Creative Water colour Cards

Besides the traditional methods of using watercolours on cards, here's a different creative technique you can use.

It's simple, easy and with a little help, even your kids will manage.

*The watercolours I've used here are not top of the line. Nor are they specifically made for artists but they do the job. You can even use the tube sets of watercolour by using just a little and thinning it down a bit.

**I got the die cut flowers from a fantastic store for hobby crafts in India called Itsy Bitsy (online store as well). The flowers are made from a nice thick watercolour paper which makes it really durable. 

***I don't like where we're heading - pollution wise - and I try to do my bit to make the earth greener.  The plastic sheet that I'm using to apply the watercolour onto is about 4 years old. A set of paint brushes came in it. I keep reusing it since its really durable and easy to clean. 

You don't have to go out and buy stuff - just look around you. There'll be so much you can use.

Materials needed:

* Watercolours

* Flat soft brush

* Watercolour paper flowers

* Water container

* Plastic sheet or plate

* Embellishments

* Spray bottle with water (optional)

I was. going for warm tones for this card. Warm tones are basically your reds, oranges and yellows.

Apply a little orange and a little yellow to the plastic sheet.

I used a 2-3 spritzes from the spray bottle to dilute the watercolour a bit more.

Taking one of the large flowers, I pressed it down in the colour.

Lift it with the help of a tweezer if you don't want to get your fingers messy.

You'll notice it doesn't have colour all over.

Rotate the flower and dip it again till covered.

Once you're happy with the colour distribution, leave it aside to dry. 

I did the other flowers I'm using for the card in the same way.

Depending on the weather, they can take a bit to dry completely. If you have a heat gun handy you can use it to dry the flowers a little faster.

Once dry, we're going to re-dip the flowers in the 2 shades of watercolour again.

Again, make sure they're completely dry before moving on to the next step.

Using red, yellow and orange, we're gonna drip little droplets onto the flowers by hitting the brush gently on your index finger.

This can get very, very messy. So make sure your work surface is well protected. 

You can't see it in the picture, but the rest of my work surface is protected with sheets of old newspaper - super easy to clean up.

With the back of the paintbrush, cup the centre of the flour. Slightly cup your non dominant hand and place the flower. Use the back of the paintbrush and light pressure to gently swirl the centre of the flower till it cups slightly.

You can also get this effect by using an embossing tool and an embossing mat.

Repeat for all the flowers.

Get your card base ready. I've chosen an orange card with an off white layer.

Before I stick the flowers I like to play around with the way it's gonna look. Sometimes the idea that's in my head is not what I actually finally go with.

Once you're happy with how it looks, stick the flowers one at a time. Add the embellishments for the centres and some greens.

Et Voila! 

There you have it. 

A little time consuming but really super easy.

xoxo,

K.