Ombré Beauty

This card was the last project during the online event that I attended in July. After so much creativity packed into a short time, it was great to have a project that wasn’t very complicated. Even tho this project isn’t hard, it is really stunning! It’s all about ink, watercolor paper, and spritzed water. I did step up the project by adding small black dots in the center of the flowers. I made these dots myself with the Pearlized Enamel Effects Basics. They are leftover dots that I created but didn’t use for this card. Check out that project to get the details on how to make them yourself.

Making this background isn’t complicated, and I encourage you to give it a try. You will need 2 colors of ink that are analogous colors on the color wheel. For my card I used Poppy Parade and Crushed Curry. You will also need watercolor paper, Blending Brushes, water spritzers, and a large line art stamp image. Here’s how to create this gorgeous artwork:

• At the bottom of the watercolor paper, apply a heavy amount of the darker ink (Poppy Parade for my card) using a Blending Brush
  • Apply the ink so it is darkest at the bottom and lightens as you go up
  • Stop blending about 1/3 up on the paper
• Next, apply a heavy amount of the analogous color using the Blending Brush
  • Apply the ink so it overlaps the upper part of the darker ink
  • Add additional ink so it covers 2/3 to 3/4 of the paper
  • Apply the ink so it is darkest and blended well with the dark color and lightens as you go up
• Use a Water Spritzer filled with water and spritz the colored watercolor paper from the bottom toward the top
  • Pro tip – the Glass Mat is a great way to protect your work surface when you spritz the water
• Let the watercolor paper dry completely
• Stamp the image on the ink blended watercolor paper using Jet Black StazOn ink

I hope that you’re inspired to try this technique out for yourself. This also is great for creating several cards all at once. The biggest challenge is having enough space to spread out the watercolor blended backgrounds while they dry. Every one will look a little bit different – and that is exactly how it should look. Experiment and have fun!

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