Tuesday with Stampotique and Watercolor Techniques

It's terribly cold here today so I have been daydreaming about summer.  This gorgeous Stampotique stamp takes me back to the beach with my brother when I was young. This quick little watercolor technique suits this image perfectly.

To achieve this look:

1. Pounce three distress inks beside each other onto your craft mat and spritz them with water. Here I have used Squeezed Lemonade, Evergreen Bough and Broken China.
2. Push a nice multimedia paper or watercolor paper into the wet ink and twist or move gently to get good coverage and nice blending.  (If the color is too dark, spritz with more water.  If the color is too light, dry the craft mat and repeat with less water.)  
3. Dry the image with a heat gun.
4. Stamp image with Versafine Onyx Black ink (or other insoluble ink).
5. Heat set the image with a heat gun.
6. Using a small watercolor brush, brush a bit of water into areas you wish to lighten and dab those areas with an absorbent towel to remove a bit of color. Here, I did the shirts and the hat.
7. Heat the image one last time to dry the lightened areas. They will lighten a bit more when dry.

“A second wave collapsed over my feet, lipped with white froth, and the chill gripped my ankles with a mortal ache.” 

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar