Amy Lagers Studio

because moms never outgrow handmade things

I remember when I was a child, I used to pick “flowers” at recess and put them in my lunch box for my mom to find when I got home. She never once told me “those are only weeds.” She always thanked me and told me she loved them.

Once I became a mother, I realized how special those flowers really were to my mom. My daughter is grown and living on her own, but I still find little notes and hand-made things around the house. Little scraps of her childhood that I tucked away in a book or drawer.

Moms never outgrow our handmade gifts! Here’s a very simple design you can make for your mom this Mother’s Day (or any day.)

SUPPLIES USED

• Watercolor card (or paper folded to make a card)
• Masking fluid
• Brushes
  • Princeton Velvetouch Petals Brush
  • Liner brush
  • Quill brush (round brush size 6 would work)
  • An old brush you don’t care about (details later)
• Daniel Smith Watercolor Paint
  • Cadmium Red Hue
  • Undersea Green
  • Phthalo Turquoise
• Gold watercolor paint (I get mine from a local Tulsa artist who makes their own paint. But may companies carry a metallic line.)

DETAILS

The Card:

I am using a 5×7 watercolor card from Strathmore. However, you can easily make your own. You can get cards and envelopes from craft stores, but most of those are card stock, which isn’t the best for watercolor. Folding a sheet of watercolor paper to the appropriate size for your envelope will work. This would even be a great gift to give framed!

The Lettering:

I really wanted to have very uniform letters. To accomplish this, I typed out the letters in a font I liked, and printed it. I then used a light box to pencil the outline of the letters onto my card. If you don’t have a light box, taping the print-out onto a window creates the same effect.

Once I had the outline of the letters, I used an old brush to apply masking fluid to protect the inside of the letters. You need to use an old brush because the masking fluid can dry in the bristles and gum them up. You don’t want to ruin your favorite brush!

Let the masking fluid dry completely.

The Flowers:

I painted the flowers in Cadmium Red Hue with enough water to make it flow easily and make it more pink. Use c-shape strokes of increasing size to create the roses. Don’t worry about painting over the letters. The masking fluid will resist the paint.

If you’ve never painted roses like this before, use a scrap paper to practice. This will help you be more loose and allow a more organic “wiggle” to your stroke. I used Princeton’s Petals brush, but a round brush would also work.

Once I got the focal flowers placed, I went back in and put some buds for added interest.

The Leaves:

I used the same brush to paint the leaves with Undersea Green. Again, a bit of practice with leaf shapes will be helpful. I also painted the stems around the buds.

Once you are happy with the placement of the flowers and leaves, let it dry completely. Then you can remove the masking fluid.

The Letters:

Now use the Phthalo Turquoise to fill in the letters. I tried to be precise, however there are a few places where I got out of the lines a little. That’s okay, though because I used a little gold paint with a liner brush to outline them. I also touched up the inside of the letters with turquoise once the gold was finished.

Lessons learned:

1. Make sure the masking fluid is dry before painting over it. I almost ruined one of my favorite brushes. Also, it can disturb the masking fluid, and the paint will soak through to your letters.
2. Make sure the paint is dry before trying to peel the masking fluid. If there is a little wet paint, it can smear in the removal process.
3. When removing the masking fluid, you can roll it with your finger or an eraser. But do it carefully so you don’t tear the paper. In these videos, there is a small area of rough paper where the surface tore while I was removing the masking fluid.

If you are a mom, Happy Mother’s Day.

If you’re my mom, I hope you know how much I love you!

-Amy

If you’d rather purchase a hand-made card or bookmark for your mom, you can find my work at Hummingbird or Sky Gallery.