Thank you card from marbleized paper

I’m still working on replenishing my thank you card reserve. 

On this card I used two sheets of my marbleized paper. I used the one with the orange wash and the one with the blue wash.

I cut a piece from the orange wash paper and taped it to the front of the card using double-sided tape. I cut curvy strips off the blue wash paper and glued it on top using tacking glue. I wrote thank you on the small strip, then used watercolor to add shading and shadow. I used a white sharpie pen to add highlights. 

The card is a little strange; I’ll just need to pick someone that appreciates strange to give the card to.

Cards using marbleized watercolor paper

The gold paint on the watercolor paper was a little flaky, so after I cut out the shapes I sealed the paper with mod-podge.

         

I made the two cards pretty much the same. The watercolor paper is outlined in gold on the first card and blue on the second. It is glued on blue cardstock using tacky glue on the first card, glued on light orange on the second. Both cards have white cardstock taped on the inside using double sided tape. The first card could be used for anything. If I get better at my handwriting, I will write happy father’s day on the front. The second card is a thank you card. I am happy with the two cards, I'm sure I will use both layouts again.

Cards using marbleized red construction paper

I cut out a piece of my marbleized construction paper and painted the edges with gold acrylic paint.

I painted watered down black acrylic over the gold to give it an antique look. I cut out two pieces of yellow cardstock, a bar to go across the card and a smaller piece for the thank you tag. I decorated the bar with red markers and wrote thank you on the tag. I painted the edges on both bar and tag with gold acrylic paint. I wrapped yellow embroidery floss around the bar. I glued bar and tag to the card using tacky glue, then added bows I made from the yellow floss.

front

back

On the second card, I decided to make the card from the construction paper. I glued some shapes from cardstock onto the front of the card, and then painted them. Then I painted around the shapes. I taped white cardstock on the inside of the card using double sided tape. 

I love this card, but I’m not sure what I will use it for.

Marbleize paper using spray paint

I found a wonderful tutorial on marbleize paper on AlisaBurke’s redefine creativity website.

It looked like fun so I thought I would give it a try.

I used a small kitty litter tray I no longer use for my water tray. 

 I could only find three cans of spray paint.

I brought out some red construction paper, a couple pieces of watercolor paper and some white cardstock. Following the directions, I sprayed the paint into the water and swirled it up with a stick

I had gold, black and blue, but the blue did not work and the black was old and gunky.  I decided I liked the gunky paint; it left a strange vainy pattern.

This is the cardstock.

This is the watercolor paper.

  The red construction paper looked good, the rest of the paper needed help. I used watercolor to apply a thin color wash to the other papers.

I liked how my paper turned out, but if I try this technique again I will use a bigger tray for my water and more varieties of new spray-paint. Maybe I can find samples of spray paint that would be perfect.

More watercolor crayon cards

I did another watercolor crayon painting; using a rainbow color scheme. I started the same, coloring red to blue, but this time I only filled up two thirds of the page. When I was finished with the crayons I held the painting up and sprayed it with water until the rest of the watercolor paper has some color drips.

The top half of the painting looked like the first painting, I cut off a piece for a simple card that I can add to later.

I cut off another piece and drew circles with soft pastels, than I painted over the pastels with gesso.  The blue pastel mixed with the gesso making a pretty light blue background.  I gave the circles highlights and shadows with watercolor pencils.

This card can be a thinking of you card or more can be added to it to make it into a thank you card or even a Easter card.

I cut off a piece of the bottom of the painting and glued it to a piece of yellow cardstock. Next I ripped the yellow cardstock in two, the ripped part off the top and bottom. Then I glued the pieces onto red construction paper. Using a Bic wite-out pen I wrote thank you on the construction paper. I added strips and highlights using gel pens.

Using double sided tape, I taped the other half of the bottom part of the drawing to yellow cardstock. I cut strips from the top of the painting and taped them across the painting already taped to the cardstock. Using markers I painted light blue across the top of the strips and dark blue across the bottom of the strips. This card could be a thinking of you card, or I could ad more to it later to make it into a thank you card or maybe a mother’s day card.

Watercolor crayons thank you cards

I needed some thank you cards; I decided that watercolor crayons would make a nice background. I started by drawing lines across watercolor paper using the colors of a rainbow, red to blue.

I used a wet brush to blend the colors.

I tore off a part of the painting and glued it to blue cardstock using a glue stick.

Using a glue stick I glued strips of light blue cardstock over the card stock and painting.

I did not like the card, so I cut it into curvy strips.

I glued the new strips onto red cardstock.

I filled the blue stripes in with random shapes and glued a orange piece of cardstock across the center of the card. I shaded in the center and strips, and wrote thank you on the card. I loved how this card turned out in the end, bright and cheerful. I only problem is my handwriting, I need to pull out the calligraphy pens.

paper strips

Here is a fun project to try; start with any kind of paper. I used some non-slick magazine page that I used to smear paint with.  

 Tear the paper into strips of similar width and length. Glue the strips onto watercolor paper using mod-podge or gel medium, making a grid 

After the glue dries fill in the white space and had shading, highlights and shadows. You can use a acrylic wash, watercolor or markers, I used a little of all three.

To learn more about the box go to Upcycling with Ruth

After I finished the project I thought it might have looked better if I had weaved the stripes. So on a little box I made, I did the same project, and this time I weaved the stripes. I like it better weaved, but you can do it either way.

The finished project can stand on it’s own or be used as a background for a more complex collage.