In the midst of our busy screen-filled lives there is still something so special about taking the time to create a handmade card for someone you care for. With Mother’s Day on the horizon we asked artist Rebecca Cahill Roots to guide us through how to make a unique personalised card for your Mum, Grandma or Nanna or special woman in your life this Mother’s Day.
Materials used
- Blank A5 card folded to A6
- Blank A6 coloured envelopes
- Tombow ABT Brush Pens
- Tombow Waterbrush
- Tombow Fudenosuke Pens
Step 1
If you have a pre-folded card, open up the card so it is lying flat on the surface as it is easier to work on than when it is folded. Place your card so it will be landscape once finished and start by measuring the card vertically and horizontally to find your centre point. This will give you a guide as to where your lettering should be and you can now draw three lines slightly slanted up towards the top-right corner as guidelines for the words Happy Mother’s Day.
In light pencil mark out your words to ensure they are balanced and in the centre of your page. The ‘th’ of the word Mother’s should roughly match up with your centre point.
Step 2
Using your Tombow ABT Brush Pens go over your pencil lettering in a brush lettering style. To do this, keep your pen at the same angle as the top of the paper and push down on the down strokes to add pressure and release the pressure on the up stroke to create a thin line. By creating a difference in the thickness of your down and up stroke you will give your lettering a playful, brush lettering look. I always practice my lettering a few times on scrap paper before I commit to my final project so I feel more confident. If you need some more lettering practice, take a look at the Brush Lettering printable practice sheets on the blog.
Step 3
When the pen is completely dry, carefully rub out any pencil marks that can be seen and grab a selection of bright, spring coloured Tombow pens to create flower motifs to go around the lettering. Begin with the basic flower shapes and place them around the the edges in small clusters. This type of floral decoration works best in odd numbers and placed around the card in odd numbers to give it a more balanced feel. You don’t need to be too detailed at this stage, just forming the basic colourful flower shapes.
Step 4
To add some texture to the flowers you can then use a paint brush with water or a Tombow Waterbrush to blend the colours. This will give you a range of tones and depth giving the illustrations an almost watercolour feel. Because the Tombow ABT pens are water based they are perfect for blending in this way. Be careful to use just a little water at a time so you don’t saturate the card and allow the colours to run too far. Grab a spare piece of card to practice first if you want to see the range of effects you can get with this technique.
Step 5
Once the basic flower shapes are completely dry, use the fine tip end of your Tombow ABT Brush Pens or Tombow Fudenosuke Pens to add leaves and details to the flowers. You can also go back over areas of the petals with the original colours to make them bolder or add more texture. Leave your card to dry fully before writing your message inside. You can use the same colours for your writing inside and make the name inside bigger and bolder than the message to tie it into your design on the front.
Step 6
To make the envelope as special as your card, add a border or floral illustrations to the edges and back. Most envelopes are made of thin paper so will not hold water very well so only use the blending technique on envelopes that are made of thick robust paper. To ensure your name on the envelope is in the centre of the space, repeat the measuring technique you used to create your card. Here are a few ideas for borders and motifs that you could use on your envelopes.
We hope the special women in your lives enjoy receiving a handmade card this Mother’s Day and it’s one they will keep and treasure. If you have a go at making one please do share it with us @tombow_uk so we can see what you created.