Fun and Festive Hand Lettered Christmas Cards

1. Welcome : Creating and gifting Christmas cards is a great way to show your friends and family just how much they mean to you, because you took the time to make them a card rather than by a generic one from the store. I've been lettering for over six years and some of my favorite things to make our Christmas cards. In this class, I'll show you how to letter a different car designs, each inspired by a different aspect of this wonderful season and created with different lettering techniques. Together we will do blending and it outlines using masking tape and even incorporated metallic tools like pens and ink into our projects. The latter you'll learn in this class doesn't only have to be used for greeting cards. They can be used in other a holiday creations like gift tags, wrapping paper, or even holiday wall art. This class is beginner friendly, so no lateral and experience is needed to follow along. As I'll be sharing a template that you can use for each project if you are more experienced that, or you can definitely use your own lettering as a base for each of these projects. So I hope you're ready because we're going to paint some fun and festive hand lettered cards together. See you in the first lesson. 2. Materials: So keeping the sub playlist very simple. You'll need some water-based brush pens. These can be any color that you want. The main colors that I'm using will be Christmas colors like red and green. And I'm also going to be used in some blue and some cold and gray for the shadows. You'll need some watercolor paper or even mixed media or Bristol paper. And if these can be used, we're gonna be doing a little bit of blending. So having a thicker paper or really help your card to withstand these techniques, I'm using to nine by 12 sheets of paper. So I've cut them in four and each card measures six by 4.5 ". You'll also need a paintbrush and a bit of water. You'll need some permanent fine liners. I'm using different sizes depending on the type of details that I'm adding. And I have some silver and gold glitter pens to add some shimmer to my cards. This is optional, but this is the holiday season. So why not make your cars sparkle of it? I've also provided a PDF template with all the designs that I'm going to be doing in this class. So you can download and trace them onto your paper and follow along with me. So now that we've covered everything that you will need, we can dive into our first project. 3. Red and Green Calligraphy Card: Sketch out your letters very lightly with the pencil. If you're not comfortable sketching out your own calligraphy and lettering, you can use the sketch in the project section. Then using a green brush pen, you can write out the first word in your phrase. I'm all about customizing. So you can definitely stick to maybe one color or try different color combinations for maybe alternate the color of each letter if you'd like. So I'm alternating the colors of these words and writing the second word in bread. But then I'm going to switch back to green for the rest of the phrase. And when you're done retinal ear freeze. You can then use a light gray marker to add a shadow on the right side of each letter. Then when you're done with your shadow, you can add some highlights using a white paint pen or a white gel pen in the upper left side of each letter. And that is it for my lettering. I'm now going to complete the card by using those same red and green markers to add some dots and some abstract snowflake shapes all around the page just to help fill in some of that negative space around the lottery. And once you're finished with these little doodles, you are super simple. Calligraphy card is complete. So I'll see you in the next lesson, which is kind of similar to this, but we're going to take it a little bit further and add some texture to our letters. 4. Foliage and Lights Card: So for this card, we're going to start in the same way that we started our previous one by writing out our phrase, any calligraphy style. And you'll need to use light green for the step. I'm using this Taylor brush pen because it has a dual tip and I'm using that bullet tip to add some thin sharp lines to create that firm late texture of the Christmas tree branch. I'm doing this in both light green and then I'm gonna go in with a darker green. Just to add a little bit of contrast. If you want to blend that darker color into the later letters, you can use your light green marker, the brush tip, and just go over those letters to just blend everything together a bit. Once you've finished adding a texture to the letters now you can add some lights. So use a black fine liner pen to draw a string of lights that's wrapped around your letters. And you can do this in pencil to sketch out the lights if you'd need to first, and then go in with your friend learner to ink the line. And then you're going to also add your tear drop shapes. For the light bulbs. You can add as many or as little as you'd like. Before I added color to these leaves, I decided to use my green marker to add a shadow to all of my letters like I did for the first calligraphy card. To paint the lights, I'm going to loosely add some color to the center of the bulbs and then use a paintbrush with a little bit of water to spread that color or boned and create a bit of a glowing effect. And you can add as many colors as you'd like. Then to fill up the negative space, I added some tiny dots all around the background. And I went back in and decided to add a little bit more texture to these letters by using a sulfur and a gold glitter pen to add some more thin lines. And it also went back in with a very thin, fine liner just to add some black lines as well to create the look of a shadow. And here is the final look. It's super shimmery and super sparkly and just a really fun technique that you can use to give your electorate a bit of texture. I hope you're ready for even more sparkle, because in the next lesson, we are going to paint is frosty Christmas card. 5. Frosty Snowflakes Card: I have my phrase already sketched onto my watercolor paper. And I've used some masking tape to mask a border all around the edges of the paper. For this card, we're going to start by painting the background first. So I am going to start with a shade of blue, and I'm going to use my marker to add some of that color onto the paper. Then I'm going to use a paintbrush to help blend and push that color around on the paper. And once they have finished printing it out, I'm going to add another shade of blue and blend those colors together. Then you're going to continue adding colors, blending them until you have covered the entire background. To add some texture, you can add some splatters using water or even white gouache or acrylic or watercolor paint. Once your paper is still wet, then you're going to allow your background to dry completely and then go in with a cellphone metallic marker to add in your lateral. Then I'm going to use myself or glitter pen to add a shadow on the auteur right side of each letter. I'm doing this shadow with a little bit of space in-between the shadow itself and the letters. To complete the design, I am going to use that same silver glitter pen to add a few snowflake doodles and some dots to fill up the negative space around the laddering. And when you're done, you're going to remove fat tip and you're super sparkly fast, the card is complete. If you want even more sparkle. I'll see you in the next lesson where we make a really shimmery ornament card. 6. Shimmery Ornaments Card: I'm going to start by using two or three shades of blue to add color to my first ornament, you can leave some white spaces to get even more color variation. Then you're going to use your paint brush and some water to blend those colors and just to fill out the shape of the ornament. For my second ornament, I'm going to use a yellowish gold marker to add some color to a part of the ornament. I'm just using my paintbrush to spread that color a bit. You can add more than one sheet of gold for a little bit more contrast, if you'd like. While that is drying, I'm then going to paint my next ornament in those three shades of blue that I used for the first one. And for my final ornament, I'm going to add a few patches of my gold color. Those areas that we did an add n equal two and there are still wait, are going to be the areas that we're going to add blue to. In the next step, I am using blue and gold for my ornaments, but you can definitely use whatever color combination you'd like. Once those gold colors are dried, I'm then going to use some metallic gold ink. And I'm going to add it on top of those gold patches that I painted with my marker. Like to add a yellowish gold color first because it helps to make that metallic paint look even more vibrant than when it is placed directly onto white paper. When you're done adding in your goal, you can then add in your Bluetooth the remaining parts of the ornament. And as you add the color, you're not trying to blend these two together. You want that sharp edge. So you can just add the color and then use your paintbrush to very lightly push them together. Once you're done, you're going to allow these ornaments to dry. And you can go back in with a gold glitter pen and just add some decoration on top of the ornaments. So I'm adding some simple lines and dots and even a snowflake. You can add whatever doodles you want. For the top of these ornaments, you can use a gray marker and a fine line pen to just add in the string and the details at the top. I personally am also going to add a messy outline all around these ornaments. I really love adding this really rough, messy look to my pieces. Now for our lettering, I'm using a small brush pen to just write in the phrase, Best wishes. You can customize this with whatever phrase you want. You can use any color marker, you don't have to use black. And then to fill in the negative space, I added, if you abstract thoughts and doodles. So we're taking a very sharp break from all the shipper. In the next lesson we're making a candy cane striped card. So I'll see you there. 7. Candy Cane Stripped Card: You're going to start with your phrase lightly sketched onto the paper, then placed thin pieces of tape diagonally across the paper. I haven't measured anything. I'm just eyeballing it for this one. Then you're going to use a pencil to Ladies catch a negative space of land all around the letters. Once I finished creating that border, I'm then going to use a red marker to add color to the background. I'm going to go for a more watercolor look. So I'm going to use another darker shade of red, and I'm going to blend them together using water and a paintbrush. And as you are painting, you don't want to get any color on the inside of that border that you just added because you want the area around your lettering to remain white. Was her background is completely dry. You are going to remove the tape and then write out your lettering using a marker of your choice. So I'm going to use the same two colors so that my lettering matches the background. So I wrote out the word in the lighter color and then I'm adding darker color to a few areas and blending them together with a wet paint brush. To complete this card, you can add highlights and shadows and outlines if you want. And that is it for your candy cane striped card. In the next lesson, we're going to take some inspiration from another Christmas tree, and we're going to make a gingerbread inspired card. 8. Gingerbread Cookie Card: So I have my Lateran already sketched onto my paper. And then I'm going to fill in the bottom of the letters using two shades of brown, a later one, and a very dark one. Then I'm just going to use that lighter color marker to blend those two colors together. When you are finished adding the bottom of these letters. You can then use a fine line pen to outline the ACL as well as the lahars. And for both of them, I'm going to use a messy outline because that is just a type of bubbling that I like to add. But you can definitely try a different type of elaine, one that fits your style better. And to add a little bit of a 3D effect to the ice, and I am going to use a very light gray marker. Add a little bit of shadowing along the bottom and the right side of the ice and part of the letters. I am also going to add a shadow on the outside of these letters. So I'm using a gray marker. This one is a little darker than the one I used for the shadow on the ice. And then I wanted to add a bit of a double shadow. So I went back in with a black brush pen and added a black shadow in-between the Lateran and the gray shadow. To create that really cool Gingerbread effects, you can use a weight gel pen or paint pen to add some white lays on the inside of the letters. So the first line then I'm adding is sort of like an outline, but it's on inside. So it's an inline. And I'm adding it to all of the letters. And then I'm just going to add some lines and dots and some other doodles just to create that Gingerbread effect. To complete this piece, you can fill in the negative space on the outside of these lockers with a few doodles of your choice. 9. Santa Suit Card: So I have my lettering already sketched onto the paper. This current is pretty much similar to a budget that we've done before. So I'm going to use two shades of red to add color to my letters. For letters that are going to need some details like this shirt inspired letter that has a belt. I'm just going to add my red parts and then I'm going to come back and add my details later. So just continue adding your colors. I'm using two shades of red and then I'm blending them together with my paintbrush. And once I've finished blending in these colors, I'm then going to use a black fine liner to go back in and add my details. And I'm also going to add a messy outline to all of these letters. Then you can add in the gold details for the belt buckle. So I use my yellow goo marker to add that first layer of color. And then I moved back in with my gold glitter pen to add the glitter on top. Plan. To complete this, I added a shadow to each of these letters, as well as a highlight. And then to kind of fill in some of that negative space around the piece, I added a few dots and circles as well as a little bit of cross hatching. Here's a look at how this all turns out. We're almost at the end. We have one more card left. And I'll see you in the next lesson where we make our elf shoe inspired lettering. 10. Elf Shoe Card: So once you have your design already sketched out, we can then start to work on creating the card. So the first thing that I'm going to do is use my monoline pen to ink the letters that won't have any color added to them. Then I am going to outline my surf letters and my elf shoes. I'm using a very simple, basic outline. No messy outlay for this one. I want to show you the difference that the outlines can make. Of course, if you want to try a messy old lady with this technique, you are free to do that as well. Once you've finished outlining everything, you can then start to add color. I'm using a red marker to add color to the stripes. Then I am going to paint the shoes by adding some of my darker green around the edges and then using a light green to fill in the remaining space, as well as to blend those two colors together. So for these socks, I'm going to start with my dark green and I'm going to paint in my stripes. And once I'm finished adding in those darker stripes, I'm going to go back in with my light green and fill in the space in-between those green stripes. And for these Jews, I'm going to paint them in red. So to add depth to these letters, I am going to add a double shadow. So I'm starting with a black brush pen and I did my shadow on the bottom and the right side of each letter. Then I'm going to go back in with a gray marker and add a shadow right next to it. Like some of the other cards that I did, I'm going to add some dots using my red marker to fill in some of the negative space. And then rather than using white to add my highlights, I used my gold glitter pen to add some glitter highlights to these letters, as well as some dots to the fold of tissue and to the background. And here's a look at how this car turned out. 11. Wrap up & Project: So we've made it to the end of this class and together we've painted a different designs. And I hope you were able to learn new techniques that you can apply to your own work in the future. Your project for this class is to create and share your old set of Christmas cards using the techniques that we've covered. I'm so excited to see your cards, so be sure to upload them to the project section. If you share them on Instagram, you can definitely tag me. If you enjoyed this class. Don't forget to leave a review and also be sure to follow me on my Skillshare page so that you don't miss any updates or new classes that are coming up. Thanks so much for joining me and I'll see you soon.