Coffee Loving Papercrafters

Happy Sunday!  We have our long term Guest Designer back with us, Carrie!

Hello, fellow coffee cardmakers!  I have the honor of being a guest designer this summer while a few of the other members take a little break.  Today, I have two sweet and simple Cactus Coffee cards for you to enjoy and some easy mixed media techniques for you to try.

These adorable cactus coffee cup images and sentiments are from Newton’s Nook.  I just recently discovered this family-owned shop during the spring\summer blog hop and immediately filled my cart with some coffee crafting goodies. 

I chose to use watercolors to shade these two images because I enjoy the soft blends of color.  If you are new to watercolors, images like this are a good place to start.

On this first little cactus, I used a mix of olive green and bright green pigments with a bit of tan for shading.  I utilized what is called a wet-on-wet technique which allows the colors to blend and flow into each other. 

The coffee cup has a beautiful mix of blues and that pop of red in the flower just brings it all together.  I used the same color palette on the second card and added a bit of yellow for contrast.

To create the backgrounds, I employed a resist method with transparent matte texture paste.  Using a scrumptious coffee bean stencil from Honey Bee Stamps, I applied the texture paste onto some kraft paper. 

After the paste had dried, I added some ink to the background, then removed the ink from the texture paste with a paper towel. This left a charming background of textured coffee beans. 

If you would like to see how each of these cards came together, I have a simple video tutorial on my youtube channel.  In the video, I share how to make that texture paste background and give you a few tips for using watercolors on your projects. 

I will admit, I do feel like these cards are rather simple designs compared to what I usually create, but they are super cute and easy to make. I hope this project inspired you to try something new while you enjoy your next cup of coffee.  I can’t wait to see what you create!

Miss. Carrie

For more inspiration make sure to stop by Miss Carrie’s blog, YouTube + Instagram.