DIY Tutorial: Hand Watercolored Save the Dates + Thank You Cards

DIY Tutorial: Hand Watercolored Save the Dates + Thank You Cards: "

It’s the ladies of Anti­quaria, back with another fab­u­lous and cre­ative DIY project for you all!  This project is for wed­ding save the dates, but you can eas­ily apply this tuto­r­ial to any party invi­ta­tions or announcements!

These Save the Dates and matching Thank You Cards combine the use of our custom rubber stamps with hand painted watercolor accents.  This DIY project is inspired by Emma’s reception invitations that we did a while back, after her wedding.  The calligraphy ended up having variegated shades, giving the illusion that it was watercolored.  We ended up loving the way that the calligraphy looked and Emma embellished the invitations with a bit of color on one side, changing the look of the whole thing!

Using beautiful turquoise and blue shades of watercolor and our custom rubber stamps, this DIY save the date looks modern and organic at the same time.  The best part of this is just how easy it is to do!!  You don’t have to be an artist to master these painting techniques.  Also, we love how using different color combinations or shapes yield different results – making each card totally unique and its own little work of art.

Step One: On pre-cut pieces of watercolor paper, get creative with painting.  We played with uneven painted stripes for the thank you cards and organic watery shapes for the save the dates.

Painting Tip: Go easy on the water to achieve a nice flat card.  Too much water will make your paper buckle or ripple when drying.

Step Two: Once your paint has dried, on a hard surface, ink your stamp and place it in the center of the card.  Apply even pressure and remove the stamp from the card.

For the Save the Date, we used the “Vintage Label” custom save the date stamp.  For the thank you notes, we used the “Simple but Sophisticated” monogram stamp – using a monogram stamp for your thank you notes can be a fun way to personalize them without breaking the bank after the wedding!

Step Three: We used the “Calligraphy Accent” return address stamp to finish everything off.

Now all that’s left is stuffing and addressing your envelopes!

Materials List:

Custom Save the Date & Monogram rubber stamps.  The ones used in this tutorial are:

“Vintage Label” Save the Date Stamp,  “Simple but Sophisticated” Monogram Stamp,  “Calligraphy Accent” Return Address Stamp

Color Box Stamp Pad (we used a variety of teals and blues for this project)

Watercolors and brushes (you can purchase at any craft or art store)

A small dish and a jar of water (used to mix paint and wash brushes)

A6 Envelopes (shown above in Curry)

B4 Thank You Card Envelopes (shown above in Peacock)

Paper Options:

You can have large watercolor sheets or pads – the thicker the better, (purchased from your local art store) cut to size at your local print shop.

Just tell them the dimensions you need based on your envelope choice, the cut cards should be at least 1/4″ smaller than the envelope measurement.

If you are using the Paper Source A6 and B4 sizes that are shown above, ask for your pieces to be cut to

6 1/4″ x 4 1/2″ (A6) and 3 1/2″ x 5″ (B4).

If getting paper cut is too much of a hassle, you can use the luxe papers from Paper Source and buy them pre-cut.

Just be careful with how much water you use with your paints.  If you are using lightweight (90 lb) watercolor paper or the luxe papers from Paper Source, these papers will tend to buckle if you use too much water.

Photo Credits: Antiquaria

© 2008 — 2011, Oh So Beautiful Paper

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