Watercoloring for Cheaters

Okay, so maybe it's not REALLY cheating, but I feel like I'm cheating since it's SO easy and fun! Remember when I told you that I dropped by my friend Nancy Morgan's house, and Nancy Littrel had left this stamp set? This is one of the techniques that Nancy showed me... which Nancy L. showed her, which I think she was taught by the amazing Leslie Miller. I've never been that great at watercoloring with reinkers and a brush. It seems I can't get the right amount of ink.. either too much or not enough. So, this is why I was THRILLED to learn how to do this.. and now I'm in love with my Stampin'Up! markers... at least with watercolor paper. *wink*.



Yep, you heard me... I used only my Stampin' Write Markers and my Aquapainter. Am I the last one to know about this? It seriously took under a minute, and it was a no brainer. I love no brainers... I NEED no brainers.

I'm going to show you just how easy! You ready? Did you get this set? If you didn't, you better hurry.... time's out at the end of the month. :)





Watercoloring for Cheaters:

Step One:
Stamp your image on watercolor paper with Stazon ink (or emboss).

Step Two:
Take your marker with the brush tip and draw on the lines in the image that indicate the shadowing. *Click on the image to see a larger version of the photo.* I colored the stem of the flower with the fine point tip.



Step Three:

Take the Aquapainter (or paint brush) and move the ink from the shadowed areas to the outer areas. Blend as much or as little as you want. If you get an area too dark, just dab the area with a paper towel. If you need more ink, go back again with your brush tip and add more to the shaded areas again.

Touch the tip of the Aquapainter to a tissue or paper towel until the red is out of the tip, then move on to the old olive on the leaves. It's okay to leave a little white area too.

Wham Bam, Shazam, DONE! Omgosh... how easy is that? The more it dries, the more it just pops from the paper. Can you believe it? Two markers and a Aquapainter!

Things to remember:

• Works best with watercolor paper
• You need waterproof ink (main image)
  
• Just dab with tissue if you get too much water or ink.
• Copics do not work well with this technique. You can use Copic reinker to "paint' with but you will not get the same results by using Copic markers to color directly on to watercolor paper.

Here is the recipe:

Stamps: Bloomin' Beautiful (Stampin'Up!), Pretty Petals Background Stamp.
Paper: Watercolor Paper, Rose Red, Old Olive, Basic Black.
Ink: Black Stazon, Rose Red & Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker, Black Craft Ink.
Other: Poly-Twill Olive Ribbon, Dimensionals, Rose Red Brads, Vintage Brads (second card), Circle Punch, Aquapainter, Crafter's Tool Kit, Photo Corner Punch,Stamp-a-ma-jig (second card), Scor-Pal.

Hope you all had a great day. Thanks for stopping by! If you try this technique, I'd love for you to leave me a link so I can see!