Watercolor Backgrounds

I sthis post on the Papertrey Ink bl watercolor backgrounds and decided to give it a try.  It is such a pretty and soft look for backgrounds.  Dawn McVey shows two different ways to do this with heat embossed images.  I tried out the first by heat embossing and then brushing on the color.

At first, it  looked like a big ole mess.  I got a little too happy splashing colors and had pools of color all over!  Trust me - it was  not pretty.  Thankfully, this technique is really forgiving  I had to blot out quite a bit and then I went over it again with a flat brush.

Next time, I will try out the second way - to do the background and then heat emboss.  I had gotten some saturated color where the images had spaces and it was tough to soften.  Doing the background first will make it more uniform.

I decide to enter this in Craft Creations Challenges - Challenge 257, Keep It Simple, Simon Says Challenge - Anything Goes with Pearls,  and  Virginia's View Challenge #1: Watercoloring.
.

Materials:

Papertrey Ink

• Feather Finery Stamp Set
• Smokey Shadow Dye Ink
• Ocean Tides cardstock

Ranger

• Peacock Feathers Distress Stain
• Bisque Liquid Pearls

Lindy's Stamp Gang

• Moonshadows in Gold Doubloons and Buccaneer Bay Blue