It’s summertime, which means pool play, sprinkler parties, and other water-filled fun. And, thanks to a hot trend to hit the scene, that water play has made its way into our craft rooms in the form of watercolor. This light, artistic trend is making its brilliant mark in card making and scrapbooking, with both pre-made products and exciting DIY techniques.
As with any trending topic, watercolor is making a wave in many scenes. Let’s take a look!
Watercolor in the Home
Create Happiness Watercolor Painting by PB Teen
Watercolor Bedding by Urban Outfitters
Watercolor Bunny Pillow by Pottery Barn
Watercolor in Fashion
White Feather Print T-Shirt by Ci Chic
Blurred Watercolor Infinity Scarf by Anthropologie
Watercolor Pendant by Tres Audra
Watercolor in Crafting
A few of the products that make watercoloring fun!
Work of Art stamp set by Stampin’ Up!
Get the look of watercolor with ink and paper using this cool set.
Just Sayin’ by My Mind’s Eye
Elements of this soft line incorporate watercolor styling.
Enchanted Garden by BoBunny
“Enchanting” is an excellent word choice when it comes to describing a look you can achieve using watercolor, so it’s only natural that a collection named Enchanted Garden would work in a little watercolor influence.
Mister Huey’s Watercolor Set by Studio Calico
Oh, that Mister Huey. He’s done it again. This time, putting on the charm in the form of a beautiful 18-color set of paints.
Gelatos Color Gift Set by Faber Castell
Whether you buy this full and fabulous set or purchase your Gelato pigment sticks individually, I assure you you’ll enjoy the cool blended looks you can achieve with this color medium. One of my favs: color a rubber stamp with the Gelato, spritz the stamp with water, and then apply the stamp to paper. It comes out looking like a lovely watercolor painting.
Zig Water Color System Brush Set
These water-holding brushes are a must-have when it comes to working with watercolor. The barrel holds water and the pen tips come in a variety of styles, making it easy to create the softness and look you desire.
Give it a Whirl
One way I approach watercolor is simply by placing the tip of my Zig water brush directly on my watercolor crayon (Gelatos also work) and pulling the color. The same technique works with watercolor paints. Doing this, I’m able to write with the brush just as I would a regular pen, and I can also draw and color pictures.
Just coming off of my CreativeLive extravaganza (thanks so much to all who came out to play from this wonderful community!) and in the spirit of the much talked about #HoeppnerLive element of class, I knew I wanted to make handmade greetings for some of the special people involved using a hashtag. So I reached for my watercolor supplies and these were born.
One of my newest watercolor supplies—watercolor postcard paper! It actually has postcard info printed on the back, which I love.
I had so much fun creating my own custom cards that I decided to create a quick flick of my different examples, which you can check out through my Instagram feed.
Watercolor App
I’m clearly still stuck in my CreativeLive mode, as I’ve also had my mind on some of the fun apps that offer a watercolor effect. I gave Sketchify a go. In one step, I took a photo I snapped yesterday from a digital image to a watercolored work of personalized art. Fun!
And here’s a possible option for Android users: Water Color Sketch
Come on in. Test the waters. I think you’ll find they’re bright, happy, and inviting. If you’re already a watercolor wiz, I’d love to see what you’ve created. Hope you’ll post a link in the comments section. I always enjoy the Monday with Megan tours we create.
Cheers!
~ Megan Hoeppner
My (NEW!) Website: http://www.meganhoeppner.com
My CreativeLive Course: https://www.creativelive.com/courses/app-archive-social-media-scrapbooking-megan-hoeppner
Great blog post. Thanks so much.
Posted by: Joan VanCourt | July 28, 2014 at 01:21 PM
LOVE watercolors! They create such cool effects! TFS!
Posted by: barbara macaskill | July 28, 2014 at 01:24 PM
I need to find one of those water colour brush pens!!!
Posted by: NinaN | July 28, 2014 at 01:26 PM
Love the Mister Huey Watercolors!
Posted by: Jean Marmo | July 28, 2014 at 01:28 PM
Such a fun post. Really enjoyed it.
Posted by: Carol Mc | July 28, 2014 at 01:33 PM
Love this! So inspired!
Posted by: Cathy Harper | July 28, 2014 at 02:54 PM
I loved you on CreativeLive! You had so much information to give us and the best part of it all, it was FREE! Thank you so much for the wonderful two days.
Posted by: Kristen V | July 28, 2014 at 04:18 PM
Awesome blog post! Can't wait to try the app and water color brush with the gelatos! Off to play.
Posted by: Roxane F. | July 28, 2014 at 05:27 PM
I didn't realise that watercolours were SO WOW - THANK YOU for sharing this post Megan!!!
... I've only tried watercolour paints once, really need to bite the bullet and give it another go :)
Posted by: TracyM #6773 | July 29, 2014 at 08:18 AM
I love having all the info in one post...super job...thanks!
Posted by: Debs | July 29, 2014 at 01:40 PM
I keep wanting to try water colouring but haven't made it yet. Too busy scrapbooking and card making right now. These look like great products though
Posted by: Violet | August 01, 2014 at 03:34 PM
Loved seeing these products! I used a technique from Hero Arts to make the die embossed triangle background for this card and I used my Tombow markers as watercolors for it. I love how it turned out. I used my Prismacolor pencils for the image. http://glitterinmykitchen.blogspot.com/2014/08/happy-dance.html
Posted by: chark | August 04, 2014 at 12:31 AM