Tutorial: Faux Watercolour Technique

Today I’m going to show you one of the fabulous techniques which I demonstrated at my catalogue launch at the weekend. One lady was so inspired that she went home and tried this one straight away, which is always very gratifying.

After the tutorial, scroll down for a quick announcement about the July “Best of…” stamp set and updates on ordering dates for old/new catalogues. 

So here’s a finished card using what I call the “faux watercolour technique”. It uses the gorgeous new colour, Smoky Slate, a lovely soft grey.

So here’s how it’s done. It’s a technique we were shown at Stampin’ Up!® Regionals in Telford in May – I’m sorry I can’t remember the name of the lady who demoed it. Tomorrow I’ll show you a variation on the theme, which I developed with my friend/downline Kelly.

Faux Watercolour Technique

You will need:

A clear block of any size. I used the largest, to fit my stamped image

Three markers

Water spritzing bottle

Whisper White or Very Vanilla cardstock

1. Make sure your block is clean. (This is always important by the way – dirty blocks are the main reason that stamps don’t stick).

2. Colour rough thirds in each of the three colour markers

3. Spritz with water

4. "Stamp” it down onto some Whisper White cardstock. As you press down, you will see the colours blending into each other and moving around. Keep pressing… you will need to allow plenty of time for the water to be absorbed into the paper. You will see this happening.

5. When you can lift the block with no resistance, you’re done.

6. Allow to dry completely before using as a gorgeous faux watercolour background. Here I’ve stamped on top with the new Wildflower Meadow background stamp in Midnight Muse, although the photo is a bit ropey.

You’ll get very different effects if you use watercolour paper, or if you don’t spritz with water. Have a play around, you might discover something exciting!

Markers used in tutorial: Pool Party, So Saffron, Gumball Green

Markers used in finished card (top): Island Indigo, Pool Party, Gumball Green

Stamps: Wildflower Meadow

Cardstock: Island Indigo, Smoky Slate, Whisper White

Ink: Smoky Slate, Whisper White

Accessories: Markers in Island Indigo, Pool Party, Gumball Green; Modern Label Punch, Mini Silver Brads

So that's the tutorial, tomorrow I will take it up a step!

And now... today is the day that you can order the second "Best of..." stamp set, this time on the theme of butterflies. These are some of the butterflies from catalogues over the past 25 years. You'll recognise some but not others as we have only been lucky enough to have SU in our lives for the past five years.

Here it is, it's £13.95 (clear-mount only) and available until the end of March. The Best of Flowers stamp set is also still available and will be until the end of March.

Other news... sorry to go on by the way but there's a lot happening at this time of year! 

Today is the last day to order from the Annual Catalogue, so check out the retiring lists using the link at the top of the page. The ordering period has been extended by a day so that it finishes on a weekday, when Demonstrator Support are there to help us. 

The Spring/Summer catalogue has now finished. 

If you want to order from the brand new catalogue, that begins TOMORROW. Very excited about this one - it has been delayed by one day for the reason mentioned above.

That's all - "Phew!" I hear you say. Better dash!