Calligraphy Birthday Card Tutorial

Next time someone’s birthday creeps up on you, look no farther than this tutorial! Follow the steps below, and you’ll be rewarded with a festive card that will undoubtedly delight your recipient.

I love this calligraphy birthday card tutorial because it requires very few supplies. You can make it with black cardstock and white ink — as I’ve done here — or you can switch it up with a lighter paper and a dark ink! No matter what color scheme you choose, the swirls and stars are key. The more you include, the more festive your card will be! Here are the steps:

1. Prepare Your Card Stock

First, cut a piece of black card stock to 7″ (178 mm) tall by 10 inches (254 mm) wide. Fold the cardstock in half.

You can use a bone folder to ensure a nice, crisp fold.

Next, use a white mechanical pencil to free-hand draw an oval to represent a balloon. Don’t worry if the oval isn’t perfect! Once you’ve drawn the oval, make a little shape at its base to represent the tie at the bottom of a balloon. Finish up by drawing a wavy line that extends to the bottom of the card.

Don’t fret if your oval isn’t symmetrical — imperfection adds to the artistic nature of this piece!

Finally, use a ruler to make several randomly spaced diagonal guidelines within the balloon.

The spacing of the guidelines here is arbitrary.

At this point, you can dilute some white ink for water to prepare it for use. (Learn more about diluting white ink in this blog post.) Once your ink is ready, move on to the next set of steps!

2. Fill the Balloon Outline with Calligraphy

The defining element of this calligraphy birthday card is, of course, the calligraphy. Begin by writing “Happy” in the upper left corner using Janet Style calligraphy. End the “y” with a tail that turns up and ends in several curls to fill out the top of the balloon.

I like using elegant Janet Style calligraphy and lots of flourishes to make these cards!

Continue to write the words to the “Happy Birthday” song. Use the guidelines to make words of different sizes, and add flourishes and curls wherever you can within the balloon outline!

Your curls and flourishes don’t have to be connected to letters. You can draw them in to any blank spaces that need to be filled!

Once you’ve written all of the calligraphy, add in stars and additional flourishes to fill out the space. The more elements that are inside the balloon outline, the more the card will look like a balloon from afar!

Different sizes of stars enhance the celebratory nature of this calligraphy birthday card.

3. Add the Balloon’s Tail

To finish up your calligraphy birthday card, use a fine-tipped nib to write “and many more” along the wavy line at the bottom of the card.

While I used a Brause EF66 nib to write the calligraphy in the balloon, I reverted to a Nikko G to make the balloon’s tail.

Give the ink an hour or two to completely dry, then gently erase the pencil guidelines.

Don’t be too hasty with erasing! If your ink isn’t completely dry, it will smudge. (Tip: If the ink smudges despite your precautions, you can disguise the smudges by painting over them with sumi or India ink.)

Make a cool envelope to accompany your calligraphy birthday card, and send!

Of course, you can customize this concept however you see fit. Use a different font style, a different ink (or faux calligraphy), or even a different shape (like a birthday cake)! No matter how you choose to modify, your recipient will love the result and will be happy that you thought of him/her. 🙂

I hope that you give this tutorial a try — it’s a fun one! If you have any questions or suggestions about it, please feel free to contribute in the comments. In the meantime, have a great weekend, and thanks for reading TPK!

Warmly,