Simple and Stunning: Hand Painted Rustic Cards: (Simple and Stunning)

5 simple projects illustrate how easy it is to create beautiful country-style cards using templates, acrylic paints and a waterproof pen. Step-by-step instructions and photographs explain all the techniques and how to develop a rustic style with a selection of charming subjects including hearts, stars, sheep, speckled hens and patchwork apples.

About the Author :
Ruth Watkins has had a keen interest in crafts since she was a child, and in 2002 she decided to turn her hobby into a career. She obtained the DecoArt Helping Artist/Teacher certificate and became a Certified One Stroke Instructor training with Donna Dewberry from the USA. Ruth set up Wooden-it-be-Lovely Decorative Painting and Crafts Studio where she holds regular workshops for students. She has also designed a range of craft papers featuring her popular pen-and-wash style of painting, and writes articles for art and craft magazines.

Review :
myshelf.com:Go into any craft shop and you will find a bewildering - and costly - array of modern items with which to make cards and scrapbook pages. But greetings cards have been around since the 1840s, and can we make them with what we already have to hand? Get back to basics with this surprising book and see how it can be done.Ah, how I like a book that advocates using just a few basic items that many of us already own (at least the sort of people likely to be reading this review). Pens, paints, assorted colored card, watercolour paper, basic stationary items etc and little else are used in this book. These combine to make some lovely and perhaps rather more original cards than those made with things like stencils and rubber stamps. Trace, photocopy, scan and print or freehand draw some charmingly naive style greetings cards depicting sail boats, sheep, baskets of apples, hens, birdhouses, angels, hearts and more. There are no gallery pictures either, as all the templates not thoroughly explained step-by-step are at the back (they just need to be enlarged). Add some folksy A"stitchingA" with a pen for that quilted, handmade look and you have a delightfully simple card. I found I got into the style of the thing and drew some of my own naive pictures, ready to be inked in pen and painted with delicate watercolors. I think what I liked the best about the book, and about the whole process was how back-to-basics it was, good old-fashioned fun and a more personal way of making a card than a rubber stamp. Recommended, particularly for anybody feeling overwhelmed by crafting fashions.Papercraft Inspirations:Give your cards a folksy feel with this charming book. Card ideas include all sorts of heartwarming motifs, from garden wellies to angels, chickens, birds and even bunting! As well as the easy to use templates (you'll find over 30 to choose from), we love the detail of instructions provided. Step-by-step tutorials show you how to colour your cards with watercolour paints and will turn the newest of card makers into an instant painting pro!Cake Craft & Decoration: Amongst the plethora of card making books on the market are these two little gems. Rustic Cards has pictures that can be traced onto your cards and then painted with watercolours using simple techniques and edge finished in a stitched style to produce very professional looking cards. Handmade Clear Stamped Cards is a beautiful clear unfussy collection of stamped designs that will have you itching to have a go.