Recycled Watercolor Flower Garlands


I like to recycle my old paintings, my mess-ups and experiments.  It seems such a waste to throw away good watercolor paper.  

Thank goodness I have a large flower paper punch and a sewing machine!  When you cut up the mess-up paintings, you can hide the fact that they are, in fact,  mess-ups.  

Recycle old watercolor paintings in paper flower cut-outs
Recycle old watercolor paintings in paper flower cut-outs

To make a garland out of these:
  • Set your sewing machine to the longest stitch possible. 
  • Sew straight across one flower and feed in another very closely behind it to not leave much of a gap. Then continue with the rest of the flowers.
  • When you have all the flowers attached, sew a second line down through all the flowers about a quarter of an inch apart from the first, to keep the flowers facing forwards and keep them from turning.


Flower Garland made out of recycled watercolor paper: Grow Creative
Flower Garland made out of recycled watercolor paper: Grow Creative
Flower Garland made out of recycled watercolor paper: Grow Creative

6 comments:

  1. Oooooh! I love it! These are beautiful and perfect for spring decor. :)

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    1. thanks! Now I just need a house of my own to decorate ;)

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  2. What a wonderful idea!! Seriously so cute. I wish my watercolors looked as good as your "mess ups"!

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  3. how creative!! cool.
    question: for example, in that fish tail, how do you get all those colors in there without making it look muddy? how dilute is your paint?

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    1. Thanks Lesley! I used a stencil on that fish, but I don't remember exactly how I laid the colors down- it was a long long time ago. I think using lots of pigment and placing the colors next to each other (not on top of each other) can help keep the colors fresh. That way the different colors are separate but run into each other a little.

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