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I have always been a creative person. From the time I could walk, I was in dance classes and then grew to love photography and creative writing. Every summer was spent learning something new, be it cross stitch or rubber stamping, I’ve always loved expressing myself creatively.

That love for crafting hasn’t changed over the years. I love taking classes to try new things – although that modern calligraphy class was something I will probably never really get the hang of. Lol.

This time around, I decided to try watercolor designs. I love how whimsical and effortless they look and I thought, why not try it?

But before starting any project, I had to get the right tools.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started in watercolor:

Cold Press 140 lb (or higher) Paper.

This paper is going to be more expensive than your regular computer paper, but you have to have it so that your paper is thick enough to withstand all the water you’re going to plane putting on it.

Round #6 Brush.

This is a good, middle of the road size brush. If you want smaller designs, get a smaller brush, if you’re painting in a huge canvas, get a bigger one. But I’ve found that the #6 is he perfect size for most of my designs. You can also opt to get a set of brushes that range in sizes so you can change up your brush size when you see fit.

Watercolor Paints.

Here, you have two options / you can go with the liquid paint tubes and use a palette board to mix them as needed, or you can use a watercolor palette that has a range of colors all in one place. I chose two different palettes – one had 24 basic colors and the other had metallic colors. Because, we’ll, you know how much I love anything shiny!

Now let’s get started on what to do with all of these tools. I started with this tutorial and went from there. I really wanted to learn how to make different flowers and leaves and see what happened. So, after watching the tutorial for what seemed like 10 times, I started practicing and putting the brush to the page.

There’s definitely a learning curve. One piece of advice I would give is to make sure you don’t get too hard on yourself when things don’t turn out perfectly the first time. I practiced a lot until I finally figured out the feel of the brush and how it flowed and the water reacted.

One thing I found funny though in looking at watercolor tutorials on YouTube was that some people do this to relax. They listen to the classical music and gracefully draw beautiful designs on a page. This was SO not the case for me. I was trying so hard to make it look like what the experts were doing that it stressed me out. Maybe if I did it more often, I could let myself relax about it, but I’m not anywhere close to that yet.

One fun use I found for this new found skill though was putting watercolor designs on Easter eggs. You have to make sure the eggs are perfectly dry, but it really is a fun and creative way to decorate your Easter eggs in a way that doesn’t incorporate smelly vinegar. And it’s fun for little kids too – just give them a paint brush and let them have at it!

When you’re done painting, why not try making this easy Blackberry Cheesecake Trifle?

If you’d like to see more tips like these, follow me on Pinterest!