Jul
14

Cherry Blossom Watercolor Wall Art with your Silhouette

Use your Silhouette to cut out shapes from painted watercolor paper - such neat color and texture!

This project began as a rather epic and disappointing craft fail…but had a happy ending!  (Don’t you just love those?  The happy endings, I mean.)  I began with this beautiful watercolor inspiration from Allison over at Dream a Little Bigger – she created some stunning wall art with her Silhouette sketch pens and watercolors.  I attempted my own with some rather dismal results.

 

Let’s start at the beginning of the story.  We are getting ready to transition our 2-year-old out of the nursery and into her “big girl bedroom.”  You can click through to my Pinterest board to see some of my inspiration for her room…we’ve already got the walls painted a light mint-ish green and are going for pink and gray accents in the room.  I absolutely love cherry blossoms – so feminine and beautiful without being obnoxiously pink – and knew I wanted some cherry blossom wall art to add to her room.  So I thought I could create my own “paint-by-number” cherry blossom watercolor art, using my sketch pens to make an outline I could paint inside.  I found an image I liked, traced it in Silhouette Studio, then used a black sketch pen to sketch it onto watercolor paper.

 

Use your Silhouette to cut out shapes from painted watercolor paper - such neat color and texture!

 

Next,  just had to paint inside the lines with watercolors.  Pretty fool-proof, right?

 

Use your Silhouette to cut out shapes from painted watercolor paper - such neat color and texture!

 

Yeah, not so much.  I suppose I could have put it on the wall and claimed that my 2-year-old painted it.  Oy.

 

Problem #1 was that the sketch pen ink bled.  I should have used my pen holder and a fine point sharpie or even a ball point pen, and I would have had much better results.  Problem #2 was the design just didn’t lend itself very well to the paint-by-number kind of technique that worked so well for Allison at Dream a Little Bigger.  There was just too much small detail and overlapping color.  Ah well, I just had to sigh and let it go.

 

But wait!  An idea struck just as I was resigning myself to the fact that this was simply not going to work.  What about painting some beautiful shades of pink onto the watercolor paper, then using my Silhouette to cut out and piece together paper cherry blossoms?  Crazy idea, but it just. might. work.

 

So I found a shape in the Silhouette store and painted 3 different pieces of watercolor paper with shades of pink, green, and brown.  Even I could handle that.

Use your Silhouette to cut out shapes from painted watercolor paper - such neat color and texture!

 

Then I cut out flowers of varying sizes, along with a branch shape (I used the knife tool to slice of the blossoms from that shape and just used the branch).

 

Use your Silhouette to cut out shapes from painted watercolor paper - such neat color and texture!

 

Things were looking promising!  I was loving the variety of color and texture of all the different pieces.  Next step was to assemble all the flowers.

 

Use your Silhouette to cut out shapes from painted watercolor paper - such neat color and texture!

 

And finally I glued my branch to another piece of watercolor paper that I had painted a light blue, to really give it that washed out watercolor kind of look.

 

Use your Silhouette to cut out shapes from painted watercolor paper - such neat color and texture!

 

Hooray!  I was still able to achieve a portion of that watercolor look without ANY artistic ability!  All it took was painting blocks of color – something I can totally handle.  I love the whimsical look of the completed project – perfect for a little girl’s room!  (And look, you can see a sneak peak of the wall color…)

 

Use your Silhouette to cut out shapes from painted watercolor paper - such neat color and texture!

 

I have a feeling I will be using this technique again and again.  When you paint with watercolors on watercolor paper, no area of the paper is exactly the same shade, so you get a neat effect of texture and color.  Great for any kind of paper crafting!  And to think – it was all because of a craft-fail!  It just goes to show you that you can find inspiration anywhere!

 

Use your Silhouette to cut out shapes from painted watercolor paper - such neat color and texture!

 

I’m excited to share with you 30 more Silhouette projects that some of my bloggy buddies have concocted using some of their favorite materials!  While I love having theme posts for inspiration on particular materials or seasons, sometimes it’s nice to see what folks create when there are no boundaries – creativity can really take hold and shine through!  So be sure to take some time when you’ve got it and browse through all of these projects – you’ll be sure to be inspired.

 

A Gift for the Bride-to-Be Silhouette Challenge: My Favorite Things My Favorite Things Keepsake Box Printable Tattoos for Crafters & DIYers Super Hero Backpacks Geometric Two Tone Shirt Refashion Instagram Paper Album Reasons I Love Daddy Ctrl Alt Del Pillows Outside Decor: DIY Pallet Board Sign Yo-Ho It's a Pirate Party How To Use Silhouette Sketch Pens Combining My Favorite Things, Baking and Crafting - July Silhouette Challenge Pride & Prejudice Subway Style Art Favorite Silhouette Challenge Just umm, Let it Go Temporary My Little Pony Tattoos Mike Holmes Baby Onesie Monogram It: A Memo Board Makeover Super Room Redo The Best Summer Ever Freebie and Tutorial Summertime Toes Crafty Girls Hair Accessories Holder Watercolor Wall Art Ice Cream Cone T-Shirt Sun Fun Shirt Family Wall Art: Scrabble Edition Serving Tray Upcycle Making Custom Rhinestone Designs Etched Glass Coasters Church Nursery Wall Quote

1. Just a Girl and Her Blog // 2. The Frill of Life // 3. A Time For Seasons // 4. The Thinking Closet // 5. Ginger Snap Crafts // 6. Grey Luster Girl // 7. Simply Kelly Designs // 8. Home At Eight // 9. Please Excuse My Craftermath… // 10. My Paper Craze // 11. Mama Sonshine // 12. Practically Functional // 13. Adventures in All Things Food // 14. Two Purple Couches // 15. Dragonfly & Lily Pads // 16. Sowdering About // 17. Cutesy Crafts // 18. My Mom Made That // 19. Pitter and Glink // 20. Pineapples And Pinecones // 21. Dream a Little Bigger // 22. McCall Manor // 23. TitiCrafty // 24. unOriginal Mom // 25. Persia Lou // 26. Lil Mrs Tori // 27. Home. Made. Interest. // 28. Sandpaper and Glue // 29. Silhouette School // 30. Creative Ramblings // 31. My Favorite Finds

 

Have YOU had any craft fails with happy endings?  Leave a comment – I’d love to hear your story!

 

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26 Responses to Cherry Blossom Watercolor Wall Art with your Silhouette

  14. Such a unique look! And I love that it was inspired after attempt #1 didn’t work out (although in truth, I though the “fail” was a success in its own rite…I’d hang it up for sure!). Sometimes, it’s when we go back to the drawing board that we are most creative. I think your blog needs to be retitled Original Mom. ;-)

    Reply

  15. […] Pineapples And Pinecones // 21. Dream a Little Bigger // 22. McCall Manor // 23. TitiCrafty // 24. unOriginal Mom // 25. Persia Lou // 26. Lil Mrs Tori // 27. Home. Made. Interest. // 28. Sandpaper and Glue // 29. […]

    Reply

  19. Meredith,
    Your watercolor art is beautiful. I agree that the technique created gorgeous variations in shading that makes this a definite success. I love that you did not give up and created art that I now call stunning. Pinning
    Great talent,
    Karen Marie
    Dragonfly & Lily Pads

    Reply

  26. […] Pineapples And Pinecones // 21. Dream a Little Bigger // 22. McCall Manor // 23. TitiCrafty // 24. unOriginal Mom // 25. Persia Lou // 26. Lil Mrs Tori // 27. Home. Made. Interest. // 28. Sandpaper and Glue // 29. […]

    Reply

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stay-at-home mom to three beautiful children, wife to an incredible husband, and daughter of a loving God. I freely admit that I am not always the most creative or original person when it comes to crafting, decorating, organizing, cooking, etc...but I love being inspired by great ideas and putting my own spin on them! Look around, stay a while, and I hope through my *unoriginality* I can provide some inspiration to you, too!
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