Do you like to add watercolor to your handmade cards? Or does it stress you out because it feels messy and unpredictable? Today I'm going to challenge you to take a risk, and add a splash, splatter or streak of bold, beautiful watercolor to your card making and paper crafts. I'll show you three simple products that have become some of my favorite ways to watercolor, and I'll show you different ways to use each one.
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The three products that might just change your opinion about watercolor are all from Jane Davenport: Inkredible Inks, watercolor tins, and Mermaid Markers. And if you're already a watercolor fan - you are in for a TREAT if you aren't familiar with these products; they may just become new favorites!
Find more details about this card HERE First up, let's take a look at the watercolor tins. This is probably the most familiar type of watercolor. We all used Crayola watercolor paint sets in elementary school, so this style might feel less intimidating.
- The color is exceptionally rich and vivid
- Highly concentrated: A little bit of paint goes a long way.
- The tins are adorable!
- The colors mix and blend beautifully for unlimited possibilities
- There are three color families: Brights, Glitz-Sea, and Neutrals
Use these paints in a traditional way, with a brush and loosely paint a stamped image, like in the Plant Lady card below. Or get a little crazy with these and make a rainbow puddle of colors, like in the card above. To create that background, mist a sheet of cardstock with water, and then lay colors down with a brush, allowing them to mix and blend just a bit. Bonus points for this technique: You'll never create exactly the same look twice!
Find more details about this card HERE The next two types of watercolors are liquid.
Mermaid Markers might look like regular markers at first glance, but loaded with highly pigmented liquid color and capped with a brush tip, they are so much more. You can brush color straight onto a project, but I recommend pairing it with water to dilute because once again, a little goes a long way!
To create the color wash on the polar bear card below, mist watercolor paper with water (much like the unicorn card above) and then drip the slightest bit of
Mermaid Marker onto the paper. It will immediately bleed and blend with the water. Tip the cardstock to move the color around and add more color as desired. You could add a drop of other colors too.
One of my favorite techniques with all of the watercolors is to add a splatter of
Sparkle Silk while the watercolor is still wet.
Spellbinders Silks will interact with the water and add fun bursts of color or sparkle onto the paper. On the polar bear card, you can see some spots where the Silk actually caused circle spots that resisted the blue. It also adds a glittery shimmer that spreads when wet, but looks more like a paint splatter when it hits dry paper.
Find more details about this card HERE Man, these might be my favorite of today's watercolor wonderland. Jane's
Inkredible Inks are liquid dye-based inks in bottles, that come in 12 gorgeous shades. The colors are so vivid and cheerful that I just can't resist them. Use them straight from the bottle, dilute with water, put them in a spritz bottle - you can't go wrong with these lovelies.
My favorite way to use Inkredible Inks is to create sheets of vibrant color to die cut. This project begins similar to others: mist a sheet of watercolor paper. Then add a drop of color and watch what happens. These inks interact with water, and you'll have fun experimenting. Let color dry halfway, and then add drops of water on top, or spritz with water. Let colors mix and blend. And of course, splatter with
Sparkle Silk.
I like to focus on one color family per sheet, pinks and purples, blues, greens etc. That way I have a whole sheet I can cut green leaves from or purple/pink flowers from. Below you'll see a few of the sheets I made, and then the card I created once the papers were dry and I die cut them.
Find more details about this card HERE Which Is Your Favorite?
All three options of watercolor:
dry watercolor sets, Mermaid Markers, and
Inkredible Inks in a bottle, are exceptional quality, incredibly vibrant and concentrated colors, and have plenty of opportunities for play and experimentation. Right now is the BEST time to try some of these, because all of Jane Davenport's collections, (including her inks, paint, stamps, pastels, and more) are part of
a pretty amazing sale right now, where you'll grab deals at LEAST 60% off!
Here's one more Inkredible Ink card. I created the background, and then colored the leaves and flower's center with a paintbrush.
Find more details about this card HERE
The
Jane Davenport Sale lasts through October 3, 2021. I hope you'll check it out because it's really the BEST deal you'll find on these awesome watercolors - plus lots more! Before you go, what questions do you have about watercolor? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Shop the Supplies on Today's Projects:
load with water and use with dry watercolor, or to dilute liquid watercolor, you can even add drops of Mermaid Markers or Inkredible Ink and water into the brush
Want to see one more fun watercolor idea? Paint a card about watercolors with watercolors.
Mind blown!
Find out more details about this card HERE
