Two Simple Watercolor Cards You’ll FALL for!

Do you love watercolors but are a little intimidated by them? Don’t be!

Design Ambassador Lisa Spangler is here with two simple watercolor techniques you’re sure to FALL for! Best of all you can create them both at the same time to build your stash.

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Hi there and happy fall, y’all! It’s such a welcome time of year after the endless heat of summer amiright? Today I’m sharing two simple watercolor cards with you as well as plenty of tips and tricks, too.

Grab your pumpkin spice latte and settle in!

First off, here’s a look at the finished cards:

As you can see, it’s copper embossing powder , jute twine, and kraft cardstock season! Oh yah!

Basic Techniques

Now for some techniques! One of my favorite things to do is to add dimension to a card via foam tape, and it works perfectly for leaves. But here’s a little watercolor twist that you can do with a little pre-planning.

Just stamp and emboss your leaf on watercolor paper, such as the awesome Mondo Oak Leaf and die cut it. Then cut a card front from watercolor paper as well.

Trace around your leaf with a pencil and then lightly tack it down with adhesive. I just used my regular adhesive, but if you have a removable adhesive that would be mighty fine. By tracing around the leaf you’ll be able to line it up perfectly later.

Next grab your watercolors and mix up big juicy puddles of the colors you’d like to use. All the colors that I used are from the handy Daniel Smith Essentials set of 6 tubes that I squeezed out onto a palette. (I used just 4 of the colors on these cards: new gamboge, quinacridone rose, pyrrol scarlet and phthalo blue mixed with the scarlet to make a brown.)

Then grab the BIGGEST brush you have and paint on some BIG blobs of color. Have some go off the edge of Mondo Oak Leaf, then set it aside to dry. Be sure to leave plenty of white space as that’s what keeps it interesting.

You can use the same technique to add color to Mondo Oak leaves that are stamped in a background pattern — just don’t get too carried away and cover up all that delicious whitespace.

Now let’s have a closer look at the finished cards!

You Are Mighty

I love that quote about “mighty oaks from little acorns grow”. And I love this “you are mighty” sentiment that comes in the Mondo Oak Leaf set. Especially when it’s all embossed in copper.

Did you spot my other little technique? I die cut a border from the Essential Rectangles set — I think it adds the perfect little something!

Another look at the coppery shine!

Now on to the second card…

Hello FALL!

I just had to bust out the ‘Tis the Season set for the “HELLO FALL” sentiment on this card — yep, just had to be done!

Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that this card uses the saved cut out rectangle from the previous card. Love doing that! Just makes it seem so classy. I also love how the bits of copper embossing add interest to the frame.

This all came together so quickly — I just adhered on the frame, popped on the Mondo Oak Leaf and and added that sentiment.

Then of course I had to add some sequins, too.

Tip Recap

Here’s a lil recap of all those tips:

• Use the biggest brush you have! I used a size 10 round.
• Mix up puddles of color so you have plenty to play with. Don’t overthink things and be sure to leave some whitespace.
• Temporarily adhere a die cut leaf on your card front, then paint on some big swooshes of color, letting some go off the edge. Once it’s dry you can pop it on your card with foam tape for added dimension.
• The Essential Rectangles can be used to add a sweet and simple border to a card. Save that cut out rectangle to use as a frame on a second card.

Thanks so much for joining me, and happy fall, y’all! — Lisa

Supplies: