After a few years of painting here and there, I started painting again most regularly in 2015. I had lofty plans to complete several paintings by this time in 2016, but this year has felt extra busy...and they still are in pencil-only form without a single splotch of paint on them. My creativity has been channeled in other ways out of necessity, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. For example, my most recent project was a bridal shower and bachelorette. These are part of the decorations I made for the shower.
It was a Pinterest idea on the bride's wedding board (for seating chart placecards ). Though I give credit to Pinterest, it was NOT a "best chicken in 15 minutes" (which is never the best), nor "easiest chocolate cake ever" (that takes 2 hours + cleanup). It actually was REALLY simple. I can't take credit for the idea but it was fun to do something with paint that didn't involve careful detail. It's also great for when you have colors for an event/party that may be hard to find...unless you want to drop $200 at Paper Source for the right hue of chartreuse green.
The process was delightfully simple.
Here are the steps:
- Cut the paper to desired size.
- Mix the color and water in a plate. (I mixed a few watercolors to get the right shade)
- Dip edge of paper in different angles to get a jagged colored edge. Let it dry.
- Repeat 2 more times, each time dipping a little less of the paper in so you get that 3-tiered effect.
- Write with a calligraphy pen. (I typed it on Microsoft word first to look at and then loosely followed that font.)
two ways to avoid the handwritten part:
- Make it a shared project: do steps 1-4 and pass off step 5 to a friend with good penmanship.
- It's the 21st century and printers work wonders. Find a cute font, type it and print it on card stock, and then do steps 1-4.
It was a tea party theme (I'm sure that's obvious by now) so the favors were lavender earl grey cookies & tea. I added some lemon extract in the batter to freshen up the heavier flavor of lavender and earl grey. The center sign was on the door to welcome guests. The pen on the right is my favorite for cheater calligraphy style writing!