DIY Tutorial: Colourwash Placemats For Your Wedding Reception

Happy lunch time blog lovers! This is one for all of you feeling you need a mid-week lift and spot of creative inspiration – a DIY tutorial that is unbelievably easy but one that produces really beautiful results.

This gorgeous little DIY tutorial was created by Carrie Southall, Creative Director at Ruby and Diva and also founder of relovedstyling.com.

Ruby and Diva really is a beautiful place to get lost in and supplies everything from wedding dresses to bridal headwear, jewellery, accessories, wedding shoes and the prettiest decor.

Sara and I thought you lovely lot might appreciate a splash of colour next time you try some DIY and I can’t think of anything prettier or easier to achieve a colour pop in your wedding photographs than this.

You will need:

Water colour paper – we used A4 for this DIY, but you could use A3 for larger placemats!
Watercolour paint – we used Windsor & Newton Artists watercolour tube in ‘Quinacridone Magenta’
Paintbrush ( worth investing in a nice watercolour one)

(1) Get yourself set up with your paper on newspaper or cloth to protect your work surface. Grab yourself a jar of water and squeeze some of the paint onto a plate.

(2) Dampen your brush and dip it into your paint and start adding the undiluted paint to the corner of your paper.

(3) Dip your brush in the water, give it a good swirl around and then start working the paint outwards with the watery brush. Keep washing out the brush and working towards the centre of the paper with the water until you have your desired watercolour effect.

(4) Watercolour paint is quite forgiving, so if it’s not looking right, you can wash it out, or add more paint as you wish. Then just turn it round and start working on the opposite corner!

(5) Keep flat till dry and then keep all mats flat till they are needed. The paper will wrinkle as you add the water but will dry and flatten with time.

(6) If you love the idea but are daunted by creating 100 of them, then don’t! I think they would be more effective at every other place setting. Or simply use them as a table centre.

Many thanks to Sara Smyth of Ruby and Diva Weddings – which I would like to encourage you all to visit this afternoon please! It’s a beautifully curated online boutique for all brides with discerning style.

Love Annabel

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Meet The Author

Annabel

Founder of Love My Dress, podcaster and editor, Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters, one at university and one aged 15, and a lively menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, long walks, being outdoors and star gazing. She also has a slightly unexpected obsession with blockchain and market analysis, studying price charts and patterns and has a deep fascination with market psychology. Annabel is known for her integrity, trust and advocacy within the wedding industry, values that underpin both her editorial voice and professional relationships. Alongside her work on Love My Dress, she also supports Philip in running the family’s sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers.