Even though my results from the tutorial didn't quite mimic Palms version (which is what I was trying to achieve), I was curious about all the talk regarding the ahb, so I tried to merge some of the steps from the watercolor tut along with the suggestions for the ahb.
I am amazed! I think that I am going to have a love affair with the ahb now! It is so COOL...even though I don't understand how it works. Anyway, here's my attempt with combining the two techniques,

...sort of.