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Create a watercolour background

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I’ve started this card by cutting down an A4 piece of water colour paper just a bit smaller than my card and using masking tape to attach it to my painting board; a glass mat would work well as well. Painting a whole piece is a great way of practising and you can use it to make embellishments, backgrounds, even die cut sentiments. 

purple watercolour 1

purple watercolour 2

This background is simple and will work with any theme you like. Prep your paper with a light wash of water and choose your colours, here I’ve used purple with a small amount of silver to add some shimmer. Starting at the bottom add a dark layer of colour, clean your brush off completely then sweep the colour up the paper. Repeat this once more then let it dry. You may get a dip if the paper when adding more water, this will make the colour pool in one place, stop this by using a paper towel to absorb some of it. That’s it, just keep adding more layers until you have the gradient you want, I ended up having four layers keeping it quite dark at the bottom. 

purple watercolour 3

When you’ve finished and the paper is completely dry, you may want to leave it overnight, peel off the masking tape. Use a hair dryer to melt the glue on the tape to stop it ripping the paper. You’ll get a lovely crisp edge which you can keep as a boarder or cut off.  Depending on the weight of the paper you’ve used you may find it has warped a little, you can either use an iron (on low heat) or press the paper under a heavy book overnight to flatten it out. A little warp doesn’t hurt and once you’ve taped it to your card it won’t be noticeable.

I’m still in love with the “Floral Fun” mini stamp set; it’s so versatile and makes perfect backgrounds. First I used the “Be creative” stamp from the “Creative Quotes” set, masked it and then used the flowers stamps in a coordinating ink to match the background. Making it really dense at the bottom and fading out.

Thanks for reading, see you next time.

What I’ve used:

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