Watercolor Paper Towels!

I was cleaning up a couple Distress Ink projects over the weekend and I ended up setting my damp paper towel on a pile of scrap paper cuttings ~ when I went to toss them all in the trash I found that the paper towel had left a pretty cool design behind! You know me...got me to thinking of the various paint techniques using paper towels and thought hey, we can do that with ink.

I must warn you though...this will give you ink stained fingers ;) so if you don't want to be inky you might want to wear a pair of gloves for this one.

Supplies:

Distress Re-Inker

Paper Towels (I like Viva - they are very strong)

Water

Cardstock

Heat It Craft Tool (or other embossing gun)

Instructions:

1. Cut the paper towel into 4 smaller pieces.

2. Soak the paper towel with water...not dripping but pretty damp.

3. Place one drop of Distress Ink on your Non-Stick Craft Mat or other non-porous surface.

4. Now dab at the ink with the damp towel. Be sure to pick up the ink in several areas of the towel so there is good coverage.

5. Repeat this step if additional colors are desired.

6. Place your cardstock on your craft mat. Start with one color and dab the wet - inky towel over the cardstock. Remember to shift the paper towel wad around so you don't get the exact same impression over and over. If desired you may squeeze the towel to release additional water with the ink for a different look.

7. When you are satisfied with the coverage of this color use the heat-it craft tool to dry this layer.

8. Continue adding additional layers of color by dabbing on the color and heating.

You will be able to create several sheets of this beautiful watercolor looking cardstock using the very same inked towels. I ended up with 8 sheets (5 shown) but could have kept going as I still had quite enough ink!

Now don't go throwing out those inky paper towels just yet!

You can dry them and incorporate them into your creations as well!

I'll have several examples to share tomorrow incorporating this paper (and the paper towels) on cards, tags and more!

Be sure to check back then!