Fresh Spring Watercolor Art

It is officially Spring and with it has inspired a new watercolor art project!

For this mood board, I used Pinterest for color inspiration and then found photos to match each color

Springtime =  Colorful Inspiration!

For the watercolor background I decided to create a mood board.

I love all the bright coal, blue, and green colors!
It's SO fresh! 

For my spring time watercolor background art, I used water based brush tip markers.

To create a similar background effect:

• Scribble color from a water based marker onto a plastic sheet (I used a sandwich bag)

• To activate the ink, spray water on either your watercolor paper or the inked plastic sheet

• Place the plastic sheet on some watercolor paper and press and squish to desired effect

I love water based markers for their vibrant colors! which is awesome for creating some bright colored backgrounds.

My background compared to my mood board has more of a pink than coral, but I still love how it turned out. 

Slide 1 - BOLD

Slide 2 - AIRY 

Slide 3 - Contrasting Warm + Cool Colors

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Crusty Texture

Welcome to another episode of Texture Tuesday!

I love ♥ finding crusty texture that is layered over with even more crusty texture! For some reason, it makes me happy! 

So much crusty goodness!

When I found this old guard rail full of crust I instantly photographed it with my trusty phone. 

By looking at this rail you can see that it has been around awhile and looks as if it has served it's purpose well. And now it has not a so obvious perpose. This rail will now serve as texture to a couple of photos. 

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I used Photoshop to give the guard rail a more dramatic effect.

To achieve this I used the curves Adjustment mask and chose the negative option.

I used Photoshop to give the guard rail a more dramatic effect. To achieve this I used the curves/negative mask.

 All this grunge reminds me of the ol' time sepia photos from the wild west. You know, the ol' wanted dead or alive posters of Billy the Kid. haha

I used this selfie and played around with it. It would have been fun to create this into a wanted poster!   🤔

The Wild West Grunge

For my selfie, I used a two step process to make ol' time sepia photos. First, I made the photo black and white on my phone's editing app. After it was black and white, I added the sepia color in Photoshop. To find the Sepia feature, go to Image>Adjustments>Photo Filter. From the Filter drop down menu, choose Sepia. Then adjust the strength of the filter according to your taste.

After the sepia effect is complete, add the guard rail texture photo on top and play with the blend modes. I chose Overlay and left it at 100% opacity.

This photo was taken on a wine tasting tour I went on with my husband. It was a perfect day!

To me, the texture adds a whimsical/ illustrative effect to the photo. 

Illustrative Look

I also created this textured photo in Photoshop. This one was way easier. I layered the guard rail texture on top of my wine tasting photo, then used the Screen blend mode option and dropped the opacity down to 68%.

I love experimenting with texture and adding it to photos. It is one of my 'go-to' design elements to add interest to my projects. 

Download the crusty grungy texture [HERE]

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Washi Tape Valentine Card

Washi tape, washi tape… how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways!

Ok, but seriously, there are many reasons I love Washi Tape

1. it’s fun

2. it's pretty

3. it's unique

And there are all sorts of crafts you can do with it.. I mean, come on, what is there NOT to love about washi tape, that is the real question here?

Valentine’s day is creeping up, so I thought I’d share a simple wahi tape valentine card craft.

This craft is SUPER easy, all I used was:

• blank white card from Michael's

• Washi Tape

• Scrapbook Paper

• Pens for hand-lettering.

This card is great for a special friend, coworker, teacher, or neighbor.  It would be great for just about anyone really..  I mean, come on…  who doesn’t like receiving a lovely homemade card, especially when it's made with washi tape?

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