Freehand Watercoloring with Liquid Watercolors & Glimmer Metallic Ink

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Good morning! Jess here with an idea for an easy Hanukkah card using liquid watercolors and glimmer metallic inks to freehand watercolor candles from a menorah!

To start I taped a piece of watercolor paper to a hardboard and then added a few drops of Dark Teal, Deep Ocean, and Indigo liquid watercolors to my porcelain palette. Then I added a drop of Pewter glimmer metallic ink to each color and a few drops on its own. I wanted to keep my background super simple so I wet the paper to resemble the candles and then used a damp paintbrush to add a little glimmery liquid watercolor to each candle.I tried to keep the pigment to the left of each candle and let it blend out on the right. I let that dry and then splattered a little Deep Ocean liquid watercolor and Pewter glimmer metallic ink over the background. The glimmer ink adds a lovely bit of shimmer to each candle! Once the candles were dry I added flames with Dandelion liquid watercolor mixed with a bit of Gold glimmer metallic ink

Once the panel was dry I trimmed it down and adhered it to a navy blue base. I die-cut part of the sentiment from the same navy blue cardstock with the Luggage Tag Alphabet Frame Cuts and adhered them to the watercolor panel with regular adhesive. Next I stamped the rest of the sentiment from Wishes Stamp & Cut onto white cardstock with Pool ink. I trimmed it down to an angled label and adhered it to the card with foam mounting tape. Finally I added a few ombre blue sequins to finish the card! You could easily do a similar watercolor design with a Christmas tree, jack o' lantern, Easter egg, heart, balloon, or gift to fit any holiday or special occasion! Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous day!


  • Karthikha Uday

    Beautiful!!

  • Teresa Doyle

    Wow, this is beautiful Jessica., I love it.

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