Chasity is here today to show you how to brighten up your Fall home decor with a gorgeous leafy framed quote! She has included FREE printable templates PLUS SVG files for those of you who have a digital cutting machine. YIPPEEEE!!
Kelly Creates Supplies: Watercolor Inks Set 1 and Set 2, Watercolor paper pad, Lettering Brush Set of 4, Palette with pipettes, Multicolor Small Brush pens (Set 2 – Bark)
OTHER SUPPLIES: Wood Frame, Scissors, Scoring board, glue, printable template
SUPPLIES for Digital Cutting Machine e.g. Silhouette: orange glitter vinyl (or colour of choice), transfer tape, vinyl transfer tools, SVG file (included)
Hello Lettering friends! Today I am going to share a tutorial that is a little different than my usual: it’s a fun home décor project that will have you falling in love with Kelly Creates watercolor inks all over again! It’s September here in Utah, and autumn is in the air. The nights are cool and crisp, and the trees are just starting to turn. Fall is my happy place. This project far surpassed what I imagined and was so easy to complete.
This tutorial might be my favorite of all time. I am not sure if it’s because of how much I love this season, or if it’s the vibrant colors of Kelly’s watercolor inks… maybe a little of both! I’m excited for you to give this project a try. I love decorating for every season, especially with something I created!
I started with a wood frame that I found at our local craft store. It’s approximately 12” x 12” inside (not including the frame, just the work area) . It retailed for around $20 USD, and was 40% off, so I got it at a great price! I loved that it was already painted on the inside and ready to go. Keep in mind you can use a frame that you already have around the house, or use an inexpensive canvas from the store. You don’t have to invest money if you have something already! There are also tons of plain wood frames that are inexpensive and ready for paint.
For the project, I used 2 sheets of Kelly’s watercolor paper, the Poppy, Orange, Deep Yellow and Emerald Watercolors, Round Brush #4 and the Watercolor Palette.
For the first step of the project you will need to cut out leaves using scissors and the printable template (below). Click HERE if you want to download and print the Hello Autumn template:
OR you can cut out the leaves with an Electronic Cutting Machine such as a Silhouette, Cricut or Brother ScanNCut Machine. You can also use a manual die cutting machine and a leaf die of your choice. If you are using an Electronic Cutting Machine, you will also need the SVG files I have created for you as well. Click HERE to download the SVG files from DropBox.
I started by cutting the leaves from Kelly’s watercolor paper on my Silhouette Machine. You can adjust the size of the leaves in your software to meet your needs for your frame, but the file provided is the same size that I used. I cut 2 sheets of approximately 40 leaves. If you want your wreath fuller, then you might consider cutting another sheet of leaves.
Because the Kelly Creates watercolor paper is thick, I had my machine set to heavy cardstock, and 2 passes. This ensured that it cut all the way through the paper. Please refer to your Machine manual for the proper settings for thicker paper.
Now get ready for some watercolor fun! I used a silicone mat to protect my table while using the watercolors. You can use paper, or whatever you have, just be sure to protect your workspace, as we are painting to the edges of the leaves, and some will get on the mat. I love silicone mats, because they are non-stick and everything easily washes off!
I decided to use these Kelly Creates Watercolor Inks: Poppy, Orange, Yellow and Emerald and dropped them into the Kelly Creates daisy paint palette. Because we are going to paint on a wet surface, you don’t have to dilute the inks in the palette. But if you want lighter colours, then add water to the inks in the palette with your pipette.
It’s time to paint some leaves! I wet each leaf with clean water first so that my colors would blend with a wet on wet technique.
Next, start with any color you want and paint different areas of the leaf with the inks. You will find that the colors will blend beautifully on the wet surface, and you don’t need very much ink.
Keep adding watercolor ink with your Kelly Creates lettering brush, cleaning your brush between colours. Think about how leaves change color. None of the leaves need to look the same! To create a lighter green paint colour, I mixed the Emerald Watercolor Ink and the Deep Yellow in the Palette to get a more yellow-green tone. As I finished them, I set them aside on the mat to dry.
I had so much fun making each of these leaves different and exploring how the colors would mix. I could not get over how vibrant the colors were and how realistic the leaves turned out. Look how beautiful and rich the colors are together!
It didn’t take very long to paint the leaves. Remember to set them aside to dry as you complete them. They took about 20 minutes to dry completely, but you could speed up the process using a heat tool or hair dryer.
Here are my dried leaves. They really turned out better than I imagined. Once they dried, I wanted to give them some dimension for my project. I used a WRMK scoring board, and scored down the center of each leaf. Make sure the leaves are dry, or the paper will tear.
Scoring them really gives them dimension and they look more realistic. If you don’t have a scoring tool, you can simply fold them in half.
The next step is to fold them slightly so they will pop on the project. I didn’t fold them all the way, just partially so they lifted off the background.
I wanted to make sure the leaves were in a pretty round circle, so I used a plate and traced the outside with Kelly’s Bark Multicolor Small Brush Pen. I used brown in case once I glued the leaves, if it was still visible, it would be brown like a branch.
You can use any round object as your circle template. Lids work well, paper plates… Or even a circle template! I just like to find something around the house. Super fancy, I know.
Now that you have a circle, lay out the leaves around the circle to see what placement you like before you start gluing. I found this helpful so I could play around with placement before I committed to gluing the leaves down.
Once you have them arranged how you like, use a hot glue gun and begin gluing the leaves into place. You can use any wet glue as well, but I used the hot glue gun because it dries fast.
Here is what it looked like once I finished gluing the leaves. I was happy with the result. NOTE: You can also glue the leaves to a paper background instead of the actual wood frame background, which can then be placed inside the frame. This would work well if you are hand lettering with a pen inside (instead of cutting the words from vinyl).
Now, for the words, you can practice hand lettering ‘Hello Autumn’ with the pdf template and even transfer the lettering into the middle of the wreath. Kelly has an array of pen colors that would match perfectly back to the watercolor leaves or even the Midnight Dream Pen would look wonderful! If you have a digital cutting machine, you can use the SVG file and some vinyl (I used orange glitter vinyl I had on hand).
Cut the SVG following your machines settings for Vinyl. After you weed the vinyl, add your transfer tape. If you have never cut vinyl before or used transfer tape, there are plenty of free videos on the Internet to walk you through it. I promise, it’s not complicated.
Once the vinyl is on the transfer tape, lay it in the center of the leaves and center to your liking. Transfer the vinyl to the frame, and your Fall home décor piece is complete!
Now go hang your beautiful fall wreath on your wall to celebrate the season! I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial, and give it a try. I know I had so much fun making it.
Be sure to share with us what you create. Even if you just create the watercolor leaves, they would be great to use on layouts, cards, journals, and planners as well!
I am off to make some more leaves for more projects. Stay safe and well friends!
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For more crafty lettering inspiration, follow Chasity on Instagram @chiciscre8ive
Shop the supplies Chasity used by visiting http://www.kellycreatesstore.com and clicking the images below:
Darcy
September 28, 2021 at 4:29 pm (3 years ago)Gorgeous! You are incredibly talented!