Watercoloring with Distress Inks has long been one of my favorite cardmaking techniques but lately watercoloring with Distress Oxide inks is climbing to the top of my list!

I’m so inspired by the gorgeous Distress Oxide watercoloring of Emily Midgett & Kelly Latevola, and the lovely slower summer pace is giving me lots of time to practice!

Here are a few of my newbie tips for watercoloring with Distress Oxides…

• Oxides are opaque so they have the appearance of a heavy paint, more like acrylics and less like watercolor. The effect is really beautiful and super fun for no-line coloring techniques. For these cards, I used my favorite no-line coloring ink to stamp the butterflies.
• You don’t necessarily need reinkers, just swipe your Oxide pads onto a slick surface like an acrylic block or a non-stick craft mat.
• Try experimenting with creating colored backgrounds just make sure to let layers dry to keep things from getting muddy. For example, I wanted a gray background but I only had off-white watercolor paper on hand. I used the Distress Oxide Hickory Smoke to first watercolor my panel of watercolor cardstock. When the gray panel was dry, I stamped & watercolored the butterfly.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Carly

Supplies:

• Honey Bee Fluttering By
• Distress Oxide Inks Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral, Carved Pumpkin & Hickory Smoke
• VersaFine Onyx