Pattern Watercolor Stamping
Hello!
I've made two cards for today, each stamping with distress ink on an acrylic block and adding water. Jennifer McGuire also showed this technique to create focal points for a card, and white or black heat embossing on top. I decided to use this same technique to create a pattern on the background of a card. One card uses this technique with overlapping the watercolor pattern to create a more organic background, and the other uses it with one square right next to one another to almost create a watercolor quilt in the background. Let's get started!
For my first card, I used a larger rectangular acrylic block. I added Grape Preserves, Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers distress inks to the block and sprayed generously with water. I first stamped the acrylic block directly in the middle of the card panel. Then I started stamping the block around it, overlapping sometimes horizontally and sometimes vertically. I also let the excess watercolor expand out and create some organic shapes on the card. This creates a background with a nice mix of straight lines and organic lines, and gives a more ethereal background.
For my second card, I used a small square acrylic block and using the same colors as before, stamped repeatedly next to each other to create a grid-like background. This time, I did my best to make sure the color stayed within each individual square, sometimes using a paper towel to mop up excess color. I then took the edge of the acrylic block and applied Peacock Feathers with some water in between some of the squares to create a more defined edge and add some more variation in color. This creates a sort of watercolor-quilt effect.
To bring these cards together, I die cut a stitched rectangle from Lawn Fawn from white card stock to help break up the background and give the card a better focal point. I then stamped and die cut this Altenew Build-a-Flower rose in yellow inks, as a nice contrast to the purple-y blue background. Without adhering it yet, I placed in the bottom right corner where I wanted it, and used it as a guide to help stamp the leaves in gray ink so they would emerge from the flower.
Once I had the leaves and small flowers stamped, I adhered the white frame to the center of the card, and adhered the rose on top of that. Then using black ink, I stamped a sentiment near the rose to help make sure the focal point stayed near the rose and let the watercolor background have more uninterrupted space.
For finishing touches, I sprayed a few times with Shimmer Ink Spray and added a few gems from Lucy's cards. That's it for these happy cards! I hope you enjoyed this and try this technique of creating patterns yourself! There's so many possibilities!
Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo Meghan