Hand Lettered Christmas Tree Card with Free Printable

Use Tombow markers (and a secret trick) to make a hand lettered Christmas Tree Card!

If there was ever a year that was needed more Christmas cards, I think this would be it. I think we could all use more meaningful connections right now. I wanted to make a simple Christmas card using hand lettering, but I'm honestly not the best at it. Hand lettering practice sheets are all about tracing, so I took that technique and put it to use with this free printable Christmas Tree Card. All you have to do is print it out, and get artsy with your favorite markers!

Download the Christmas Tree Card printable and print it out on cardstock. Use a paper trimmer to carefully cut the card out following the outer border line.

Use a scoring tool and a ruler to score the line down the center of the card. This will ensure a smooth, straight fold to your card. Now the card is ready for some color!

Tombow ABT Pro Alcohol Markers are fantastic for projects like this. They are dual tipped - the chisel tip makes adding color to artwork easy, and the brush tip is perfect for hand lettering! The alcohol-based ink colors are vibrant, and dries instantly to prevent smudging.

Remember the "secret trick" I mentioned earlier? I'm not the best at hand lettering, and I feel like my drawing is done best digitally. So I made things easy for myself (and those of you like me), and put this card together with very light lines that can't be seen once they've been drawn over!

For this card, I used the Nature Palette. Start with the P195 green marker to color in the tree. Like I mentioned, the markers are dual-tipped. You can color in the tree with either side, but I think the chisel tip works better for coloring in large spaces.

After filling in the tree, add a few layers of green below each of the tree "levels" to add some dimension. The alcohol ink dries immediately, and blends beautifully as you add layers. You also don't need to worry about over-saturating like with water-based markers and having the paper pill or tear.

Next, use different colors to fill in the ornaments. Get creative and have fun! The P815 pink marker was a little too bright for me, so I layered a couple different colors on top to get a darker tone. You can see the difference in the image above - the pink ornament at the top is the multi-colored layers, and the lower ornament is the pink on its own. I recommend keeping a scratch paper on-hand so that you can try blending colors together first to see what you like before putting it on the card.

Color the trunk with a brown marker. Add extra layers of ink where the bottom of the tree meets the trunk to give it some shadow effect.

While the marker ink doesn't bleed through the paper like most other markers, keep in mind that the more layers you add, the more likely it is that you may be able to see the ink through the other side of the paper.

I used the dark grey from the Gray Tones set to outline the entire tree and all of the ornaments. I used the brush tip so it looked more "hand drawn". The outline helps to make the tree illustration look more finished, and also covers up any rough edges.

I felt that the ornaments were a little flat, so I went around the edges a couple of times and left the center lighter to give them more dimension. I did the same for the star at the top.

Choose a coordinating color to use for the wording at the bottom of the card. I chose the P476 blue. Use the brush tip and carefully trace over the lettering. See how the printed version is basically invisible beneath the marker ink?! No one will ever know that you didn't free-hand the entire card - unless you tell them... or if they've seen this post.

Add your holiday message to the inside of the card for the recipient. The card measures 5" x 7", so it will fit in a standard A7 envelope. I hope you enjoy this project, and as always, I would love to see your creations if you decide to make it yourself. Please share your projects and tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or leave a comment/photo on the project pin on Pinterest!