Tutorial: Create A Water Effect

This is Jessie with my first post here on the inspirational blog.  I wanted to show you guys how I create a water effect on my cards with Versamark and one of my favorite products...UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel).  

The first thing I do is start with my already colored image.  Today, I used the Angelica Fishing stamp.  I don't have a Versamark Marker because I keep forgetting to pick one up when I go shopping.  That would work great if you have one, but what I do is squirt a drop or two of the Versamark Reinker out onto my craft sheet and just use a paintbrush to paint it onto my image.  It works great, just an extra step.

After that, I sprinkle on my UTEE.  You really want to tap off the excess well.  If it's too thick, it will be more likely to be too "solid" when you heat it. 

When you heat the UTEE, make sure you don't heat it for too long, or it will melt together too much and won't give you that rippley water effect.  Only heat it until it just melts.  

When I have a water scene card, I like to extend that water look onto the background paper and/or the embellishments.  One of the ways I do this is by adding some of the UTEE to my designer paper.  I use my Versamark Ink Pad to LIGHTLY go around the edges and then sprinkle on the UTEE, again making sure that most of the UTEE is not sticking to the paper.

Then, I heat my paper.  Again, DO NOT overheat.  Just barely let it melt if you want it to look like water droplets and not like a water puddle.  Unless, of course, that's the look you want.

And here is what my finished card looks like:

Hope I inspired you to give this technique a go if you've never tried it before.   And if you have, try it again!  It's a great way to add dimension to your project without a lot of bulk!