• Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial

    Today’s tutorial doesn’t require any special tools besides watercolor, a pencil, and a black pen. What it does require is a little bit of time and patience! If you have an hour or so, give this birthday card and envelope pair a try. You’ll absolutely love the artistic results!

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    It seems that commercial birthday cards tend to fall into one of three categories: too feminine, too goofy, or too somber. Sure, buying pre-made birthday cards saves time. However, if you make one yourself, you can control the “feel” of the card and work on your art and lettering skills! In today’s tutorial, I’ll show you how to make a festive hot air balloon-themed birthday card and a corresponding envelope.

    1. Grab a Blank Card and an Envelope

    Pre-folded blank watercolor cards work great for tutorials like this one! However, if you don’t have any watercolor cards around, it’s easy to make one. Just cut a piece of watercolor paper to 10″ x 7″ (254 mm x 178 mm), and fold it in half.

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    I am making a size A7 birthday card (5″ x 7″, 127 mm x 178 mm), but you can adapt the tutorial to any size that you prefer.

    This tutorial requires using a bit of watercolor on your envelope, so you’ll want to ensure that it’s made from high-quality paper. I always have good luck purchasing envelopes from Paper Source! Try not to buy envelopes from chain craft stores as they are usually flimsy and don’t hold up well to watercolor/moisture.

    2. Draw an Outline and Lettering

    We’ll start by making the birthday card! First, use a pencil to trace around a circular object in the upper part of your blank watercolor card. Your goal is to make a large circle — one that’s big enough to accommodate the “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” message.

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    I like to keep coasters from restaurants as souvenirs. They come in handy for tracing circles, too!

    Next, use your pencil to freehand draw two curved sets of guidelines. Within each set, the guidelines should be ~5/8″ (16 mm) apart. Leave a space of 1/8″ (3 mm) between the two sets. Once you draw the guidelines, use a ruler to mark the middle of the card. This will help you to center the lettering that you’ll use these guidelines to make!

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    These curved guidelines will ensure that you can make curved lettering. The curved lettering contributes to giving some dimension to the hot air balloon illustration on the card!

    Now, observe the Circus Lettering Exemplar and use it to help you write “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” on the curved lines. For a project like this, I usually start from the middle and write outward to ensure proper centering. So, for the word “HAPPY”, I wrote the first “P” first, then the “A” and the second “P”, then “H” and “Y”. You don’t have to do this, but it can really help to keep your words centered!

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    If you prefer to use a lettering style besides Circus Lettering, you’re welcome to do so! Just make sure your lettering style includes white space in the letters. This will lend your card some beautiful contrast.

    3. Add Embellishments to the Circle

    Next, use your pencil to add embellishments to the circle. Any horizontal embellishments should follow the contour of the lettering guidelines that you drew! Try adding vertical stitches at the top that follow the contours of a ball. Again, all this contour work will contribute to the realism of your illustration.

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Don’t forget to draw a simple basket at the bottom! Make sure the bottom of the basket is the same distance from the bottom edge of the card as the top of the balloon is from the top edge of the card.

    4. Add “Strings” to Transform Your Circle into a Hot Air Balloon

    Now, draw a squished halo shape about 1/2″-3/4″ (13 mm – 19 mm) above the basket.

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    The halo shape should sit about halfway between the basket and the bottom of your circle.

    Use a ruler to make several lines that connect the lower part of the halo shape to the bottom horizontal embellishment in your circle. The top part of the halo shape should connect to the bottom of the circle.

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    The number and positioning of lines is arbitrary.

    Finish up by using several vertical lines to attach the halo shape to the basket. Then, add a few crisscrosses and some weight bags to the basket. If you want to, you can embellish the balloon further at this step (I added some additional embellishments just below the line of circles under “BIRTHDAY”).

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Once you get to this step, try to erase all of the guidelines around “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” the best that you can. Otherwise, the guidelines will show up through the watercolor that we’ll apply in the next step.

    5. Add Watercolor

    Get out your favorite watercolor palette, and add a little bit of water to a yellow value and a red value. Let the water soak for a minute or two to moisten the pans!

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    My favorite watercolor palette is from Greenleaf & Blueberry. However, you can use whichever palette you have handy!

    Use a medium-sized paintbrush to add some yellow to the balloon. Then, before the yellow dries, put some red on top of it. The red will spread out and blend a bit with the yellow, giving the illustration a bright, artistic effect!

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    I am using a size 2 brush here.

    Continue to paint until you’ve added color to the entire ballon except for the lettering.

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    The basket doesn’t need any watercolor, but it’s good to add color to the weight bags!

    6. Go Over Pencil Lines with Ink

    Use a black gel pen to trace over any pencil lines with ink. I like to use a Pilot G2 Extra Fine pen for this purpose, but you’re welcome to use whichever black gel pen you prefer!

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Make sure that your watercolor has dried before you add ink to the illustration! Otherwise, the ink will run.

    Continue to trace until no pencil lines remain! Once you’ve done that, you’re finished with the birthday card.

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Do not attempt to erase over your ink! It will probably smudge if you do.

    7. Make the Envelope

    Readers often ask for corresponding envelope design ideas when I post card tutorials, so here’s what I suggest! First, write out the recipient’s address in the lower right portion of your envelope.

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    I used Circus Lettering for the recipient’s first name (to match the birthday card), Kaitlin Style faux calligraphy for his last name, and standard block lettering for his address.

    Next, use the skills that you learned while making the birthday card to draw pencil drafts of three simple hot air balloons.

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Vary the size of these balloons to give the illusion of perspective.

    Now, add some watercolor to the hot air balloons.

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Try to match the color of at least one of these balloons to the color of the birthday card.

    Again, wait for your watercolor to dry (~2 minutes). Then, use your pen to trace over the pencil lines and add embellishments to the balloons.

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Get creative with your embellishments! Any doodles will look good.

    Add some postage stamps — preferably in colors that correspond with your balloons — and the birthday card and envelope pair is ready to send!

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    If you’d like, you can add some extra embellishment at this step. I put a little faux calligraphy flourish at the bottom of the envelope to fill in the space a bit!

    As a side note, if you’re concerned about the watercolor or the ink on your envelope running, then you can waterproof the envelope. I usually don’t bother to do so, but if you live in an especially humid area, it’s not a bad idea!

    Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Try to set aside at least an hour to make this birthday card and envelope pair! I think it would have taken me 1.5 hours to create both had I not been taking photos along the way.

    I sincerely hope that you enjoyed this tutorial! It’s not something that you’ll be able to whip out in a matter of a couple minutes, but it does provide a relaxing artistic retreat. If you have time this weekend, I think you’ll really enjoy creating both the birthday card and the envelope! If you do make this project — either this weekend or some weekend a year from now — I’d love to see the results on Instagram! You can tag me @thepostmansknock or use the hashtag #thepostmansknock.

    Thanks very much for reading TPK; I always appreciate that you’re here!

    Warmly,

    Lindsey's Signature | The Postman's Knock