How to: Watercolor Mother’s Day Card

Here it comes! The time where we honor some powerful women in our lives – mother’s.  If you’re like me, you agonize over choosing the right card – some are just way too cheesy, others too serious, others are trying way too hard to be sassy.  I usually circumvent this problem by making my own cards, so join me as I walk through how to create a watercolor card that has a personal touch for the mother in your life.

Supplies:

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For this project I used:

• Watercolor Paper
• Watercolor Palette Michael’s Artist Loft. I also love using Dr. Ph Martin’s watercolors or my Kuretake Gansai palette 
• Flat paintbrush
• Tombow HB Pencil (thanks, Tombow!)
• Painter’s Tape
• Tombow Soft Brush Tip Pen (thanks, Tombow!)
• (optional) Tombow glue adhesive

Process:

First, I fold the card in half so I know the frame for the front of the card.  I lay down some painter’s tape around the edges to help keep the card flat, as well as create a pleasing white frame around the edge.  Note: If I were to do this again, I’d have put paint on the final edge of the card, too!

Next, you have 2 options.  The one I’ll demonstrate is to sketch a heart and watercolor around the edge.  Alternatively, you could leave the heart sketch out, watercolor across the whole card, and cut out a heart from as separate piece of paper to glue on top afterwards.  Either path is a good one!

Choose 3-4 colors you want to use in your palette.  In this case, I used some vibrant pinks.  I put some water in each pan to get the colors ready, and picked one color I wanted to be the main focus.  Then, I start making some varied stripes across the page.  No science to this, just vary the lengths, spacing, number of lines.

If you’re doing the heart-sketch path, be extra vigilant about the watercolor touching the pencil in any way – it will be tough to erase later!

After the first color is laid down, pause for a few seconds to let it dry.  This avoids the wet colors running together and instead creating a cool layering effect as you start adding in a second color – again, no science to this, just start filling in the white space with this second color to start adding visual texture.

Layer in the third and fourth colors, keeping in mind to make the edge of the heart a little more clear by stacking the layers and really forming the outline with your brush strokes.

Once all that is dry, take that pencil to sketch in your message.  I chose a really general phrase here, but this could be anything from personal memories, quotes, qualities, and more inside this heart! Focus on drawing the key words first as the highlight, then adding in the rest of the wording to fill out the heart.  I tried to fill in as much white space as possible.

Once you’re satisfied with your lettering, ink it up with your favorite brush pen! And here’s the kicker for all of us impatient folks out there – let. it. dry! Or else, once you start erasing…

…that smudge will happen! So I’ll repeat… LET IT DRY! Then erase, pull the tape off and carefully fold… voila.  A simple watercolor pattern for your dearest. If you’re looking for a quick Mother’s Day card, check out this free printable here!

Let me know if you try it! Post a photo and tag me, @PrettyPrintsAndPaper so I can see what you do!

Yours,

Jessica