If you’re anything like me, you’d love to share a little something with the precious “moms” in your life…. without breaking the bank!

well…. I looked around my craft closet (hey, some of us have clothes closets, shoe closets, junk closets…and why of course….CRAFT closets!)…. I wanted to use what I had and yet, create something personal – quickly!

This is what I came up with… watercolor faith quotes!  You can create the same or similar look with pretty much what you have on hand (yay!)

These are the supplies I used:

• 6″x6″ artist watercolor tiles (you can use mixed media paper or even a good heavyweight paper like printer brochure paper)
• plastic baggie
• crayola markers (water based)
• permanent black marker (PrismaColor or Sharpie)
• scissors
• washi tape
• water spritzer bottle
• heat tool

To help you get started, I created two templates (print here -> faith quotables) 

To avoid wonky cutting, I added a line border & allowed extra room for the watercolor by making the art 1.5″ smaller than the canvas

The first quote was created in a separate program using my handwriting; the second was created with text boxes in WORD using different fonts…this is where you can really let your creativity shine!

Once I cut out the desired quote, I attached it to the back of my canvas with a small piece of washi tape (painter’s tape works too!), making sure the image was positioned however I wanted the final quote to appear

Since watercolor paper is so thick, I needed light shining from the back to trace.  A window works great for this – in my case I simply used a white background on my iPad – it was just bright enough to be able to see the wording

Next, I used a permanent marker to outline the larger word.

You may need to exercise your patience muscles a bit – take your time…. and remember…. like all faith art, it’s not about perfection – enjoy the process!

I usually freehand the smaller wording, but if you intend on tracing, I recommend that you go ahead and finish the wording before adding color – this way you can be certain it’s visible!  I like to use a finer pen for the smaller words – just be sure you’re using permanent ink so that it doesn’t run when you add water in the next step.

You can see that my outline isn’t “perfect” – not to worry – once the lettering is filled in, it will take on a personal touch

Now…. the fun part! COLOR!!!  

You may want to practice this part a few times 

The easiest way I found to transfer color is by spritzing the canvas with water first – just enough to dampen the surface – keep in mind, I used this technique for watercolor paper, but I’ve used on lighter weight paper before – it just takes a lot less water.

Get your baggie and scribble some color on in a pattern similar to what you want the end result to look like

I like to use two shades of the same color family – in this example, I have two shades of blue.  In some of my other examples, I got really wild and chose two separate colors – just be sure they don’t make brown when mixed!

Once you have color on your baggie, flip it over and place on top of your canvas

Run your fingers over the baggie to transfer the color onto the canvas – give it a minute to absorb, and then carefully remove the baggie.

I use the Ranger Distress Sprayer & really like it because you can “dribble” or “mist” water onto the canvas –

You can see where the ink is fairly concentrated in some areas – slowly mist/dribble the area with water until you start getting the watercolor effect.  To keep the water puddles from running, I use my marker to hold the paper down while drying with the heat tool.

Remember, you can always build more color – just start small and repeat the process!

Once the color has dried, fill in your lettering with the permanent marker.  If you want to get really fancy, you can embellish with white ink – I use a UniBall Signo 153

That’s pretty much it!  I hope you’re inspired and encouraged to give this a try!

Happy Mother’s Day!