Creating Watercolor Chipboard

Well, hello there! Are you wondering who I am? Well, let me introduce myself:

I am Kai (that rhymes with "why?") and I have been a wholehearted participant at Inside Out since the day after it was born and a member of the support team there for quite some time now. I have to tell you, there are many days when I wonder what I did without the sharing and the inspiration!

Today, I'm hijacking the SFTIO blog to share with you something that happens frequently over in our community. Our talented design team shares wonderful tips and techniques every month, using the current month's theme and kit. I thought it would be fun to share with you a crazy-cool tutorial by our very own creative and wonder-filled Nancy.

Creating Watercolored Chipboard

by Nancy Doren

I’m always looking for new ways to alter raw chipboard... it’s the perfect canvas! I decided to get out my trusty watercolors and play around with the raw chipboard that’s in this month’s kit. I’m really excited with the results, and good news—it’s super easy to do!

Gather your supplies: chipboard, watercolor paints (these don’t have to be fancy—you can use a kids’ set), paintbrush, table salt, Twinkling H2O’s (optional), spray ink, water

I love the look of blended colors, so I chose a large piece of chipboard for this technique. Paint one color on the end of the piece and another color on the other end.

It’s best to choose colors that are next to each other on the color wheel (like red & orange, green & blue, pink & purple) so that they blend easily.

Extend the colors toward each other til they meet in the middle; blend with lots of water and mixed paint.

You can also achieve this look with Twinkling H2O’s from Creative Imaginations. I’ve always been intimidated by them, but I was given some H2O’s recently and decided to just go for it and try them out. I realize now that they’re simply watercolor paints with shimmer! I’m going to be using them all the time now. To blend, follow the above instructions.

For an artsy, splotchy look, use common table salt. Paint your chipboard, and while it’s still wet, sprinkle salt over the surface. Allow it to dry (use your heat gun if you’re impatient like me), and brush the grains of salt off. You’ll end up with a super cool design!

I wanted an extra shimmer for my blended pieces, so I used a spray ink to add that extra shine.

There are so many ways you can use watercolors on raw chipboard... this is just the beginning! Think about masking, resist stamping (use watercolors over an embossed image), and stencils. So many possibilities!

Thanks Nancy! I can't wait to get my hands on some chipboard to try this out!

If you liked what you see here, give Nancy a shout-out in the comments below. And, make sure you join us at the SFTIO site in our community for more free design team tutorials, tips and techniques as well as just for the wonderful sources of inspiration!