Hi, there!  Welcome back to my Growing In Unity Girl Week!  If you’ve missed the other posts, you can find them below.  Again, if you comment on my posts every day this week you could win a grab bag of Unity stamps.

I love Unity for so many reasons, but one designer in particular got me hooked.  Have you ever read or even glanced through a copy of Highlights, the children’s magazine?  If so, you’ve probably been struck by the amazing illustrations.  Phyllis Harris is one of those Highlights illustrators.  She has her own shop from which she sells her art and she also designs stamps for Unity Stamp Company.  You can see more of Phyllis Harris’ amazing work here.  To me, her stamps just lend themselves so well to watercoloring.  Take a look at these:

I felt they just screamed “watercolor me!”  I’ve heard many people say they couldn’t possibly pull off watercoloring.  I say give it a try.  I find it to be a fairly forgiving way to color an image.  All you need to watercolor is watercolor paints (there are so many out there now — pick some that fit your budget), a good paintbrush (you can get them at a craft store or even some big box stores in the art section), water, a paper towel and watercolor paper (again, you can find this in the same place you can find the watercolor paintbrush).  The reason I’d recommend watercolor paper is because it is heavier and can withstand a lot of water without losing its “tooth.”  That means it won’t break down and fuzz up as easily as regular paper or lower weight cardstocks.

Three of the images in this set of cards were done in a more sketch-like style.  Honestly, you could just spot color them and add a sentiment and they’ll look amazing.  Or, you can do what I did and watercolor away.  The choice is yours.  There really is no right or wrong.  I painted these images and finished the cards very simply with ribbon, twine, and Dazzle Borders and Butterfly Stickers that I got from Paper Wishes.  The art of Phyllis Harris, I felt, really stood for itself.  It didn’t need much embellishment.  Take a look at the three cards I did:

These stamp sets are all available from Unity Stamp Company, and they are called, “Beauty in Everything,” “Realize,” and “See Something Beautiful” respectively.

I did another card with a set called “There Is You,” which is less sketch-like in style, and more typical of Phyllis Harris’ collection of stamps from Unity.  Again though, I didn’t feel it needed much embellishment, since Phyllis’ art is so beautiful on its own.  Here it is:

Isn’t this a sweet image?  It can be used for so many occasions.  The watercoloring was actually calming and almost therapeutic for me.  After I watercolored the image, I simply mounted it on pearlescent cardstocks, added the White Border Dazzles and the Teal Butterfly Dazzles.  And just like that — I had a card that, I think, is absolutely beautiful.

If you haven’t watercolored since kindergarten, I’d urge you to give it another try.  You can’t go wrong watercoloring one of Phyllis Harris’ gorgeous images.  Check out her line at Unity Stamp Company — you may just get hooked like I did!

Thank you for stopping by and I’ll see you tomorrow!