Create a smile: Easy Watercolouring Using a Stencil!

Hello, friends and welcome!! Laurie with you today to share a super simple watercoloring technique using a stencil. This is one of my all time favourite things to do. I have zero drawing ability, even simple shapes are a struggle, haha! With this technique, it really does give the look of a hand painted masterpiece!

I made a card using this technique awhile ago and was asked how it was done so I thought today would be a great time to share!

I started by cutting down a panel of Mixed Media paper to 5.25 X 4 inches. I picked Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive and Forest Moss as my colour palette.

Using the Ferns Stencil, I used the various leaves in the 3 different green shades and ink blended just like you'd normally do.

This is where it gets fun! First, blend out the images with a little water and paintbrush. Don't use too much water. This will soften the edges nicely. I smooshed the three same ink colours onto a palette and using a small paintbrush, simply added some of the ink onto the images. NOTE: my paintbrush was just damp, almost dry. This allows you to create some detailed lines.

You can see the difference these little strokes of colour make. The fern on the bottom right corner has only been blended out at this stage. But the fern I working on is much more detailed!

And that's the finished result! Although, at this stage, I thought it was a bit too stark. So, I used Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink to add some colour around the edges. This also gave it a more vintage look.

I carefully wet the edges of the paper then added the ink. Try not to get too close to the ferns or the colour will reactivate and start to move. A little is ok!

I think this is much better. Now, let's finish up the card. I used the Decorated Wishes-Mixed Add ons set for the sentiment. The "For You" happened to fit perfectly.

I used the Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink for the sentiment and added a few small hearts to act as embellishments.

If you're going to try this technique, my biggest tip is to not use too much water! You want to maintain the shape of your images and also have the control to add the details!

I used Distress Ink to stamp my sentiment. We all know that these inks are awesome at everything except stamping so use your stamp positioning tool so you can do multiple impressions!