Colorful Granulating Backgrounds with Resist Projects by Anna-Karin Evaldsson
Hi friends! Happy Sunday! I’m delighted to welcome back special guest Anna-Karin Evaldsson! Read on to learn all about how she made these gorgeous makes and enjoy!
Hi everyone! It is summer and I am happy to be here with a new tutorial. Today, we will be creating backgrounds with fun granulating watercolor paint, combined with stencil resist techniques. It is easy and a lot of fun. You will get a different result every time.
I made a whole bunch of backgrounds for the tutorial and couldn’t pick just one for my main project, so I made a card and a tag. The backgrounds were made with Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi Granulating Colors. This watercolor paint is so fun. The paint separates into different colors and gives a great granulating texture at the same time. The Aurora Orange paint is, for example, green and orange. I combined them with stencils and three different media: gesso, texture paste and matte medium.
Apply Distress Matte Medium through Tim Holtz Bubble stencil with a palette knife. Work on watercolor paper for the best effect. Let dry.
It is better to mix the colors with water in a paint palette than to add water to the paint pans. The granulating paint is the paint that looks dark in my palette. The bright colored paint is from another project. As you can see, the paints all look brown, but you will be surprised. Paint the first color. This example was done with Tim Holtz Harlequin stencil.
While the first paint is still wet, immediately continue with two more colors, letting them blend into each other. I used three colors on each background.
As the paint dries, it will separate into several colors. It’s like magic.
I also painted quite many plain backgrounds, varying the amount of water in the paint.
The tag was covered in gesso with a palette knife. Use the knife to add texture. Let dry.
Paint the tag with three shades of granulating paint. Here is a close up.
The paint moves in a different way on the gesso, compared to the paper, and forms really cool textures.
These are the first three backgrounds.
These four backgrounds were made with texture paste instead of matte medium. The watercolor paint will sink into the paste, while the medium resists the paint. These were done with: Simon Says Stamp Mix and Match Circles, and Tim Holtz Sparkle Fade, Deco Floral and Burlap stencils.
Let’s finish the card. For the card I picked the bubble background and die cut the flowers and sentiment from painted backgrounds.
Distress the edges.
Die cut the sentiment using Simon Says Stamp Giggle Thank You. I die cut it from collage paper, dark grey cardstock, white cardstock and painted paper.
Die cut Simon Says Stamp Delicate Wildflowers from painted paper and from collage paper. I made this collage paper in another tutorial here on the blog, here is the link: https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/blog/boo-ghost-panel-tutorial-by-anna-karin-evaldsson/
Die cut Simon Says Stamp Windswept Leaves from painted paper.
Give the pieces some shape with Tim Holtz Shaping Kit.
Layer the flowers and the leaves. Add a Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Opal Gem to the center.
Here you can see both the dimension and the texture.
Glue all the white words together to form a dimensional sentiment, then off-set the Slate grey for a shadow effect. The paper used for the letters was painted with the Aurora Violet paint, using less water than I used for the other backgrounds.
Here you can see one of the examples of how the paint separates.
Let’s move on to the tag, which was made with the gessoed and painted background.
Stamp here and there with Simon Says Stamp Old Letter Background.
Splatter a little Winsor & Newton Permanent White Gouache on the tag.
Die cut Simon Says Stamp Delicate Wildflowers from painted paper and from Ice Vellum.
Die cut Simon Says Stamp Fancy You in the same way as the sentiment on the card.
Shape the flowers and layer them. Add a Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Lilac Gem to the center.
The word was adhered with Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Perfect Foam Tape, for even more dimension.
I used a lighter grey cardstock for the shadow, since I wanted a light look to the tag.
A close-up of the interesting texture.
The smaller sentiments were stamped with Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated Lilac ink, using the Thank You Basics stamp set.
I hope this tutorial inspired you to use watercolor paint in your projects. Thank you so much for looking!
Happy crafting! -Anna-Karin
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Thanks so much for stopping by, and thanks to Anna-Karin for being our guest!
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so gorgeous
These are Fabulous!!! These granulating watercolors look amazing!!!
These are amazing and I love the step by step photos
Beautiful card and tag
Anna-Karin, wonderful tutorial. Beautiful work. Thank you.
Wow, cool technique! The bubble stencil and granulating paints create such a unique, textured background. Never thought of letting them blend like that. Reminds me of the landscapes in Poptropica! I’d suggest experimenting with different stencil shapes too, like maybe stars or leaves for varied effects. Great tip about mixing on a palette first!
Exploring granulating backgrounds with Anna-Karin Evaldsson’s resist techniques has completely changed how I approach mixed media. The layered confetti gun textures and color separation create such depth and visual interest. I love combining these backgrounds with detailed stamping or collage—they make every piece feel rich, dimensional, and totally one-of-a-kind.