Winter Lettering & Watercolor on Cards

Chasity has a tutorial that makes winter and snow look so BEAUTIFUL! Learn how to make some stunning cards with watercolour and a masking fluid pen.

Kelly Creates Supplies: Watercolor Practice Paper pad, Watercolor paper pad, Deluxe Lettering Kit, Watercolor Inks Set 2 and Set 3, Lettering Brushes, Daisy Palette, Dream Pens, Blender Pen Kit, Moonlight Marker

Other Supplies: paper trimmer, blue, white, teal purple card stock, adhesive, baker’s twine, masking pen (Molotow brand or similar), embellishments of choice

BRRRR… That about sums up what is happening around here. How is your 2022 going so far? Today I have a wintery watercolor tutorial for you! Fitting for this weather in Utah.

This tutorial will show you a cool resist technique using masking liquid. I have done another tutorial using the masking liquid and lettering, but this is tutorial will show you a little spin on that!

I used Kelly Creates watercolor paper and practice sheets. I sketched a snowflake on the watercolor paper. If you’re nervous to start with the watercolor paper, start with the practice paper.

Once I had a design I was happy with, (thank goodness for pencils and erasers) I traced the snowflake with the masking fluid. I really like the Molotow masking Liquid Pen because it works much like a paint pen and is easy to control where the fluid goes.

Let the fluid dry completely. It dries pretty quickly. Next, using Kelly Creates lettering brush #4, add water to the watercolor paper. This wet on wet technique will help with watercolor to move easily when you start to add it.

Then, pick the Kelly Creates Watercolor Inks you want to use in the background. I used Violet, Blue and Teal to mimic the sky. Add as much ink as you want. Less ink will give you a pastel look once dry, and more ink will give you a more vibrant background. You can always start with diluted ink and layer on more if you prefer brighter colors.

Now, set that aside and let that dry. While that was drying, I did some brush lettering on the practice paper. I knew I wanted a gradient lettering piece. I used blue Ocean and Sky Dream Pens and tried a few different options. I also added some snowflakes with the Moonlight Marker.

I then copied that same technique onto the Kelly Creates watercolor paper. I had space at the bottom of the snowflake sheet, so I used that. Following the same steps, I recreated the effects and lettering.

I always start with the lighter color, and then backfill with the darker color to create a gradient effect.

I then used Kelly’s Blender Pen. Because I was working on Kelly Creates watercolor paper, I knew that it would create the look I wanted and the paper was strong enough for the blending.

I always blend the darker color downward into the lighter color. It works beautifully. Continue this blending technique with each letter.

Next add the “snowflakes” to the letters. There are two ways to get this effect. The first is with Kelly Creates #1 brush and White Watercolor Ink (which is more opaque like a gouache). You can also achieve this look using a Moonlight Marker.

I liked the brush and white watercolor to get really fine lines.

Again, paint or draw the “snowflakes” on each letter. Be sure to add some that go off the letter edges to give the appearance that they wrap around the letter.

Now it’s time to check if your watercolor is dry on your masking fluid snowflake design. It’s important that the paint is completely dry before moving on to the next step. If the watercolor is dry, it’s time to remove the masking liquid. I used an eraser to remove it. This works well and also gets rid of pencil lines that might still be underneath. You can also pull the masking liquid by lifting with your nail and pulling off or gently rubbing off with your finger.

Make sure you get all the masking liquid residue off. I really love the way the white snowflake pops off the page!

To add even more dimension to the snowflake, I added some shadows with the small brush of the Ocean Dream Pen. You could also use a Kelly Creates Bullet Tip pen.

Then, I wanted to give the appearance of snow on the background. I added some water to the White Watercolor Ink to make it a little more transparent, and loaded it onto my lettering brush. I tapped it over the watercolor paper to create flecks of snow. Then I did the same thing with the Kelly Creates Iridescent Watercolor Ink. This gives the most amazing sparkle to the piece!

Now, I had snow much fun making these that I designed a few different variations of snowflakes. Try a few different looks! I knew I could then create a few projects with the same technique.

With the second snowflake design, I added a grey shadow with the Kelly Creates Grey Multicolor Small Brush Pen instead of the blue pen. It’s more subtle then the blue, and I really like it.

Give them both a try and see what you like!

OK, now I turned these projects into cards, and you know I love me some cards! Using my paper trimmer, some card stock, and a few embellishments I have around the craft room, the magic happened.

I did add some flecks of Kelly Creates Iridescent Ink to the winter lettering and wrote some sentiments with the Kelly Creates Brush Pens to make the card. I also used a circle trimmer to cut one of the snowflakes into a circle for a different effect on the card.

Just by adding a few elements, such as rhinestones, sequins and baker’s twine really completes the look of the card.

I also painted one of the snowflakes with the Iridescent Ink to make it extra sparkly. The photo does not pick up how sparkly it is! I love to try different techniques to see what kinds of effects I can get. And I can’t wait to see what you come up with and create!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I really hope you give this a go and share with us on social media what you do with the tag #kellycreates ! Stay warm and safe and Happy New Year to you!