Making your own Christmas cards doesn’t come much easier than this. Let me show you how to make quick and easy cards to send to your friends and family.

I’m definitely no great watercolour artist but I do love getting my watercolour paints out, swooshing them around and seeing what effects I can get with them.

Any regulars here at Sum of their Stories will know I’m a big fan of a doodle or two. Today’s Christmas card project is the simplest kind of doodling imaginable. I promise, absolutely no artistic skills are needed.

These cards were made using watercolour paper but it really doesn’t have to be the fancy expensive kind of paper. If you have any budget paper that doesn’t really work well for advanced watercolour techniques then this is a great way to put it to good use.

How to make the easiest watercolour and doodle Christmas cards

To make these really easy, vibrant Christmas cards you will need:

• Greeting card blanks and envelopes

• Watercolour paper - it doesn’t have to be a fancy kind

• Watercolour paints - again, they don’t have to be fancy

• A black fine tip permanent marker pen - mine is a uni super ink marker

• A sentiment stamp and ink

• Glue for paper, I used a Pritt Stick but any paper glue will be fine

• Masking tape/painters tape/washi tape - any kind of low tack tape

Your card can be any size, mine is 7” x 5” just because that is my favourite size of card to work with. It’s the Goldilocks size for me, not too big and not too small! You can buy ready made card blanks or make your own with any cardboard. If you do make your own then my best tip is to make sure you have an envelope that fits first. As a child I was forever making cards and then struggling to find an envelope that would fit - rookie mistake!

Prepare your watercolour paper

Start by cutting your watercolour paper so it is just a little smaller than your card front.

Secure the paper to your work surface with tape. This is not essential but it does make it easy and stops it slipping around. It also keeps the paper flatter as it dries.

Painting the card background

Paint stripes of colour across your paper. It’s easiest to paint all of one colour, leaving gaps, then rinse your brush and paint the next colour. Use more water for softer colours and less water for stronger colours. I used a mix of greens and red for a traditional Christmassy look but you can use whatever colours you like - no rules here!

Leave a gap for stamping your sentiment later.

You can let each colour dry completely before adding the next if you want to but to be honest I didn’t. Because we are not wetting the paper first and I didn’t have my paints very wet either I found the colour running was minimal.

Adding the sentiment and doodles

Once the paint is dry, stamp your sentiment in the gap you left.

Take a fine black permanent marker pen and start to doodle in lines across the paper. We are not talking complicated drawings, just lines and dots. Lines up and down or side to side or on a jaunty angle. Lines that are straight or lines that are wavy. Tiny dots or larger circles. It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that. You can throw in a row of hearts or swirls if you like but only if you feel confident to.

You can roughly follow the paint lines if you want to but you don’t even have to do that. Just have fun and experiment.

When you’ve finished your everso simple doodling simply peel the tape off carefully and then all that’s left is to glue your watercolour paper onto the front of your card blank, write a message inside and pop it in the envelope ready to post or give to someone special.

Easy, fun, creative, unique - what more could you ask for!

These cards were made in the same way but on slightly smaller pieces of watercolour paper which was then glued onto 6” x 6” square card blanks.

You could make little gift cards to match, that would be lovely. I’ve no time now but I think I’ll give that a go next year.

This DIY Christmas card idea is simple enough for the kids to enjoy but is really suitable for any age to try. I think the results are a bit reminiscent of a knitted fairisle pullover.

Have fun!

Julie

If you enjoy card making you might like to check out some more of our cardmaking ideas: