“Art Gallery” Watercolor Birthday Card Tutorial

This watercolor birthday card reminds me of an art gallery with its six perfect frames. Every step of the creation process is relaxing and creative — and you’ll especially like making the little watercolor dots.

Here’s what you need to get started:

• 2 pieces of cardstock in contrasting colors (I chose a shimmery orange and a royal blue)
• Watercolor paper
• Watercolor paints
• A glue stick, glue, or double-sided tape
• Scissors or a paper cutter

1. Cut the Paper

Cutting everything to its proper size is the first step in making your watercolor birthday card. First, you’ll want to cut one of the pieces of cardstock to 10″ x 7″ (25.4 cm x 17.78 cm) . Then, cut out three 2″ x 2″ (5 cm x 5 cm) squares in that same color. You can use scissors to do this, but a guillotine-style paper cutter will make quick work of projects like this!

Now, fold the largest piece of cardstock in half to create a 5″ x 7″ (12.7 cm x 17.78 cm) card. You can use a bone folder or a ruler to reinforce the crease for a crisp fold.

Next, cut out three 2″ x 2″ (5 cm x 5 cm) squares from the contrasting piece of cardstock.

Finally, cut six 1-3/4″ (4.45 cm) squares and one 6-3/4″ x 4-3/4″ (17.15 cm x 12 cm) rectangle from your watercolor paper.

2. Paint

Some people are petrified of using watercolors. If you count yourself in that group, forget your fears: this is watercolor at its most basic and wonderful! Start by choosing a dark blue tone. Squirt some water in the dark blue pan (just a couple of drops), and wait for the paint to loosen up a bit. Once the water has sat for a minute, dip your brush in. Then, use a small brush to draw a series of circles in random sizes in the top left corner of a square of watercolor paper.

Choose another, slightly lighter shade of blue. Use it to paint several more multi-sized circles that border the first group of circles you made.

Continue on like this with another light blue tone.

Now, paint dots using a pale green tone.

Next, use Arabic Gold watercolor to keep filling out the square.

Finish up by repeating the first shade of blue that you started with. The square should be full of color now!

Repeat the painting process for two more watercolor paper squares. You can vary your patterns however you want to; anything will look good! Once you’ve watercolored three squares in total, you’re finished with this step.

3. Add Lettering or Calligraphy

You’ll use the remaining three pieces of watercolor paper to convey birthday greetings. I used diagonal Janet Style calligraphy to write “Happy” and “to You”, then I used Roman Style hand-lettering to write “BIRTHDAY”.

4. Glue

Once your watercolor paint has dried and you have finished creating your lettering, glue the watercolor paper squares to the cardstock squares. Each watercolor paper square should be centered on top of its cardstock counterpart. It doesn’t really matter which colors of cardstock you use for each watercolor paper square; the placement should be random.

After you glue the squares together, glue the watercolor paper rectangle to the front of your cardstock card.

5. Assemble

To finish up assembling this watercolor birthday card, glue all six squares to the watercolor paper rectangle. Try to center them the best you can: it’s easiest to achieve this if you glue the middle two squares first.

Once you have glued the squares to the card, you’re finished and ready to send! Whoever you send the card to will love it, especially because it’s not your everyday run-of-the-mill birthday card. This piece is sophisticated and artistic: it looks great sitting on a mantle or side table!

If you have any questions about this tutorial, please feel free to ask. Otherwise, enjoy your weekend, and thank you for reading TPK!

Warmly,

*This post contains affiliate links to Amazon

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