I seem to be getting a lot of watercoloring accounts popping up on my social media and some of them look so fun and simple! I don’t own a set of watercolor paints, but I knew I could use our Stampin’ Up! ink and the Stampin’ Up! Water Painters. I saw a card design a little bit like this card but made with cardstock hearts in kind of an ombre effect. I got the idea to use the Country Bouquet Stamp Set in the Annual Catalog for stamping hearts and then I watercolored them!
This Valentine only uses Real Red ink! The card base is Real Red. The hearts are stamped with Stazon black ink on Stampin’ Up! watercolor paper, Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper (149612). You need to use Stazon ink since it is waterproof. You don’t want any ink to smear when you apply the watercolor. Basic White cardstock doesn’t stand up well to water so watercolor paper is a lot better. If you still have some Shimmery White cardstock that unfortunately is retired now, it works fairly well with water.
To make this card, stamp hearts on the watercolor paper. If you already have some ink in the lid of the Real Red ink pad, you can start with that. Squeeze water out of the Water Painter to make a very light color with the ink. I had a scrap piece of watercolor paper that I tested my colors on. When you feel you have the shade you want, color in the top three hearts. Then add a little bit more reinker to the lid (don’t let all the water get onto your ink pad!), stir it up with the Water Painter, perhaps adding more water. When you get a medium shade with the ink and water, fill in the next row of hearts. For the last row of hearts, add more reinker and see what shade you have or add more water if it is way too dark. You want three different shades of colored hearts just using Real Red reinkers and water. See my photo below of what I was using.
Either let the watercolor paper dry or hit it with your Heat Tool for a short time. It doesn’t take very long at all to dry with the Heat Tool. Then you can adhere it to the card base of Real Red. I used a LOT of Stampin’ Seal+ since the watercolor paper is heavier and possibly warped a little bit. I wanted to be sure it was going to hold on the card.
I tried to figure out what to do for a greeting and in the end stamped “For You” randomly in the empty spaces on the card. Not one to leave well enough alone, I also added some Pastel Adhesive-Backed Sequins in Petal Pink scattered on the front of the card.
On the inside of the card, I added a Basic White layer and stamped both greetings “Just wanted to say” and “Happy Valentine’s Day in Real Red ink.
IMPORTANT: Before you just close up that ink pad, take a paper towel and dab out all that water. You don’t want that all soaking into your ink pad and it would probably make a mess anyway just closing the lid!
This was a fun way to do something a little different but still use Stampin’ Up! products. Sometimes we may forget how versatile many of our products are, the reinkers being one of them. Try a little watercoloring with your reinkers and Water Painters or whatever small brush you have. If you don’t have the Stazon ink, I’d suggest just paint the hearts and omit the stamping. Make all the hearts different colors if you like. Just play!
February is here so this is the last month for Sale-A-Bration. It’s a good time to pick up a few things at Stampin’ Up!, thinking of reaching that $50 level or $100 level or more to choose a FREE product in the Sale-A-Bration Brochure and the newly released products on this flyer.