Tiny Watercolor Vignettes Tutorial

Here is a tutorial from Ellen Crimi-Trent for some cute little watercolor vignettes. These are quite easy to do and they would be nice for adding to a greeting card or scrapbook or other paper craft. Use your imagination.

Enjoy! :-)

Just for Fun - Watercolor Time Lapse of English Cottage

I enjoyed watching this painting being created by this very talented artist and thought I'd share it with you. :-)  Enjoy!





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Happy Floral Watercolor Greeting Cards Tutorial

Here is a tutorial for some bright cheerful floral cards from Sandy Allnock. You do not have to use the same greeting stamps that she did. You could use whatever you already have, or you could hand letter them with black pen or ink after you paint them. By the way, the flowers she calls snapdragons look more like celosia (cock's comb) or astilbe to me.

Super Easy Watercolor Greeting Cards Tutorial

This tutorial from K Werner Design is for a couple of easy watercolor cards. Aside from the watercolor paper, she really doesn't use any fancy products that you can't make do with simpler things. Watercolor paper is recommended, though. I will say that. I tried to paint on ordinary paper years ago and it didn't go well. But, you can try it if you like. :-)




These don't have to be "thank you" cards. You can put any greeting on them that you like. If you don't want to mess them up, put the greeting on a separate piece of white card stock and then glue it on. These are simple backgrounds that can be use a variety of ways, and you could also fold the cards from the side rather than the top.

A Pool In the Wilderness

Isaiah 43:20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.

A Pool in the Wilderness
by Sarah Lynn Jackson

The Lord Everlasting,
The Creator of All,
Giveth strength to the weary,
And lifts them that fall.

Thy God is e’er with thee,
So be not dismayed;
He will uphold thee
When thou art afraid.

Continue Reading.

Beginner Watercolor Greeting Card Tutorial

Here is a tutorial for a simple watercolor card done by Sharon Cullen. One way to make this easier would be to use watercolor greeting cards that are already pre-cut and folded and just paint directly onto the card, skipping the torn edge look. Also, you could do this with cheap watercolor paints and still get an acceptable result. Be adventuresome and mix your colors for more interest.

This project is easy enough that some kids would enjoy trying it. If you don't have a stamp to use for the greeting on the front, these cards will look pretty without, or you can write one on a bit of card stock and glue it on the front.

As I like to mention as a reminder - I do not have any control over the ads that may show up on these videos, or over the "suggested" links offered at the end. :-)

Watercolor Painting with Three Colors - A Tutorial

Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors are my favorite student grade watercolors. Probably this is because they are the almost the only ones I have ever used. :-) They are what I started with and they helped me learn quite a lot about watercolor and to realize that I wanted to proceed to the professional paints. As this artists says, it is not necessary to buy a large set. It is probably better not to if you want to learn to mix colors.

Working with three colors is a good way to learn to blend and mix colors - something good for water-colorists to be comfortable with. I did some tiny paintings using just three colors earlier this year and it was very interesting and satisfying.

Because these paints are not very expensive, they are also good for the hobbyist who wants to paint some simple greeting cards. They will give you better color saturation than many of the really cheap student paints. Of course, for good results you will need to buy watercolor paper.

Thoughts and Memories In A New Year

Our new year started in a somewhat different way. I had been sick for most or all of the last three weeks of December. My husband was sick one of those weeks as we shared the flu together. My cough, though still with me to some degree, turned the corner on the evening of the 31st - which was a very cold night for central Texas, by the way. During this time I also developed a vision distortion that needed to be checked and which, if it does not clear up, will need to be addressed by a specialist. So, for us, and for me in particular, the beginning of the new year was about catching up and getting back to some semblance of "normal" - whatever that elusive thing is.

But I didn't get some of the things done that I had thought of doing, including, among many other things, some blog posts. So, here is a collection of things and thoughts, some I intended to share before and some that came to me later.

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The end of the writing challenges.

I finished the last writing challenges of the year - November and December. November was writing every day and I think I missed only five days that month. December was to read one book for the purpose of improving one's writing or for recreation. I ended up reading solely for recreation due to being so sick and tired most of the month! I read several Nancy Drew mysteries - very juvenile, but so easy to read, even when sick, and it distracted me from my discomforts when I could read. And, truthfully, there were at least two days in which I didn't even feel like reading I was so ill.

I wrote a variety of things in November. As I mentioned before, I didn't write any poetry. I also didn't write any humor that I can recall. I wrote rough drafts for some articles which may make their way to the Home Maker's Corner eventurally.

There were some days when I did my 100 words as a necessity simply to make the effort, these mostly ended up being journal type entries. Here are a few for you to read. I hesitate to say enjoy. :-)
They have been edited a little.

Sunday, Nov. 7

Writing at the end of the day when you are tired and sleepy is probably not the best plan. Once your brain begins to coast along in “whatever” land, it’s hard to focus on anything worthwhile. Furthermore, there is nothing like a blank computer “page” to really kill any ideas that might be lurking just under the surface. This is why one might resort to writing something like this in a desperate effort to achieve one hundred words before going to bed. I recommend trying to get your writing in earlier in the day, personally. Now, if I can just make myself follow my own advice!

Monday, Nov. 6

Today at our house an interesting assortment of food was eaten. Among other things, there was pasta made in Italy, tortas from Spain, chocolate from Belgium, mango chips from Thailand, and ginger beer (non-alcoholic like ginger ale) from Australia. We could have also had some cheese from England, but it isn’t open yet, and we try not to have too many things open at one time that need to be finished within a specific time limit.

Somehow it seems pleasant to realize that our eating is so international - not just in the type, but in the fact that these things were actually made in those countries. Curiously enough, the pasta made in Italy is actually better for me from a nutritional standpoint because it is not made with enriched flour, which may be one thing that irritates my somewhat fragile system.

Tuesday, November 28

Well, the writing challenge is almost over now and I have written almost every day so far. I think I missed 3 or 4 days. Most of the days I missed, I thought of it at some point but didn’t get it done for whatever reason. One day I did completely forget, never thinking of it once all day.

There was more than one hard part to me.

Remembering to write every day was challenging. If I put it on my list or not didn’t seem to make a lot of difference. Just remembering to put it on the list was pretty much the same as remembering to do it and often enough it didn’t make it to the list until after I had written.

Making myself do it was also something to contend with. I would think of it several times some days and keep putting it off. When I wrote probably didn’t have a large affect on the quality of what I wrote unless I put it off till I was really tired. Then it did. But, I have to say that it felt the best when I got it done earlier in the day. Once or twice I put it off too long and either I was too tired or was already in bed and didn’t feel like making the effort to write at that point.

Thinking of things to write about was only a minor problem. I tend to think of things to write about a lot, so if I just made myself sit down and write out a rough idea or even most of an article or something, it usually wasn’t that hard. Some days I counted longer text message conversations or comments made on other blogs. I also wrote at least one email during the month as my daily writing. Curiously, I think I only wrote down one idea for a fiction story that I can remember.

While I do write by hand sometimes, I think that almost all of my writing has been done on my iPad or computer this month. The one time I do remember writing by hand was when I made some notes on my appointment card while I was waiting for my mom in our chiropractor’s office. I heard something on the Christian radio station they had going that started me thinking and so I wrote down some notes that I transcribed to the computer later and elaborated upon.

Although it didn’t have anything to do with the challenge directly, I also watched quite a few instructional videos on YouTube about writing - particularly novels. This was informative and helpful to me in some ways, if I can just remember what I learned.

Interestingly, in some ways I feel like writing more has tended to increase my inspiration in my art as well, especially towards the end. This may be partly due to the fact that I’ve grown a little bored with the coloring I was doing. Although it is helps control stress, it isn’t useful like card and bookmark making for me. And also it’s more inspiring to create my own designs, whether with stamps or as my own original designs. I love being able to send and give away my own creations to others. I think, as people made in the image of God, that should be “normal.”

Altogether, I think it has been a good experience. I would really like to keep it up as some people say that is absolutely what you have to do if you want to be a serious author. However, I am not sure I can maintain the momentum indefinitely, so I may set shorter goals for myself, and intersperse those periods with time spent on art, sewing, and card making. One does accomplish a good deal more by doing something every day. :-)

I hope that someone else tried this challenge, or that perhaps you will another moth. It has certainly been beneficial to me!

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Something New

I started a watercolor/art journal or "sketchbook" in November or December. It started as a place to try out techniques and just do a little practice. An online friend asked if I was painting my moods or things I saw from daily life and, liking the latter idea very well, I decided to start including some things that I see and want to paint. It proved to be interesting and also useful for practice, and some day it will be a sort of diary for me to look at and not only see my progress in this art, but also see some things that interested me or that were part of our lives at the time.

It is a mixed media book that I am using so I may add some other art forms as well. Whether or not I share any of this work on the blog remains to be seen.

The picture at the top of this post is a card I painted. I scanned it before I added the stamped greeting so that I could use it for other purposes. The verse on this image was added on the computer. :-)

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It is strange we go on living our everyday lives
So carelessly, stumbling, dully we plod
Our commonplace paths, and forget that we walk
Every day, every hour, in the presence of God.

- Martha Snell Nicholson

Well, that is plenty for one ramble. I hope that all of you have started the new year well, but most importantly that you seek to walk every day with the Lord. Great goals and long plans may serve some people's uses, but it's the daily walk that gets us there in the end. If we focus on Christ all the other things will fall into the places He wants them to be.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Three Fun Watercolor Texture Techniques

Here is a tutorial from Teela Cunningham for three interesting watercolor techniques. These would be fun to do on greeting cards, or just fun experiments for the kids to do with their watercolor paints.

NOTE: Parent supervision is advised for younger kids using the bleach method.
Also please Do Not leave your paintbrushes sitting in the saltwater or bleach water solutions! I recommend not leaving them in any water, but these solutions could cause damage to brushes. Also, I'd suggest using a cheaper or older brush for the bleach solution as it might cause some damage to the brush even if you rinse it soon afterwards.

Re-purposing Less than Great Watercolor Paintings

This tutorial from Sandy Allnock shows how to use watercolor practice paintings or "strays" for other projects. She demonstrates making them into bookmarks, but this method could easily be done for making smaller pieces for adding to homemade greeting cards or for scrap books or journals.

One thought that occurred to me is that you could have you children paint some fun watercolor washes and then use them to make other projects. This would be a fun way to work together to make some pretty gifts or cards.

More Fun Watercolor Techniques for Kids, Card Making, and Art

Here are some more interesting ways to use watercolors.

I'm not sure that using ordinary Scotch tape would be a best plan since it might not peel up easily in every instance. I'd use painter's tape or some kind of low-tack tape. Stick the tape to your clothes a couple time before putting it on the paper to help it release more easily after the paint is dry. Or, you can use a heat blower of some sort - hair dryer, heat gun - to soften the glue so that it peels up more easily.

Also, be sure to let the masking medium dry before you paint over it. In the video it looks like he didn't, but he must have or it would have spread all over the place.

Watercolor Painting with Plastic Wrap, Bubble Wrap, and Waxed Paper

Here is an interesting technique for working with watercolor.  The artist doesn't show all of the process, but after she removes the masking fluid from the dry paintings, she fills in the flowers with more paint.  However, you could leave whatever designs you make with the masking fluid as silhouettes.

Card makers, you could skip the masking fluid part entirely and make the interesting backgrounds for card making purposes.  It appears to me that you would need real watercolor paper of a decent weight to do this, though.  Not just any paper would work.

Demonstration of Water Color Paintings of the Four Seasons

This is either a demonstration or a very simplistic tutorial, but whatever you want to call it, I have enjoyed watching it more than once and I thought today I'd share here with you.  I hope you like it too. :-)

Genesis 8:21-22  And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.  While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.