11+ DIY Easy Watercolor Valentine’s Day Cards

Recommended Supplies

• Regular heavier-weight white paper, card stock or watercolor paper will really make these watercolor techniques stand out.
• Premade Watercolor Blank Cards–these are a great option if you do not want to prep and cut paper.
• Liquid Watercolors or Watercolor Palette
• Paintbrush-this is our favorite economical brush to use with kids.
• Shaving Cream, Salt, Paint Markers & Crayons are all optional depending on the watercolor card you are making.

Regular paper will work fine, but if you have the budget and want to make beautiful cards then you may consider buying the premade watercolor cards listed above.

The paper is thick, easy to work with, and goes the extra mile to give you unique designs. However, I would not spend the money to get these if children are making DIY cards.

Before You Begin

Use a small rotary cutter or paper trimmer to make several folded and blank cards before you begin. If using 9″ x 12″ paper. You can easily fold the paper in half (longways or hot dog style) and then cut it in half. This will give you cards that are about 4.5″ x 6″.

These handmade cards go pretty quickly, so you may want to have several papers ready. 

If doing words or lettering, you may want to check out how to sketch lettering using this simple word drawing technique for your watercolor Valentine’s Day cards.

Watercolor Card Ideas

#1: Rainbow Heart Watercolor Card

Create multiple hearts on your card. Each heart used two different colors that are next to each other in the color wheel to create an understated rainbow heart design. Get the Valentine’s Day painting tutorial here.

#2: Use Washable Markers As Watercolor Paint

This is an easy way to get a watercolor look without as much mess. This is a great technique if you are looking for a simple way to add a little painterly look to your homemade cards or projects.

1. Use washable markers first.
2. Then use a small brush to add water to some areas to see what happens. 

Just note that this technique only works well on watercolor paper. Sometimes it will work on heavy drawing paper depending on the thickness of your paper.

#3: Crayon Resist with Watercolor Paint

This is my all-time favorite watercolor technique to use with elementary-aged children, pre-school and younger children! I know that adults will LOVE this too. 

1. Draw as many hearts with crayons on the front of the card. The harder the crayons are pressed on the more wax will be on the paper.
2. Paint on top of the crayon designs. Use the colors of your choice from the watercolor set and paint on top of the crayon drawing.

For best results, make sure that the watercolor paint has enough water in it for the technique to work. I tell little kids, if the paint is goopy, then they are not using the paint correctly.

#4: Repeated Word Design Card

This card was done on a dry background that was painted with watercolor paint first.

No need to be perfect when writing with a metallic paint marker. Have fun adding a heartfelt message on top of your watercolor painting.

You could also print cool shaving cream paper to use as a background for this card idea. You can get our full tutorial on how to print on shaving cream using acrylic paint or liquid watercolor.

Once you have your print paper choose a sweet message or word to repeat with a paint marker.

#5: Watercolor and Salt Watercolor Cards

This classic watercolor technique is a great technique for watercolor Valentine’s Day cards because the salt gives it helps the colors blend in a fun way.

Use reds, pinks, purples or any colors you love. Just make sure you are choosing colors that mix well together. No one wants brown DIY Valentine’s Day cards.

1. Wet the watercolor paper first using a brush. Add the colors of your choice.
2. While the paint is still wet, you should sprinkle regular table salt onto the painting.
3. You can leave the salted as an added texture or wait until the paint is fully dry and dust it off.

#6: Use Painter’s Tape Before Watercolor Paint

Here you can find a much more detailed way to use painter’s or masking tape to tape out your design and then add watercolor paint on top. A simple heart card is the best because even the youngest of children can do the painting part.

# 7: Glue and Watercolor Valentine’s Day Card

1. Draw with white bottled glue first. 
2. Let the glue dry then add watercolor paint on top. There is no need to be perfect with this textured painting idea.

#9: Repeated Heart Design

Start with a heart in the center of the paper. Use variations of paint and continue painting heart lines around your center heart. You can chose to go off the page or have just a few rows of lines.

#10: Oil Pastel Resist Heart Card

I highly recommend these oil pastels if you are looking for scholarly oil pastels that will last and have great color saturation.

1. Use white oil pastels (or any colors) to draw your design.
2. Paint with watercolors after drawing.
3. You can add salt while the paint is wet as well.

We love how simply we were able to create a rainbow heart card on top of the white oil pastel in the image below. Kids will think there is some sort of magic behind these creative cards.

#11: Simple Heart Fade

This design below also had a little white oil pastel added around the heart to make hide the pencil and add a little extra contrast.

1. Start by painting a smaller heart in the center of the card.
2. Add more water to the paint as you go away for the heart.

Other Watercolor Techniques To Try

There are so many creative ideas you can try when making easy Valentines.

• Use clear plastic wrap to add texture to your paintings
• Wet on Wet Technique: Put water down first and then add colors to let them blend together. Kids love seeing what happens!
• Paint a few larger paintings and then cut out watercolor hearts to glue to another card.
• Use colored Sharpies for the main design and add watercolor paint to the background.

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