Stunningly Simple Watercolor Techniques

I have always loved the look of watercolor pictures so this was a unit of work that I enjoyed immensely. The card I ended up making used two techniques that were covered – Watercolor Ombré and Smooshed Backgrounds (which I used partly for my flowers).

Since I have completed so many different courses with Altenew I am finding that lots of the techniques and tips that I have learnt are incredibly useful as I make my own designs. With this particular card I used a color palette that I would not normally use and also decided that bold black leaves would be a far better option to enhance the composition.

When I look back over my work I can see a lot of growth and hope you are enjoying seeing my work evolve as well.

I love how the black leaves really draws your eyes to the flowers.

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The watercolor paper was taped to a board to help prevent warping. A generous amount of water was used to help get the ink moving. Once the background was dry I stamped the background with Obsidian pigment ink and waited for that to dry.

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The flowers were also stamped with Obsidian pigment ink. This ink was chosen for its properties with watercolor and it is a beautiful black ink. Initially I smooshed Speckled Egg ink on the base of the flower and then went about painting it with Dusty Concord and Milled Lavender.

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I like to experiment with different layouts to see what looks best to me.

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  Because I was so happy with the background I had made I had to use a 5×7 card base – I didn’t want to cut that lovely background too much! Here I just used my ink blending tool with Dusty Concord to match my flowers.

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  Another piece of watercolor paper was added for a border.

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  Foam tape was then attached after I had added some extra black cardstock to the top and bottom as well as my sentiment which was placed on light weight vellum.

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  For a bit of extra bling I added a small strip of silver glitter cardstock.

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  I had also flicked silver, an matching purple ink onto the background and added a few extra embellishments.

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So here is my finished card. I placed the larger flower up on some foam tape to create some dimension and also used the sentiment that came with the Fabulous Florets Stamp Set.

Supplies used

• 5×7 cardbase
• Canson Watercolor Paper, Cold Press 140lb
• Black cardstock
• Silver glitter cardstock
• Light weight vellum
• 3M Foam tape
• Altenew Fabulous Florets Stamp Set
• Altenew Obsidian Pigment Ink
• Distress Ink – Walnut Stain, Speckled Egg, Dusty Concord and Milled Lavender
• VersaFine Pigment Ink
• Clear embossing powder
• Altenew water brush
• Altenew Metallic Watercolor – Sterling Silver
• Wide bristled waterbrush
• Misti
• Scissors
• Altenew Ink blending tool
• Lawn Fawn glue
• Black and silver embellishments

Thank you once again for visiting.

Hope to see you again soon.

Fiona