This artistic, modern birthday card utilizes millennial lingo (“HBD” instead of “Happy Birthday”) to send the best of wishes! You can pair it with a beautifully calligraphed envelope for maximum contrast and a bit of irony. 🙂
I’m sure you’re wondering what on earth a “millennial birthday card” is! Well … it’s a card that reflects the millennial tendency to condense phrases into acronyms. This artistic, fun card says “Happy Birthday” with three letters — “HBD”. (Now that I think about it, it seems that “Happy Birthday” should be “HB”, but my fellow millennials always write “HBD”, so that’s what I’m going with!) If you like the concept, you can follow the instructions below to make your own “millennial” birthday card!
The supplies for this card are blissfully simple — you’ll just need a black gel pen (I like Pilot G2 pens), colored pencils, and a piece of white card stock that has been folded in half (mine is 5″ x 7″ [127 mm x 178 mm).
There are two optional additional supplies you can incorporate into this project: watercolors and a toothbrush (or a paintbrush). You’ll find out where those supplies come into play at the end of these instructions!
Grab your pen and use it to draw three circles on the card stock. Their positioning should resemble the example below.
Next, use a font style like “Open” to write “H”, “B”, and “D”, respectively, in each circle.
Once you’ve created the letters, draw four new circles around each of your original circles. It is perfectly fine if these new circles aren’t perfect! The more wobbly the circles, the more whimsical the card.
Finish up by using your pen to draw curved stems coming down from each of the three groups of circles.
Pick out a dark colored pencil and a light colored pencil, then alternate the colors to fill in each group of circles. I chose violet and yellow, but other great combinations would be turquoise and brown or light green and blue!
Now, use a couple of different tones of green to fill in the stems.
This card’s signature look comes from the “sunburst” lines emanating from each letter. To make a sunburst, use your pen to draw several straight lines coming from the edge of the “H” circle. You’ll need to pick up your pen three times to make each line.
Work your way around the circle, varying the length of your lines as you go. Your lines won’t be straight, and that’s okay! Imperfection adds to the artistic appeal of the card.
Once you’re finished drawing lines, use your pen to add three solid dots to the end of each line.
Repeat this process for the “B” and “D” circle groups.
At this point, you’ve got an awesome card that you can go ahead and send! If you have watercolors on hand, though, you can add a little bit of extra pizzazz with spatters. To achieve that, moisten a light-colored paint. Dip an old toothbrush (or a paintbrush) in the paint, and use your thumb to stroke the toothbrush such that paint spatters on the card.
And voilà! An artistic, playful birthday card that anyone — millennial or otherwise — will be very pleased to receive.
The “millennial” birthday card features clean, modern lines and basic colors. Elegant calligraphy with a bit of flourish provides a very pleasing contrast for it! Try using Janet Style calligraphy to make a gorgeous piece of mail!
Once you’re finished writing the calligraphy, erase your pencil guidelines and add a stamp collage.
Your delightful “HBD” package is now ready to send!
I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial! If you’re considering creating a lovely Janet Style envelope to house your card, I do have a quick announcement. For the rest of this month, I will be working on an updated version of the Janet Style premium worksheet. I hope to have it finished by August 11th!
Once the new worksheet is released, the cost will rise from $5.00 to $10.00. However, those who own the current worksheet set at the time of the release will be “grandfathered in” to the new set at no extra charge! So, if you’re thinking about learning the Janet, now is definitely the time to get the worksheet. Then, in less than a month, you can enjoy all the benefits of the new worksheet set (intuitive layout, tons of extra practice, new variations of letters) for half the price. Just wanted to give you a heads up!
If you have any questions — whether they are about the card tutorial or the new worksheet set — please let me know in the comments! Otherwise, have a wonderful weekend, and thanks very much for reading TPK. 🙂
Warmly,
*This post contains affiliate links to Amazon
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