Tutorial: Watercolor pencils by Abby!

Hi all! Abby here :)

I love adding fun stamped images to my cards and projects. However, I had always believed that to get that bright and contrasting color, I would have to spend a fortune on professional markers. Well, like some of us, I don't have a fortune lol. So instead. I use watercolor pencils :) 

Today I'm showing you how you can achieve the same great color on your stamped images without breaking your bank.

Start with your watercolor pencils and blender pen. (I bought mine at Michael's. Just $5 for the pencils and $3 for the Marvy blender pen. That's pretty much the cost of one professional marker!)

Here's the FUN part! Color your image :)

You'll notice (especially on textured cardstock) that the coloring is not an even coat. After you've finished coloring, go over your color with the blender pen in a light circular motion. This creates a nice even tone of bright color :)

Tips: Be sure to dab your pen on some tissue before each time you color over a different color, because it will transfer color. Also, try to not spend too much time in one area- the blender pen is water and it will over-wet your paper causing tiny shreds to appear. I learned this the hard way :)

And here is my result. Bright and even color :)

The great thing about this technique is you can also shade and blend colors just like you can with professional markers :)

Just color the outline of your stamped image - or color your entire image with 2 colors. Use your blender pen to go over your color completely. It creates nice shading or blending.

See how nicely that blends? :)

Here's another quick tip for all you stampers out there! Do your acrylic blocks look like this??

I'm always inking up my blocks (not purposely! lol), and I've tried many different cleaners to get all that off.. no luck! But one day I discovered this tip by accident! lol

Take your inkpad and ink up your entire block, then wipe it off quickly with a baby wipe. 

The chemicals in the ink (or something! lol) reactivate and break up the dried ink and it then wipes right off! 

So cool! And almost new again!

Thanks for visiting TPV today!! :)