Watercolor Valentines in Non-Traditional Colors

Christmas is over, the new year is (barely) here, and it's almost time for Valentine's Day!!!  Do you make Valentines?  I generally make a few, and as I've been enjoying playing with my watercolors, it seems only right to translate that into some heartfelt greetings.

No reason to keep it all reds and pinks--these gorgeous Astrobrights will make for some fun non-traditional Valentines.

This is a simple wet-on-wet watercolor technique on a piece of cardstock, created by brushing the paper with water, and adding drops of  paint to the wet paper for little explosions of color.

I used a Cricut to cut hearts, but you can cut by hand, or use your favorite die-cut or other method.  The speckles are from flicking droplets of plain water onto the slightly damp paint.

Astrobright Terrestrial Teal and Terra Green

 Little sentiments of "love" were computer printed on the same white, and torn to leave a rough edge.

Astrobright Celestiral Blue and Lunar Blue

Astrobright Outrageous Orchid

Here, the watercolor heart was painted in a similar manner as the Winterscape Trees in this CutCardStock post, with a hand-lettered "love."  This one is my favorite!

Astrobright Cosmic Orange

 Here, a little wet-on-wet puddle of color, with a hand drawn heart, and hand-lettered "love."

But why stop with the cards?  Spread a little more love by adding a light watercolor wash to the front of the envelopes, too!  You can easily make these Valentines a family friendly project by letting the littles have fun creating the watercolored papers.  They can then use a gluestick to add the hearts to the card fronts.

:)trisha