Owl Always #2

It has been a rainy day so a good day to play and experiment. This time I decided to print my photo on watercolor paper. I bought an off brand watercolor paper on sale and it is awful so like the grey cardstock I accidentally bought I'm trying to use it up. From now on although it may be more expensive I'm going with a known brand.

I was having so much fun with the owl that I decided to make one more card using the owl and moon. Nothing says you can't use the same images and if they are already traced for print and cut you might as well.

The image on the left is the original photo printed on watercolor paper. The one on the right is colored with watercolor pencils and a wet brush. also printed on watercolor paper. Because it is printed with an inkjet printer the ink bleeds giving I think a nice watercolor look. My brush was a little wetter than it should have been when I first started on the right hand corner with my pink.  The yellow I used didn't really show up. Besides using a wet watercolor pencil and then brushing water over I also used just clear water in places. You want to continually rinse your brush out as it will pick up some of the inkjet ink. Otherwise you will end up with a muddy mess. LOL! Although that might be what you are after. 

I took Forest Green Stazon ink and a cosmetic sponge to paint the border on the card base. Alas the ink pad was pretty dry so time to order reinker. I then took Cactus Green Stazon ink. The two inks did give a nice mottled look. I used silver and black ink to edge the panel. After it was adhered to the card base I then went back and drew a fine line around the panel  on three sides with a green glaze pen. The moon and the owl were embellished exactly the same way as in the previous post.  I really love the way that the Dimensional Magic adds to the owl's eyes. This time I did put my sentiment on a piece of scrap cardstock left over from cutting out the base for the previous card.

There you have it a way to turn a photo or image into a faux watercolor without using expensive software. Later on I'll be using this technique with some floral photos I've taken over the years. In the meantime my craft area is begging me to clean it up and organize more. Who knows what treasures I may find. I already found some stamps that have never seen the light of day.

Do you use watercolor paper and is there a particular brand that you prefer to use? By the way even if you don't use this technique watercolor paper gives a nice texture to the image you print on it. Of course if you know me you know that I like to add texture and dimension to my cards.

Once again I don't know what supplies or what the theme will be for altered cards so you will have to come back next week to see what I do. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!