Watercolor Cards 5"x7" 140lb 2-Pack

I enjoy painting cards for special people. These cards are sturdy and hold up well when wet with watercolors. Be careful if you tape the card down while painting, to wet the tape and pull straight the tape up slowly, or you may pull paper off the card.

Yes, a little expensive, but beats making watercolor cards yourself from pad stock. Here's what works. First, the envelope has that quite large, pesky embossed Funto name on the backside. A pretty, round, large amazon-bought envelope seal applied right over it looks lovely--I color coordinated mine to match my painting design on the card. Envelopes are a nice enough paper quality and have a pretty, rounded cut at the bottom of the flap. Cards: this is what worked for me. Before applying watercolor paint, with a small, fine mist bottle, spray the outside card area you are going to paint. (As in, front only, or front and back.) Hold card up so any water residue rolls off. Paint immediately. This makes this paper, which apparently has a fair amount of cotton, but not 100%, absorb the paint easier. Let your art dry for a short while, and when paint dry, lightly respray the entire card. Lightly, so paint doesn't drip or run. Again, let that fine mist soak in and be just dry enough but still moist so you can put card sandwiched in between baking parchment paper. If I don't finish painting a card and come back to it days later, I just rewet it. Although I do think not letting it dry out and keeping it weighed down after each wetting/painting/quick dry prevents the expected warping to gain ground. In handmade card stock size, even Arches warps, so I don't find this too bad.

When done--at any point in the process as long is paint won't stick to parchment--weigh down evenly with heavy books, etc. I dry several cards flat (stacking layers in between parchment), let dry overnight, then fold the dried cards, ditto above layering, and weight down again for several hours or overnight for a nice finished fold. Guess you could make that a one-step process, but I worry about all that moisture so prefer to first lay flat and dry and then fold and dry again. A lot of processes, yes, but did I mention you don't have to make yourself. And, these cards are less expensive than on the big E site and the major crafting/card stamp sites. Just wish Funto made various sizes. This is a generous 5 X 7 inch you can use vertically or horizontally. The open edges of the cards are rounded which I didn't like at first but has grown on me. And, somehow that rounded bottom of the flap of the envelope then makes sense and it all comes together. Wouldn't say the envelope paper is particularly heavy, but heavier and better quality than most blank card sets on amazon. This envelope paper does have a nice, "soft" finished feel to it so that's a plus as well in the overall quality feel. The other thing I like about the cardstock is you can beat it up pretty good with watercolor "lifting", glazing, etc. and it rarely starts to pill. I've even gotten dried paint drips off the backside using a white eraser. Haven't tried painting on the inside of the card. It has a different feel and "teeth" to it. A ripple that is very nice. Would prefer to have the ripple on the outside which has a small grid type pattern you have to sometimes deal with if you have a lot of water on your brush. Thought about flipping the fold, but there is a double scoring that makes for a nice fold but would show if flipped. Overall, a "yes". Bought two boxes to make stationery card sets for friends. Back to buy 4 more.

Love the quality

This pack of cards and envelopes is a good value. The cards are a good size for painting my own holiday or special event cards.

These came packaged nicely and ready for my daughter to put her own creations on them. She's been using watercolor and these cards are holding up great. No rippling. Just what you'd expect for really nice cards and envelopes. I would order these again for her if she ends up needing more.