Die Cut Watercolouring

I wanted to do a watercolour leaf background, but don’t have a set of leaf stamps to heat emboss. Here’s how I created this card:

I used the MFT Leafy Greenery dies to create masks from full sticky post it notes. I stuck these down on a piece of watercolour card.

I chose some colours of distress inks, putting down some colour on an acrylic block, then adding water. I used a water brush to add colour to the background, being careful not to make the surface too wet so the colour didn’t seep beneath the masks. 

I was really pleased to see how well this technique had worked when I removed the post it masks. It creates softer images than heat embossing would, as the edges aren’t as harsh.

Next, I mixed some dark blue distress ink with Ranger perfect pearls and flicked this across the card. I dried the card with my heat gun, then added some dot details with a white gel pen.

I stamped a sentiment from the Altenew Birthday Greetings stamp set in black ink, using my mini Misti to get a good impression on the watercolour card.

At this point, I was a little stuck as to how to finish the card. I found a lovely turquoise A2 card base, but felt like it needed something else. I cut the card lengthways, just past the sentiment, then added a black strip behind the pieces to show through when attached to the card base.

Finally, I added some sequins and silver Stickles glitter to finish the card.