While on vacation in Sanibel, I saw a really cool technique a local lady had done on a stamped image. She had stamped the image in black ink and then simply used fairly abstract watercolor painting to do the background. This was such a fabulously simple idea, I knew I had to give it a try at some point.

My opportunity arose recently when I wanted to send a card to our friends in the Netherlands. I had a fantastic windmill stamp that I had purchased to do my scrapbook pages from our vacation there so I thought I would make a card for them rather than buy one. After all, I am certain they never get sick of windmills! I used black pigment ink on my stamp because I wanted to add one more technique to the project, I wanted to emboss the image.

After my image was thoroughly dry, I used watercolors to paint the scenery behind the windmill as well as the windmill. I didn’t worry about making everything perfect or about colors not lining up perfectly with the image. I think it is this haphazard approach that makes the final product interesting. The embossing did help guide my paints though and produced an interesting shadow effect within the bricks. In just a few minutes, I had a nicely decorated card to send to my friends.

This technique works best with landscapes but one of the images I saw was of a mermaid underwater and that was adorable! Next time I am down there, I will note the artist and take pictures so I can share with you all.