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!  

A DIY Gift Idea, Chalkboard Recipe Book

It was my sister’s birthday on, October 5th, and this year I wanted to make her something special. Some of you may already know that is a baker, and runs a small baking business where she sells homemade cupcakes, cake-pops, and so much more but in case you didn't know, now you’ll understand why I’m making her a recipe book. She has so many recipes, and I thought it would be cute if she had one cute book for her to write them all in. 

For this project I used real chalkboard card stock, so she can write on it! How exciting right?! I purchased a large composition book from Target, and I used the stamp sets, Milo’s ABCs, Blissful Botonicals, Love ‘nbreakfast, and Quinn’s ABCs by Lawn fawn for the sentiments, frying pan, and boarder stamp image. For the cute bow on top I used the new Christmas stamp set by, Avery Elle, you can find it by clicking here. 

All I did for this book was measure the cover, cut the chalkboard card stock to size, round the edges of the right side with my Corner Chomper, and I applied all the designs and sentiments with my stamps, using VersaMark ink—leaving space in between the ‘Menu’ and frying pan image (that’s where she can write what’s on the daily menu, if she wants). Next I covered the stamped images and text with some white embossing powder and I applied some heat, using my heating tool in order to set it. Once that was dry, I applied some adhesive to the back and applied it to the front of the book. I didn't using anything to cover the binding because I really liked how it looked. So I left it as it. 

I also made her some homemade cupcakes for her special day, and I purchase some clear cupcake boxes, made some last minute tags, and I used the Lawn Fawn Pink Lemonade twine for a little extra added cuteness. These are the pictures I shared on my Instagram. I hope you enjoyed this gift idea! I actually posted twice this week, yay me!