{ Watercolored Tiles }

(Click on the Picture to Enlarge)

Stamps: Summer by the Sea, Seaside Sketches Ink: Black Stazon Accessories: Watercolor crayon, Blending Pens & Aquapainters

First off, I am going to start with the disclaimer that I'm not sure if watercolor crayons are the best thing to use for this project, but to me, these images just beg to be watercolored and I couldn't resist! Okay, that being said, these are some coasters that I also made for my friend who recently got married. Her and her husband are really into beachy stuff, and I thought these images would be perfect for them. These are simply tumbled marble tiles that I picked up at Lowes and stamped on them! I have talked about how to do these tiles before, (here) but those were solid images. With line images, you can color them in a couple ways, with sharpies, bake and you're done (which is what I usually do) or with chalks, then spray with sealant (though I've heard that hairspray works too). I've never heard of anyone doing it with watercolor crayons, but I thought I'd give it a try. I watercolored them with mostly aquapainters, but to get a more concentrated color in some spots, I used a blender pen - again, I'm not sure if this is the "official" way as I am pretty sure that aquapainters/watercolor brushes are the recommended way to use the crayons, but I thought I'd be brave and give it a try. So, after coloring them, I baked them for just about 10 minutes (which melted the crayons a bit thus lightening the colors and making them spread to gave a really nice effect, I thought) and sprayed them down with hairspray. To test them, I took one and placed it on a kitchen towel with and ice cube on top. When the ice cube had melted, I wiped the water off, and nothing smeared, so I declared my technique an small victory. Since I have given them away, I'm not really sure how they are holding up. I guess I'll check back in a couple months to see if they are using them regularly and how they are doing. I'll let you know when/if I find out. But hey, they're pretty, right?