watercoloring with distress stains...

it's no secret that I love rubber stamps...

I love them because they don't need to look the same each time you use them...

if you change up the technique, 

the surface or

 the inks,

 you have endless possibilities...

so, with that thought in mind, 

I thought I'd do a series of posts

 showing several ways to use one stamp...

I chose the stamp on the top left from the new set called "unlimited art"...

I have a 4 ¼ square watercolor cardstock with round corners to work on...

 I inked the stamp with

 Glacier White pigment ink, 

stamped it in the lower left corner, then heat embossed it with Ranger white embossing powder...

for the first way to use this stamp,

 I'll show you how I used distress stains to watercolor the image & the background...

disclaimer...

I'm NO EXPERT...

so don't expect perfection...

I just had a fun play & I thought I'd share...

I pulled out my usual colors...

then challenged myself to put one away & choose a different one...

hello ripe persimmon!

I had 3 sizes of brushes ready & a little container for water...

you can use either the distress stains or the distress  spray stains, since the ink is the same in both...

I especially like the sprays, because I can unscrew the lid & touch the spray tube to the craft sheet to add just a tiny drop or 2 of ink...

it takes very little & I felt like I wasted almost no stain with this method...

I also like the spray feature of the bottles for quick background techniques...

you could also dispense a little bit of the stain from the dabber top...

this is peeled paint & it's way too much!

I wet the first leaf with plenty of water...

the embossing powder acts like a dam to contain it...

then I touched the moist brush into the stain & added it to the leaf...

if you have too much fluid, dip the dry brush into the stain to remove some...

2 done...& getting ready for #3 & 4...

4 leaves done...

now the flower...

that one drop of ripe persimmon 

colors the whole flower...

I wet the flower, dropped in the ripe persimmon & the flower has this gorgeous color...

that top left leaf looks sloppy...

no worries...

that goes away when I added the background...

I chose 2 colors that I knew would blend & not look yucky in the background...

broken china & fossilized amber...

working under the flower, I added plain water...

(the water controls where the stain goes...)

then dropped in the fossilized amber right under the flower & let the water move the stain...

I let it partially dry, then I blasted it with the heat tool because I have no patience to wait...

and so far...

it looks like this...

now the top section gets water added, then the broken china gets dropped in, at the top of the flower...

I tilted the card to make the color flow quicker...

I added a little diluted broken china 

to the bottom corners too...

and dried the whole card...

I wanted white space & stopped myself (this time) before I inked the whole bloody thing!

I *wish* I wouldn't have added color to the corners...

I *think* I would have liked it better with some white on the bottom...

oh well...

lesson learned!

here's an oops...

you can see that I got a drop of water on the tip of the leaf...

but it can be fixed by adding more peeled paint...

now to lighten some distress in the background...

the "lots of dots" stencil goes over the card...

I moistened the clean blending tool with water...

keep it just moist...not super wet...

psst...here's a bundle stencil deal!

for all 4 new stencils...

I rubbed it over the stencil to bleach out some of the distress...

this adds a layer to the background & more interest...

I also used the dots & stripes stencil to add

 sky blue archival dots to the right side, 

sticking with the DOTS theme...

my sentiment is stamped in jet black archival...

moving on to the bottom...

this new sunflower ink is GORGEOUS...

I stenciled it thru 

the stripes portion of the stencil, 

avoiding the flower & leaves...

so far...

next, I inked the birdhouse stamp with jet black & pressed the coordinating mat mini birdhouse onto the inked stamp...

this makes it easy to line it up exactly...

now the birdhouse looks like this...

I added watering can to the roof & some 

red geranium to the walls, 

making the right side darker...

I used a post it to mask off the roof...

then used the new ticking background to add more detail to the house...

to accent the flower center, I added 

a black "have a heart" mat mini...

a little pen stitching & a line drawn for the birdhouse...

that's about it...

oh...

I accented 3 of the large sky blue dots with the top I removed from a mini multi medium...

it makes a great stamp!

I tapped it onto the Glacier White pad several times...

here's the finished card after it was added to a black card base...

the tiny details on the birdhouse are so fun & I like that they can be customized, with stamps or remnant rubs...

that's the first way to use this stamp & many other stamps can be used the same way...

this sample has nice bright, bold colors...

kind of scary for me...

no brown...

but I had fun & learned 

that I *should* stop & leave more white...

 here's a reminder 

 to use just portions of a stamp...

for this one, I cut out & used only the flower...

this one is on a kraft cardstock base...

I stenciled the new repeating quilt stencil with watering can & tree branch archival...

that really makes the black stenciled leaves & sentiment stand out...

keep in mind that the archival inks are translucent, so the base color affects the final outcome...

the flower was painted over with 

the new buttercup mica spray...

it adds a beautiful shimmer...

painting it on gives you complete control of where you want the shimmer...

the next 2 posts (using this same stamp),

 will focus on using archival inks & 

archival sprays...

(archival reinkers mixed with alcohol in a mister)...

I just made 2 more colors yesterday...

garden patina & sunflower...

I seriously LOVE these...

today, I'm making red geranium...

 I'll also be showing how to use this same stamp with weathered white embossing powder and archival inks on a black surface, for a rather dramatic effect...

I hope you'll try this...

it's fun to use your supplies another way...

time to go so I can...

make art!

wendy