Faux Coloring with SSS Vine Canopy Embossing Folder

This Vine Canopy embossing folder is another of the new products I chose from the recent Simon Says Stamp Rainbows release.  I really loved the folder I got in the last release and decided I need to keep collecting them.  

There have been some really amazing cards using these embossing folder where people color/paint the embossed images.  I am definitely going to be doing that at some point, but it's the last week of the school year for my girls and I'm prepping to be out of the office next week with the girls and my mom and sister, so crafting time is at a premium.  As a result, instead of actually coloring the images, I decided to try and simulate the look.  

This was so easy to do.  I used my Distress Markers (I honestly can't remember the last time I pulled them out!), but any watercolor marker will do.  Then I just colored the images on the 'scooped out' side of the embossing folder.  You don't have to be particularly diligent about coloring the whole thing, you just really want to get a bit of color in all the sections.  Here's a look at the embossing folder after I had finished coloring.  You hardly see the color, but there is ink in those spaces.

Then I simply spritzed the folder with water.  You want to spritz pretty liberally.  This is a look at the folder after I sprayed.  You can see that the color is a little more pronounced as it mixes with the water.  I think I actually spritzed it a bit more after I took the photo.

Then I placed a piece of watercolor into the embossing folder and ran it through my diecutting machine.  Here's a look at the finished panels.

As you can see the 'coloring' isn't perfect.  There are some areas where either I didn't have enough ink in there, or it might have bled a bit, but it's a pretty good approximation and can be done in a fraction of the time.  I do love that each panel, even if you use the same colors, will come out a bit differently.  It's a wonderful, quick technique that anyone can accomplish.

OK, on to the finished cards.  This red and green panel was the first one I created.  I actually used four markers on this card.  I started by coloring all the greens with my Mowed Lawn distress marker, and then added a bit of Forest Moss to the large leaves.  For the berries I used Festive Berries and added a couple of touches of Fired Brick as well.

The panel was trimmed down and attached to my card base with double sided tape.

The Holly Jolly die is from The Stamp Market.  I cut the base piece twice, from both green cardstock and watercolor paper.  The watercolor cardstock was adhered to the green with a slight offset.  Then the letters were cut from red cardstock and adhered on top.

The entire piece was popped up with foam tape.

For the next card, I decided to just use two markers because I figured that the water would create variations in color all on its own, even without a second shade of ink involved.  I used Forest Moss for the greens and Stormy Sky for the berries.

The panel was then adhered to my kraft base.  To finish this card off, I used some hexagon dies from My Favorite Things.  I used two sizes, cutting them from a navy cardstock and stacking them together, just to add a little more texture/interest.

The Hello die is an oldie but goodie from Neat & Tangled.  It was cut from the watercolor paper and adhered directly to those hexagons.  The entire piece was then popped up with foam tape.

These were really so fast and easy to create.  Hope you will try it!