Textured watercoloring

Hi everyone!

I finally got a chance to play in my craft room and I used a technique taught in the Online Card Class that is finishing tomorrow. The class was all about watercoloring. Some of the techniques were probably a bit out of my league but there was one that caught my eye and I've been dying to try it. I'll also be entering this card for the latest Lawnscaping Challenge that was all about distress mania. Here's my card and the challenge badge.

After making some horizontal and vertical score lines on the watercolor paper, I went ahead and used my distress ink pads to create this watercolor background. I chose the colors I wanted and used my nonstick craft sheet to swipe the pads and water them down a bit before pressing the watercolor paper on top. I started with a light blue color and dried after each color application. That way, the color kept building and I could control it a bit better, too, from just getting too muddied up. After several layers of colors, I added some flicks of paint to the panel also. The butterfly is an old stamp from Inkadinkadoo (I think) and I colored it in with distress ink also. I used it as a watercolor and didn't add as much water to the ink when I wanted the color to be brighter on the butterfly. I cut out the butterfly and realized I wanted some shine on it. I added some liquid pearls to it and now it has a lovely shimmer to it. The sentiment is from Hampton Arts and I really like it because you can see through some of the letters but it's still bold enough to make the statement.

This was a really fun technique and it really didn't take as long as I thought it would. Hope you guys try it out, too!

Thanks for stopping by!
Pat