Watercolor Paper Cut-Out Greeting Cards
I know we all know this by now, but times are weird. To help ease some of the craziness going on in the world with COVID-19, I thought it would be nice to create something pretty to bring some joy into you and your loved ones lives. I came up with these cute and easy paper cut out watercolor greeting cards since I think we could all use some fun snail mail in our lives right now! Let me show you how I did it.
WHAT TO GET:
- Card stock and/or watercolor paper, I used these papers from Paper Source: one, two and three
- Watercolors I used these sets from Paper Source: pearlescent and metallic
- Paintbrushes, Any will work for this
- Water
- Paper towel or cloth
- Scissors
- Craft Knife
- Washi Tape or whatever tape you have on hand
- Some type of cutting mat or thick cardboard
- An extra envelope or you could also make your own with the card stock! I had a bunch of extras laying around.
- A paper cutter is helpful for this but not necessary
WHAT TO DO:
1. Cut your card stock into the size card you want to use. I used a 3.5 x 5.5 inch card that I already had as my pattern. You can either trace the card onto the card stock or measure it out and cut it with either a paper cutter or scissors. Then fold the card stock in half to make your card.
2. Time to paint! For this I used both the Savoy Cotton card stock from Paper Source and watercolor paper. You can use any type of paper that’s on the thicker side (it’s helpful if it has a bit of tooth or texture to it). All you need is a little water to get these paints started and then I just played around with different simple washes of color together. This is completely up to how you want your final project to look, I wanted it to just be a bit abstract and colorful, but you could definitely paint with more detail here! Once you’re done painting, set them aside to dry completely.
3. Decide on what shapes you want to use for the cut out on your card and cut out your patterns from a scrap piece of card stock. I used a different color here so it will be easier for me to see the pattern on top of the card. I’m not super experienced in using a craft knife for cutting out images so I went with pretty simple shapes here. I freehand drew out the shape first and then cut them out, you could also look online for simple patterns if you want a more exact shape or you could even trace around and object you have around you too.
4. Open up your card, making sure the front is facing up and that it is the only side we will be working on, place your cutting mat or thick cardboard underneath. Line up your shape pattern where you want it on your card. You can trace your shape with a pencil here but I found it easier to use my pattern to help guide the knife. Slowly cut around your pattern shape until it’s completely cut out and continue with the rest of your shapes if you have them.
5. Choose which parts of your paintings you want to be the background of each of your cutouts and cut them into a small enough shape to fit inside the card, but big enough that it covers all of the open area of the cut out. Using your tape, tape your watercolor securely to the back of your cut out side. If you really wanted to hide the tape you could cut out another piece of card stock and glue it over the taped piece but I like the handmade look of this. And you’re done! Write your message and send off a little gift of handmade art to someone you love.
ABOUT NIK:
Nik is a maker, day dreamer & potty mouth who loves cats, coffee and craft beer. She is a self taught hand embroiderer and will DIY pretty much anything she can get her hands on. You can see her work on Instagram @wastingthyme & @nikvphotography. She lives in Long Beach with her husband and her three awesome cats (that she can’t shut up about).
