Perfect Pearls and Distress Inks, Great Watercolor Effect

I think it's best to start this blog out with the aftermath:

Things got a little messy in the creation of this card... My hand and my crafting mat (which was cleaned up before I took the picture) suffered the consequences.

The challenge over at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday blog was to use a watercolor technique. What's that SSS? You want me to pull out my Distress Inks? Ok... if you twist my arm. 

Have you seen those images with the melted crayons and the umbrella people kissing under them? My intention was to try to recreate that using stamps and Distress Inks instead of melted wax. 

Here's my background image:

To achieve this effect, I first dipped the page into a mixture of Stormy Sky, Weathered Wood, and Chipped Sapphire. I dried with a heat tool, then stamped my umbrella man in black archival ink and masked the image so the "raindrops" wouldn't get near it. To create the raindrops, I squished Chipped Sapphire onto a craft mat, spritzed generously with water, and then used a paintbrush to fling it over the card. I then squished Broken China onto the mat and added some Perfect Pearls "Perfect Pearl" before flinging that onto the card with a paintbrush. I think it turned out super neat! 

I brushed the edges with more Chipped Sapphire and adhered the image. Then I embossed the sentiment in blue onto a tag, attached some ribbon and put the whole thing together.


 The whole card is made using Tim Holtz's "Life's Possibilities" set. The challenge at Create Something Catchy is to only use one stamp set, and I wanted to play along.

Creative Craft Cottage has a bingo card going on, and since I used ribbon, tag, and pearls (Perfect Pearls anyway), I can play along!

Last, but not least, I'm sending this over to Addicted to Stamps and More's "Anything Goes" challenge. I just LOVE the shimmer and shine of this in real life. 

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