Supplies:

1. Watercolor paper
2. Watercolor paint
3. Paint brush
4. Water
5. Washi tape or other light tape
6. Cricut machine or other similar machine
7. Cricut pen/marker or one that will fit inside your machine
8. Cricut cutting mat to place your water color paper while the machine does it’s magic. I used a blue light grip mat since it is paper. It is a heavier paper so I used the heavier paper cutting setting.
9. Picture frame. The one I used is a 5×7 from Kohl’s.
10. My design, which you can find for free in my free library.
    • My library
    • Library password

Steps:

1. Upload the design and resize the design if needed. Then ungroup the design so you can work with the different sections.

2. Change the color of the rectangle to a different color so you can see the flower design underneath.

3. Change the flower design to a drawl operation. You can change the color if you wish as well.

4. Select both the rectangle and the flower design and click the attach button at the lower right corner of the screen so the flower design is drawn directly onto the rectangle.

5. Hit the make it button and let your machine do all the hard work.

6. Place washi tape over the floral design.

7. Wet your paint brush and make the red stripes on your flag. It is okay if they are not perfect or even, that is the beauty of water colors.

8. When you are happy with your red stripes clean your brush and wet is again. With a wet paint brush brush across the flower design to create a water affect in this area as well. You could also leave this alone if you wish. Add more water to your brush to lighten the color if needed. Do not forget to remove the washi tape and paint with water under this area as well.

9. Once everything is dry place your piece inside the frame and admire your work.

This was a fun piece to create. It does not take a lot of time or skill. Most of the hard work is done my your machine. You could change up the colors for other flags. You could add fabric or tissue paper if you do not want the water color effect. You also do not need to add the water in the flower design area if you want the flower design to stand out more. You could also add little splatters of gold or white to the blue flower area if you want to add some stars. I do think the frame really elevates this piece.