Hi everyone! It’s Kelly here, feeling a bit panicked now that Christmas is quickly approaching. I always make a handful of cards at this time of year for those special people in my life (and when you receive one, I guess you will now know you’re ‘special’)

Since I am totally obsessed with lettering and watercolors, I thought I would combine the two for my card. This is an easy no-fail design that anyone can replicate.

The new Spectrum Noir Sparkle brush pens distributed by Canuck Crafts should be on your wish list. They come in gorgeous colour sets and are water-based AND have glitter! How perfect for a Christmas card!

I actually used a set called “Winter Warmers” with the red, blue and green colours, plus a black Sparkle pen for the hanging strings and writing “Be Merry.”

The paper that works beautifully for this technique is the Spectrum Aqua Watercolour Cardstock distributed by Canuck Crafts. Plus I used a fine-tipped Round watercolour brush and a little water.

When the pens arrive in the package, they have a bright yellow ring in the center of the barrel which separates the main chamber from the ink chamber.

Remove this yellow ring and then screw the two parts of the barrel tightly together.  I found it was best doing this with the cap off the brush pen.

Then put the cap on, shake the pen A LOT to move that glitter around. Take the cap off and gently squeeze the black barrel where it says “PUSH” until you see ink flowing.  Take care not to squeeze too much so that excess ink floods the chamber and drips out of the brush. You can see the red ink flowing down in the photo below.

After I prepped the pens and the ink was flowing in them, I drew some random circles very lightly with a pencil on the watercolour Aqua cardstock.

The fun part is next! After you have shaken the pen A LOT with the CAP ON, brush a little colour on the bottom and sides of each circle. I started with the green circles and added colour to them at the same time.

A little colour from these Sparkle pens goes a long way. Now take the paint brush, dip in water, and paint a circle.

I left a little white piece in each ball to give dimension. Also if you leave more colour at the bottom of the ball, you will create a round 3D effect.

Proceed with the rest of the colours and balls and let dry completely.

When the balls are dry, use the ‘Black Onyx’ Sparkle pen to add hanging strings, bows and lettering.

When everything is completely dry, I took my favourite eraser, the Tombow Zero Mono Eraser, which has a very small rectangular tip, to erase any visible pencil lines.

Then I adhered the finished piece to a Core’dinations red cardstock base using the new Tombow Permanent Plus Adhesive runner.

This tape runner is fantastic! It has instant grab and release when lifted.

My card is complete after only 20 minutes! Can you see the glitter? It is so pretty in real life, and this is such an easy no-mess way to add sparkle to your Christmas projects.  I guess that is why they are called “Sparkle” pens!

I can’t wait to get all the colours! These pens are beautiful.

To learn more about the Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens and Aqua watercolour cardstock, visit Canuck Crafts, who carries these pens and paper and has them in stock right now. Click HERE to visit the Canuck Crafts online store….and click HERE to visit Tombow for the Mono Zero eraser and Permanent Plus Adhesive.   Happy shopping…and Happy Crafting!

To see more of Kelly’s work and learn about brush lettering, click HERE to visit her website www.kellycreates.ca

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