Watercolor Background Tutorial

Today I wanted to share a tutorial on three different ways to make a watercolored background.  I am such a big fan of these and I think you will be too once you start making them.

Suppies:
Watercolor paper
Water
Distress Ink
Markers (not alcohol-based)
acrylic block
dye ink
paintbrush

Using the distress ink is super easy, especially if you have a Ranger silicone craft mat.  Just swipe the ink pad on the mat, spray it with water, and lay your paper in it.   You can use a few different inks to get a multicolored background as well, Just swipe the ink pads near one another on the mat and then spray with the water.  This is what it will look like after; it will be much softer once it dries.

The second method is using reinkers. This one feels so very artsy to me.  I am not a painter, but this gives me a chance to play one.  Just drop a little ink on your mat, spray your paper with water, and then paint!

     

Finally, the last one uses markers and an acrylic block.  Super easy.  Just color on the block with the markers, spritz with water, and "stamp" it on your paper.   

Here's a look at the three panels once they've dried.  You can get many different looks depending on the colors and shades of inks/markers/reinkers that you choose.   You are only limited by your imagination.  

I ended up going with the first panel for my project because I wanted to cover it with vellum and it seemed to be the best choice for that.   For my card I just embossed the gorgeous JJ0017 Believe stamp on the vellum and then layered it over my watercolored panel.  I added some other blue and silver details and I am loving how it turned out. 

I hope you'll give this a shot and come share a link to your project in the comments! I'd love to see them.