Let’s Use Watercolor Pencils!

January 15, 2023

Hello Friends! Are you ready to learn about watercolor pencils and how to make watercolor pencil cards? I love using Stampin’ Up! Watercolor Pencils but sometimes I forgot about them and get in the habit of just using ink pads or Stampin’ Blends to stamp & color my images. The other day I was talking to someone and she happened to mention watercolor pencils and it reminded me how much I like using them. So, thanks Connie for the inspiration to create this blog post and show my paper crafting friends a different way to color stamped images when making a card.

The Stampin’ Up! Watercolor Pencils come in an assortment of colors. Assortment 1 contains 13 pencils in Basic Black, Basic Gray, Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Rich Razzleberry and White. Assortment 2 has 10 pencils in Balmy Blue, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Flirty Flamingo, Garden Green, Gorgeous Grape, Granny Apple Green, and Night of Navy. If you’d like to order them, click on the links below and add them to your cart. Assortment 1 and Assortment 2

Blender Pens

One other thing you will want to order (if you don’t already have them) is the Stampin’ Up! Blender Pens. The link to purchase them is in the supplies list below. The Blender Pens are dual tipped with specialized solution inside that helps blend the watercolor penciling on your image. They come in a pack of three and they work so great to blend and remove any watercoloring lines left behind from coloring with the pencils. They also make your colors pop by adding a little moisture to the watercolored image.

I am probably going to make a YouTube video as well because it is difficult to only talk about it. You really need to see it in action to appreciate how well the blender pens work along with the watercolor pencils. Also, they clean up so nicely. You just color on a scrap piece of paper a couple times until you don’t see any more ink left coming from the tip of the blender pen.

Additionally, there are lots of ways to use the Watercolor Pencils but today’s focus is using them to color the stamped image and blend the color with the blender pen. So, the first thing you will need is a stamp that only stamps the outline so you can color inside the stamped image with the watercolor pencil. I chose a stamp set called “In The Moment” which is available for purchase by clicking the link in the supplies list below. The stamped image of the woman wearing a hat and holding a glass of wine gave me opportunities to color her dress, her hat, the wine and the railing in front of her using several different watercolor pencil colors.

The next thing you will need is some Stazon Jet Black ink. It works best because the moisture from the Blender Pens won’t cause the black ink to bleed or smear. As far as what kind of paper to use, you have many choices. You can use white cardstock, watercolor paper or shimmery white cardstock.

Supplies Used to Make Watercolor Pencil Card

Stampin’ Up! Watercolor Pencils (Balmy Blue, Early Espresso, Basic Gray, Rich Razzleberry)
Stazon Jet Black Ink
Blender Pens
In The Moment Stamp Set
Smoky Slate Cardstock
Basic White Cardstock
Basic Gray Ink
Simply Marbleous Designer Series Paper
Layering Circles Framelet Dies
Sponge Dauber
Pastel Adhesive Backed Sequins
Modern Label Punch
Stampin’ Dimensionals

Steps to create Watercolor Pencil Card

First ink up your stamp with Stazon Jet Black Ink
Next, stamp the image onto your white cardstock
Color your image using watercolor pencils
Next, blend the colors using the Blender Pen. Be sure to clean your Blender Pen before changing colors. Notice how any lines made by the watercolor pencils are smoothed out and blended. Also, the colors look deeper and richer.
After that, use a circle die or punch to cut out your image and attach dimensionals to the back
Then add designer series paper to your cardbase and attach your cut out image.
Stamp your sentiment, cut it out and attach dimensionals to the back and attach to designer series paper.
Attach some embellishments to finish it off.
Lastly, decorate your envelope to match the card and give it to someone to show them how special they are.