Hello Everyone!
I hope everyone's having a great day. There seems to be new interest in watercolor powders recently, so I thought I would show you how I made these lovely shimmery cards using Brusho and Color Burst.
These are the supplies I used for my project:
- Strathmore Hot Press watercolor paper (comes in a 25 sheet pack cut to 5 x 7)
- 2 - 3 colors of Brusho and/or Color Burst watercolor powders
- Stencil
- Spray bottle with water
- Shimmer Spray (optional)
- A2 size card base
- Scrap of watercolor paper, ink, and stamp for sentiment
- Sequins
- Embellishment
- Paper towels
- Painters tape
Sparingly I sprinkled my surface, shaking certain colors in places where I wanted it to be. I sprinkled Sea Green Brusho along the outer edge, Turquoise Brusho along the middle of the curve, and Ultramarine Blue Color Burst near the corner. I prefer the Brusho because it is more granular than the Color Burst which is more of a true powder. Somehow I think the granules are a bit easier to control. However, I did want that corner to have somewhat of a darker hue so I went with the Color Burst. I did not shake on much. If you are new to these powders you might want to test them on some scrap papers before doing a project just to see how quickly and intensely these explode with color. Here is what mine looked like before adding water:
I know, you can barely see it, right? There's actually plenty of color on there. Next comes the water. I spritzed it about 8 or 9 times with a spray bottle from at least a foot above. You don't want to add so much water that it seeps underneath the stencil, but you do want enough water to dissolve most of the granules of pigment.
This is where it starts to get messy! I left the stencil on for about 30 seconds then carefully lifted it straight up (so easy when it's only attached with one small piece of tape!), set the wet panel aside and laid down my other blank panel in front of me. Carefully and quickly I flipped the stencil over and laid it on top of the blank panel. I gently tapped places on the stencil to make sure it was making contact with the paper...if you really smoosh it down you will lose all of your detail. On both of these panels I also gave them a few sprays of shimmer mist using Imagine Crafts Sheer Shimmer Sparkle. Carefully I lifted off the stencil and washed it off immediately. I'm not sure if it would stain it, but it was still dripping with color and making a mess. While both panels were still wet I mopped up some of the color by placing a paper towel over it gently and lifting up. There was still plenty of color there, but it looked more painterly after I took up some of the deeper intense color. I made 6 panels at once...washing the stencil between every 2 panels. Then I let them dry about 15 or 20 min.
These were the 2 panels I choose to use and then actually ended up using a 3rd one. I wanted the stenciled design to be the focal point of my card, so I used small wood veneer embellishments that I painted using mica powders mixed with water. The added die-cut, stamped tags on 2 of them. I added just a few clear sequins for some further sparkle. And that finished my cards!
I think this method would look so pretty using a variety of stencils...like an all over leaf stencil, then using a leaf embellishment...perhaps one made from a scrap that has the Brusho on it and die-cut...lots of possibilities!
I hope you enjoyed learning about my process today and that you will be motivated to get messy and try out your own stenciling with Brusho and Color Burst! Please tag me if you make any @betsybirgeart on instagram.
Happy Papercrafting!
...and remember....it's just paper!
Betsy
Love this technique. Which stencil did you use?
ReplyDeleteThanks Diane! I think I got this stencil through Amazon...there's no brand to it. It is really big as well - 8.5 x 11. I used the smaller corner motif.
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