different colors to change it up. Where the colors overlap (or if you let them blend together a bit) you'll have a totally different look. This is all about PLAY. If you don't like it, layer some more color on!

If you'd like to see a super colorful version of this technique, check out my Craft Happy card HERE. 

As for these bears, you'll find these sweeties in the brand new photopolymer stamp set called Arctic Wonder, from Fun Stampers Journey. (It's part of the holiday collection which releases TODAY!) Once I had that beautiful background all completed and dried, this card came together in a snap. Stamp and die cut the polar bears and sentiment, and this card was basically DONE! (And aren't they SO sweet?) 

I hope you enjoyed this card and this fun technique idea! If you try it, I'd love to see what you create! And now, please be sure to stop by the FSJ + Spellbinders shop and see all of our Fall and Winter 2020 collection. You'll find adorable stamps, dies, and more for everything from Halloween to Christmas!

Products Used on Today's Card:

Arctic Wonder Stamp Set

Arctic Wonder Die Set

Jane Davenport Mermaid Markers

Color Splash Sheets watercolor paper (10 pack)

Would you like to see one more sweet card I made with the Arctic Wonder polar bears? This was a fun shaker card with sequins for added sparkle! Image  credit: Spellbinders Paper Arts