Making a silly festive card...

If you fancy creating a handmade Christmas card then here is a very easy idea, although the concept of easy is constantly up for discussion.

Create a concertina card. Fold your A4 300 gm coarse watercolour paper in half, long ways. Then fold it again and rip. This creates a nice jagged edge.

With your 2B pencil draw a basic hill line and a very silly snowman. Wet on wet your sky area, leave to dry until it is still wet but looks like an ice rink rather than a lake (if your tilt your paper, it shouldn't drip but be lovely and shiny). Use a delicious blue, cold blue like prussian, cerulean or pthalo to recede or warm ultramarine or indigo, for an inky night time look. While the paint is still wet, lob some salt on it, coarse salt for big fat stars and fine salt for weeny ones. You could also use wax resist or white candle to pop on a few stars or masking fluid splattered on before you paint anything)

Then when that is dry, pop a bit of orange into your snowman's scarf and nose and then maybe a spot of fineliner for his eyes, mouth and hat.

Or you could make a robin with silly legs or a snowy cabin with waxy trees. Viridian with a smidgen of Alizarin red will give you Christmas tree green. Enjoy! x