This DIY guitar birthday card features the perfect motif for the music lover in your life! I’ll walk you through how to make it with the help of a free printable, a short video tutorial, and optional written instructions.
My brother has a birthday coming up, and I wanted to make a special card to surprise and delight him — something I could never find in a store. Since he’s a music lover, I decided on a guitar theme with delicate flourishes, a 3D component, and walnut ink + green metallic watercolor starbursts. I love how this DIY guitar birthday card turned out, and I want to help you make one, too! In today’s tutorial, I’ll walk you through how to do it with the help of a free printable.
In this short video tutorial, I’ll walk you through every step of how to make today’s magical DIY guitar birthday card. If you have five minutes to spare, give this a watch! It explains everything you need to know. If you prefer written instructions, scroll past the video.
(Download the Magical Guitar DIY Birthday Card Outline + Calligraphy Reference PDF here.)
To make your own magical guitar-themed birthday card, begin by gathering the following supplies:
First, print the Magical Guitar DIY Birthday Card Outline. Cut out the guitar shape, then trace around it on a piece of brown cardstock using a white mechanical pencil. Now, cut out your brown cardstock guitar.
Once you’ve cut out the guitar shape, use your white pencil to make a lettering and flourishes draft. (I’ve included an example of how you might arrange everything in the Magical Guitar DIY Birthday Card Outline.)
When you’re happy with the lettering layout, use a medium-flex nib (like the Nikko G) to trace over everything with white ink. Take this step nice and slow, and pause often to find a good spot to hold the guitar still! You don’t want to smudge any of your ink.
When you’ve traced over everything, set the guitar aside to dry.
Now, grab a 5″ x 7″ piece of handmade cotton paper, and use a pencil and a ruler to draw several lines that intersect in the middle of the paper. Trace over the lines with walnut ink. For variation, try breaking up parts of the lines into little dots or dashes.
Then, put a blob of green metallic watercolor where the lines intersect. Immediately after applying the blob, use your finger to smudge it toward the edge of the card. Work your way around the card with this technique, smudging as you go.
Now is a good time to write a birthday message on the back of this card! Flip the cotton paper over, and use a mixture of calligraphy and elegant cursive to convey your greetings.
Once you finish writing your greeting, gently erase the pencil guidelines from the guitar. Then, affix pop dots all over the back of the guitar. Once you’ve got all the pop dots placed, peel the paper from them to reveal the adhesive. Center the guitar on the card, and you’re finished!
I hope that you enjoy creating your own magical DIY guitar birthday card! Feel free to modify the concept in any way that appeals to you … you could forego the 3D element to make a simple flat card with a guitar drawn in the center, for example.
Thanks so much for reading/watching, and have a fabulously creative weekend!
Rock on,
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