Watercolor and Freezer Paper

Home is where the "heart" is

Materials: Tape, freezer paper, an image printed of your "home," mine is Cape Cod, an iron, Watercolor paper, watercolors, an exacto knife, a fine tip pen, and a white crayon. Also not shown are cotton swabs or paper towel, paint brushes, small stack of newspaper, and a cup of water.

1. Take your printed image and tape it to the PLASTIC side (very important) of the freezer paper.

2. Begin tracing with your fine tip pen the outline of your image. 

Side note: If I could do this again, I'd go on Google Maps, take an image from there, and pinpoint my actual address. 

3. Put your freezer paper tracing on the newspaper (to protect surfaces) and begin cutting out with your exacto knife. This took me about 20 minutes.

4. Cut out a little heart where you live. Like I said, I wish I'd printed an image from Google with an exact mark. This is just an estimation. Accurate, but still an estimation.

5. I'm sorry if this is hard to see, but I placed Cape Cod where I wanted it on the paper and ironed it down WITHOUT STEAM!!! The iron was set on cotton (just about the highest setting) and I made sure not to stay in one spot too long. You don't want to burn all your hard work!

6. I apologize, the next two steps are not shown because my phone started malfunctioning. Anyway, write out whatever you want, (I chose Home is where the heart is) in your white crayon. I made sure to make it a little thicker than the width of a regular crayon line. Do whatever you want, however you want! This is YOUR beautiful piece of art. I only hope to be mere inspiration :) 

7. Working fairly quickly, outline your cut-out with your watercolor(s) of choice. I noticed that the freezer paper didn't hold for very long and started to bubble in some spots. If this happens, just begin your brush strokes on the freezer paper going toward the watercolor paper. Hopefully, it won't get under the stencil. But hey, if it does, whatever. Handmade goodies are never perfect, and that's what gives them character! :)

8. With a cotton swab or piece of paper towel, wipe away the excess paint over the letters. 

9. I'd say wait a few minutes for it to dry, maybe you could try blotting it with a paper towel, all I know is, I think I took my freezer paper Cape Cod off a little too soon. But it's up to you. Take the freezer paper off and....

VOILÁ!

I hope my tutorial was sufficient, it was the first one I've ever made. I'd love to see your creations as well! Find me on Pinterest to show me your versions! Thanks for reading!