Before I begin with the technique, a noteworthy milestone must be shared:  Today Birdwing Paper Designs is celebrating 150 blog posts!

I could not believe it when I saw that this was going to be the 150th post!!  Or more likely, I couldn’t believe I had so much to say that there are 150 posts!!  Wow!!  Wondering what the first one was about?  Check out “One Step at a Time“.

Now back to colour gradations…

A colour gradation is a gradual blending from one colour to another.  It can be accomplished using one hue that changes from dark to light (commonly seen in the popular ombre effect) or it can be transitioned through several hues.  I love the look of many colours blended together so that is what I will show for this background colouring technique.

I have been experimenting with watercolours using Stampin’ Write Markers and the Aqua Painter from Stampin’ Up.  The easiest way I discovered to blend colours was to scribble the colours on a clear block…

… then flood watercolour paper or Shimmery White paper with a bit of water to cover the area that will be painted and press the block onto the wet paper.

If too much water is used then the colours will pool and the paper will be too wet.  And if not enough water is used then the ink will just stamp on the paper instead of nicely smearing together.

A cool effect is created when the block is removed, but I prefer to gently go over the colours with the Aqua Painter to get a nice gradation.

Once the paper has dried, just add a stamp and a few other details and you have a beautiful card!

I use this technique often when creating watercolour backgrounds because it is easy to control the blending of colours.  I even used it to create the background for the blog header!

With practice and a little experimenting, this technique will add a wow factor to your cards or scrapbook pages.

Leah