Spring weddings are a fabulous opportunity to try something a little fresh and out of the ordinary for your guests. Spring Tulip Wedding invitations are the perfect opportunity to incorporate your spring wedding theme, show your personality, and even save a little money making them yourself.
Here is a Spring Tulip wedding invitation project that is beautiful, classy, and easy to do. If you are having a large wedding with quite a few guests this fall I highly recommend asking some of your bridesmaid and even the grooms men to help make these wonderfully unique Spring Tulip invitations.
For this Spring wedding project you will need:
Heavy grade watercolor paper
Watercolor paint or acrylic paint
Water
Sharp Scissor or Exacto Knife
Pencils
Photos of tulips or fabrics with tulips printed on them
This is an easy Spring Tulip wedding invitation project if you break it down into a number of different steps and don’t let them overwhelm you.
The first step is to find some spring tulip images. Look at fabric as well as photos for inspiration. Look for different shapes and large sizes. Wedding invitations traditionally have quite a bit of information printed on them, so your Spring Tulip will need to be big enough to include all of the information you want on there. You can also use real tulips as inspiration for your wedding invitations.
Once you have found a variety of Spring Tulips you will want to lay them out on some regular drawing paper, trace them and cut them out. You can make a variety of different Spring Tulip wedding invitations or stick with one pattern. Cutting them out allows you to see how well your spring wedding invitation information will fit on the specific leaves.
Now you are ready to lay your chosen Spring Tulip patterns out on your heavy water color wedding invitation paper. Trace them lightly with pencil and then cut them out. For super sharp edges onto your wedding invitations I highly recommend using a very sharp exacto knife. You may need to change the blade if you are doing a lot of invitations.
Tip: When you are deciding on a shape for your spring wedding invitation you should stick to only the flowering part of the tulip. If you want you can lightly hint at leaves around the edge, but avoid the stem.
Once your wedding invitations Spring Tulip are cut out you are ready to start painting. I like to take a paper plate and lay out a palette of vibrant and pastel paint colors from my watercolor paints. Specifically I like to use brilliant red, lemon yellow, and bright pink for my Spring Tulip. You can use any color you want. Before I paint my Spring Tulip cutouts I always practice a little on a piece of scrap watercolor paper. This way I don’t waste a lot of my Spring Tulip cutouts trying to get the look I want.
For a crisp look try buying some watercolor gum medium. This paints on like glue and dries like rubber. You can paint on the paper to outline your tulip lines. When you paint it will keep those areas from absorbing paint. Then when you paint dries you can rub it off and reveal crisp whit outlines to your tulip wedding invitation.
Now, use some of your water to dilute the watercolor paint and gentle start brushing it along the edges of your Spring Tulip wedding invitations. Slowly work your way in to the middle of the Spring Tulip. I like to add more water as I work my way in so that the paint becomes more sheer and translucent towards the center of the invitation. This allows your information on the Spring Tulip wedding invitation to really stand out.
There are special water color mediums you can buy at any art supply or craft supply store that are meant to be added to water color paints to create different effects. Some mediums add a sand like texture or even a granite type texture. You can also find shimmering effects and others that just keep the paint wet longer allowing you to really work it.
These watercolor mediums can be found right next to the watercolor paints. Typically a bottle will cost you about $6, give or take a little depending on what brand you are buying.
Allow your Spring Tulip wedding invitations to dry thoroughly then you are ready to add your writing. I personally like to write in calligraphy on these beautiful fall wedding invitations, but you could also print on them as well. I have printed directly on them before from my computer and I found it better to print first with waterproof ink, then cut the Spring Tulip out and then paint. To do this I typed and printed my wedding invitation information first, then printed them. Next I laid my Spring Tulip cut outs on top and carefully traced around them.
This is great project to do with your bridesmaids, groomsmen, or other family members, especially if you are having a large spring wedding. The addition of lots of extra hands will insure that your Spring Tulip is as unique as those found in nature.
For a little added extra detail you could also use a gold or silver paint pen to outline the edges. Super fine glitter would also look beautiful on these invitations as well.
In the card section of the art supply store you should also easily be able to find watercolor paper envelopes. I often see these plain or with already colored edges. Choose the envelopes that work best with your spring wedding tulip invitations. I have seen these watercolor card envelopes at Michaels Arts and Crafts Store as well.
