Watercolor Gift Card (cards) featuring ScanNCut

Once in a while I hit on an idea that is absolutely perfect – and turns out exactly or better than I had imagined. This is one such time! My inspiration was simple: I wanted to make some gift card “cards” for some Jr High teachers I’ll be seeing this week at conferences. After looking around at my supplies I decided that a bird stamp set + my ScanNCut would be just the thing.

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Doily love: quick gift wrap

I often say – add creativity where and when you can. Example: A crazy busy day “no time”? Well I had to ship a gift so I took 5 extra minutes to wrap it up special!

I love doilies for all kinds of things – especially gift wrap. I had a birthday gift to wrap up and ship – and I took a few pics to share. The deal is – just layer ’em (with other doilies, paper, whatever), add a bow or some details at random. Mail. They make everything better and are so hard to “mess up”. Just keep a circular pattern in mind (meaning you’re working towards one spot in the center) and have fun.

Things are wild here – I’ll save the details for an “around here” post but I’ve got lists going and plans that are flexible. Combined, that should be real good for productivity! I have a few new classes in the work and a lot of other fun stuff coming down the line, and I hope you enjoy the projects and posts I share here and around the web. Have a great day!

Fall leaf garland with ScanNCut

I set myself a goal to decorate a bit more seasonally as well as using up stash items like the spool of twines you see above. I’m also trying to use up paper I have vs buying more. I share this because as I sat and thought about how to add all these things could come together the answer hit me: ScanNCut craft time! Continue reading “Fall leaf garland with ScanNCut”

ScanNCut: watercolor wall art

A while back Rebecca saw a unicorn wall art she wanted and I thought… hey I can make you one in your EXACT room colors if I draw with my ScanNCut and use watercolor paint techniques… I can MAKE that!! It took me a while to work out the logistics but now that I have? I think I’ll be using this feature a lot more in future.

To recap my process:

  1. Pick a silhouette or outline style image (or word!) and scan into the ScanNCut machine, saving as a file.
  2. Use the “draw” function to draw the outline with a pen. I used a watercolor brush marker that I had previously tested and knew would work well on this paper.
  3. Add water carefully, and work through!
  4. Add (if you want) speckles and dots of color

The photos of this do NOT do it justice. This project turned out so amazing that Rebecca has declared it “the best art ever”! I created a YouTube video to show you the process of how I did this.

Tips:

  • Use a lighter color for the outline
  • Don’t over work your color! Let it dry and come back to it for touch ups
  • Be patient
  • Enjoy the flow of color – be random!

Here is Rebecca in her room – deciding where to put this (11×14) framed art! I am so excited with how this turned out – I’m definitely going to try again on a smaller scale for a card or perhaps onto a mixed media canvas. It was such fun – and such a great feeling to make something she wanted so much. Thanks for tuning in and checking it out!

disclaimer: I am a paid consultant for Brother. All ideas, projects, and opinions are always my own. I love the ScanNCut, and I love sharing the ways that I use my machine with you! 

Stamped watercolor mixed media tags: moon faces

When I look at these circle faces I think of the moon, and today I let that inspire me as I created a pair of tags with these new Dina Wakley stamps. Supplies used/affiliate links are listed below. What was the inspiration? I wanted to play with some texture on my tag and adding stamping and color while the tag was still wet.


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