Watercolor Basics

Watercolor is made to be mixed with water! Inside the paint tube is concentrated pigment that needs to get mixed with water before you can paint with it. Once you put the paint on your surface the water evaporates and leaves only the pigment. So, the more water you add to your mixture, the lighter it becomes!

 

          

Watercolor Paints

Watercolor paints come in three grades: children’s, student, and artist grade. As you go up in the quality of the grade, the price also goes up. I recommend student grade for beginners. These paints also can come in many forms: dried in a pan, paste in a small tube, or liquid in a glass bottle.

Watercolor Paper

Watercolor paints work best on watercolor paper. This is because watercolor paper lets the paint sit on top of the paper until the water evaporates. This is important because with other more absorbent papers the watercolor will spider web out and be hard to control.

Watercolor Brushes

Watercolor brushes are made to hold a lot of water. They can have natural or synthetic bristles and come in many different shapes and sizes. Brushes are often dipped in a starch-like substance by the manufacturer, which makes the bristles hard to protect their shape and condition. So before you use a brush for the first time, rinse it off with water.

 

 

Watercolor Techniques

Wet Paint on Dry Paper: This technique is done by loading up your brush with watered down watercolor pigment and brushing it evenly across your paper. This is a good technique to use when you want to cover a large area of your canvas with the same shade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salt on Wet Paint: Adding salt onto wet paint draws the pigment to where the salt is. For this example I used table salt, but if you use larger salt, such as kosher salt, you will see larger areas of dark spots. For this technique do the same as the wet paint on dry paper and sprinkle the salt on while it is still very wet. After the paint has completely dried you can dust off the salt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stencil: Hold or tape down your stencil. The closer you can have your stencil to the paper the less it will bleed outside of the stencil lines. The less paint you have spread on top of the stencil, the cleaner it will look. Carefully pull the stencil off. You can also wait until the paint is dry before you pull the stencil off.

         

 

Splatter: Start with dry paper and a paintbrush loaded with wet paint. Use your index finger to bend the bristles of your brush and as they go off your finger they will splatter onto the paper (and the area around it). Repeat as many times as needed. This is messy, but watercolor cleans up easily with water!

      

 

Gradient: Make a line of paint that is heavily saturated with pigment. You could also just add paint strait from the tube that has not been watered down yet. Next rinse off your brush and while it still has water on it blend it on your paint line. Rinse your brush off again and blend again moving down on your painted area. Keep repeating this until you have the gradient you want.

         

 

Plastic: Add paint onto your paper and while it is still wet bunch up a piece of plastic and hold it on the wet paint until it dries. This leaves an uneven pattern. This works best when done over a larger area. Thinner plastic works better, such as a grocery store bag or the plastic from your Cherry Box items.

   

 

Blending 2 Colors: Start by painting one of your colors on half of the area you want covered. On the opposite side paint the other color until it is just barely touching the first color. Rinse out your brush and with water still on it gently blend the two together.

       

 

Dry Brush: Although this technique is called dry brush, it is actually bad for your brushes to be 100% dry before you add paint to them. This is a tip for all types of water-based painting; always dip your brush in water before you add any paint to it! To achieve this look you just dry off most of the water from your brush before you dip it in the paint. You also only add small amounts of paint at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wet on Wet: For this technique you first brush over your paper with water. While your paper is still wet dip your brush in the paint and lightly press it on your paper. It will spider web out across your wet area.

      

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There are plenty more techniques you can try out with watercolors. They are such a fun medium to play with! Tag us in your watercolor projects on social media and post them in our Project Gallery. We love to see what you create!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

-Jess

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Posted by Jessica.

Making a Pocket Card with Tags

Using Sweet Story Ephemera Found in the June Cherry Box

 

The June Cherry Box features some of Maggie Holmes' Sweet Story butterfly stickers and ephemera. I was inspired by all of the tags in the ephemera pack to create this card. It is such a fun card because you can take out the tags and each has something different to say. You can also write your own messages on the back side of the tags!

What you'll need

Sweet Story Ephemera, Sweet Story Butterfly Stickers, 2 pieces of 12"x12" Paper (one for the card, one for the envelope), Paper Trimmer, Foam Adhesive, Glue, Twine or Ribbon

Start by cutting one of your pieces of cardstock to 8.5" x 11".

Fold it in half horizontally then vertically.

     

Next, have the corner with the four original corners of the paper in the top right. Fold over the first page so the side of the fold lines up with the left side of the card. 

Fold the next page over, but not as far over as the one before. You want the vertical and horizontal lines to stay parallel to the sides of the card.

Fold over the third paper, and again do not fold it as far over as the first or second fold.

Now fold over all of your tabs to the back so they are hidden. You could also cut them off if you would prefer. 

Now it is time to glue down your edges. Only glue on the bottom and along the sides.

Now it is time to decorate! I started by adding some Metallique Wax. The color I chose was Indian Pink.

    

Next add twine or ribbon onto your tags. These tags are so fun and I like to write a message on the back of each of them. I think that makes this card so fun to receive! There are plenty of tags in this ephemera pack to choose from.

Finally, add some of the ephemera pieces to the card to decorate it. I used some foam adhesive, which is also found in your June Cherry Box, to give some of the pieces some dimension. You could also add some of the smaller ephemera to decorate your tags!

I also made an envelope using the All in One Tool and added some Metallique Wax to it also.

   

This is such a fun card to make and I think it would be equally fun to receive! I would love to see how you would make this card! Tag us on social media using the hashtag #thecherrybox.

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Posted by Jessica.

Personalizing your Travelers Notebook:

How to Make Inserts using Sewing Technique

 

Everyone who received a May Cherry Box got an Echo Park Travelers Notebook inside of it. So exciting! There is so many ways to make your Travelers Notebook your own, but one of my favorite ways is to make the inserts for it myself! This tutorial will work for any kind of Travel Notebook or Travel Planner; you just may need to adjust the size of the paper you are cutting. When you make your own insert you can decide what type of paper you want to use, I usually like a thicker paper that I can paint and glue things on like watercolor paper. And you can also choose the decorative paper for the outside cover of your insert, and then the possibilities are endless will all of ACOT's paper selection. So let’s get started!

 

The materials you'll need:

12x12 Decorative paper for the cover. Here is a great chance to personalize! I used paper from The Yellow Door Collection.

 

Blank paper for the inside sheets. You can use mixed media paper, drawing paper, watercolor paper, copy paper, any type of paper! You could even fill it with more scrapbooking or decorative paper!

 

A Sewing Needle

 

Thread, Twine,  or  Embroidery Floss.

 

Let's Get Started!

Once you've choosen your type of paper, cut 5-8 sheets to the size of the original insert in your notebook. If you are using a thicker paper, like mixed media or watercolor paper, use fewer sheets. If you are using a thinner paper, like drawing or copy paper, you can use more.

For the Echo Park Travelers Notebook, cut your papers to 8" x 9 1/4". 

    

 

Fold all of your papers in half one at a time. I like to use a bone folder to make sure my paper is as flat as it can be by pressing it along the crease.

     

 

Next, in the crease measure out 3 marks. One right in the center, and one 1 inch from the top and bottom. Then poke a hole in each of the 3 spots you marked using a thumb tack. This will make it easier when you start sewing.

     

 

Thread your needle and insert it into the center hole.

     

 

Coming from the outside, insert your needle in one of the outer holes. Your needle will now be back inside of your booklet.

 

Next go into your last hole. The needle will be back on the outside of your booklet.

 

From the outside, put your needle back into your center hole.

     

 

Once both of your strings are in the center, tie them together with a double knot and cut off the extra string.

          

 

And that's all there is to it! Now just slide it into your Travelers Notebook and you are good to go!

     

 

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Posted by Jessica.

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