Hello, and welcome back for Watercolor Weekend!
Tomorrow marks the
first day of fall here in the U.S. After a long, hot summer, many of us are
eager for the cool, crisp air, vibrant autumn leaves, football games, and
harvest celebrations that this season brings. To celebrate, I have two cards
for you today that capture the essence of this colorful season.
"Sow Kindness, Harvest
Friendship" Card:
I love decorating my
home for fall with all the rich autumn colors and cozy seasonal décor. When I
think of this time of year, I picture vibrant leaves, pumpkins, and
harvest-inspired touches—and that’s exactly what inspired my first card today!
The 5507 – Harvest Together Set is perfect for capturing that feeling, with two
adorable scarecrows (boy and girl), cheerful crows, a sunflower birdhouse, and
plenty of fall sentiments to choose from.
I just adore the happy little girl scarecrow from the 5507 set! For this card, I wanted to build a scene
with the scarecrow girl, the birdhouse, and the perching crow. I like to
imagine the crow isn’t afraid of her at all—instead, he’s more like a little
friend. She looks absolutely delighted to see him!
Whenever I create a scene, I always start with a quick “blueprint” to
plan out how I’d like everything arranged.
Once I finalized the layout of the scene, I stamped the images onto
Canson XL watercolor paper. I began by inking the scarecrow girl with 947.
Using my placement blueprint, I inked the crow’s body with 565/969 and its beak
and legs with 026. Following the same blueprint, I inked the birdhouse with
947. Before stamping it, I applied Post-it tape masks over the scarecrow and
crow where the birdhouse would overlap. After removing the masks, the birdhouse
appeared behind the scarecrow, with the crow perched on the roof. Finally, I
used a damp brush to pull color from the stamped images, adding contours and
shadows.
Here is a
list of colors I used for this card:
- Crow: N25 (body), 025, 026 (feet and beak)
- Scarecrow Girl: 850, 910, 912 (face and hands)
- Cheeks, Nose, Eyebrows, Neck String: 905, 925
- Hair: 025, 026
- Shirt: 947 (plaid)
- Pants: 177
- Apron: 990, 992 (apron), 925 (patch pocket)
- Sunflowers: 022, 026 (petals),177, 133 (leaves and stems), and 969 (flower centers)
- Hat: 905, (hat), 925 (patch)
- Basket: 977, 969
- Apples: 856 (red), 025, 026 (yellow),133, 177 (green), 969 (stems)
- Boots: 947
- Birdhouse: 856, 565, 969, (house), 977 (roof), 990, 992 (trim, stand and post), 969 (woodgrain)
- Foliage and grass: 177
- Sky: 526
To ground the images, I
added grass from the 4051 – WC Foliage Set 1 and foliage from the 5476 –
Foliage Set 5, both inked in 177, to complete the scene.
Next, I used the
largest stitched oval from the 5065 – Oval Double Stitched Dies to cut a window
from an A2-sized piece of patterned paper. I centered the painting behind the
opening and adhered both onto a brown cardstock base.
For the inside of the
card, I stamped the sentiment in Vintage Sepia ink onto a stitched white
cardstock rectangle and added a strip of patterned paper along the bottom edge.
The fall leaves were die-cut from colorful paper scraps using the 5783 – Fall Leaf
Frame Die Set.
I love how this sweet
fall card came together! With its cheerful friendship theme, it’s the perfect
card to pop in the mail to a friend and send a little Happy Autumn cheer!
🍂✨
“Game Day!” Card:
Obviously, fall means football! For years after
graduating college, my husband and I would load up the car and head back to our
Midwestern alma mater to cheer on the Missouri Tigers. Those trips hold so many
great memories. So, when I spotted the striped overlay stamp for the giant
drink tumbler in the 5928 – Stay Hydrated set, I immediately thought it would
be perfect for dressing up this sassy gal in black and gold—ready to head off
to the game and cheer on the Tigers!
Here is a
list of colors I used for this card:
- Hair: 025, 977
- Cheeks: watery mix of 856
- Lips: 837
- Face, Hands, and Ankles: 910, 920
- Shirt: 025, 026
- Top: 025, N25 (stripes)
- Sunglasses, Purse, Pants, Shoes: N25
- Drink Tumbler: 025, 026 (cup), N52, 565 (lid & straw)
- Football: 947
- Megaphone: 025, 026 (megaphone), Winsor & Newton Ink – Silver (handle and mouthpiece.
- Shine marks on sunglasses: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White
To create the
football field background, I die-cut a piece of green cardstock using the
largest die from 5062 – Rounded Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies. I added
three 1/8-inch strips of white cardstock for the field lines and die-cut the
line numbers from white cardstock with the 5562 – Journal Letter Die Set.
Since I planned to
adhere the field to a black card base, I wanted to add a pop of visual interest
and tie in the team colors of black and gold. To do this, I traced around the
outside edge of the largest rounded rectangle die onto yellow cardstock to create
a mat, then hand-cut it with scissors.
The megaphone and
football, both from 5510 – Sport Accessories, made perfect embellishments for
this sporty card. For the sentiment, I typed “Game Day!” on my computer,
printed it onto white cardstock, and die-cut it with a banner die from 5952 –
Portfolio Template Die Set. I also matted the banner with yellow cardstock for
an extra touch of team spirit.
I always like to finish the inside
of the card. For this one, I stamped a sentiment from the same set (5928) in
VersaFine Onyx Black ink. To carry the football field theme inside, I added a
strip of green cardstock for a pop of color. Go Tigers! 🐯 🏈🖤💛
That’s all for now—thanks so much
for stopping by for Watercolor Weekend! I hope you enjoyed today’s fall card
projects. If you feel inspired to create your own version of this card and show
off your team spirit in your team colors, be sure to tag us on social
media—we’d love to see it! Until next time, Happy Painting!
