Technique Tuesday: Halloween Card Video ~ Using Aquapainters and Stampin’ Up!’s Watercolor Paper

*Please scroll down to the next post to see the winners of the Shimmer Paint DVD and the Christmas Cocoa Stamp Camp*

My readers have spoken *lol* – you’re going to continue seeing written step-by-step directions in addition to my video tutorials.  The only exception to this is going to be Soph’s Wednesday punch tutorials.  Time is at an extreme premium with Soph right now as her husband is on course (he’s in the military) and will be away from home for the next year or so. That means that Soph is on her own with her three kids (6 months, 3 years and 10 years old).  So for her Wednesday punch videos, you’ll only see a supply list and a list of the punched pieces necessary for the project.

Today’s card features Stampin’ Up!’s aquapainters, reinkers and watercolor paper.  If you’ve never watercolored with the aquapainters then you’re definitely going to want to watch this video.  It’s such a fun and easy technique – in fact, in a lot of ways I find it easier than using blender pens because the “finished” image looks so much more artistically colored, with very little effort.

Here’s how I made the card:

1. You will need a piece of Stampin’ Up!s watercolor paper – if you don’t own Stampin’ Up!’s paper then you can use any 140 lb cold-pressed watercolor paper which can be purchased from most craft & art supply stores. I wouldn’t go too much lighter than 140 lb, as the lighter the weight the less absorbant the paper is and the more likely it is to buckle. 
2. Stamp the large and small pumpkin from the Autumn Harvest stamp set onto the watercolor paper in Jet Black Staz On ink. 
3. Place a small drop of Pumpkin Pie Classic reinker and a small drop of Old Olive Classic reinker onto a non-porous surface (the lid of your stamp set, an old CD, a plastic palette like the one I used in the video).
4. Pick up some of the Pumpkin Pie reinker with the tip of your aquapainter and start coloring in your pumpkins.  Keep coloring and moving the color around until the image looks as desired.
5. Clean your aquapainter tip by gently squeezing the barrel of the aquapainter to gently “wash” out the color, brush it onto a paper towel or scrap paper to remove any remaining traces of Pumpkin Pie.
6. Now pick up some Old Olive reinker and color in the stems of the pumpkins.  Set the pumpkins aside to dry.
7. Take a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Pumpkin Pie CS and fold it in half using your bone folder.  Ink up the Sanded background stamp in VersaMark ink and stamp it onto the Pumpkin Pie card front.  Sponge the edges of the Pumpkin pie card front with Pumpkin Pie Classic ink. 
8. Stamp the greeting in the bottom right corner of the Pumpkin Pie card front in Basic Black Classic ink. Use a stamp-a-ma-jig if necessary.
9. Mat a 3″ x 3-1/2″ piece of Night & Day Designer Paper onto a 3-1/4″ x 3-3/4″ piece of Basic Black CS.  Pierce a hole in the top left and right corners using a paper-piercing tool and foam mat.
10. Insert a black brad into each hole.
11. Cut out the pumpkins from the watercolor paper, leaving a small border or white around them.  Die cut a swirl using the Swirls Scribbles die and your Big Shot out of Old Olive CS. 
12. Stick the swirls to the back of the pumpkins using Tombow Multi-purpose adhesive.  Stick the pumpkins to the bottom of the matted DP with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
13. Stick the matted DP to the Pumpkin Pie card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  You’re done!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  To see the winners for the Shimmer Paint DVD and the Christmas Cocoa stamp camp please scroll down.

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Stamps: House of Haunts (111574), Autumn Harvest (110372), Sanded Background Stamp (109294)
Paper: Pumpkin Pie CS (105117), Basic Black CS (102851), Old Olive CS (100702), Watercolor paper (105019), Day & Night Specialty DP (116768)
Ink: Jet Black Staz On ink (101406), Pumpkin Pie Classic ink refill (105229), Old Olive Classic ink refill (100531), VersaMark ink (102283)t
Accessories: Stamping Sponges (101610), Snail adhesive (104332), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive (110755), Big Shot (113439), Swirls Scribbles (113441), Vintage Brads (109109), Paper-piercing tool (116631), foam mat (105826)