RQOTD: how to get this mottled/spotted look?

Once in a blue moon I’m dying to know how someone made a card/got an effect and have emailed the cardmaker or the company. So far people have been generous with providing information, in case you ever want to try that. The designer has a contact/email me on her About page. 

The die cuts could have been painted as you’re saying, or the paper could have been painted and then die cut. That’s more commonly what I do, since I can vary the paint on the paper and pick what I want to die cut. Sometimes I die cut pieces out of cheap CS (that I won’t use) and put them in front of me while painting the paper in order to get a sense of size. Or I’ll draw a very rough shape to paint that’s larger than the actual die so the drawn lines won’t get cut, to try to get paint where I want it. And I might paint a lot more than I’m going to use to choose what fits best. So it’s a little haphazard and a little intentional.

It looks like water color or dye ink used as watercolor, smooshed onto a block or craft mat, spritzed with water and voila—watercolor.

People use different mediums and methods for splatter. I can’t tell how opaque the splatter is. For white splatter, Dina Wakeley’s white gloss spray is quite popular, and various white inks. Gesso can even be used for a translucent effect. For the brown splatter, Distress or Distress Oxide can nicely be used. Walnut Stain and the wonderfully dark Ground Espresso spray stains are sometimes used or the inks on a craft mat or acrylic block.

Some people stick a paint brush into the paint or ink, spritz with water if needed, and then tap the paint brush handle with their finger or another paint brush or pencil.

Others put the paint on an acrylic block, spritz water if needed, and use a paint brush to flick paint from the block onto the card. I’ve seen Kristina Werner do that, and here’s a very short video demoing it. Her splatter also created lines since her ink was thick.
youtu.be/YjsFfdzE78Y

Ranger/Tim makes a Distress Splatter brush that’s shown in the video but not used. It’s got long plastic bristles and Tim uses it a tiny bit differently than she briefly shows in the video. I have one and like it if I want a lot of splatter, otherwise tend to tap on the paint brush, but have also used the block method. I’m blanking on another white medium people like so will post this and come back to add it.

Here’s a 5-minute video of Tim demo-ing the two ways to use the splatter brush:
youtu.be/15UhbibTtkk

ETA Looking through Melissa’s and PTI’s blog for a few minutes, now I’m thinking she may have sponged the paint onto the die cuts. Because she wrote she did that on several other cards. Ex: When talking about the colors on a circle she stamped and heat embossed, she says, “I sponged on Summer Sunrise and Pale Peony ink. I love how it makes the sentiment stand out but remain soft and subtle as well.” 

ETA2 Here’s it is in the blog, though technique isn’t discussed. These are cards for a release they had.
blog.papertreyink.com/2022/04/feathered-friends-22-cornered-leaves-brick-wall-barbed-wire/

ETA3 Fast forward to 5:55 to see splatter using gouache on an acrylic block. I forgot to mention gouache before. www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/no-line-watercoloring-in-real-time/

You better. You can run but cannot hide. 🧐

And with your skills/art sense of course it will turn out much better than decent. Zero doubt. 

This very short youtube video that demos three ways to splatter tickled me:
youtu.be/JUiQnSbUZm8

BTW, her #3 method is a cousin to putting the paint on an acrylic block and flicking it off. She has another very short video where she’s sketching her cat, and saying, “don’t move, don’t move!” In her video list.

I can't see the details super-clearly but the light splotches I'm seeing on the bird look like water reactive inks (distress oxides?) sprayed with water and then a moment later the water has been soaked up with a towel (or not - some people soak it up, some don't).

The person I follow who does a lot of splattering is Amy R. She demos lots of different paints and inks flicked and splattered, often all on the same card.
www.youtube.com/c/PrairiePaperandInk

How could there not be splatters on an Amy R. card? I follow her too.

Here’s her blog and she’s on youtube: prairiepaperandink.typepad.com

Something very similar could be done with Copics. They tend to give that watercolour look when used on the right paper, all nice and smoothly blended, and drops of ink or colourless blender will produce the speckling. There's actually three colours of speckles in there, the pale/'white', a dark, and a midtone similar to the base (looking at the blush pink section specifically). There's a spot in the midtone directly in line below the bird's beak that has a characteristic ring of darker colour around the outer edge where the dye's been pushed away.