The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store - Make Today Epic Watercolor Card with Tutorial

Hello blogging friends!  Today, is my day to post for The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.  I have a fun and easy watercolor card to share with you using Tim Holtz Distress Inks and I have a step-by-step tutorial to go with the card.

Here is a look at the card I designed.  I love the fun colors and the Tim Holtz Distress Inks are perfect to use for easy water coloring.  I used the JustRite Clear Stamp - Choose Joy.  I just love this stamp set.  It has simple clean designs but the images are so fun.

To start I stamped the images from the JustRite Clear Stamp - Choose Joy using StazOn Jet Black ink on to Ranger Watercolor Paper on the smooth side of the paper.  You can see in the picture that I stamped the larger flower three times on to the wreath and the images are on top of some of the leaves.  I didn't worry about stamping the larger flowers on top of the wreath and having a perfect placement because I stamped the same images on to another piece of paper and I am going to fussy cut them.

Next I went around the entire wreath with just plain water in all the areas that I wanted to apply the Mowed Lawn color.  When you apply water fist to the areas where you want the paint it does two things.  It allows the paint to blend and flow very easy and it will also contain the paint within that area.  Doing this gives you a little more control over where the paint goes.  If the water dries up in the area where you are going to apply color just clean your brush and add more water to the area as needed.  If you get too much water place a corner of a paper towel in the water and it will quickly soak it up.

When I do water coloring I work on a very large clip board.  It's one that I picked up at Hobby Lobby in the paint section.  It handles the water and heat from a heat tool and I just use a baby wipe to clean it up.  I stamped off some of the Mowed Lawn Tim Holtz Distress Inks on to the clipboard and then added some water.  If you mix water with the ink and then pull some of the ink down on the board and add a little more water the color will get lighter.  Use the lighter color to go over the area of the wreath that will be green.  Then heat set it.  Come in with more of the green color.  Do this a couple of times and be sure to dry the watercolor in between each layer.  Doing this will create the layers and depth to your watercolor image.

Next I used Tumbled Glass Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  I applied this color on the inside of the wreath and very lightly around the outer edges and then heat set.  When you want to soften the edges and pull the color out to a nice soft fade, keep adding water as you go.

To color the flowers I used Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, and Picked Raspberry Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  As you can see from the picture I didn't worry about staying inside the lines of the flowers with the colors.  I actually went outside the lines just because I like that look with watercolor.  For the flowers I did one color at a time and then use a heat tool to heat set before moving on to the next color.  For the bird I used Salty Ocean Tim Holtz Distress Ink.  I also colored the extra flowers and then fussy cut them to layer on top.

Here is another look at the finished card.  I used 3D Squares and then added a light blue mat and then a white card base.  I also added a few Melissa Frances White Pearls.

For a touch of sparkle I used a Zig Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Pen and applied it to the flowers.

Here is a close up to see the sparkle.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed the watercolor tutorial.

Please be sure to check out The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store for all of the fantastic paper crafting products and the Blog for inspiration from the Design Team.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs & Smiles,

Heidi

Supplies
Stamps:  JustRite Clear Stamp - Choose Joy
Paper:  Ranger Watercolor Paper, Cardstock-White, Light Blue
Ink:  StazOn Jet Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Mowed Lawn, Tumbled Glass, Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean
Accessories:  Melissa Frances White Pearls, Zig Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Pen, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L 3D Squares, E-Z Runner, Heat Tool