Fast and Easy Watercolor Resist with Reactive Inks

Hello Crafters! It's Kelly Taylor here today and I have the fastest easiest watercolor background to share with you. It came out so pretty it completely changed my original idea for the card!

I started with our Luxe White Watercolor Paper and cut it in half to get an A2 sized card front. Next I inked up the new Celestial Bold Prints stamp with Unicorn Pigment Ink and stamped it onto my card front. I then sprinkled on some White Detail Embossing Powder and heat set it until smooth. This embossing resists the ink and shows the beautiful delicate illustration of the stamp.

The next step is to add all the gorgeous color! I used Berry Smoothie , Grape Slush , Blue Hawaii , Splash , and Blue Raspberry Reactive Inks to create this beautiful watercolor look. How?

I literally took the ink pads directly to the paper. I used the side of the inkpad and went right over the embossing. I decided to add mine in triangles of color starting with the Berry Smoothie in the top right and then working clockwise to end with the Blue Raspberry. Then just spray it down with water using a mist bottle. I like a bold background so I did this process twice. I waited for the background to dry in between applications. After the second ink application, while it was still slightly damp, I mixed some of the inks with water by smooshing them down on a glass mat. I then splattered on some of the ink with a paint brush to create color variation within the background. I also splattered on clean water and some of our White Iridescent Shimmer Mist .

I originally intended to use the background behind the new Space Window Die but I just couldn't bring myself to cover it up! I had already die cut the Space Window Die out of Pitch Black cardstock so I decided to use a few of the stars as an accent. I die cut some glittery stars using the white glitter cardstock from Glitter Paper Basics and the Celestial Fancy Dies . The moon and clouds were die cut from Deluxe White cardstock using the You're Magical Bundle . I added a little color to each die with ink blending brushes and the Reactive Inks. This sentiment from the Coloring Layering Stellar Flowers was perfect to finish it off!

You can watch the entire card together in the video over on my YouTube channel.

Thanks so much for joining me!

Click on products to shop:

CG895 Celestial Bold Prints | Hero Arts HA ] SB348 You're Magical Bundle (C) |... HA ] CM671 Color Layering Stellar Flowers... HA ] DF103 Celestial Fancy Dies (C) | Hero... HA ] DF102 Space Window Die (D) | Hero Arts HA ] AF430 Berry Smoothie Reactive Ink |... HA ] AF432 Grape Slush Reactive Ink | Hero... HA ] AF429 Blue Hawaii Reactive Ink | Hero... HA ] AF428 Splash Reactive Ink | Hero Arts HA ] AF427 Blue Raspberry Reactive Ink |... HA ] AF249 Unicorn Pigment Ink | Hero Arts HA ] PS781 Luxe White Watercolor Paper |... HA ] PS782 Deluxe Smooth White Cardstock... HA ] PS777 Glitter Paper Basics | Hero Arts HA ] PS323 Hero Hues Premium Cardstock... HA ] WM151 White Iridescent Shimmer Mist |... HA ] MI003 Ink Blending Brushes | Hero Arts HA ]