DIY--Watercolor labels

I know it’s Halloween and I should probably be posting something a little bit more dark and spooky but I have to be honest—I’m not really much of a Halloween person and plus I think I already got all of my Halloween mojo out in this card (click here to view) that I made for the Lawn Fawn blog. I sort of ran out of Halloween ideas really fast this year. I think my holiday creativity usually starts to pick up around Thanksgiving and Christmas but those blog post ideas will have to wait because I have a really fun and easy DIY for you today!

I’m featuring the Lawn Fawn stamp set, Sweater Weather, and this stamp set is such a hit because of all the fun images and sentiments in this set. But, one other great thing about this set is the beautiful and whimsical boarder image provided. This image screams, label—especially because it also has a coordinating die, making it easy to mass produce.

I’m using watercolor paper—you don’t really need any fancy waterpaper for this project but I do have a rather awesome watercolor block that I purchased from Blick in Los Angeles. What I love about this Fluidwatercolor paper is that it’s adhered down on both the top and bottom so keep the edges of the page from warping and making it impossible to paint—and all of you who have already dabbled in the art of watercolor know exactly what I’m talking about. This block only has 15 sheets in it but it’s a great size; and, it’s really thick paper so your watercoloring won’t seep through pages like one might think. I’ve had a question from a few friends about this block asking if the pages are easy to remove and YES they totally are! I love this block so much I can’t go enough good things about it. I think this pad was under $4.00, too.

I’m using a watercolor brush, and a watercolor set that I purchased from Joanns with a 50% off coupon. The original price for this watercolor set was about $8.00—which means I got it dirt cheap. When I first saw it I was thinking to myself, “there’s no way these are going to be that great” because of how cheap they were but I have to say they’re quite impressive. I tried a range of watercolors—even watercolor pencils and I think these might be my fav!

Now that I’ve covered the two main tools used for this project I’m going to get started on the labels. I just had a little cup of to water by my side and started to get my brush really saturated with water. Next I began to pick up color and simply create ovals on my paper—estimating the size they’d need to be to fit in the frame image from the Lawn Fawn stamp set.

Next I simply take some VersaFine ink in onyx black and start stamping the frame image over the abstract ovals—after they’ve dried, of course.

Once I stamped them all out I took my coordinating die and cut them out using my Cuttlebug. Once they’re all cut out you can store them away and save them for a party or you can use them right away like I did with these treat bags. I stamped out a few names on these labels using the Lawn Fawn alphabet stamp set, Violet’s ABCs. I made the treat bag using the awesome goodie bag die by Lawn Fawn—click here to view it. I also used their new paper line which can also be found, here. If you have any questions in regards to this project please feel free to ask! I really hope you enjoyed this easy DIY and if you have an Instagram feel free to DM me your projects! I love when people do that—it makes my day. You can follow me @unifyhandmade.

Have a great weekend!  

Best Witches

I created this "Best Witches" card for the Lawn Fawn blog and you can head over there by clicking, here, to view all the stamps and dies I used to create this spooky--yet adorable, card. To create the background sky I used the seedless preserves distress ink, and black soot distress ink. If you look closely you'll noticed that after coloring in the trees with my Copics I also distressed them with the black soot ink to make them match the dark night scene. I also did some masking with the cat and her witch hat then I cut that image out and left a slight boarder around the whole image. I hope you enjoyed this card! Let me know what you think in the comments!

Lawn Fawn Inspiration Week--Scripty Joy and Winter Penguin

I'm so excited to be sharing my creations using the new, Scripty Joy die, and the Winter Penguin mini stamp set. I can't say enough how adorable the winter penguin set is! It's a small yet super affordable set, and you can also purchase the coordinating die. I loved working with the, scripty joy, die and I used it on the card shown above with the Violet's ABCs alphabet stamp set to create the sentiment, "Joy to the world". Since it's a well known song I thought it would be fitting to use the music sheet paper from the new Snow Day collection. I love that sheet paper so much! When creating the "Happy Holidays" penguin card I wanted to make it look like she was skating in over a frozen lake so I used the forest boarder die along with the stitched hillside boarder dies to achieve that look. I also used the trees from the, Snow Day, stamp set and stamped them in a few different colors for some added interest. To tie these cards together I also used some of the metallic gold sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. I hope you love them!

To view the other cards created the Lawn Fawn design team click, here. When you get to the blog you'll also get a chance to win a stamp of your own!

Lawn Fawn Inspiration Week--Hedgehugs

Today is day 3 in the Lawn Fawn Inspiration week celebration, and the set being featured is, Hedgehugs. While this set may be small it sure does contain a whole lot of cuteness. You could use this stamp set to send some love to a friend; or, separate the sentiment and use it for a holiday theme card like I did with my card. I also used the new lawn fawndamentals in the cranberry color and I love how those notecards are perfect for Christmas cards. I also used the awesome stitched rectangle dies—and they make card making a cinch! If you’d like to view all of the other samples by the design team head over to the Lawn Fawn blog by clicking, here. While you’re there check out Kelly Marie’s intro video for a more detailed look at this mini set, and even get a chance to win your very own stamp set! 

Lawn Fawn Inspiration Week--Finley's ABCs, 123s, and Violets ABCs

 Today is another fun day in a week long inspiration week with Lawn Fawn! Today Kelly Marie, is introducing Violet's ABCs, Finley's ABCs, and Finley's 123s. These sets are so much fun to use when creating so many different types of projects. For instance, I used a combination of Finley's ABCs and 123s to create a mini Christmas banner using the stitched banner dies. I also used Violet's ABCs to take an already existing sentiment and simply make it bigger. For more inspiration go ahead and visit the Lawn Fawn blog by clicking, here, and you can also view Kelly's awesome intro video with a more detailed look into the stamp and die sets. You'll also get a chance to win a stamp set!

Blick Art Haul

Over the weekend I stopped by Blick to purchase some much needed Copic refills for two of my most used markers; and, while I was there I decided to look around and see what interesting things I could find. The last last time I was there about a few months ago I hadn't yet discovered my love for watercoloring so I didn't really pay any attention to all the tools, paper, and other accessories they had available for that particular medium. So this time around I was pretty excited to ask about all the cool things I could use and test out. One of the employees there mentioned these really cool watercolor pencils--and since they were on sale I thought I'd give them a try. When I got home I tested them out on one of the watercolor postcards I purchased (in a set) and they seemed to work very well. The colors are really vibrant and I love that. Aside from the watercolor pencils and Copic refills, I also purchased a pack of blank watercolor post cards, some really thick 140lb. watercolor cardstock, a Copic color swatch book, and some carving rubber to make a handmade stamp. I can't wait to make some new things with these.

Did you do any craft/art shopping this weekend?

Celebrate--Featuring V's Sweet Ideas Stamps

Today I'm excited to guest design for, V's Sweet Ideas! She has recently released four new stamps sets and, Birthday Wishes, was one of my favorites--I think it's so cute. This set is so great because it's a mini; and, that means it's also a great price. There are lots of images and sentiments--which makes it a versatile set. I'm super obsessed with watercoloring right now so of course I had to include a bit of that in this card I made. If you get a chance head on over to her website--you can find links to all of the new stamps sets for sale. You can also find her blog link--she's going to be doing a giveaway soon!

Have a great weekend!

Have A Purr-fect Birthday--Video

Today I have a fun video over on the Lawn Fawn blog, and I'm sharing how I made this adorable, Have a Purr-fect Birthday!, card--using several different LF stamp sets. You can watch the video on Youtube (above) or click here to be directed to the LF blog for details on all the stamps, dies, and embellishments I used when creating this card. I hope you love it!