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Blended Watercolor Thank You Card Tutorial
This thank you card is perfect for virtually any recipient! Its vibrant, earthy color scheme and pleasing geometry will appeal to anyone. More important than the result, though, is the process. This card is just fun to make, even — and especially — if you’re new to using watercolors!
This thank you card tutorial, based on a Mexican Talavera tile design, is one of my favorites on the TPK blog because of its vibrant color scheme. The card only uses two colors — brown and turquoise — but the different values of those colors add a lot of visual interest. If you feel intimidated by blending watercolors, set that fear aside for this post! I will teach you exactly how to blend the two tones, and I promise that you can do it. Here are the steps for making this card:
1. Fold a 10″ x 7″ (254 mm x 178 mm) Piece of Watercolor Paper in Half
You can either buy readymade watercolor cards (which is what I use), or you can DIY this step with a piece of watercolor paper.
A bone folder will give you a crisp, clean crease. 2. Write Your Greeting in the Center of the Card
Use the calligraphy style of your choice to write your greeting in the center of your card. Since this is a thank you card tutorial, I’m writing “thank you” — but you could write any greeting you want! “Happy Birthday” or “Hello” would work just as well.
I used Amy Style calligraphy and walnut ink here. To add drama to the calligraphy, you can reinforce the downstrokes with an additional stroke. 3. Make a Pencil Layout
Once the ink has dried, use a pencil to draw wavy lines emanating from the word.
These lines can be drawn at random; there’s no right or wrong way to do it. Next, lightly draw a series of curved petals along the lines.
The sizes of the petals can be random; just try to fill out the space the best you can! 4. Add Watercolor
To add watercolor, you’ll use a blending technique. I promise it’s not difficult! You can see a photo of what the technique looks like below.
The video below will show you how to seamlessly blend the brown and turquoise. The design of the card in the video is different than the one shown in this tutorial, but the process is exactly the same!
5. Add Ink
Once you finish adding watercolor to the petals, go over your remaining pencil lines with ink.
You are now finished with your card! Once you’ve blended the watercolors in every petal, you’re finished! To add an interesting sheen to the card, you can apply Microglaze (as shown in the Hand Painted Tiles Illustration Tutorial tutorial). Otherwise, your card is ready to go!
You can modify the positioning of the lines and the petals to switch up this card concept every time you decide to make it. I love this thank you card concept because it’s casual yet sophisticated. Its neutral theme and color scheme makes it perfect for virtually anyone, and it’s fun to make. You’ll see — blending the watercolors really helps you to relax, and you’ll get the hang of it once you fill in a couple of petals!
If this thank you card tutorial isn’t quite up your alley, there are a few others you can try:
- Retro Floral Thank You Card Tutorial
- Folded Stand Up Card Tutorial
- Embellished Fish DIY Card Tutorial
This is the Retro Floral Thank You Card … I love its colors and geometry! If you have any questions about this tutorial, please feel free to ask in the comments! Otherwise, thanks very, very much for reading TPK, and have a fantastic weekend!
Warmly,
