Watermark Ink with Pearl Ex Powders

Earlier this month design team member Marci shared a tutorial for using watermark ink with Perfect Pearls to make your own background paper. Today I’ll also be sharing a fun technique for watermark ink, this time using Pearl Ex powders. Pearl Ex powders are extremely fine pigment powders with a metallic finish that look striking when added to dark cardstock. They have no binder (glue) so they need some type of adhesive to stick to a project.

Here’s the card I made. It uses the O Christmas Tree! set of stamps which are so fun.

1. Start by lining up the tree stamps on a large acrylic block. Vary the height of the trees for greater interest. Stamp all the images with Versamark Watermark ink.

2. The powder will only stick to the images stamped in watermark ink. Gently brush on your selected color over the stamped areas with a soft, fine paintbrush.

Don’t panic when your project looks like this! Although a tiny amount of the powder will creep into the corners of textured cardstock, it simply adds a gentle shimmer to the overall look.

3. Using a dry tissue or paper towel, gently brush over your stamped cardstock. The powder will stick to your stamped image, and the rest will wipe away on the tissue.

4. Choose trunk stamps from the set and stamp for each tree using watermark ink. Repeat the Pearl Ex process using copper or gold powder.

Here’s the finished card once more. I further embellished the trees with adhesive rhinestones and pearls. The stamped panel was added to the card front with a piece of Core’dinations cardstock that was dry embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.

Try stamping with watermark ink and mixing powders right on your stamped image. You can achieve some beautiful and sophisticated looks using a variety of metallic colors.

Happy stamping!

Jolene

Supplies: O Christmas Tree! stamps by my Stamp BOX, American Crafts cardstock, Core’dinations cardstock, Tsukineko Versamark watermark ink, Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink, Heidi Swapp edge distresser, Offray ribbon, Kaisercraft rhinestones, Basic Grey pearls, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Basic Grey Precision Files, Pearl Ex pigment powders.