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  • Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial

    by

    Lindsey Bugbee

    , , , , ,

    This winter greeting card tutorial features an elegant color scheme and simple techniques. It’s a great way to get acquainted with using watercolors! If you’re a watercolor pro, try using some of the instructions in this post for other applications like bullet journals or mail art. You’ll love the pine boughs here and the concept…

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    From November 1st to December 25th, a radio station here in Boulder plays all holiday music all the time. After listening to the tenth holiday song in a row, I realized: you can get too much holiday-themed stuff, and it’s nice to have a break. This winter greeting card is my version of that break. This is a great card to send to friends who will appreciate a nice, neutral “hello” in the midst of the holiday craze! Here’s how you make it:

    1. Gather A Few Key Supplies

    To create this winter greeting card, you’ll need a blank watercolor card, two brushes (sizes 0 and 3), a watercolor palette with at least two green tones, and a pan of Finetec gold watercolor.

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    The watercolor palette shown here is from Greenleaf & Blueberry. It doesn’t matter which palette you use, however, as long as it features at least two green tones!

    2. Write a Greeting

    First, use a pencil to make a faint draft of your greeting. I have chosen to write “greetings” in Kaitlin Style calligraphy for this project.

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Try to center your greeting! If your calligraphy doesn’t look centered, erase your pencil draft and trying writing it again.

    Moisten a light green watercolor tone and a dark green watercolor tone. Alternate using those two tones to trace over the pencil draft; the colors will blend in to each other as you write.

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    If you’ve never written with a paintbrush before, check out the How to Create Paintbrush Lettering post! For nice, thick strokes, use the size 3 paintbrush to create this calligraphy.

    3. Paint Greenery

    Now, choose a brown watercolor tone. Use that color and your size 1 paintbrush to make four curved lines that extend from different edges of the card.

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Try to draw a line in each quarter of the card.

    Once the brown paint dries, use a light tone of green watercolor to paint abstract blobs (for lack of a better word) near each brown line.

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    These “blobs” will end up giving the card a vaguely abstract, artistic effect.

    After the “blobs” dry , use your size 1 paintbrush and a dark shade of green watercolor to draw quick, thin lines to represent pine needles. These lines should all connect to one of the curved brown lines that you drew. You’ll want to start some of the green lines at the same point, while others should stand alone.

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    It’s okay if some of your pine needles intersect the greeting. Intersection will give the illusion of perspective!
    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Be sure to paint pine needles over the green “blobs” that you drew in the last step. If the dark green paint bleeds out a little bit on the blobs, don’t worry about it.

    Finish up this step by using light green paint to paint simple branches with slender elegant leaves.

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Use these elegant leaves to fill in the remaining negative space on your card.

    4. Draw Gold Outlines

    Next, moisten your Finetec gold pan. Brush the Finetec onto the back of your nib as described in the Creating Gold Calligraphy: How to Use the Finetec Palette tutorial, then use the Finetec to outline all of your lettering.

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    I like using Finetec Arabic Gold to make this winter greeting card. If you don’t have Finetec watercolors, any gold pen, gold watercolors, or gold ink will work for this step!

    Continue to trace around the edges of the word until you have a complete outline.

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Don’t forget to outline both the inside and the outside of your letters!

    Now, use your gold watercolor to draw outlines of stems and veins over all of the light green leaves that you just painted.

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    You don’t have to draw stems and veins on these leaves. Instead, feel free to opt for an outline design of your own!

    5. Add Gold Dots

    Finish up by using your size 3 paintbrush to paint various sizes of gold dots. Don’t be afraid to paint over some of the pine needles!

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Painting dots in different sizes lends a majestic effect to this winter greeting card. The dots almost look like snow!

    6. Send!

    Once the paint on your winter greeting card has dried, tuck it into a festive envelope and send!

    Embellished Winter Greeting Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    If you’ve got some more time on your hands, try creating the Christmas Tree Holiday Envelope Art Tutorial as a vehicle for this greeting card!

    If you can, take a bit of relaxing creative time this weekend to make this winter greeting card! It’s a great way to get comfortable with watercolors if you’re not used to using them. I wager that you’ll be amazed at what you can do by following the simple instructions above! If you are a watercolor veteran, try applying some of the techniques in this tutorial on other projects like bullet journals, sketchbooks, or mail art. These pine boughs are fun to make, and I love making gold outlines over graphics à la @inkarellacards!

    Thanks very much for reading TPK, and if you have any questions or observations, please feel free to contribute them in the comments section below. Otherwise, I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial, and that you have a great weekend!

    Warmly,

    Lindsey's Signature | The Postman's Knock

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