I love to add texture to my cards and embossing paste is one way to do this. Combine it with your stencils and you can create a whole host on different styles for your backgrounds. But, what if you want more than that tone on tone look. Well, today I’m showing you how to add colour on to embossing paste with one easy tool – liquid watercolours. This can give you such a varied look and can great fun interesting backgrounds.
PRODUCED AS PART OF MY DESIGN-TEAM WORK FOR WOW!EMBOSSING POWDER - SEE END OF POST FOR MORE DETAILS
Adding colour over embossing paste
To start off, I’m going to make a tall card measuring at 8 and a quarter inches by 4 and a quarter. I have a piece of white card which I have trimmed down 2 thirds of the length.
The stencil I’m using is the Broken Chevron stencil from Altenew which is quite a fine intricate design. For the embossing paste, I’m using the Altenew embossing paste and applying this over the stencil with a palette knife. I started off applying this quite gently over the stencil due to its intricacy, but I found it held up quite well and I was more vigorous as I went on applying the paste.
When I removed the stencil I wasn’t happy with the streaky lines I had from my palette knife when I applied the paste. So I reapplied the stencil, aligning the design up and the lightly applied some more paste to smooth out the lines. So don’t assume all is lost once you have removed your stencil from the panel.
To add the colour, I used Skye Blue liquid watercolour from Pink Fresh Studios over the top of the paste. I didn’t even give the panel a chance to dry, I just went for it. The colour starts to seep into the groves of the design and spread picking up and enhancing that texture. I’m also using some clear water and spritzing it on to move the colour around, as well as picking the panel up to move the colour with gravity. The more water you add the more dilute the colour becomes.
To speed up the drying process I’m using my dual spread heat gun from WOW! On the slow setting to dry the panel. If you do use your heat gun like me, keep the gun moving around and use the slower setting to prevent the embossing paste bubbling up.
Creating the elements
For the rest of the card, I die cut the Altenew Fine Frames rectangle out of white cardstock and to strengthen the back of this I added a couple of strips of white card. This will make it more stable when I added colour to it. For the colour, I’m using Tuti Fruti ink by Catherine Pooler and applying this with a blending brush to create an ombre look to the die cut. These brushes allow you to get a lovely soft blend that fades out quite easily.
When ink blending, I had caught the outer rectangle on the frame, so using my trimmer, I just trimmed off the outer rectangle.
The sentiment was created by die cutting the Fancy hello die from Altenew out of white cardstock and then heat embossing it for texture. For this sentiment, I’m using the Seaglass embossing glitter from WOW! As this colour was lovely and tied in with the background panel. I smooshed the WOW! Clear ultra slow drying embossing pad onto the die cut, covered this with the powder and then heat set it. Now It is a good idea to either use the slow setting on the dual speed gun when using embossing glitter or heat from underneath. This will reduce the glitter from flying off your die cut before the powder has had a chance to heat set and trap the glitter.
To create a smooth and bolder look, I repeated this step several times, for around 3 layers of embossing glitter on the die cut.
Assembling the card
Now, the stencil panel had warped a little with the embossing paste and liquid I had applied over the top. So to reduce the warping, I cut a piece of fun foam down so it was marginally smaller than the panel, and using some wider double sided tape I covered the foam completely and adhere this to the panel. This creates a firm base for the panel to adhere to and straighten it up.
To assemble the card, I adhere the panel to the front and foam mounted the rectangle frame on top using my T rule to make sure it was straight. I added a small heat embossed sentiment strip. This uses Opaque Bright White embossing powder and a sentiment from the Avery Elle Thinking of You stamp set.
To allow the hello die cut to pop out from the card a little more, I added it to a white die cut slightly offset to allow the white to create a small shadow. Lastly, I use a combination of Rosewater and Strawberry Coulis Jewel drops from Tonic Studios to finish the card off.
(click to enlarge images)
Don't forget to check out the
WOW! Embossing Powder fan facebook group
to enter this months challenge: embossing glitters
Adding colour over embossing paste
Supplies
Affiliate links used at no extra cost to you at these shops: Altenew (ALT), Scrapbook.com (SB), and Craft Stash UK/US (CS UK/US).
All other shops are not affiliated links: Bumbleberry Papercrafts (BP) and WOW! UK/US (WOW UK/US)
 WOW! Dual Speed Heat Gun (US version) Shop at: WOW (US) |  Sky Blue – – Pink Fresh Studios Shop at: BP | SB |  “Life Changing” Blender Brushes 2 pack Shop at: BP |
 “Life Changing” Blender Brushes 10 Pack Shop at: BP | WOW! Dual Speed Heat Gun (UK version) Shop at: CS (UK) | WOW (UK) |  WOW! Clear ultra slow drying embossing pad Shop at: CS (UK) | WOW (UK) | WOW (US) |
 Embossing Paste – Altenew Shop at: ALT | BP | SB |  Seaglass Embossing Glitter – WOW! Shop at: WOW (UK) | WOW (US) |  Broken Chevron Stencil – Altenew Shop at: ALT | BP | SB |
 Fancy Hello – Altenew Shop at: ALT | BP | SB | CS (UK) | CS (US) |  Fine Frames Rectangles – Altenew Shop at: ALT | BP | SB |
Additional suppplies:
- Tuti Fruti ink – Catherine Pooler Designs
- Rosewater Jewel Drops – Tonic Studios
- Strawberry Coulis Jewel Drops – Tonic Studios
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I would love to hear what you think of the project!
I really loved making this card and getting a little messy creating the background. The watercolour really helped pick out and emphasis the design of the broken chevron stencil and create a colourful background for the focal element of the card. Whatsmore, I love this colour combination, so I need to remember it to use it again in the future.
This was produced as part of my design team work for WOW! Embossing Powder – over in the WOW! Facebook group, the monthly challenge for June is in swing and this months theme is Embossing Glitters.
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Design team work:
DISCLOSURE
This post was produced as part of my design team work for WOW! Embossing Powder have not been paid to make this post, but I am given supplies from WOW! Embossing Powder to use. However, I create projects with creative control and produce projects I am proud of and with products that I love. The information provided is based on my own personal experience – I am not an expert.
3 thoughts on “Adding colour over embossing paste”
I love that you have combined several techniques together. Very exciting
I just watched this video two years later, but still want to comment. What a great idea to use the liquid watercolors. I have tried adding color to the embossing paste before putting it on but your method looks easier and looks to give better results. Wondering if I could use reinkers as I don’t have liquid water color refills?
Thank you so much Linda! Reinker will work, just add some drops to an acrylic block and add a little water to it first so it will move about more! Have fun!