Watercolor Thank You Cards

The Crafty Crow featured a blog called Inspireco on her What Girls Are Made of post. Inspireco showcased a simple technique for recreating those Just Add Water watercolor books you remember from your childhood. I thought I would give it a shot for Em's Thank You cards. Her birthday is coming up in August.

I drew a picture of Elmo on a folded piece of card stock with a Sharpie. Inspireco recommends you use water color paper - I did not have any - more on that later. You can also print your image onto watercolor paper. Cool!






















Color in using watercolor pencils. You do not have to color the entire picture in. Inspireco instructs you to color around the edges. It looked weird when I did that so I colored in the entire picture very roughly.

















Paint with water. This is where the watercolor paper comes in handy. The card stock buckled and didn't look so hot. Plus all the colors got muddy from my coloring in the picture too much. I can't believe I momentarily forgot my kiddos were not going to paint in neat little sections.

















The girls were absolutely thrilled by them and the whole painting water and seeing what happened process. I don't love how they came out but have to suppress my need for them to be perfect. In the end I am glad I tried the technique and may revisit this again with some watercolor paper.

9 comments:

Nadia said...

oh that elmo came out really cute.. if i had to draw elmo it definately wouldn't look like that! :)
i'd love it if you would make a download for that for printing :) :)

Mama King said...

I am sorry Myztic. I am afraid if I offered a print out that would be copy right infringement. You can trace a picture onto paper or you can print out a black and white picture onto heavy paper. Inspireco recommends running water color paper through your printer.

Beth- the mama bee said...

We tried her project too (I think its in my scheduled bloglist in a few days). we used watercolor paper and they turned out really nice. I like how you turned them into cards.

Valerie @ Frugal Family Fun Blog said...

Both of my girls love the paint with water books, and I think the thank you cards turned out lovely! Have you tried watercolor markers? I found them at Dick Blick, and I liked them even more than the watercolor pencils. Your Elmo looks adorable!

Mama King said...

Valerie, I have not seen watercolor markers. I will be on the look out! Thanks!

pink and green mama MaryLea said...

Such a great idea!! I love it, I know my girls would love this one too!!

Katie said...

Never in a millions years could I whip up a drawing like that.

Amy said...

That is so neat. I can not draw at all...

Julia Gómez said...

Good idea, can i used...´cause i have 10 children´s on pre-k class room and they love elmo!!!

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