Last week, I made Hanukkah cards using cardstock and my Cricut machine; you can check out that post here.
This week I’m making Christmas cards and I wanted to try something a little different. I love the airy, whimsical look of watercolor cards and thought that these holiday cards would be a perfect opportunity to experiment with the watercolor-look!
I don’t actually have watercolor paints at home, so I used water-diluted acrylic paints to make “watercolors”.
I used two different “watercolor” card styles for this project:
For the first batch of cards, I brushed a wash of paint across my 4″ x 4″ cardstock pieces and used the Cricut to “write” messages once they were dry. Then I went in by hand with markers to add some extra color & pattern.
The second batch of cards were quite different. After my first round of card-making, I liked the results but felt that some of my cards were a little blah. For this batch, I wanted cards that were washed with “watercolor” but had white text. I used the Cricut to cut a stencil of my message and stuck it to a blank 4″ x 4″ piece of white cardstock. Then I brushed “watercolors” over the card. Once the paint was dry, I peeled off my stencil, revealing a nice white text.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any tutorial photos of the first batch of cards while I was making them. Here are some pictures of the finished cards though!
For the second batch of cards, I used Cricut Design Space to create a cut file of my text (or in one case, a cute gingerbread man image). I used cheapo dollar store contact paper instead of stencil vinyl and it worked great! Once the Cricut finished cutting, I weeded my contact paper. 
Then I burnished the stencil with Glad Press & Seal wrap. This “Cricut hack” is an inexpensive alternative to transfer tape, but it doesn’t work for every project. For example, I tried using Press & Seal for my magnetic bottle opener DIY but the wrap left gummy residue on the stainless steel. I haven’t noticed any residue when using it for cardstock, however. 
Next I positioned the stencil on my cardstock, burnished it, then removed the Press & Seal (or transfer tape). 
I mixed up some “watercolors” by diluting a bit of acrylic paint in water and brushed the color over my cards, making sure to fill in the centers of letters like “a”, “p”, and “o”. 
Once the paint was dry, I peeled away the stencil. Then I added a cardstock backing of a coordinating color.
Ta-da! Easy “watercolor” holiday cards! You can use real watercolor paints if you have them at home. For some of the cards, the “watercolor” caused the cardstock to wrinkle so I had to flatten them under a heavy book for a bit. Using watercolor paper probably would have prevented that.
Are you planning on making your own holiday cards this year? Please leave your comments below.
Thanks!
KC
Crafting with KC 