Christmas bauble cards

I have been painting some christmas cards this afternoon and it occurred to me that this is a brilliant project for learning more about watercolours and how to get different effects whilst also allowing you to make some lovely hand painted cards too.

Step 1

Wet a piece of watercolour paper then drop in all your favourite watercolour colours.

Don’t be tempted to do too much painting.

Because the paper is wet the paint will spread - don’t panic let it do it’s thing.

This is the beauty of watercolour and the thing that many people are scared of it.

Drop lots of contrasting colours next to each other and watch what happens.

work quickly before the paper dries and don’t over think it.

You can also thow on some salt to get sparkles as I have here.

Step 2

Let all that paper and water dry - it will do beautiful things that it would be impossible to recreate. Trust the process.

Whilst it’s drying make yourself a template that will fit the cards you are using.

This is mine.

The external and internal measurements need to fit the card you are going to use so make sure you check.

Step 3

Once the paint is dry use your template to find the most interesting parts of the painting to make your baubles.

Step 4

Using a pencil and the template draw the baubles whewre you want them and also draw round the outside of the template then cut out round the outside of the template.

You’ll be able to get a few baubels out of an A4 size paper.

Step 5

Using any colour of paint (I find acrylic paint in a dark colour works really well for these) carefully paint around your bauble shape.

I used turquoise acrylic.

Don’t stress about it being perfect you will be able to adjust a little at the next stage.

I also don’t worry about differences in coverage I think it looks more effective like this but you can do a second layer if you like.

Step 6

Using a marker (I like the gold and silver Posca pens as they cover really well) Carefully draw around the bauble shape to define it more clearly.

Add the top and the string.

You can add more decoration onto the bauble if you like, it’s very relaxing doing this stage and you can really go to town.

I left this one alone as I liked the colours.

Then tape into your chosen cards (I think I got these from Hobbycraft but there are lots of them around.)

This one isn’t perfect as my gold pen is running out but it gives you a good idea of how they will look.

You can also use different shaped templates to make fancy baubles.

I love sending hand-painted cards to my friends and family.

Please let me know if you try this and how you get on.