Last week in my post introducing the winter card pack, I mentioned that I would be back to write about a technique used on the trees: two-step watercolour stamping.

The basis of this technique was from two-step stamping where two (or sometimes more) stamps are used to create one image that has more texture and depth of detail than when using just one stamp.  I simply added water in between the stamping steps to make it easier to blend the colours.

In this example I used the gorgeous tree from Season Like Christmas by Stampin’ Up!

I started the technique by inking up the fuller background stamp with Pear Pizzazz and stamping it off on scrap paper a couple times.  Then the lighter image was stamped on watercolour paper.  In the example below, you can see a faint stamp of a tree to the right of the finished one.

This lighter stamp was used as a guideline to apply a thin layer of water with an Aqua Painter. Then, stamp on the watery image with the second stamp in full colour (Pear Pizzazz again).

The ink will start to spread if there is a lot of water or look more like a stamped image if there is only a little water as seen above.  Now take the Aqua Painter again and blend the ink to fill out the shape of the tree.  For the second tree, I added a hint of Mossy Meadow (a darker green) to help it stand out from the first tree.  I also added a splatter of Frost White shimmer paint to give a subtle snow effect.

Once the paper was dry and the colours settled, you would never know that a stamp set was used!  In this technique, the two-step stamping didn’t give more detail to the image, but rather gave a basic shape to paint with and then helped distribute the colours in an easy way.

I have used this technique in a variety of ways and loved the look each time!

Now go dig out those two-step stamps and give this technique a try – you will love the results!!

Leah