Watercolor Stencil Print Technique by Laura Fulcher

Greetings friends. Today I to talk about how to combine watercolor paint and the stencil of your choice to create a decorative background. Memory Box, Poppystamps and Birch Press Design all have new releases of stencils, so I thought this would be the perfect time to show you one method for using the beautiful patterns.

To begin, I took a piece of the new Memory Box watercolor paper and taped it to a heavy piece of chipboard using some washi tape. The new watercolor paper is a thick 140lb paper that resists warping. I taped it down to really keep it flat, even if I ended up using a ton of water.

Next, I wet my watercolor paper in a free-form shape with some water and a paintbrush and then added some blue and green watercolor paint to the pre-wet area. I used Peerless watercolor paints, but you could use absolutely any paint you like. I wanted to give the impression of grass and sky without actually painting distinct lines.

While the paint was still wet, I placed my stencil (Birch Press Design Ring Tile stencil) on top and then placed some heavy objects onto the edges of my stencil to hold it down onto the paint. Don't worry if the stencil pops up a bit in places. With this technique, you will have some areas with distinct patterns and some areas where the stencil didn't make great contact with the paper. I think you will find that the finished piece looks great with the variety of impressions you will get.

Let the stencil and paint air dry. This will take 30 minutes or so. It really depends on how much water you use. I would recommend letting the stencil dry naturally so that you don't burn your stencil with a heat gun or hair dryer and you don't move the paint around trying to blow it dry.

When your piece is dry and you remove your stencil, you are left with a patterned watercolor background. Think of all the possibilities you can create by changing colors and stencil patterns!

To finish the card, I added my floral die cut, some brand new Fairy Sugar glitter glue for dimension and interest, and a sentiment tied with a bow.

I hope you will give the technique a try. My advice is to do several backgrounds at once and give yourself some space to have them air dry. The backgrounds are a fantastic thing to have on hand when you need to make a quick card.