• Simple Mother’s Day Card Tutorial

    Mother’s Day is May 8th (Sunday), and if you haven’t sent a card yet, it may not be a bad idea to start thinking about it. If you don’t think you have time to put together a handmade card, take a look at this tutorial! Today’s post presents a Mother’s Day card concept that is…

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Have you sent a Mother’s Day card to the mom (or moms) that you love? If yes: great job! You’re putting those of us in the “procrastinator” category to shame, and you can use the concept in this post to make a birthday or thank you card. If no, then this tutorial will come in handy; it’s quick, pretty, and guaranteed to make any mom feel special! To make it, you’ll start with a 10″ x 7″ (254 mm x 178 mm) piece of black card stock.

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Use a ruler and a soapstone pencil to draw a guideline in the top middle of the card stock.

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Next, fold the right side of the card stock in to line up with that middle guideline …

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    … Then do the same with the left side.

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Now, grab a bottle of ink or some other round object, and place it on the center of the card. Trace around it in order to make a circle.

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Once the circle has been drawn, use a pair of scissors to cut it out.

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Then, use your soapstone pencil to trace around the circle that you just cut out. This will help you to know which part of the inside of the card is visible from the outside!

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    At this point, you can use your soapstone pencil to plan the layout of your card’s message (“Happy Mother’s Day”). This isn’t a required step, but can help to ensure that there aren’t any spacing mishaps. You can use a combination of different lettering styles to pack a nice visual punch! I used Wishbone lettering and Amy Style calligraphy to create the message below, then I added in a couple of swirls.

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Next, you can write over your lettering/calligraphy with white ink. I am using Ziller Northwind White; I like it because it writes nice and smooth, and it doesn’t have a propensity to smudge.

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Once the ink you used to write the message in the center has dried, you can close both flaps of the card. You can then start to add some flourishing around the circle! There’s no rhyme or reason to the flourishes; as long as the flourishes vary in size and show a nice contrast between thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes, the card will look great! (That said, if you are a little intimidated by flourishing, you can learn more about it and download a free worksheet in this blog post.)

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Continue to make your way around the circle, embellishing your flourishes with dots and a few short, curved lines here and there.

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    When you’re finished, the card should look something like this:

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    Wait for the ink to dry, then erase any guidelines!

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    To finish up, you can write a message inside the card and send it to your recipient!

    Simple Mother's Day Card Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

    I know that the flourishing in the post may look a little bit difficult, but I promise you that as long as you apply pressure on the downstrokes and let up on the upstrokes, your flourishes will look great! The flourishes shown in this post really are just a series of swirls, and they’re very fun (and therapeutic) to create. This card will come together surprisingly quickly, so you can make a few and send them off to several cherished mothers that you know!

    If you have any questions about the composition of this Mother’s Day card, don’t hesitate to ask! In the meantime, I hope you have a great day; and thanks again for reading TPK!

    Warmly,

    Lindsey's Signature | The Postman's Knock