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Radiant Flourished Gate Fold Mother’s Day Card Tutorial
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to craft a simple and beautifully creative Mother’s Day card replete with flourishes and unique styling.
I initially wrote this Mother’s Day card tutorial in May of 2016. On Mother’s Day of last year, it came back onto my radar when my husband stayed up late one Saturday night, after everyone had gone to sleep, to make this project. He sheepishly presented it to me the next morning, and I thought it was really sweet. Along with the card, he had excellent feedback for me.
This is Hernán’s Mother’s Day card. White ink is tough for beginners, and Hernán had a difficult time with this tutorial in general. “Honestly,” he said, “I had a tough time following the tutorial. I didn’t know what supplies to gather to make it. I also don’t understand how you use the white ink … it was really thick.” Those observations were great food for thought, and I’ve tried to include a supplies list and further reading for troubleshooting in my tutorials ever since. This year, I’m re-writing this tutorial to give it the clear step-by-step instructions that it deserves. Happy Mother’s Day!
1. Gather Your Supplies
You’ll begin this Mother’s Day card project by compiling a few basic supplies:
- Sheet of black cardstock – cut to 7″x10″ (~17.75 cm x 25.4 cm)
- White mechanical pencil + black eraser
- Bleed Proof White ink – if you’ve never used white ink before, read this article first
- Ruler
- Scissors
- Pointed pen nib + holder of your choice – I used a Brause EF66 nib in an oblique holder
2. Fold the Cardstock
Begin by using your white mechanical pencil to draw a guideline in the top middle of the cardstock. (The cardstock should be horizontally oriented — so, positioned in a way that it’s wider than it is tall.)
The 5″ (~8.9 cm) mark is the sweet spot. Then, fold the right side of the card stock inward to line up with that middle guideline.
While you can use your fingers to make a folded crease, as I’ve done here, a bone folder (affiliate link) is a better bet. Then, fold in the left flap as well.
Congratulations! You’ve just made a gate fold card. I love this greeting card configuration because it’s unique and more interactive than a traditional folded card. 3. Cut a Hole in the Center
Now, grab a bottle of ink or some other round object and place it in the center of the card. Trace around the object to make a circle.
The jar I’m tracing around here has a diameter of around 2″ (~5 cm). Once you’re finished, the circle should be evenly split on both the left and the right flaps of the card.
Next, use a pair of scissors to cut the circle out.
4. Add Your Greeting
Close the card and use your white pencil to trace inside the circle that you just cut out. Doing this will show you which part of the inside of the card is visible from the outside.
Open the card, and you should see a clear circle in the middle.
Next, use your white pencil to write “Happy Mother’s Day” inside of your circle. Try using a combination of different lettering styles for visual interest.
I used a combination of Wishbone lettering and Amy Style calligraphy to write this greeting. Next, trace over your lettering and calligraphy with your pointed pen and white ink.
You may find that it’s easiest to go over the Wishbone letters with a Nikko G nib in a straight pen. (Then, for the flourishes and calligraphy, I like to switch to a Brause EF66 nib for more stroke contrast.) 5. Unleash the Flourish
Once the ink you used to write the message in the center has dried, close both flaps of the card. Then, start to add some flourishing around the circle. There’s no rhyme or reason to these 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 intimidated by flourishing, you can learn more about it and download a free practice worksheet in this blog post.)
I wanted to make this card quickly, so I did some freestyle flourishing. If you’re not in a rush, it never hurts to use your white pencil to plan out a nice draft first. Continue to make your way around the circle, embellishing your flourishes with dots and a few short, curved lines here and there.
If you’re right-handed, it’s a good idea to flourish with an oblique pen. The offset position of the nib can help you to keep your hand out of smudging range. When you’re finished, the card should look something like this:
Feel free to use this image as a reference for your own flourishes. 6. Erase Guidelines + Send
Give the ink at least a couple of hours to dry. With white ink, overnight is preferable: oftentimes, the ink feels dry to the touch when it isn’t fully dry. If you’re like Hernán and end up with a smudged greeting, know that you can fix it by scraping off the top layer of paper.
Once you have erased your pencil guidelines, open the card and write a message inside using a white gel pen (I like the Sakura Gelly Roll – affiliate link). Try to write around the Mother’s Day greeting so that’s all Mom sees when the card is closed.
I hope that you enjoyed this encore of a classic TPK tutorial! Many thanks to Hernán for prompting me to write clearer instructions. If you ever have the same experience as him while perusing a TPK tutorial, don’t hesitate to tell me. Feedback about your interactions with the content on this website help me to make it better — and I couldn’t ask for a better gift than that.
Thanks so much for reading, and Happy Mother’s Day 2024!
Warmly,
