Complete Guide To Using Watercolor Pencils For Card Making

I love having a variety of tools in my crafting toolbox, and today I’ll be sharing about one of those tools as we talk about using watercolor pencils for cardmaking. I’ve been using watercolor pencils for years, but I’ve never taken the time to do an in-depth tutorial for how to use them. The time has arrived!

Learn how to use watercolor pencils for card making! Use them like regular pencils or try these amazing techniques!

Watercolor Pencils For Card Making Video

Watch along here for a full overview of how to use, sharpen and store watercolor pencils, as well as how to color with them and do several different techniques!

What Are Watercolor Pencils?

Watercolor pencils are similar to regular colored pencils, but they’re designed to work with water to create watercolor effects. They can be used like regular pencils or along with many techniques to create beautiful effects.

Using Watercolor Pencils

As mentioned, coloring with watercolor pencils can be done in the same way as using colored pencils. A few tips for use include the following:

-Don’t sharpen them often, as a dull, flat edge is good for getting smooth coloring and shading.

-When sharpening, use a manual or electric pencil sharpener to sharpen them some, but not to a sharp point.

-They can be used with any paper, but if you plan to add water or do special techniques, they work best with watercolor paper or shimmery white cardstock.

-If you are coloring a stamped image and plan to add water, make sure to use StazOn ink so it doesn’t bleed.

Coloring With Watercolor Pencils

Coloring with pencils is so easy! I like to color with a dull or flat edge to get a smooth result. When I want to add shading, I just apply more pressure.

The standard set of Stampin Up watercolor pencils includes 13 colors, one of which is white. What might you do with a white pencil? Let’s talk about it.

White Pencils

Why would you even want a white pencil? Because you can do really neat things with it! Try coloring with a white pencil onto dark cardstock.

Or, color with white and then add other colors over top.

Watercolor Pencil Techniques

Here are three techniques I like to try with watercolor pencils.

Use Blender Pens

If you color with pencils then use a Blender Pen to smooth the color, you can achieve a perfectly smooth result! This is seriously like magic. It works best with shimmery white cardstock.

Use Water Painters

To smooth the color with water, I like to use my water painters. This gives a slightly less smooth, but more watercolory-look (I made that a word) than using Blender Pens.

Create Backgrounds

This is so much fun! You can create watercolor backgrounds without the mess of using ink. Start by scribbling with one or more colors of watercolor pencil onto watercolor paper. Next, add water with a water painter or spritzer. Then use a water painter or brush to move and blend the color. Add more water if needed and when you’re happy with the results, let it dry.

The ‘Flicking’ Experiment

I mentioned in my video that I would share an ending photo of the water flicking experiment, where I added water splatters to a background and let it dry. It honestly didn’t create much of an effect, but I wanted to share that here.