DIY Printable Watercolor Anniversary Card

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You know what’s difficult? Making your husband surprise gifts when you also want to blog about them. Sheesh! This time around, I was painting this thing in plain sight of Mr. Lovely and I just told him not to look. And to his credit, I don’t think he did. That sugar.

In any case, you know we’re traveling right now to celebrate our anniversary (here’s his gift), and I thought I’d get you guys in on the celebration by offering a freebie printable of the card I made Mr. Lovely! It takes a little DIYing, but it’s a pretty cool one nonetheless. If you want to make a watercolor anniversary (or just I Love You!) card, here’s what you’ll need.

Materials

  • watercolor paper
  • scissors
  • computer and printer
  • watercolor paints
  • clean water
  • tiny paintbrushes (I used a size 0 short liner)
  • paper towels
  • printable download

Make Time: 2 Hours

Begin by printing out this downloadable template on watercolor paper. (Trim the watercolor paper to 8.5″ x 11″ and insert into your home printer.) Trim the excess edges, and score on the faint line down the center. (Yes, the lines are very faint on the download. You don’t want to use anything too dark with watercolors.)

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Set out your paints, clean water, and paper towels. Mix up some colors that go well together in a gradient, if you want an ombre effect like I made.

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Start by painting a very light, faint wash on all of the letters — this will mean using lots of water and just a little paint. I used lighter colors toward the upper left of the card and let them get darker toward the bottom right. However, for this coat, all of the painting should have a light touch.

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Let the paint dry thoroughly and go back over with another coat. This time, experiment with more saturated colors. But be careful — you can always add color but you can’t take it away. Get the colors to mix together in an ombre effect, add a little water to your brush and gently push the colors around.

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Let the card dry thoroughly. Add a few droplets of color here and there if you like. You could also use the template to make a framed art piece instead of a card. I gave this one to Mr. Lovely in Paris on our anniversary — it traveled with me all the way there! xoxo

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14 Comments

  1. So lovely! It’s not our anniversary for several months, but I think this would make a nice gift “just because”.

    Thanks for sharing!

  2. Just wondering how did you make the template? Where did you find such a finely outlined font! Does anyone else have any idea?