Calendar Swap - September

My sweet friend, Freda, has been organizing a calendar swap with a group of creative friends for a few years.  I didn't participate last year, but decided to jump in again this year.  

My first thought was to use the alcohol ink foil technique to make my September calendars with an Autumn feel.  That did not turn out the way I imagined.  I tried stamping with heat-n-stick powder and foiling.  That didn't work the way I wanted it to either. I thought about throwing money at the problem and buying more colors to try and yupo paper instead of the glossy paper I had.  After adding over $30 to my cart, I decided to try a different tactic. 

I decided to do stripes and florals like the shirt I shared yesterday.  First I looked for watercolored striped paper.  I even went to Hobby Lobby and Michaels looking for navy striped paper, and somewhere in those aisles it dawned on me that I could make my own.  DUH!

It was super easy because I wanted a loose look, not perfectly spaced stripes.  I taped down watercolor paper with painters tape to a board to prevent warping and then used a flat brush to create stripes.

Here is the finished project. 

I forgot to take pictures (or I just can't find them on my phone) of the floral sprays.  I stamped them in several colors (navy, black, and invisible ink) then colored them with watercolor and Zig clean color real brush markers.  Each one is slightly different, but it kept me from getting bored.  Sometimes a little change can keep things interesting.

I made a card for Freda out of the same paper and stamps.  I really like how they turned out and I think I might make more of these watercolor brush papers.  They make a fabulous background and I can customize the colors.