It’s amazing what you can create with a sheet of watercolor paper, watercolor paints, ink pads, and rubber stamps. I’ve learned you don’t need to be a professional with watercolor paints to make some awesome backgrounds for tags and ephemera.
I got my paper, paints, brush, and water ready and started doodling nature-themed colors, hues of green, brown, yellow, and others on the page. Staying in the same direction while applying various colors, either near or overlapping, was very helpful.
The trick with watercolor is using a fair amount of water to move the colors around the page. I put a little in a small spray bottle to spritz the page before starting. Then made sure to dip my brush into the water several times before and after selecting a color to apply.
I made sure to let my brush flow around the page at random to blend the colors evenly. Adding more brown to the green and yellow when needed. The colors you choose will depend on the project you are working on. For me, my projects are most often nature-themed, so the colors of nature work best.
Once you are happy with the watercolor background, set it aside to dry thoroughly before stamping images over it. I used fern and leaf rubber stamps on a stamp block with colored Archival Ink and VersaMajic Dew Drops Chalk Ink.
I chose black and light brown Archival Ink, along with green Dew Drops Chalk Ink, to decorate the background. Stamping various images around in different areas and directions helped create an interesting watercolor background.
Once finished, I cut the watercolor background into tags for a Woodland Cardnial Junk Journal. I decorated the tags using ephemera from the Stamperia Woodland Romantic Collection. Gluing leaves and various woodland creatures to each tag, and then topping them with colored seam binding ribbon.
Here are various watercolor backgrounds you can use for your crafting projects. Simply download the Watercolor Backgrounds PDF file below and print the images on cardstock. I hope you find them useful.
Download the Watercolor Background PDF file. Free to use, please do not sell copies. Thank You, Linda
