Loose Watercoloring with Liquid Watercolors - Hero Arts
Posted by Jessica Frost-Ballas on February 25, 2020

Loose Watercoloring with Liquid Watercolors

Good morning! Jess here with a fun and easy way to use liquid watercolors on die-cut images!

I just loved the monstera leaves in the new Paper Layering Plant and Stand and since monsteras come in all colors and sizes I thought it would be fun to do some very loose watercoloring! To start I die-cut the leaves several times from watercolor paper. Then I placed them on a craft mat so I wouldn't worry about them getting paint everywhere and spritzed them liberally with water until they were almost dripping wet. On a separate palette I added a few drops of Dark Teal, Jungle Mist, Leaf and Pine liquid watercolors. I used a large round wet paintbrush to just add drops of the lighter colors on the center of my leaves and the darker colors on the edges. I really let the damp paper do most of the blending for me and just used my paintbrush to make sure the leaves were totally covered and not showing any white. I also die-cut the plant stand and painted it with Black and White liquid watercolors. I was a little more deliberate in this painting keeping the darkest colors on the edge of the pot and the lighter shades inside. Once I was happy with the coverage I set them aside to dry completely.

While they were drying I worked on the rest of my card. I started by blending Pool Party and Blue Raspberry Reactive Ink along the bottom left corner of an A2 panel of Hero Hues Dove White cardstock. I allowed the Pool Party ink to fade to white and then splattered the panel with water. I blotted off the excess to lighten areas of the panel and then let it dry. Meanwhile I die-cut the Congrats from Congrats Happy Stamp & Cut from Hero Hues Pitch Black cardstock three times and used Liquid Precision Glue to adhere them together. Once everything was dry I adhered my plant pot to the blended background with foam mounting tape and drew a few long stems with a Copic marker. Then I added my leaves to the panel with a mix of regular adhesive and foam mounting tape for a change in texture and dimension. I also used my fingers to curl up the sides of the leaves a little for more dimension. Finally I added the sentiment to finish the card!

And that's it! You can use a similar watercoloring technique for lots of our fancy dies and I'd love to see what you create! Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful week!

10 comments

This gave me a different point of view for using this stamp. Great idea

Bonita Reyes,

just gorgeous!!

Joan Bardee,

Great technique and beautiful card!

Barbara-Jean,

Very nice I like simple.

Shirley Wallen,

Stunnnig colouring Jess, I love this awesome card.
Thank you so much for sharing and have a wonderful day.

Henriëtte,

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.


  • Spellbinders Beginners Blog Post Series - Common Cardmaking Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

    Beginner’s Guide to Cardmaking

    Common Cardmaking Mistakes and How to Fix Them: A Beginner's Guide

    Mistakes happen to every cardmaker, from beginners to experienced crafters. This comprehensive guide shares practical solutions for fixing common cardmaking mistakes, including stamping, die cutting, foiling, BetterPress, ink blending, stenciling, coloring, heat embossing, and more, so you can confidently rescue your handmade cards instead of starting over.

  • How to make a Polar Bear Christmas Card with Alcohol Markers, HUR93909, S7-291, S5-619

    CS-8-100

    How to make a Polar Bear Christmas Card with Alcohol Markers

    Hello, cardmaking friends! It’s Mona Tóth here, and I’m so happy to be back on the Spellbinders blog. Today, I’m sharing a Christmas step-by-step card tutorial featuring the Polar Friends Stamp and Die Set by Simon Hurley. This card was inspired by the Christmas advertisements I remember seeing on television when I was a child in the 1990s. They often featured polar bears surrounded by...

  • Interactive Scrapbook Layout Using the Turn the Page Collection by Esther Glas, SCSP-037, SCSE-054, SCSE-039, SCSR-016, E3D-186, STP-279, SDS-232, S2-473, S7-298, S7-295

    E3D-186

    Interactive Scrapbook Layout Using the Turn the Page Collection by Esther Glas

    Hello, crafty friend! I’m Adrienne Boese, better known online as Alice Scraps Wonderland. I love a good interactive scrapbook page! It can be something as simple as a pocket or something more intricate like a waterfall mechanism or flips. Today, we are going to focus on one of those simple techniques - a pocket!  It’s the perfect technique to dip your toes into the interactive...