Tutorial - laser toner resist & watercolour cards

I made laser toner resist cards a while back and this time I decided to take a few photos and prepare a tutorial to show the process of making them.  I used free digital images from CLKER for these cards as well and created my layouts in Corel Draw.  I created backgrounds and layouts with the images - 4 per 8.5" x 11" and laser printed them onto white cardstock.  I trimmed them apart to 4.25" x 5.5".

Here is what you are going to need:
quarter sheet laser printed images/backgrounds
watercolours
water
a large round brush
and a waterproof work surface

Wet your watercolours so they are really juicy. Choose an image/background.  I chose this hexagonal background for my first one.  I started by adding several splotches of yellow, added several blue splotches and where they mixed it created some green areas. I ran blue all the way around the edges to make sure that there would be colour to the edge all the way around. Keep adding colour until you are happy with how they look.  Don't mix too much - we don't want mud brown.  That is it!!!  Set this one aside and create another one.

For this one I tried adding plastic wrap over the wet paint to get a cool pattern but because the cardstock is very absorbent I was not able to get much of a pattern.












This one is a floral background. In this case I was a little more careful.  I painted all the centers yellow first, then I added colour to the petals and finally I painted the background green.  I found the large paintbrush worked well and helped me resist being really finicky with my application of colour.
So a different brush and a different colour palette resulted in a bit of a different look for these cards!!
It it worth your while to make a few while you are at it.  I would advise having a few blank images/backgrounds on hand for last minute cards!!

Once they are dry they may need to be pressed to flatten them.  You may also consider wiping the surface with a dry cloth to remove any watercolour that remains on the laser toner which will make it pop a little more.  Once they are pressed flat, it is time to make cards with them!!  Trimmed to 4" x 5.25" they are perfect for the front of an A2 sized card. They can be embellished with greetings, ribbon, bling - whatever you are inspired to add.
Have fun and leave me a link in the comments with your creations so I can go take a look!!

Therese